SSTI Digest

At the University of New Mexico, Avi Shama has been named Special Advisor to the President on Economic Development. The new position will encourage, coordinate and promote economic development activities of various UNM units.

Bill Richardson, Governor-elect of New Mexico, has named Rick Homans as secretary of the state's Economic Development Department.

As a national security laboratory operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by the Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, Sandia’s science and technology competencies are leveraged to support several missions that are synergistic to its primary mission — to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile in the absence of underground testing, indefinitely. Indeed, Sandia designs all non-nuclear components for the nation’s nuclear weapons and works on assignments that respond to national security threats of both military and economic nature. Sandia's strengths are demonstrated in the following disciplines:  Advanced Manufacturing  Microelectronics & Photonics  Biotechnology  Modeling & Simulation Computational & Info. Sciences  Nanotechnology  Electronics…

New Mexico The New Mexico Information Technology and Software Association (NMITSA) has hired its first staff: Randy Burge is the new president, Pete Inman is vice president of policy and development, and David Sahd is vice president of operations and marketing. According to the Council of Regional Information Technology Associations, NMITSA was the last such group to change from all-volunteer staffing. New York Joe Magno, former Executive Director of the New York State Science & Technology Foundation, is founder and chairman of the New York State Software Network (NYSSNET). Organized in November, NYSSNET's goal is to sustain, strengthen and grow the software industry of the state. The nonprofit has secured a $1.1 million information technology training grant from the Department of Labor and is holding a SmartStart Venture Forum this fall. Ohio Crain's Cleveland Business reports the Northeast Ohio Software Association, based in downtown Cleveland, is opening its first satellite office at the Great…

Maria Estela de Rios has been named chairwoman of the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership Board of Directors. She is executive vice president of Orion International Technologies, which is based in Albuquerque.

Roberto Salazar is leaving his post as the Director of the New Mexico Office of Science and Technology at the end of March to assume the position of State Director of the USDA's Rural Development Agency for New Mexico.

The New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program is recruiting a technology transfer and commercialization project manager with a proven track record in related disciplines from the private and/or public sector. This MEP position is located at the Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque and charged with helping local manufacturers access unique federal laboratory technologies to assist industry in the development and commercialization of new products, advanced materials, and innovative manufacturing processes.  Project manager is responsible for industry outreach, customer needs assessment, technical “sales” linking clients with laboratory resources as well as private commercialization consultants and project managing related customer activities.  Please forward resume, cover letter, salary expectations and your success stories to:  Human Resource Director, New Mexico MEP, 4501 Indian School Road, NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110, F: 505-262-9691, E-mail address: hrdirector@newmexicomep.org, Web address: http://www.newmexicomep.org The full description can be found…

Several state and regional economic development strategies have been released this summer. All recognize the important role of research, science and technology in building tech-based economies. Two states are highlighted this week.  New Mexico  The New Mexico Economic Development Department has rolled out a new strategic vision for the state's economy that they believe gives a clear picture of New Mexico's ultimate destination and offers a detailed map of how to get there. The strategic vision document, Quality for Life, is built on six strategies. Those pertaining directly to science and technology include:  Invest in infrastructure for innovation by strengthening existing programs at the national labs, federal research institutions, universities, and private research and development centers. Specifically, the strategic vision calls for linking the public and private institutions through collaborative efforts, especially encouraging the universities and the private sector to make more use of the resources offered by the national labs. It also calls for…

In the last days of a special legislative session, the New Mexico Legislature unanimously passed two technology tax credit bills. Entitled the “Technology Jobs Tax Credit Act” and the “Laboratory Partnership with Small Business Tax Credit Act,” these measures are intended to assist New Mexico’s technology-based businesses with the development of increased research investments and laboratory partnerships, especially in rural areas. The Technology Jobs Tax Credit Act provides a four-percent basic tax credit against expenditures of technology-based companies participating in research, development, and experimentation at qualified research facilities in the state. An additional four-percent tax credit is provided to businesses that participate in research and development in the state and increase their payroll by $75,000 for every $1,000,000 expended for R&D. If these activities take place in the designated rural areas of the state, the tax credits are doubled. According to the fiscal analysis, the credits are expected to cost the state $6.6 million in FY 2001 and $7.1 million in FY 2002.…

To help small businesses participate fully in the expected e-commerce revolution, Senator Bingaman (D-NM) has introduced legislation to create a national e-commerce extension program. Senators Rockefeller (D-WVa), Snowe (R-ME) and Mikulski (D-MD) are co-sponsors of the bill, S. 1494. E-commerce sales are expected to grow from the 1998 level of $100 billion to $1.3 trillion in 2003 -- less than four years from now. The opportunities for businesses prepared to compete in the electronic commerce market are significant. The challenges and implications for others, particularly in areas, populations, and companies underserved by the Internet, are enormous. Modeled after the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the USDA agricultural extension program, the new e-commerce program would be administered by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology. Regional centers would be created and required to secure non-federal matching funds equal to or greater than the 3-year federal grant. In his remarks while introducing the bill, Senator Bingaman outlined his vision of the e-…

Durand Smith, the director of the New Mexico Department of Economic Development's Science and Technology Division, has returned to the private sector. Marsha Oldakowski is serving as acting director of the division.

Sigfried Hecker, the director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, announced that he is stepping aside in order to participate more closely in scientific collaboration between US and Russian researchers. Hecker has headed Los Alamos since 1986.