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Included below are recent development plans and groundbreaking news for research parks announced by officials in Connecticut, Colorado, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

Lawmakers last week passed the 2011-13 biennial budget, providing $12 million for the state's Centers of Research Excellence program. Although it is less than Gov. Jack Dalrymple's request of $20 million to expand the program and provide additional funding for three new centers, the legislature's appropriation will allow for continued investments in infrastructure and research capacity at a time when many states are reducing funding for TBED to help fill budget deficits.

Indian and Chinese immigrant professionals trained in the U.S. are increasingly returning to their home countries with aspirations of becoming entrepreneurs, according to the Grass is Indeed Greener in India and China for Returnee Entrepreneurs — a new report funded by the Kauffman Foundation.

Since 2005, the distribution of U.S. venture capital (VC) investment has remained fairly steady, with California companies receiving about half of all venture dollars. California's share of total dollars reached its highest point in 2009, when the state's firms received 50.6 percent of all U.S. investment. While California's share decreased a bit in 2010, VC activity remains highly concentrated in a handful of states. Over the past five years, the top ten states for venture investment have represented about 85 percent of all U.S. venture activity.

A larger number of states are positioned to capitalize on rising employment due to high-growth industries, according to a new report from Wells Fargo's Economic Group — Employment Dynamics and State Competitiveness. These states (i.e., Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Virginia and Texas) have been able to couple several high-growth industries with a skilled workforce to build their competitive advantage.

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SSTI board members Rob Atkinson and Rebecca Bagley and SSTI member Stephen Tang were appointed to the U.S. Department of Commerce Innovation Advisory Board. The 15-member board will guide a study of U.S. economic competitiveness and innovation to help inform national policies.

Much of the recent economic recovery plans coming from governors across the country have focused on growing and nurturing existing businesses through a regional approach to economic development. The idea is that by identifying and defining the unique needs of a region, policymakers and practitioners can then provide the necessary tools and resources to grow industries likely to succeed within a given region, thus improving the overall economic landscape of the state. This approach is happening both in states and at the local level.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the Bayh-Dole Act does not grant universities the unlimited right to patents resulting from federal research grants. In a 7-2 vote, the Court found that a professor could sign over the right to intellectual property (IP) that resulted from collaborative research with a private company. Stanford University argued that Bayh-Dole granted universities a right to IP that could not be signed away by the inventor.

The number of annual U.S. patents of all types increased from 82,586 in 2005 to 121,179 in 2010, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). After falling in 2007 and 2008, and making only minor gains in 2009, patents jumped by 27.5 percent last year. Overall, the number of patents grew 46.7 percent between 2005 and 2010, while patents per capita increased by 40.6 percent. California continues to have the highest number of annual patents in the country, generating about one quarter of all U.S. patents in 2010.

One is a proposed tech corridor focused on energy and environment in southeastern Louisiana and the other is being called a "knowledge district" meant to capitalize on the life sciences sector in Providence, but both have the same goal: growing high-tech industry sectors and creating high-wage jobs. Though the concept has been around for decades and is successful in many areas of the country, some states and regions are just now finding their niche and gaining support to establish tech hubs.

A recent report from the Intellectual Property Association revealed the top 300 organizations granted U.S. patents in 2010. IBM, Samsung and Microsoft led this year's list. Fourteen universities, including 13 U.S. institutions and one from China, made the top 300, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Leading universities include the University of California Regents, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.

James Weyhenmeyer has been named the vice president for Research and Economic Development at Georgia State University.

The Council on Competitiveness in partnership with Deloitte released Ignite 2.0: Voices of American University Presidents and National Lab Directors on Manufacturing Competiveness, the second installment of a three-part series on improving U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. According to the report, talent-driven innovation, education and advanced skills development coupled with research, science, technology and full life-cycle commercialization are the necessary drivers for a U.S. manufacturing resurgence.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage has nominated George Gervais, the acting commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development as commissioner. His nomination must be reviewed by the Joint Standing Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development and confirmed by the Senate.

President Barack Obama recently announced the creation of a national Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) to accelerate the development of manufacturing technologies at top engineering universities. The AMP initiative, which was developed based on recommendations from a report by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), would leverage existing programs and proposals to invest more than $500 million in university and private R&D. The partnership is being called an "umbrella" for federal innovation programs.

At the close of the 2011 legislative session in Louisiana last week, lawmakers approved three measures to encourage investment in high-tech economic endeavors. This includes renewing and enhancing the R&D tax credit and the Technology Commercialization credit and reinstating an angel investor tax credit for investment in emerging startups.

Lawmakers last week passed a measure establishing the Innovate NY Fund to invest $25 million of federal funds in technology development organizations, research universities, and seed-stage investment funds. The Empire State Development Corporation will administer the fund and establish a competitive process for evaluating applicants. Investment priority is given to companies involved in commercialization of R&D or high-tech manufacturing.

Last week, the House of Representatives passed the largest overhaul of U.S. patent law in 60 years. Under the new legislation, patent decisions would favor inventors who file for patents first, rather the the current "first-to-invent" system. The change would bring U.S. patent law more in line with the patent systems of Europe and Japan. A similar bill was passed by the Senate in March, which will be reconciled with the House bill in the near future.

Europe needs increased and "smarter" investments in both public and private research and development (R&D) to address the European Union's (EU) "Innovation Emergency," according to the European Commission's 2011 Innovation Union Competitiveness Report. The commission contends it is necessary to accelerate investments into R&D to achieve the EU's target of 3 percent of GDP being spent on R&D. EU members currently invest approximately 2 percent of GDP on R&D spending.

The state of Washington's Governor Chris Gregoire announced the state will contribute $5 million to the W Fund, a new $25 million investment fund intended to spin more startups out of research labs at the University of Washington, Washington State University and other state research institutions. Administered by the Washington State Department of Commerce, key growth sectors targeted by the W Fund include biotech and clean tech. The fund intends to start considering investments in early 2012.

The European Union has implemented 30 of the 40 Innovation Union commitments according to State of the Innovation Union, a comprehensive progress report on the Innovation Union, the European Union's (EU) flagship initiative under the Europe 2020 growth strategy for the decade. By the end of 2011, the European Commission will have passed all six Innovation Union legislative proposals.

U.S. policy prescriptions for manufacturing are in disarray according to Make: an American Manufacturing Movement, a new report from the Council on Competitiveness. Policymakers, the report's authors contend, are bombarded with widely available reports and analysis that support one of three conflicting views (it is on steep decline, doing reasonably well or it is poised for growth) on the health and importance of U.S. manufacturing.

To bring more tech-related companies and jobs to Wyoming, Gov. Matt Mead's budget request for the new biennium adds $15 million to broaden an existing fund established last year for the recruitment of mega data centers. If approved by the legislature, the state would make available $30 million for both large-scale recruitment and to attract smaller technology companies. Anticipating flat growth over the next two years, the budget for 2013-14 proposes a slight reduction in ongoing spending from last biennium.

A new Office of Manufacturing Policy within the National Economic Council (NEC) will work across agency lines to coordinate the federal government's manufacturing programs and help develop manufacturing policy. On Monday, President Obama named Commerce Secretary John Bryson and NEC Chair Gene Sperling as co-chairs of the office, which will convene cabinet-level meetings on the administration's manufacturing initiatives.

Proposals introduced in Florida and Ohio would have changed the funding model for universities that meet certain benchmarks to elevate their standing for research and innovation. Both proposals ultimately were rejected, however. In Ohio, the state's plan for enterprise universities is on hold, and in Florida Gov. Rick Scott recently vetoed a bill to establish preeminent universities.