North Carolina legislators approved last week the fiscal year 2008-09 budget adjustment, providing additional funds for several TBED initiatives within the higher education system. Earlier this year, Gov. Mike Easley unveiled recommendations to use surplus funds to expand university projects aimed at supporting TBED (see the May 14, 2008 issue of the Digest).
Last week, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland signed an executive order that immediately allows all U.S. veterans eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill, their spouses, and their dependents to enroll at in-state tuition rates at Ohio’s public colleges and universities. Titled the Ohio GI Promise, the policy effectively allows all U.S. veterans to attend college for free in Ohio, once the new federal GI bill goes into effect on Aug. 1, 2009.
Collaborative research, particularly federally funded R&D, is playing an increasingly significant role in producing the top innovations each year, according to a new analysis released by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). Where Do Innovations Come From? Transformations in U.S. National Innovation System, 1970-2006 shows a dramatically diminishing role for the largest firms acting independently to fuel future technological advances.
A delegation of Automation Alley representatives recently traveled to the White House to receive the 2008 "E" Award for exporting. The Presidential 'E' Award was created by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to recognize persons, firms or organizations which contribute significantly to increase U.S. exports.
Steve Bazinet has been hired as executive director of the Maine Center for Enterprise Development.
Rahindra Bose is Ohio University's new vice president for research and creative activity and dean of the graduate college.
As July 1 approaches, the beginning of the 2008 fiscal year for most states, several state legislatures are still working to wrap up their appropriation bills. Maine and Tennessee are two of the most recent to close their books on next year’s budgets, and each has included increased funds to support TBED initiatives. Highlights for both states are provided below.
Maine
Complete descriptions of the position openings described below are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.
John Butler, director of the Institute for Innovation and Creativity, was appointed distinguished scholar and adjunct professor at Babson College.
James DeLong is the new vice president of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association.
William Even was named South Dakota's new economic development director.
John Butler, director of the Institute for Innovation and Creativity, was appointed distinguished scholar and adjunct professor at Babson College.
James DeLong is the new vice president of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association.
William Even was named South Dakota's new economic development director.
The National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices has named Chris Hayter as its program director for economic development, a newly created position. Hayter joins NGA from the National Council for Advanced Manufacturing.
Bill Johnson, formerly the director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, left his position to become the grassroots coordinator of Gov. Bob Riley's re-election campaign. Doni Ingram, who was the agency's assistant director, is now acting director.
Rob Monsees left his position as Gov. Matt Blunt's deputy chief of staff-policy to become the executive director of the Missouri Technology Corporation.
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay's Paper Technology Transfer Center has changed its name to the Paper Industry Resource Center.
The Center for Applied Innovation, a Chicago-based think tank, appointed Michael Patin as its new executive director.
This afternoon, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell signed a $650 million package of tax incentives, loans and grants to spur the development and use of clean energy technologies within the state. The governor believes that the bill will help the state leverage as much as $3.5 billion in private investment and help the state build a stronger clean energy industry. Highlights from the Alternative Energy Investment Act include:
Gov. Jennifer Granholm today signed legislation creating Centers of Energy Excellence, a program designed to bring companies, academic institutions, and the state together to create jobs in alternative and advanced energy. The initiative, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, is part of an overall job creation and economic stimulus package proposed by the governor in her State of the State address earlier this year (see the Jan.
National Governors Association
Compiling award and proposal statistics by state for fiscal year 2007, SSTI finds the 10 states with the most awards in FY 2007 were California (1201), Massachusetts (731), Maryland (342), Virginia (322), New York (297), Texas (269), Colorado (254), Ohio (240), Pennsylvania (211) and Washington (160). Compared to the top states for FY06, Maryland moved into the third spot from sixth last year, pushing Virginia to fourth place. New York climbed from eighth place to fifth place, and Texas, Colorado and Ohio each fell from their position last year.
The U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation recently announced that the U.S. had completed its contribution to the international Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Project on budget and ahead of schedule. By the end of the year, the LHC at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) laboratory near Geneva will generate its first particle collisions and research output. Total U.S. contribution to the project is about $531 million of the $5.89 billion cost of the project. Although the U.S.
Cynics will tell you politicians rarely let facts get in the way of their policy positions and one doesn’t have to look terribly hard to find anecdotal evidence to support that conclusion. One hopes – expects, even – in most cases, however, that elected officials have people more grounded in reality working for them in the trenches of the state or federal executive branch.
On Monday, President Bush signed the $161.8 billion supplemental appropriations bill for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, 2008. Though the appropriation primarily provides funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the bill also includes almost $3.6 billion in non-war funding. Of this, $400 million was approved for U.S. science programs.
The annual convention for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) provides an opportunity each year for many attendees to announce new initiatives and reports in the field of life science research and bio-related TBED – sometimes blockbuster initiatives trying to create the most buzz during and after the event.
Complete descriptions of these opportunities and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.