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Using data from the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, SSTI has prepared a table showing how each state (and the District of Columbia) has ranked in business churning over the past seven years. Business churning is a measure of the creation of new companies and the death of existing companies as a share of total firms (small businesses with employees). Churning increases as the number of new start-ups and existing business failures per year increase.

It is only through the involvement of the each and every one of our more than 185 members that SSTI is able to continue its mission -- to lead, support and strengthen efforts to improve state and regional economies through science, technology and innovation. Together, we’re growing a strong and vibrant tech-based economic development community. New members include:



State Sponsors

Kansas Bioscience Authority

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue this month proposed a new $40 million Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Venture Capital Fund to be fueled by $10 million from the state legislature and subsequently matched with $30 million from the private sector. Of the entire suite of GRA initiatives, this will be the first program not funded entirely by the state of Georgia.

 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty recently unveiled four energy initiatives to promote clean energy R&D and the use of renewable energy technologies in the state. Through a combination of executive orders and legislative proposals, the programs are intended to push Minnesota towards its goals of having 25 percent of the state’s energy come from renewable sources by 2025 and reducing the state’s greenhouse emissions 80 percent by 2050. These new initiatives are:

A new AAAS analysis of the disappointing federal budget for 2008 reveals Congress’s obsession with earmarks is back with a vengeance, guaranteeing that competition for the remaining federal funds for R&D will be even more fierce.
 
While lower than 2006, earmarks consumed $4.5 billion of the federal R&D budget, scattered among 2,526 projects AAAS was able to identify.
 

Bill Badger announced he will resign as president and CEO of the Anne Arundel County Economic Development Corp. to take an executive position with M&T Bank.

Bill Badger announced he will resign as president and CEO of the Anne Arundel County Economic Development Corp. to take an executive position with M&T Bank.

Roger Biagi was named to the newly created position of director of government relations at the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research.

The North Carolina Solar Center promoted Steve Kalland to the position of executive director.

Thomas Persons Sr., president and CEO of the South Carolina Technology Alliance, was appointed to the newly created South Carolina Venture Capital Authority.

Toucan Capital announced the appointment of Dr. Phillip Singerman as a new Venture Partner.

Last week, Gov. Eliot Spitzer gave New York’s first ever “State of the Upstate” address in Buffalo, outlining his administration’s $1 billion Upstate Revitalization Fund. Among the components intended to encourage economic growth in the northern part of the state are:

With a budget management plan for the current fiscal year making its way through the state legislature, Gov. Janet Napolitano announced increased funding and borrowing for university programs and research initiatives in her fiscal year 2009 budget recommendation.

Funding for several TBED-focused initiatives aimed at increasing the state’s biotech portfolio is prominent in Gov. Martin O’Malley’s fiscal year 2009 budget proposal. Under the recommendation, stem cell research, biotechnology and nanotechnology are targeted for investments to grow the state’s economy, building on the actions of the 2007 legislative session (see the April 16, 2007 issue of the Digest).

 

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius delivered her State of the State Address last week proposing new initiatives and continued funding for several TBED programs emphasizing education and innovation as key to the state’s future economy.

Highlights from State of the State addresses delivered in Alaska and Hawaii are included in the third installment of the Tech Talkin’ series.

 

Alaska

Gov. Sarah Palin, State of the State Address, Jan. 15, 2008