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The Ohio Department of Development, which works collaboratively with businesses, communities and the Ohio Legislature to develop financial and technical programs, seeks to fill the position, Grants Administration Manager. The position's duties include managing the outside Grant Administration Team, assessing project results and progress, and performing other duties assigned by the Deputy Director of the Technology Division.

Most of the nation's governors use the winter months to publicly lay out their agendas, visions and budget requests for the coming year. The text of State of the State Addresses, Budget Messages and, to a lesser extent, Inaugural Addresses, often reveals each governor's legislative priorities and new initiatives to be pursued over the coming months.

Hoping to combat and reverse job losses in the manufacturing sector, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell outlined his blueprint for recovery last month, entitled "Manufacturing Innovation."

Ah, the difference positive revenue figures make for some states' tech-based economic development (TBED) portfolios! In mid-December, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner introduced an amended 2004-2006 biennial budget that is the most favorable yet during the Warner term for programs to promote economic growth through strategic investments in science and technology.

A December gathering of leaders from many of the nation's largest companies raised what could be considered a battle cry for the U.S. to take more seriously the implications of globalization.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued the detailed statistical tables for Science & Engineering Doctorate awards for 2003. As was done for 2002, 2001 and 2000, SSTI has compiled a 50-state table presenting the number of degrees and rank for each major field of science & engineering. In addition, SSTI has used population in the form of "S&E doctorates awarded per 100,000 residents" to standardize the data to facilitate comparisons across states.

That is the question facing researchers who have innovative ideas that become marketable products. Researchers who file patents to protect intellectual property rights may diminish the value of the research to potential developers due to "knowledge leakage" to competing developers. Instead, a researcher might approach a developer directly to negotiate an exclusive contract in which a researcher receives some immediate compensation and a stake in the licensed, developed product.

Just what makes firms productive? Economists continue to refine their thinking on the interactions that enhance productivity. Knowledge capital and knowledge relatedness play an active role in increasing firm competitiveness, especially in large, high-tech manufacturing sectors, according to a study presented at a recent conference of the Groupe de Recherche en Economie.

Governors will be forced to make cuts in education, health care and transportation budgets in light of the recently passed stimulus package that will reduce state revenues but provide no financial assistance for states facing increasing health care costs, says the National Governors' Association (NGA).

Louisiana Governor Mike Foster's economic development plan calls for $37 million for a Biosciences Initiative, at the state's top research universities, $15 million to support industry clusters for regional universities, and $8.4 million to spur enrollment growth in community and technical colleges. Coupled by a $150 million bond issue, funding for bioscience endeavors would equal a $187 million investment.

Because knowledge-based services can be supplied anywhere across the world due to increased international investment in IT infrastructure, future U.S. competitiveness hinges on diversification and broadening of the technology-based manufacturing sector, according to NIST Senior Economist George Tassey.

To shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of the region's biotechnology cluster, Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Economic Development (CED) has published A Biotechnology Action Plan for Southwestern Pennsylvania. The CED report says the Pittsburgh biotechnology cluster largely depends on the amount of available venture capital and the development of new technologies and that total funding levels must be increased to continue biotech development.

President Bush has nominated Elias Zerhouni, executive vice dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as the new director of the National Institutes of Health.



San Diego Community College Chancellor Augie Gallego has been selected as the new chairman of the American Council of Education, only the second community college executive to hold the position since the organization's founding more than 80 years ago.

President Bush has nominated Elias Zerhouni, executive vice dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as the new director of the National Institutes of Health.