SSTI Digest

Britain’s Pre Budget Report 2005, released Dec. 5, calls for the United Kingdom to double spending for stem cell research to £100M within the next two years and launch a number of new initiatives to sustain innovation and science. The plan also calls for the creation of a National Institute for Health Research to support 10 new university-based centers for excellence in medical research, as many as 250 academic fellowships and 100 clinical lecture training opportunities each year, according to the Press Association.

In China, leaders of the rapidly growing nation dogged by soaring energy needs and unrelenting pollution problems made a commitment to double the nation’s use of renewable energy resources within the next 15 years.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in November, that the government will spend as much as $180 billion on renewable energy over the next 15 years in an effort to increase renewables' share of primary energy consumption from 7 percent to 15 percent by 2020. Already, China has installed solar power in 700 remote, off-grid towns at a cost of $600 million. As many as 30 million Chinese residents live without power.

Tuition at South Carolina's four-year public institutions increased by 106 percent over the five-year period, 1999-2004, the highest such increase in the nation, according to the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and North Carolina rounded off the top five in the same measure, with each state's institutions having increases of more than 50 percent.

For the 2003-04 academic year, NCES estimates the average cost for tuition and fees was $4,630 at four-year public institutions, $17,902 at four-year private institutions, and $1,670 at two-year public institutions. Between 1999 and 2004, tuition and fees rose by 38 percent at four-year public institutions, by 23 percent at four-year private institutions, and by 25 percent at two-year public institutions, according to the data.

The Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp. promoted Kevin Carr to the position of chief operations officer.

The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University announced that Jon Fjeld is the executive director of its recently unveiled Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland, College Park named Dan Goodman as its first technology commercialization fellow.

The Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp. promoted Kevin Carr to the position of chief operations officer.

The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University announced that Jon Fjeld is the executive director of its recently unveiled Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland, College Park named Dan Goodman as its first technology commercialization fellow.

The 82nd Annual Congress of Cities in Charlotte, N.C., elected Jim Hunt, a councilmember of Clarksburg, W.Va., as the new president of the National League of Cities. Hunt follows Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony A. Williams.

The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) selected Vicki Loise as its first executive director.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels named Mitch Maurer, president of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), as the new state secretary of commerce. Maurer replaces Pat Miller, who stepped down to resume her role as president and CEO of her company, Vera Bradley Designs, Inc.

BioMed SA, a recently founded technology council to promote the development of San Antonio’s health and bioscience community, selected Ann Stevens to serve as its first executive director.

Funding Supplement for Members Only in 2006 As long-time subscribers to the SSTI Weekly Digest know, during the past five years SSTI has published a separate element of the newsletter identifying federal and foundation funding opportunities that support either tech-based economic development directly or scientific inquiry and R&D.