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The president of the Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corp, Alan DeLisle, is leaving to become director of the Office of Economic and Employment Development in Durham, N.C.

Larry Kline has resigned as president of the Wisconsin Technology Council to take a position as chief financial officer and vice president for business development with a biotech firm.

Jeffrey Skolnick has been named executive director of the new Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics based at the University of Buffalo. In introducing Skolnick, Governor Pataki confirmed the new state budget includes $50 million for the center, according to the May 10 issue of the Buffalo News.

The Administration's $16.47 billion FY 2005 budget request for NASA represents a 2.4 percent increase over the FY 2005 appropriation. Among highlights, the budget proposal maintains investments in next-generation Earth-observing satellites to support climate research efforts.

Members of the House Science Committee introduced legislation this week that would place the National Science Foundation (NSF) on a track to double the agency's budget in five years. The bill, H.R. 4664, authorizes a 15 percent increase for NSF for each of the next three years.

Earlier this week, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and the Michigan Business Roundtable released a benchmarking study that used 140 indicators across seven areas to compare the state's competitiveness with 17 other states.

Washington Technology Center is seeking someone to become the first full-time program manager for the Northwest Energy Technology Collaborative. The Collaborative is a public-private partnership committed to accelerating the emergence of the Pacific Northwest's energy technology industry. The Collaborative seeks to build market-based programs that support businesses, entrepreneurs, investors, researchers and policymakers to address challenges facing this emerging industry.

SSTI has compiled the 2001 statistics from the ten federal agencies participating in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program to help states gear up for the next round of competition for the Federal and State Technology Partnership and Rural Outreach Programs (FAST and ROP, respectively). SBIR statistics are also used by several states as one measure or indicator for innovation indices and S&T report cards.

Savannah, Georgia

Marv Clement, former manager of Entrepreneurial Programs at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, retired in April 2002.

Bob Filka, vice president of strategic initiatives for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, is leaving to become chief operating officer of the Michigan Broadband Authority Board. William Rosenberg will become the new board's first director.

Marv Clement, former manager of Entrepreneurial Programs at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, retired in April 2002.

Bob Filka, vice president of strategic initiatives for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, is leaving to become chief operating officer of the Michigan Broadband Authority Board. William Rosenberg will become the new board's first director.

Alex Fisher, chief of staff for Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist, is leaving to become the director of technology transfer and economic development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Molly Lambert, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development since 1998, is resigning July 1 to become head of the Vermont Captive Insurance Association. The Agency is comprised of the Departments of Economic Development, Tourism and Marketing, and Housing and Community Affairs.

The first four installments of SSTI's annual look at how TBED will play in the 2005 legislative priorities of the governors can be found in the Digest archives on our website: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm

Kentucky

Gov. Christine Gregoire announced the first stages of her economic development program last Wednesday, highlighted by a proposal to inject $35 million annually starting in 2008 for the next 10 years into life sciences research at the state's universities. Gov. Gregoire also requested legislation be introduced this week that would facilitate the transfer of technology from research institutions to the private sector.

The nation's most significant source of funding for life science research, the National Institutes of Health, announced two sweeping changes last week that could dramatically alter biotechnology commercialization. The first policy change addresses known and potential conflicts of interest by NIH employees, while the second encourages all NIH-funded research to be released publicly within 12 months of final publication.

The latest email from the Reseau Innovation Network's Innovation Newsletter out of Canada and the D.C.-based Public Forum Institute's National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship called to SSTI's attention two websites with online access to more than 60 academic research papers of potential interest and importance to those interested in encouraging economic growth through

In January, Rhode Island's Tech Collective announced the creation of BioGroup, a subsidiary to focus on the needs of the state's life science industry. The new organization will serve as the state affiliate to the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).

By the end of the week, SSTI will be sending Digest subscribers our ninth annual review of the president's federal budget proposal. We will highlight dozens of science and technology programs and initiatives of interest to our readers. Early indications are the 2006 request, released this afternoon, if enacted would result in significant changes for nearly every program of importance for the tech-based economic development (TBED) community.

Dramatic increases in research and development (R&D) investments during the past decade, largely from industry, have contributed to U.S. standing as a global economic power, according to Science and Engineering Indicators 2002, a biennial report of the National Science Board. The U.S. had $244.1 billion in R&D investments in 1999, an increase of nearly $33 billion from 1997, the report shows. In addition, the U.S.

Defense Concedes: Will Honor 2.5% Set Aside

Two recent studies on Internet usage in Maryland and Maine offer detailed maps of broadband infrastructure. The studies offer some insights on how businesses and, in the case of Maryland, private citizens are accessing the Internet. Specific findings are not presented below; however, each of the studies are available in their entirety via the links that follow the respective summaries.

The National Science Foundation reports the number of doctorate awards from U.S. universities in physics, after hitting a record high in 1994, fell 22 percent by the year 2000. Doctorates in engineering declined 15 percent by the year 2000 from the 1996 peak.

With a large land mass and a population surpassing the 21 least populated states and the District of Columbia combined, California has scores of public programs and nonprofit organizations dedicated to encouraging technology-based economic development on the state, regional, local and sub-local levels. Best practices in the field, then, could have applications in a number of other states and communities.