SSTI Digest

George Bald is returning to serve as Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development. Bald served in the position from 1998-2004.

Dr. R. Kelly Dawe was named the inaugural Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Distinguished Investigator, a new level of investment made by GRA.

Douglas Foy, Secretary for Commonwealth Development for Massachusetts, announced his resignation effective in March.

Aaron Greenfield will serve as the new director of the Anne Arundel County Economic Development Corp. in Maryland.

The six-month-old Information Technology Association of Wisconsin selected Jim Rice to serve as the organization's first president and CEO.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford named Joe Taylor to serve as the new Secretary for the S.C. Department of Commerce. Taylor succeeds Bob Faith, who is taking Taylor's position as chairman of the S.C. Jobs-Economic Development Authority.

The first three installments of SSTI's four-part look at how TBED will play in the 2006 legislative priorities of the governors can be found in the Digest archives at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry, State-of-the-State Address, Feb. 6, 2006 "While the energy and agriculture industries will always be vital to Oklahoma and its economy, we must be prepared for the demands and innovations of the marketplace of the future. "This session I am sending you a comprehensive package to meet the challenges ahead. Our 'Invest in the Future' initiative will build on the research endowment we created last year. We will fund cutting-edge research and projects that promise the greatest potential for economic opportunity and job creation. "Establishing an Opportunity Fund will help close the economic development gap, making Oklahoma more competitive and better able to attract and retain good jobs. ... "... Leveraged by a $180 million bond issue, we will stimulate cutting-edge research. We will invest in sensor technology at Oklahoma State…

Contrary to popular belief, intellectual capital and university collaboration - not just lower costs - primarily attract companies to locate R&D activities in locations away from their home country, according to a new study sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Dr. Marie Thursby, professor of strategic management, Georgia Tech College of Management, and Jerry Thursby, chair of the Department of Economics, Emory University, surveyed more than 200 multinational companies across 15 industries, mostly headquartered in the U.S. and Western Europe. Their findings indicate that emerging countries such as China and India will continue to be major beneficiaries of R&D expansion over the next three years as companies seek new market opportunities, access to top scientists and engineers, and collaborative research relationships with leading universities. To identify and rank the importance of different factors feeding into the corporate decision-making process on locating R&D facilities, the study tracked R&D work coming into the U.S. from abroad and R&D work going in the…

Hard evidence of the increasing global research competence discussed in the Thursby's paper above was provided last week when the Singapore Ministry of Trade & Industry (MTI) announced plans last week to commit $7.5 billion ($4.6 billion US) over the next five years to sustain innovation-driven growth through economic-oriented R&D. All figures below are in U.S. dollars. To help Digest readers to appreciate the size of the commitment, Singapore had an estimated population of 4.4 million residents in July 2005, which would rank it 25th among U.S. states -- comparable to Colorado, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina or Kentucky in population size. MTI’s R&D plans are set out in the Science & Technology Plan 2010 (STP2010), released Feb. 16 by Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang. STP2010 is part of the Singapore Government’s overall strategy to make significant investments in R&D in the next five years, so as to increase national spending in R&D to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2010. The National Research Foundation will coordinate the research of…

Stem cell research, an expanded tax zone redevelopment initiative and faculty/researcher recruitment are all beneficiaries in the fiscal year 2007 budget proposal submitted by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich last week. In addition, while overall funding for the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) is down 16 percent from the FY 2006 appropriation, the governor's request includes several new programs to assist technology entrepreneurship. Highlights of the economic development portions of the budget are provided below. $15M More for Stem Cell Research During his Feb. 15 budget address, Gov. Blagojevich announced a new initiative for funding stem cell research. By executive order in July 2005, Gov. Blagojevich created the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute and awarded $10 million in grants to support stem cell research (see the July 18, 2005 issue of the Digest). Under the governor's new initiative, $100 million over five years would be dedicated to the institute to continue research efforts. Funding would be made available by using a portion of the state's…

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell is using the midterm budget request as the vehicle to substantially overhaul how the state supports the entire economic development process. Connecticut Innovations, one of the nation's oldest state-created equity finance programs for tech businesses, would be consolidated with departments that cover focus areas ranging from health education and housing to traditional economic development financing. During her State-of-the-State Address earlier this month, Gov. Rell unveiled her fiscal year 2006-07 midterm budget adjustment proposal and announced plans to restructure the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD). Under the plan, the new Department of Business and Employment (DBE) will provide programs previously administered by DECD, but with enhanced planning and programmatic features, according to the governor's office: A new Office of International Commerce to market the state to both U.S. and foreign businesses; Additional support for Housing and Community Development planning to provide for better planning in conjunction with the…

Improving higher education is a top priority in almost every state, but fewer than half of states have set specific, measurable goals to track their progress in enrolling, retaining and graduating students, according to a new report from Jobs for the Future (JFF), By the Numbers: State Goals for Increasing Postsecondary Attainment. The Boston-based nonprofit organization found just 23 of the 50 states have set at least one numerical goal for increasing the number of students who enroll in college, stay in college, and graduate with a college degree. Only 10 have set numerical goals for all three. In addition, only 11 have set even one goal related to improving the success rate among minority students. "States are spending $63 billion a year on higher education, but if they don't quantify what they're trying to accomplish, it's going to be impossible to tell when they've succeeded," said JFF President and Chief Executive Officer Marlene Seltzer. The report is the result of JFF's 50-state survey of statewide higher education plans. In addition to which states set numerical goals, the…