SSTI Digest

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed Debra Lyons to lead the newly created Office of Workforce Development.

Dr. R. Kelly Dawe was named the inaugural Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Distinguished Investigator, a new level of investment made by GRA.

Georgia Tech announced that Dr. Jeffrey Skolnick will join its faculty this spring as the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Computational Systems Biology.

While women are making strides in entrepreneurship, they still have a ways to go, particularly in science and technology (S&T) fields. This was the theme during the session, Encouraging Women Entrepreneurship, conducted during SSTI's 9th Annual Conference on Oct. 19-21, 2005.

Maggie Kenefake, manager of women's entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation, said there are encouraging signs that women are stepping up to the plate, so to speak, when it comes to owning their own businesses. For example, the rate of increase for starting new firms among women is three times the rate for men, and women-owned businesses currently account for 40 percent of all start-ups.

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).

Note: This is the first in a series of articles SSTI will be running over the next several weeks to provide synopses of selected breakout sessions from SSTI's 9th Annual Conference, held Oct. 19-21, 2005, in Atlanta. Ideas for 2006 conference sessions can be forwarded to skinner@ssti.org. Look for more news on SSTI's 10th annual conference beginning in late winter.

The Oct. 21 morning conference session, Sound Strategies for Encouraging Regional Entrepreneurship, was presented by two dynamic speakers who offered an array of valuable lessons learned garnered through years of experience promoting growth through strategic science and technology strategies.

In another wing of the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta, site of SSTI's 2005 conference, participants shared what their states and regions are doing in the area of encouraging the development and deployment of alternative energy. Lee Cheatham, executive director of the Washington Technology Center, and Karl Jessen, program director of industry support under the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust (RET), led the session.

Cheatham opened his presentation, highlighting the market potential for alternative energy. Worldwide energy use is estimated at 382 quadrillion British thermal units (BTU), Cheatham said. Between 1950 and 2004, energy use in the U.S. rose from 34.62 quadrillion BTU to 99.7 quadrillion BTU.

There were recurring themes underlying the design and development of SSTI's 9th Annual Conference, Investing in a Brighter Future: Building Tech-based Economies, held Oct. 19-21 in Atlanta, Georgia: inevitability, irrelevance and inspiration.

Our two keynote addresses by Rob Atkinson and Duane Ackerman elucidated the inevitability of change and the opportunities presented by the challenges of globalization. Twenty spirited breakout sessions highlighted local and regional efforts to avoid economic irrelevance through strategic investments in science and technology. And, based on the feedback we've received, the discussions in the breakout sessions, and the spirited conversations overhead during the reception and networking breaks, SSTI believes many of the 354 conference participants came away inspired to improve their own efforts to strengthen their local, state or regional economy through technology-based economic development.

Anne Wein is the new executive director of Southeast BIO, a nonprofit organization concentrating on the growth of the life sciences industry.

Conference Only seven days remain until the opening of SSTI's 9th Annual Conference in Atlanta. More than 330 of the nation's top thinkers and practitioners for the TBED community will convene at the InterContinental Hotel seeking guidance from their peers.

On Monday, Oct. 31, the Southern Growth Policies Board, the Southern Technology Council, Georgia Institute of Technology, the Council on Competitiveness and the Georgia Research Alliance will host a one-day Southern Technology Innovation Summit at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center in Atlanta. The meeting will review the findings from the Council on Competitiveness’ recently released National Innovation Initiative report and launch a new Southern Innovation Initiative.

Due to SSTI's annual conference being held in Atlanta next week, the next issues of the Digest and Funding Supplement are slated for Nov. 7, 2005.