SSTI Digest

The second installment of SSTI’s Tech Talkin’ Govs’ series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Colorado, Virginia and West Virginia. Our first installment was in the Jan 13 Digest.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, State of the State Address, Jan. 14, 2010 “Colorado voters were the first in the country to pass a renewable energy standard. … So, this session let’s think bigger, creating even larger markets for solar, wind, biomass, hydro and geothermal. Let’s increase our standard to 30 percent.

“This will trigger the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs, draw new capital investments and new companies to our state, and keep Colorado at the epicenter of America’s energy revolution. …

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine announced the creation of The Ignite Institute, a nonprofit medical research institute to be housed initially at the Center for Innovative Technology. The state will provide $3 million from the Governor's Opportunity Fund and $22 million in incentive grants, subject to General Assembly approval. The institute expects to draw $200 million in initial financing and create 415 jobs. Read more at: http://www.ignitehealth.org/.

All eyes are on New Jersey and Virginia as newly elected governors soon will unveil action plans and proposals for their first year in office. During the recent gubernatorial campaigns, Governors-elect Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell both outlined plans to transform their respective states’ economies and create high-paying jobs through targeted investments in renewable energy. The following is an overview of the energy proposals outlined during the campaigns.

New Jersey Gov.-elect Chris Christie’s Energy as Industry plan focuses on re-branding New Jersey to promote the state’s resources to energy producers and providing incentives for renewable energy manufacturers to locate in the state and create high-paying jobs.

Tuesday’s Republican victories in the gubernatorial races for New Jersey and Virginia mean a shift in political power for both states. With current fiscal conditions continuing to press state revenues lower and unemployment rolls higher, much of the new governors’ attentions could pass over tech-based economic development policies. Alternately, increased investments in TBED may be exactly what are needed right now to help create high-wage jobs in both states.

A look at the posted campaign platforms for the two successful gubernatorial candidates suggests changes are afoot in both states, if actions follow the campaign rhetoric when they take office in January. Highlights for both states follow (energy-related policies will be covered in next week’s Digest).

Virginia The website for the campaign of Bob McDonnell, a 55- year-old former state attorney general, states the governor-elect will focus heavily on traditional business recruitment/retention strategies, regionalization of job training and university research investments, and increasing higher education graduation rates.

Offering some good news for universities and companies looking for funding, the National Science Board (NSB) has recommended the elimination of any evidence of voluntary cost share from most grant proposals to the National Science Foundation (NSF). However, the board recommended mandatory cost matching should be reinstated in a handful of initiatives, including its Engineering Research Centers (ERC) program, its Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRC) program, and its EPSCoR program.

The return of mandatory matching funds may present a mixed bag for state and university TBED policies in an era of shrinking financial resources. States that have programs in place to match federal research grants are well positioned strategically to support those opportunities that may provide the fit with the state's tech-based economic development goals. States without matching-grant mechanisms already established may need to expand their portfolio of programs if growing the research enterprise is one of their TBED priorities.

Earlier this year, Congress and President Obama, seeing an opportunity to stimulate the economy while improving the nation's digital infrastructure, set aside $7.2 billion for broadband programs in the 2009 Recovery Act (read SSTI's analysis of the Recovery Act in the February 19 issue). Citing the need for a modernized digital infrastructure to ensure U.S. competitiveness, the act included funding for broadband mapping and deployment to help make sure that all Americans have access to high-speed Internet services. A controversy, however, has grown in the wake of the Recovery Act over how that money should be spent.

A full week after the Administration's budget request was released, NSF made available details on the foundation's $7.05 billion request. With the new information, SSTI is presenting below its summary regarding the NSF budget proposal's impact on programs of importance to state and regional TBED efforts. This profile, along with similar budget summaries of 17 other agencies, is available in an updated version of SSTI's Special Federal Budget Issue. The PDF document may be found at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2009/fy10budget.pdf.

In the midst of a national economic recession contributing to a record number of job losses in traditional industries, forward thinking states are exploring ideas and committing funds to help grow and diversify their economies and strengthen their renewable energy portfolios.

Over the past several months, governors, legislators and economic development groups have announced new initiatives aimed at job growth and energy independence in the new economy. The following overview provides a sampling of green energy initiatives and investments from numerous proposals and announcements across the nation.

Virginia lawmakers passed a bill last month supporting the state's bioscience industry and providing incentives to investors for bioscience and advanced technology commercialization. The legislation comprised all of the top recommendations from the 2008 Joint Legislative Subcommittee on the Biosciences.

The bill changes the existing Commonwealth Technology Research Fund to the Commonwealth Research Fund to better focus on key areas of R&D, emphasize the importance of commercialization of R&D through matching funds programs, and to provide a loan program for the construction of facilities used in commercializing research. The Innovative Technology Authority would continue to administer the fund and establish and maintain specific guidelines for awarding funds.

Specifically, the bill:

Several of Gov. Tim Kaine's energy and job creation proposals were included in the approved revisions to Virginia's current two-year budget passed by the General Assembly last month. Lawmakers, faced with a projected $ 3.7 billion deficit, made revisions and incorporated federal stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to amend the budget.

Legislators passed a measure proposed by Gov. Kaine to merge the Innovative Technology Authority (ITA) and the Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Commission into a single entity named the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority.

Through exclusive interviews with Excellence in TBED Award recipients, find out first-hand how these award winning initiatives successfully responded to a critical need by applying innovative approaches to generate substantial economic gains for their region. Recently released podcasts include:

Mike Cassidy of the Georgia Research Alliance discusses their Eminent Scholars program. The podcast is available at: http://www.ssti.org/media/cassidy.html. Sheryl Bryan of the Virginia Council on Advanced Technology Skills (VCATS) provides details on replicating the program in other states and regions. The podcast is available at: http://www.ssti.org/media/bryan.html

DATELINE: RICHMOND, Va.

The following information was released by the office of the governor of Virginia:

Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced appointments to the following boards and commissions:

* denotes reappointment

Medical Advisory Board for the Department of Motor Vehicles

Juan A. Astruc Jr., M.D.* of Glen Allen, partner at the Retina Institute of Virginia;

Parker C. Dooley, M.D. of Accomack County, medical director of Eastern Shore Rural Health System, Inc.;

Anil Kumar, M.D.* of Glen Allen, assistant professor for MCV-VCU Health Systems;

Thomas Pellegrino, M.D.* of Norfolk, associate dean for education at Eastern Virginia Medical School;

John Sheppard, M.D.* of Cape Charles, president of Virginia Eye Consultants.

State Lottery Board

Susan Smith Feaster* of Loudoun County, chairman of the board and CEO of the World Leadership Institute.