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Colorado Governor Bill Owens has appointed Tim Fritz as the director of the Office of Aerospace and Aeronautics.

The Arlington Technology Incubator (Texas) has selected Geoffrey Grant to serve as the new director beginning July 1.

The Charleston Gazette reports Ron Hatfield, director of jobs development for the West Virginia University Institute of Technology's Technology Research and Development Corp., will also serve as the new executive director of the Upper Kanawha Economic Development Corp.

Joseph James has announced his resignation as head of the Prince George's Economic Development Corporation (Maryland).

To develop and promote higher education research facilities and faculty in Virginia, Gov. Mark Warner proposed $218.8 million in his fiscal year 2006-08 biennial budget proposal for investment in university R&D. In response, state institutions of higher education have pledged to match the governor's proposal with a $299 million commitment.

Nearly 40,000 people in 120 countries have placed deposits with the British commercial space company for the opportunity to become tourists in space, according to Virgin Galactic. Last Tuesday, New Mexico's governor said he wants the state to spend $100 million over the next three years to help get them there.

Following months of debate that ended in a veto last month by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, an agreement was made last week on a $600 million tax relief package for businesses, which now awaits the governor's anticipated signature. Gov.

One of the most critical federal partners involved either directly or indirectly in determining the success of most state tech-based economic development strategies seeks input from the science and engineering (S&E) community in the development of its next five-year plan.

On paper, the Jan. 4 FedEx Rose Bowl, which pits the Universities of Texas and Southern California against each other, will decide college football's national champion.

Most of the media coverage for the MoneyTree™ Survey of venture capital investments, prepared quarterly through collaboration of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association, focuses on the amount of money invested in a particular state or region during the given period and its change relative to another given time period.

With the upcoming two Monday holidays for Christmas and New Year's Day, the next issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest will be published on Jan. 9, 2006. The Funding Supplement will reconvene publication the week of Jan. 9 as well.

Package Isn't All Governor Expected; Veto Possible

Breaking new technologies into traditional markets can be challenging, particularly in the energy field it seems. To help overcome that hurdle, the State of Pennsylvania has undertaken a $5 million initiative to help finance the implementation of clean and renewable energy technologies such as biomass and wind power.

Since her inauguration in January, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano has pushed legislation intended to increase university tech transfer and commercialization (see related item in this issue). But will it work? Do economic incentives really encourage university researchers to pursue commercialization goals? Or are academics "pure" scientists, truly beyond monetary motives as many would argue?

With a combined annual research budget totaling $4.8 billion, New Mexico's 12 largest research facilities signed a Memorandum of Agreement on May 30 to help turn intellectual property into jobs for New Mexicans. Members of the newly formed New Mexico Technology Research Corridor (TRC) include:

While the nation’s manufacturing sector continues to face major challenges, the National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM) suggests in a new white paper that the U.S. can compete successfully with low-wage countries if industry and government rally around two basic goals — increase labor productivity by greatly accelerating the use of advanced technologies and leverage national resources through a major expansion of public-private partnerships.

Arizona Legislation to Encourage Tech Transfer Awaits Voters' Approval

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. released last week his fiscal year 2007 budget request, providing a substantial boost in funding for the Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) Initiative. In FY 2005, the legislature appropriated $4 million to fund the initial phase of the initiative. This year, the governor is recommending $62 million for infrastructure and programs.

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.

An increasing number of states are realizing the potential role renewable energy can play in their tech-based economic development strategies (TBED) and future growth.

Britain’s Pre Budget Report 2005, released Dec. 5, calls for the United Kingdom to double spending for stem cell research to £100M within the next two years and launch a number of new initiatives to sustain innovation and science.

In China, leaders of the rapidly growing nation dogged by soaring energy needs and unrelenting pollution problems made a commitment to double the nation’s use of renewable energy resources within the next 15 years.

Tuition at South Carolina's four-year public institutions increased by 106 percent over the five-year period, 1999-2004, the highest such increase in the nation, according to the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

On Wednesday, President Bush signed the Jobs and Growth Tax Reconciliation Act of 2003, providing $20 billion in fiscal relief to state governments. Half of the $20 billion will come through an increase in the federal share of Medicaid.

A survey of 330 cities and towns by the National League of Cities (NLC) shows that cities are raising fees and taxes while cutting infrastructure spending and city staffs in order to deal with the worst fiscal conditions for municipalities since NLC began its annual survey of city finance managers in 1985.