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SSTI Digest
Biotech Plan for Southwestern Pennsylvania Released
To shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of the region's biotechnology cluster, Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Economic Development (CED) has published A Biotechnology Action Plan for Southwestern Pennsylvania. The CED report says the Pittsburgh biotechnology cluster largely depends on the amount of available venture capital and the development of new technologies and that total funding levels must be increased to continue biotech development.
Dividing the biotechnology/biomedical cluster into three sub-clusters — pharmaceuticals, instruments and devices, and tissue engineering — the report draws a comparison with other regions, including Boston, Philadelphia, San Jose and Chicago, and observes that Pittsburgh ranked 165th nationally in 1998 in biotechnology patents per biotechnology employee.
People
President Bush has nominated Elias Zerhouni, executive vice dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as the new director of the National Institutes of Health.
San Diego Community College Chancellor Augie Gallego has been selected as the new chairman of the American Council of Education, only the second community college executive to hold the position since the organization's founding more than 80 years ago.
Rod Linton has been tapped to lead Utah's new Office of Science & Technology within the Dept. of Community & Economic Development. Mike Keene is the new State Science Advisor and Director of the Centers of Excellence Program.
Shaye Mandle has resigned as president of the Illinois Coalition to accept a position as the new executive director of the East West Corporate Corridor Association in DuPage County.
People
President Bush has nominated Elias Zerhouni, executive vice dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as the new director of the National Institutes of Health.
People
San Diego Community College Chancellor Augie Gallego has been selected as the new chairman of the American Council of Education, only the second community college executive to hold the position since the organization's founding more than 80 years ago.
People
Rod Linton has been tapped to lead Utah's new Office of Science & Technology within the Dept. of Community & Economic Development. Mike Keene is the new State Science Advisor and Director of the Centers of Excellence Program.
People
Shaye Mandle has resigned as president of the Illinois Coalition to accept a position as the new executive director of the East West Corporate Corridor Association in DuPage County.
People
George Newstrom was sworn in as the Virginia Secretary of Technology. Newstrom succeeds Don Upson, who is returning to the private sector for technology consulting.
People
Gov. Don Siegelman has named Anne Payne to director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. Payne has been serving as ADECA's assistant director since last August.
People
Stan Sokul has been named executive director of the PCAST, the President's Council of Advisors on Science & Technology. Sokul formerly served as a lobbyist on Internet policy issues.
People
Tracy Taylor has been named to serve as CEO for the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp (KTEC). Taylor fills the position vacated by Rich Bendis.
October 2-3. Dearborn, Michigan. Be There.
With one of the country's largest concentration of industrial and academic scientists and engineers, it is only fitting that Michigan hosts SSTI's Sixth Annual Conference, October 2-3, 2002.
Led by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC), Michigan has consistently been among the leading states for implementing innovative programs and policies to create tech-based economies: the life sciences corridor and billion biotech investment, automation alley, fuel cell commercialization, broadband deployment, university tech transfer, and the list goes on. MEDC, the host sponsor for SSTI's 2002 conference, is itself a product of innovative thinking in 1999 that privatized most of the state's economic development and worker training programs. More information about MEDC's tech initiatives can be learned by visiting its website: http://www.michigan.org
Publisher's Note to this Issue
At almost every turn, the important roles played by universities and colleges in a knowledge-based economy seem to be validated. Industry and political leaders across the country are talking of the need for strong institutions of higher education, particularly public research universities, to improve national, state, and local competitiveness.
Whether it is the generation of new ideas or innovations or the development of a skilled workforce, higher education is a critical component of almost every high tech hot spot (see for example, Annalee Saxenian's analysis of Silicon Valley and Route 128, Regional Advantage, or the Milken Institute's report, America's High Tech Economy: Growth, Development, and Risks for Metropolitan Areas) or the most successful state and local tech-based economic development strategies.