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Larry Walther has replaced Jim Pickens as director of the Arkansas Department of Economic Development. Pickens retired earlier this month.

Over the past six years, SSTI has dedicated a portion of the Digest to coverage on the legislative priorities of governors across the nation through the Tech Talkin' Govs series. As they say, talk is cheap. So this year, we are extending that coverage to track how the Governors' proposals fared in the respective legislative sessions.

It could be frustration at the lack of action by the federal government, displeasure with the direction of national policy or a sense of urgency and need, but states are increasingly taking matters into their own hands when it comes to many major issues. Examples abound, including states taking the lead on dealing with global warming, energy policy, health care, food quality assurance, stem cell research, broadband coverage and even foreign trade. Washington Gov.

Successful companies are forced to change business strategies as market realities shift. It happens all of the time. Browse the business section of your local bookstore and you'll see dozens of titles preaching the need for companies to adopt, adapt and innovate. The continuing restructuring of the U.S. durable manufacturing sector, as alluded to in the Useful Stats piece below, is a vivid example of the importance of abandoning old mindsets for industry: change or die.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently published its 2005 estimates of state personal income. According to the release, growth in U.S. per capita income slowed in 2005 increasing 4.6 percent in 2005, down from 5 percent growth in 2004. Regionally, the most significant increases in per capita income accompanied faster population growth, occurring in the Southwest states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas and the Rocky Mountain states of Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.

We're not sure how useful these stats really are, but given the political proclivity of so many of our readers and the upcoming gubernatorial elections this fall in 36 states, we thought we'd share a link from SurveyUSA.com presenting the current approval ratings for all 50 governors.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a statistical report on Science and Engineering Doctorate Awards: 2002. The data show trends in science and engineering (S&E) doctorate awards by S&E field and recipient characteristics, institutions awarding doctorates, and postgraduation plans of recipients.

Case Western Reserve University is seeking an executive director of The Power Partnership for Ohio, one of the new Wright Centers of Innovation funded in part by a $18 million grant from the State of Ohio.

Sam Bodman, presently Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has been nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Treasury.

John Calvin, Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development, has announced his resignation effective Dec. 15.

Sam Bodman, presently Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has been nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Treasury.

John Calvin, Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development, has announced his resignation effective Dec. 15.

TechPoint, Indiana's statewide technology council, has named Cameron Carter to serve as president and chief executive officer.

U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Thomas Q. Donaldson, V has been appointed Director of the John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC), effective Jan. 5, 2004.

Carol Ann Dykes is the new president of the National Association of Management and Technical Assistance Centers.

The new position of vice president of research and health services at the University of South Carolina will be filled by Harris Pastides.

For the fifth consecutive quarter, venture capital (VC) investments in the U.S. hovered around the $4 billion range, showing a sign of stability, according to two independent reports. The reports affirm the industry's shift in focus away from information technology and toward the life sciences.

Biotechnology is projected by many to be the "next big thing" for economic growth — and money is following the hype. Congress has over the last several years accomplished the goal of doubling the budget for the National Institutes of Health, already the nation's largest funder of life science research.

In 2002, angels invested $15.7 billion in entrepreneurial businesses in the U.S., according to the Center for Venture Research. Yet – until now – there was no organization to establish best practices or collect data on how to maximize the performance of groups of angel investors.

Can universities, foundations and funding agencies, local governments and nonprofits work together to mainstream research and evaluation while improving program operations?

Iowa: Davenport Sells City Land for Tech Incubator

The process of registering trademarks in multiple countries became simpler on Nov. 2 when an international treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) entered into force in the U.S.

Young, single, college-educated people are moving to large metropolitan areas, often to central cities — a trend that defies the general population’s outward migration from the same areas, according to a report based on Census 2000 data released by the U.S. Census Bureau today.

Based on the Census report and accompanying data, SSTI has prepared two summary tables presenting net migration figures for the 1995-2000 for each state and for the 276 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the U.S. For each table, the jurisdictions are ranked by numerical gain or loss in migration.

By a narrow margin, Ohio voters on Tuesday rejected a constitutional amendment that would have permitted the state to issue up to $500 million in bonds over 10 years to fund technology-based economic development projects. Defeated 51 percent to 49 percent, Issue 1 would have made up the final component of Gov. Bob Taft's proposed 10-year, $1.6 billion Third Frontier project. The remaining $1.1 billion is unaffected by Tuesday's vote.

State budget woes will continue into fiscal year 2005, reports the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. According to the five-page A Brief Overview of State Fiscal Conditions and the Effects of Federal Policies on State Budgets, FY05 estimates released by 21 state budget offices project a combined total shortfall of up to $33 billion — or 9 percent of those states' expenditures.