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Colorado Governor Bill Owens has appointed Paul Ray as the state's first director of biosciences.

Peter Slate will preside as chief executive officer over the Arizona Technology Enterprises, the newly created limited liability company formed by spinning off Arizona State University's technology transfer office.

As off-year elections go, the Nov. 8, 2005, election was pretty quiet across the country if you weren't running for mayor in one of 300-plus municipalities up for grabs or governor of New Jersey or Virginia.

New Jersey and Virginia were the only two states to choose governors in November 2005, with both states having open races. Below is a description of each governor-elect's position on TBED.

Last Tuesday's election included a major bond package in Maine, a constitutional amendment in Ohio to complete the Third Frontier initiative, budget reform in New York, and additional TBED items in Iowa and Texas. Following are the results from some of the major ballot and bond issues within the states.

As states have wrestled with budget constraints in recent years, many have adopted or are contemplating spending-limit measures, such as Colorado's Taypayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR), or similar fiscal limitations that restrain growth of government spending. In the recent November elections, California voters rejected a spending-limit proposal and Colorado voters suspended their state's restrictive TABOR amendment, allowing the state to keep funds for the next five years.

Southern Growth Policies Board, a regional public policy think tank, is accepting nominations for its Innovator Awards.

U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, has called on the Senate’s top appropriators to help reverse budget elimination of two key programs designed to strengthen the technological competitiveness of small businesses.

A bi-partisan group of Senators have cosponsored the "New Homestead Economic Opportunity Act" to help renew the promise of the original Homestead Act to attract new residents and businesses to rural areas suffering from high out-migration. Introduced by Senator Bryon Dorgan (D-ND) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) this week, the bill provides incentive tools including a $3 billion venture capital fund.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has posted a preliminary list of the 10 U.S. universities receiving the most patents for inventions during calendar year 2002. The University of California tops the list for the ninth consecutive year. The table below also presents the school's 2001 ranking and total. 

Wrapping up its 2003 session earlier this month, the West Virginia State Legislature passed three bills designed to help build a technology-based economy.

Earlier this week, Colorado Chief Technology Officer John Hansen released a statewide plan to develop biotechnology and life sciences industry sectors in Colorado. Colorado's Place in the Sun: A Bioscience Future provides analysis, direction and recommended actions for three key sector areas — workforce development, business development, and research development.

Conventional wisdom in the technology-based economic development community is that increased access to risk capital is critical for building competitive economies. Establishing a causal relationship between early-stage capital and employment growth external to the companies receiving the funds has been difficult, however.

The Southern Growth Policies Board has released a toolkit to help communities understand the knowledge economy and how new economic forces affect quality of life and economic development. Seeing the Future: The Knowledge Economy seeks to inform people about the knowledge, skills and resources needed to compete in today’s economy.

Last week, the National Science Foundation (NSF) released the latest edition of Characteristics of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers in the United States, which reports characteristics for 2001. Valuable data is presented in the report on the demographic and employment characteristics of doctoral scientists and engineers in the U.S.

Tucson gains Community Investment Business Center, New Tech Park building

The National Institute of Standards and Technology of the U.S. Department of Commerce has announced it is accepting proposals from organizations in Florida, Hawaii and South Dakota to establish Manufacturing Technology Centers under the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. Approximately $4 million will be available to support these centers.

Conventional wisdom in the technology-based economic development community is that increased access to risk capital is critical for building competitive economies. Establishing a causal relationship between early-stage capital and employment growth external to the companies receiving the funds has been difficult, however.

Lloyd Chestnut, vice president of research at the University of Montana is leaving to take the position as vice president for research and technology transfer at the University of North Texas.

Christopher C. Foster is the new state technology coordinator at the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.

Lloyd Chestnut, vice president of research at the University of Montana is leaving to take the position as vice president for research and technology transfer at the University of North Texas.

Christopher C. Foster is the new state technology coordinator at the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.

Chris Matthews is the president of the new Chattanooga Technology Council, which held its official kickoff event earlier this month.

Katherine O'Dea has been named executive director of the Rhode Island Technology Council.

Dr. Leonard Peters is the new director of the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Tom Walker has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center.