SSTI Digest

MdBio, Inc., a nonprofit organization servicing Maryland's bioscience industry, announced it will be renamed the MdBio Foundation under restructuring and expansion efforts. The 501(c)3 organization will be overseen by a new 501(c)6 nonprofit membership trade association, MdBio, Inc.

Elyse Golob is the new director of the University of Arizona Office of Economic and Policy Analysis. Beginning July 1, Leslie Tolbert will be the university's vice president for research, graduate studies and economic development, replacing Richard Powell upon his June 30 retirement.

John Hanak is the new director of the Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana.

President Bush has nominated Dr. William Jeffrey as director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.

Bob Shriver recently resigned as director of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development. Tim Rubald, the commission's director of business development, has been named interim director.

Yesterday proved a big day for supporters of stem cell research as measures advanced in both Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Massachusetts law described in the May 16 issue of the Digest became law immediately after the state Senate voted 35-2 and the House voted 112-42 to override Gov. Mitt Romney's veto. In Connecticut, the House voted 113-27 to pass Senate Bill 934, leaving the measure to Gov Jodi Rell for her signature.

While the Massachusetts battle was fairly partisan between the Republican governor and the Democratic controlled legislature, the story in neighboring Connecticut suggests the conflict over embryonic stem cell research is more ideological than partisan.

The Administration's proposal to replace 18 federal programs targeting different elements of community and economic development with a single, smaller program called the Strengthening America's Communities Initiative (SACI) received another blow last week (see the Feb. 14 issue of the Digest for more information on SACI). The House Appropriations subcommittee markup of the appropriations bill for Science, Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, and related Agencies excluded the President's request of $3.7 billion for SACI from the Commerce section of the bill.

New York's lead agency for promoting tech-based economic development (TBED) in the state soon will have a new name, if not a complete makeover. Under enacted budget legislation, the New York Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) will become the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation by Jan. 1, 2006.

Assembly Bill 6843, the state's 2006 budget, provides $250 million for the new public authority "to fulfill the public purposes of furthering job creation and economic growth and advances in the fields of science, technology and innovation and to facilitate the commercialization of scientific and other innovations in New York State." A 13-member board comprised of public and private representatives will oversee the foundation, directing all existing NYSTAR programs, a new regional partnership program, and two new funds.

Louisiana State University's Business and Technology Center (LBTC) recently received the National Business Incubation Association's (NBIA) 2005 Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year award, recognizing overall excellence in business incubation programs. The award is NBIA's most prestigious honor, presented as a tribute to NBIA's first chairman.

As a measure of LBTC's success, an economic analysis released this month by the Louisiana Technology Park reveals steady progress in the local economy and start-up companies in the Baton Rouge area. LBTC is the innovating hub for the Louisiana Technology Park, which will help create an additional 443 new jobs in 2005. The total is up from 272 jobs projected in 2004, according to the analysis.

The U.S. is currently the global leader in nanotechnology R&D, number of nanotechnology start-up companies, and research output as measured by patents and publications. However, that role is under increasing competitive pressure from other nations, according to an assessment of the multi-agency National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), which organizes federal nanotechnology research.

The NNI report defines nanotech as "encompassing the science, engineering, and technology related to the understanding and control of matter at the length scale of approximately 1 to 100 nanometeres." Nanotech touches upon a broad array of disciplines including chemistry, biology, physics, computational science and engineering and holds tremendous potential for stimulating innovation, the report adds.

Recognizing the benefits of a skilled workforce to match the new manufacturing and high-tech jobs of the 21st Century, states are turning to worker training and retraining programs in order to remain economically competitive. During the past month, Tennessee, Nebraska and Connecticut committed a combined total of $37 million for worker training initiatives.

The Tennessee legislature approved Gov. Phil Bredesen's 2005 jobs package, which includes $20 million to expand job training across the state and develop a statewide broadband strategy. House Bill 2287 establishes the FastTrack infrastructure development and job training assistance fund within the Department of Economic and Community Development. Funds will be used for infrastructure development and job training assistance grants and loans.

While many regions, states and countries are lamenting a drain of talent from their area, the Pakistan Higher Education Commission is taking an opposite strategy to strengthen the nation's science and research capacity: sending up to 15,000 of its brightest students to study selected disciplines abroad through its Foreign Ph.D. Scholarship Program.

Students may choose from selected programs in science, engineering and technology at universities in Austria, China, France, Germany, Netherlands or Sweden. In return, scholarship recipients must commit to serve in Pakistan for a minimum of five years after completion of study, preferably in an institution of higher education.