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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.

After months of analyzing data and hundreds of interviews, organizers of western North Carolina's Future Forward economic development strategy only await the study's approval by local governments. Future Forward is aimed at improving economic development conditions for 12 counties in the Western Piedmont and Mountains of North Carolina located in the 10th and 11th Congressional Districts — Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Iredell, Lincoln, Rutherford, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes and McDowell counties.

TOP Reauthorized and To Grow, Says Senate Commerce Committee

Climate change. Global warming. Foreign oil dependency. Natural gas prices. Ozone alerts. Brownouts. Increasingly, energy related items grab the headlines, copy space and news coverage across America.

Recently released information on per capita income by state reveals the dramatic impact the dot-com boom and bust, plus the economic slowdown has had on income levels. Analyzing per capita income from 1998 to 2002 indicates that during that time every state but Nevada saw their per capita income increase. However, almost half of the states (23) peaked in 2000 and their per capita income has declined since.

Two of the most critical issues in today's tech-based economic development (TBED) involve money — funding for companies and funding for TBED programs.

Large-Scale Biomedical Science: Exploring Strategies for Future Research

The Human Genome Project, considered by life scientists to be their first foray into "big science," has paved the way for future large-scale projects that promise to lead to faster improvements in human health. But no guidelines on how to organize and fund such initiatives in the biomedical sciences have been available — until now.

Rod Casto was recently appointed to the position of Associate Vice President for Economic Development in the University of South Florida's Office of Research. Mark Laurenzo also has been named the new Deputy Director of the Division of Patents and Licensing in the USF office.

Rod Casto was recently appointed to the position of Associate Vice President for Economic Development in the University of South Florida's Office of Research. Mark Laurenzo also has been named the new Deputy Director of the Division of Patents and Licensing in the USF office.

The nonprofit Challenger Learning Center of Alaska Board of Directors recently announced the hiring of Sharon Gherman as its new Executive Director. Gherman was the former K-12 program executive for the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation.

Jacques Koppel, president of Minnesota Technology, Inc. since 1991, announced his resignation on July 28. Under Mr. Koppel's leadership, MTI worked with more than 5,600 manufacturing and technology companies around Minnesota, helping the state's economy realize gains of more than $700 million in the process.

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.

Stem cell research, an expanded tax zone redevelopment initiative and faculty/researcher recruitment are all beneficiaries in the fiscal year 2007 budget proposal submitted by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich last week. In addition, while overall funding for the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) is down 16 percent from the FY 2006 appropriation, the governor's request includes several new programs to assist technology entrepreneurship.

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell is using the midterm budget request as the vehicle to substantially overhaul how the state supports the entire economic development process. Connecticut Innovations, one of the nation's oldest state-created equity finance programs for tech businesses, would be consolidated with departments that cover focus areas ranging from health education and housing to traditional economic development financing.

Improving higher education is a top priority in almost every state, but fewer than half of states have set specific, measurable goals to track their progress in enrolling, retaining and graduating students, according to a new report from Jobs for the Future (JFF), By the Numbers: State Goals for Increasing Postsecondary Attainment.

Despite a decrease of $44.6 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding from fiscal year 2003,  Boston held the top spot in total NIH funding for FY 2004, maintaining its lead over New York. The two cities had $1.57 billion and $1.25 billion, respectively.

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

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced earlier this week the availability of $6 million in USDA Rural Development grant funds to support rural economic and community development efforts.