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Tony Jeff is the new executive director of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Mississippi.

Robert McMahan has been named North Carolina's Science Advisor. In addition to advising the Governor on science and technology matters, McMahan will oversee the support staff for the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology. The advisor position will report to the secretary of the Department of Commerce.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) promoted Michael Werner to the new position as chief of policy. Formerly, Werner served as BIO's vice president for bioethics.

For the second year in a row, Florida cities dominate the Milken Institute's top 200 largest U.S. metropolitan areas in the ability to create and sustain jobs. The top performer, Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, moved up 31 places from last year and is followed by last year's top scorer, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, and Naples-Marco Island, respectively.

To further accommodate and cater to fledgling biotechnology, high-tech and start-up companies, the University of Pennsylvania Science Center in Philadelphia recently announced plans to add 1.85 million sq. ft. through the construction of six new buildings with retail and parking components.

On Friday, the National Science Foundation (NSF) released Science & Engineering Indicators 2006, an update for the nation's most significant, quantitative and neutral assessment of the health of the U.S. and international science and engineering communities.

National R&D spending increased by $10.1 billion in fiscal year 2003, according to a recent National Science Foundation (NSF) InfoBrief. The increase followed an $8.1 billion decrease in FY 2002 expenditures over the FY 2001 level, the data show.

Sometimes, the economic advantages of consolidating state and local initiatives addressing different elements of building tech-based economies outweighs any potential dilution of specific efforts. Other times, the addition of an entirely new entity is required to provide concentrated focus on specific needs or activities. Here are a few of the most recent examples of the realignment of the TBED community:

The National Governors Association (NGA) seeks a senior policy analyst with substantial expertise in technology-based economic development and the role state governments can play in promoting it.

Donald Jakeway will be the new president and CEO for the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Joseph James is the new chief operating officer for the South Carolina Department of Commerce.

The Florida Venture Forum named Robin Kovaleski as the first executive director for the organization.

Former U.S. Congresswoman Connie Morella has been sworn in as the US Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

SSTI extends its sympathies to the family of Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon. During his interrupted term in office, Gov. O'Bannon proved to be a strong friend of tech-based economic development efforts in the state.

Gov. Jim Doyle last week unveiled his plan to jumpstart the Wisconsin economy. The plan, "Grow Wisconsin," calls for a series of executive actions, private sector partnerships and legislative steps to create high-wage jobs and achieve other goals. Some of the tech-based economic development items outlined in "Grow Wisconsin" are:

Gov. Mitt Romney outlined a legislative package on Monday totaling $125 million designed to create more jobs. Many elements of the package target the science and technology communities.

Investments in science and technology (S&T) – from higher education to industry research and development (R&D) – are the decisive factors in creating a sustainable economic future, a new study finds.

Gaining an understanding of the real and potential economic impact of government investments in research and development (R&D) has suffered for decades from a lack of rigorous but broadly applicable methodologies for the assessment. To advance the field toward a more appropriate degree of uniformity, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently released a primer on economic impact analysis of government R&D programs.

An educated workforce is one of the elements required for a knowledge economy, but not all of the critical jobs require a Ph.D. or even a B.A. Few would dispute, though, the importance of successfully completing high school.

Seats Available for Developing Angel Organizations, Financing TBED Workshops

Randy Burge has announced his resignation as director of the New Mexico Department of Economic Development's Office of Science and Technology. Mike Orshan will serve as acting director beginning Sept. 29.

Randy Burge has announced his resignation as director of the New Mexico Department of Economic Development's Office of Science and Technology. Mike Orshan will serve as acting director beginning Sept. 29.

The first three installments of SSTI's four-part look at how TBED will play in the 2006 legislative priorities of the governors can be found in the Digest archives at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm

Oklahoma

Contrary to popular belief, intellectual capital and university collaboration - not just lower costs - primarily attract companies to locate R&D activities in locations away from their home country, according to a new study sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Hard evidence of the increasing global research competence discussed in the Thursby's paper above was provided last week when the Singapore Ministry of Trade & Industry (MTI) announced plans last week to commit $7.5 billion ($4.6 billion US) over the next five years to sustain innovation-driven growth through economic-oriented R&D. All figures below are in U.S. dollars.