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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have announced a four-year plan to invest approximately $70 million a year in a nationwide network of life science research centers. The Molecular Libraries Probe Production Centers Network will employ high-tech screening methods to identify molecules that can be used as probes to explore the functions of cells. This research is intended to help increase the pace of discovery in the field of chemical probes, which have become a key resource in fighting disease.

Crafting a regional TBED strategy is a difficult proposition. First, you figure out where you are. You check the data, conduct surveys and talk to the right people. Then, you figure out where you need to go. You look at other regions, and, again, talk to the right people. Using that information, you try to chart a course from where you are to where you want to be. The path, however, is rarely a straight line.

Want to know more about the Obama Administration's innovation strategy? SSTI is pleased to welcome two key administration officials to this year's conference. Ginger Lew, Senior Counselor to the White House National Economic Council (NEC) and the Small Business Administration (SBA), and Brian McGowan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce and COO for the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), will discuss the administration's plans to support innovation.

Voters in more than 30 states will go to the polls to choose a governor later this year. For TBED professionals, gubernatorial elections can mean uncertainty. Will the next administration put economic development and technology on the agenda? Will the new governor support existing agencies and programs, or will he/she introduce new initiatives? What will happen to the budget for TBED programs?

Pennsylvania invites all SSTI conference attendees to a networking reception at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Tuesday, Sept. 14. Guests can immerse themselves in 17 distinct botanical experiences while exploring this thriving attraction that showcases advanced green-building practices, sustainable gardening and a new environmental awareness.

The way we interact with our colleagues has forever changed in the face of social networking, teleconferences, and email. But the need for personal, one-on-one interaction to ask questions, bounce ideas off one another, and share best practices is still very much alive.

The transition from finite energy sources such as fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is on. The U.S. government, European Union and China are directing billions into the development of renewable energies. Most states have adopted energy standards to encourage the change. Private investments in renewable energies also have surpassed investments in fossil fuel technologies. Economic opportunities and challenges for regions across the country abound as a result.

After this year's Big Reveal, Wednesday, Sept. 15 at lunch, join practitioners named as best practices in the field of tech-based economic development as they gather during a thought-provoking session to discuss only the most important issues for the TBED community — lessons learned, how to measure impact, and how to communicate success to sustain programs. SSTI is rolling out an entirely new format for the session this year designed to engage audience members through an intimate setting featuring an interview format led by Peggy Shults, President and CEO of Lytmos Group, LLC.

As an SSTI Conference Sponsor, you have the chance to showcase your organization with the decision makers responsible for crafting and implementing local and state-level policies and programs that directly contribute to the nation's competitiveness. Today's marketplace is about belonging and staying connected. No other event brings together so many of the nation's top players in the TBED community.

With an increased need to compete globally, the need for a highly educated workforce has taken center stage in a number of states. But with the continuing issue of college affordability, states are looking at new ways to increase the number of college graduates within their borders.

Federal funding of academic science and engineering (S&E) R&D failed to outpace inflation for two consecutive years, according to the latest annual Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges from the National Science Foundation (NSF).  The decline in two consecutive years has never occurred before in the survey's 36-year history.

Even in the venture capital-rich state of California during a boom period for clean energy investment, some clean energy entrepreneurs still have a hard time finding the capital resources they desire. As a result, one non-profit venture capital group, with a unique history of its own, is launching a new effort to support early-stage businesses. The California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF) is currently helping to raise a $20 million angel fund to bridge a perceived gap in seed and start-up stage capital availability.

As many stories in this issue of the Digest point out, academic institutions serve a critical role in performing R&D for the nation’s innovation pipeline. While most of the attention of national policymakers is directed toward the size of federal and industrial investments in R&D, the burden of financing the infrastructure to support much of that research activity falls on states and institutions of higher education. And that burden has a steep price tag.

Twenty-six members, spanning university presidents, investors, serial entrepreneurs, and nonprofit leaders, were appointed to the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship announced yesterday by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. The group will support President Obama's innovation strategy by helping develop policies that foster entrepreneurship and identifying new ways to take ideas from the lab to the marketplace to drive economic growth and create jobs.

A new state agency to promote innovation and job creation in New Jersey was established by Gov. Chris Christie earlier this year. Envisioned as a hub for all economic development activity, the New Jersey Partnership for Action consists of three interconnected organizations to promote the state's incentives and resources, develop pro-growth policies, and assist businesses in navigating government programs. The governor's promise of a more effective strategy for economic development activity comes at the same time of severe reductions to the state's technology-based initiatives, however.

In a study released by the Council on Competiveness, the researchers try to answer the complicated question: Why are some regions more successful than others in global competition? The traditional paradigm of regional development focuses the endowment of innovation assets (i.e. people institutions, capital and infrastructure). Regions abundant in these assets were built to succeed in the global knowledge economy. In contrast, less successful regions fail due to a lack of innovation assets.

The NY-BEST Board of Directors released a solicitation to acquire an Executive Director for NY-BEST and an organization to provide operational support.

Andre Pettigrew, the director of the Denver Office of Economic Development, will become the first executive director of Climate Prosperity Inc., a Washington, D.C., climate-change think tank. LaCharles Keesee, the city's deputy chief financial officer, will assume an interim role as head of the city's economic development department until a final replacement is named.

Last week, three contracts between North Dakota State University (NDSU) and research partners at two Department of Energy federal laboratories were announced, building research opportunities within the Red River Valley Research Corridor. They included the following:

• A $50,000 contract from Sandia National Laboratories to develop water purification membranes through polymer research;
• A $25,000 contract also from Sandia for solar cell research which will utilize technologies patented at NDSU; and,

According to National Science Foundation (NSF) data released two weeks ago, companies spent in aggregate $247.7 billion on R&D expenditures performed in the U.S. in 2006. Leading the nation was California, with $58.4 billion in industrial R&D, followed by Michigan ($16.5 billion), Massachusetts ($15.6 billion), New Jersey ($14.6 billion), and Texas ($13.3 billion).
 

Over the past few months, several states have announced efforts aimed at reducing the nation's dependence on oil. While the importance and urgency of such efforts is perhaps magnified in the wake of one of the worst U.S. environmental disasters, the shift to a renewable energy-focused economy also brings with it the expectation of job creation, new product development, and increased revenue for states struggling in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

Touted as a tool to help the state attract and retain jobs, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford last week signed into law H. 4478, the Economic Development Competitiveness Act. The new law directs one-third of the state's endowed chairs money be administered by the Coordinating Council on Economic Development — a reform measure that the governor says will help shift its focus to job creation and allow private sector investment to lead public sector investment. Funding previously was administered by an academic panel.

A national space agenda based on competition and national pride — the space race as it has been called — fits bygone times, according to the new National Space Policy statement released by the Obama administration on June 28. The new era outlined in the 14-page document calls for space-venturing nations to embrace shared principles of responsibility, peace, transparency, no claims of national sovereignty, and recognizing "purposeful interference" with another nation's space systems is an infringement of that nation's rights and grounds for self-defense or deterrence.

U.S. manufacturing competitiveness will continue to decline, according to the 2010 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index (GMCI). Index projections suggest, by 2015, Brazil will have overtaken the U.S. for fourth in the global rankings behind China, India and the Republic of Korea. The report concludes the increasing talent pools worldwide, coupled with higher U.S. wages, have placed U.S. manufacturing at a disadvantage in the global markets. However, the U.S.

The full-color, full-conference brochure will hit the streets next week but we wanted to give Digest readers the first peek at what promises to be a very special event for the technology-based economic development (TBED) community. SSTI’s 12th Annual Conference will be held Oct. 14-16, 2008, at the Intercontinental Hotel Cleveland.