SSTI Digest

With the upcoming two Monday holidays for Christmas and New Year's Day, the next issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest will be published on Jan. 9, 2006. The Funding Supplement will reconvene publication the week of Jan. 9 as well. If you are not a staff member of one of SSTI's state sponsors, affiliates or supporters, this week's issue of the Funding Supplement will be the last SSTI sends to you. The current list of SSTI members is available at http://www.ssti.org/sponsors.htm. More information, including benefits and a link to a secure registration form, are available at http://www.ssti.org/benefits.htm. We wish everyone an enjoyable holiday season.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. released last week his fiscal year 2007 budget request, providing a substantial boost in funding for the Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) Initiative. In FY 2005, the legislature appropriated $4 million to fund the initial phase of the initiative. This year, the governor is recommending $62 million for infrastructure and programs. Under the governor's request, $50 million in one-time funding would be used for building new research laboratories at the University of Utah (U of U) and Utah State University (USU). Program funding includes $11 million of additional ongoing money for a total of $15 million to continue attracting research teams to the state and $1 million of ongoing money for commercialization of research and the creation of Innovation Centers. The USTAR initiative is designed to attract world-class research teams in targeted disciplines where Utah already has distinct competitive advantages, according to the governor's office. The teams develop products and services that can be commercialized in new business industries that will create higher-paying jobs. Last year,…

Over the last 15 years, few states have been as focused on investing in higher education to encourage sustainable economic prosperity as Georgia. At SSTI's 9th Annual Conference on Oct. 19-21, 2005, presenters made the case that the southern state is a national leader in American higher education. Higher Ed as the Basis for Economic Growth: The Georgia Story featured Mike Cassidy, president and chief executive officer of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA). Joining Cassidy were Michael Gerber, president of the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education (ARCHE), Joy Hymel, executive director of the Intellectual Capital Partnership Program (ICAPP), and David Lee, director of strategic research and analysis of the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC). The session examined the full spectrum of Georgia's strategy to encourage university-oriented tech-based economic development (TBED) through workforce preparedness, research funding, infrastructure development, technology commercialization, and regional branding. GRA, a public-private partnership that acts as…

An increasing number of states are realizing the potential role renewable energy can play in their tech-based economic development strategies (TBED) and future growth. While nearly all provide some financial support to encourage the use of renewable sources of energy (see, for example, the Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy), several are looking at the R&D side of the equation for future technological breakthroughs. Funding and attention for the next wave is often driven toward universities, utility companies and large players in the energy market. A less exploited element of renewable energy is the role currently available technologies from several energy streams can play for businesses in rural locations -- reducing costs, identifying alternate profit streams and giving them a competitive edge over their urban counterparts. Two new publications from Colorado's Office of Energy Management and Conservation (OEMC) and the Governor's Office of Economic Development & International Trade provide examples of how renewable energy can be integrated into the rural development…

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. Also, on the academic front, the budget calls for establishing a new UK-China University Partnership Scheme to support scholarships and encourage academic exchanges and collaboration between centers of excellence in science and technology within the two countries. To encourage in-migration of young foreign scientists and technologists, the government is proposing to allow all international students on completion of post-graduate degree, or an undergraduate degree in a shortage sector, to work in the UK for up to 12 months, benefiting up to 50,000 students. More information on the…

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. SSTI has constructed state-by-state tables comparing the cost of tuition and fees at four-year public, four-year private, and two-year public institutions from 1999 to 2004. The tables are drawn from data in NCES’ Digest of Education Statistics and…

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…

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.