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Business-led partnerships looking to train workers in high-skill, high-tech occupations may get a boost from a series of instructional conferences to be held later this month and in August. The U.S. Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will hold three conferences in 2003 to assist prospective applicants for its H-1B Technical Skills Training Grants competition, under which approximately $50 million is available for new awards.

Providence was listed among the top 50 cities in the U.S. in which to do business in a June issue of Forbes Magazine. Now, a new initiative to jumpstart economic development in the Rhode Island capital is aimed at solidifying the ranking.

The Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City announced on Monday it will award grants of up to $5 million to 5-7 U.S. universities to make entrepreneurship education a common and accessible campus-wide opportunity. The Foundation works with partners to encourage entrepreneurship across America.

A new book released by the Sierra Business Council (SBC), Investing for Prosperity, suggests new ways for rural regions to achieve long-term prosperity. The 148-page guide brings together many of the latest innovations rural communities across North America are using to grow their economies, improve their towns and build their social capital.

In response to recent requests from SSTI sponsors and affiliates, SSTI has compiled a table summarizing total funding distributed within states in the form of grants and awards by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The table <http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/071103t.htm> includes total amounts and state rankings for NIH awards for each of the years 1998-2002.

The first director of the new Automation Alley Technology Center will be Thomas Anderson.

Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns has appointed Richard Baier as the state's first rural development director. Baier will work closely with the new Nebraska Rural Development Commission.

The first director of the new Automation Alley Technology Center will be Thomas Anderson.

Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns has appointed Richard Baier as the state's first rural development director. Baier will work closely with the new Nebraska Rural Development Commission.

Colorado State Representative Tim Fritz is resigning his seat to become director of Colorado's Office of Aerospace and Aeronautics.

John Hansen is the new Secretary of Technology for the State of Colorado. Hansen retains his position as Chief Technology Officer as well.

SSTI continues this year's "Tech Talkin' Govs" series. The first installment of this 2006 review of governors' legislative priorities concerning tech-based economic development is available through the Digest online: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm

Maine

Like many low-population states that cannot benefit from tax revenues from oil and gas exploitation such as Wyoming and Alaska, Rhode Island must leverage its existing university and industry research capabilities more fully and encourage more private investment activity, according to the five initial recommendations of the Rhode Island Science & Technology Advisory Council (STAC).

One of the biggest obstacles for products drawing on alternative energy is finding a market big enough to bring the cost down of their new technologies to attract the larger more risk-adverse population of consumers. Californians are stepping up to the challenge after committing to invest nearly $3 billion over the next 10 years to aid in the shift to cleaner power.

The University of California (UC) is demonstrating success in several key areas under a compact designed to facilitate timely graduation. Findings of the first annual report reveal the university is achieving success in degree production in high priority areas for the state, effective community college transfer, and transfer of research innovations to the marketplace, according to the UC press office.

SSTI has compiled a table of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards in total dollars and state rankings from fiscal years 2000-2004. The states are ranked by percent change over the five-year period. The greatest gains were posted in North Dakota (202.51 percent), Alaska (200.98 percent), Idaho (157.48 percent), Montana (144.72 percent), Virginia (120.85 percent), and Hawaii (107.06 percent).

Publisher's Note Since 1999, SSTI has reviewed each of the governor's State of the States and inaugural and budget addresses for references involving tech-based economic development. Since 2001, we've provided relevant excerpts as part of the SSTI Weekly Digest. This year's coverage begins with this issue, and as you'll see, it's clear that innovation and workforce are playing a major role in this year's speeches.

Americans increasingly recognize the nation's status as the world's economic superpower is threatened, based on research findings released by the Business Roundtable last Thursday.

A new report from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) places North America at the top, in terms of participation in high-expectation entrepreneurial activity. The report looks at the prevalence of high-expectation activity internationally and analyzes bivariate relationships between high-expectation prevalence rates and entrepreneurial framework conditions.

The challenge for industry, academic leaders and policymakers in Massachusetts over the next few years is to translate the competitive strengths of the state's economy into new companies and new jobs, the ninth annual Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy indicates.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could have more money to spend on science and tech initiatives in fiscal year (FY) 2004, thanks to a 63.1 percent increase in R&D funding approved Tuesday by the U.S. House of Representatives. Approximately $900.4 million – or $348.4 million more than the previous year – will go toward DHS's Science and Technology (S&T) budget in FY04.

South Carolina's three major research universities were awarded a total of $30 million this week to establish the state's first six centers of excellence, according to The State, a Columbia, S.C.-based newspaper.

As many states are striving to increase their academic research capacity in areas that will strengthen long-term economic competitiveness, the governor of the Lone Star State is pursuing an alternate course that closely resembles traditional business recruitment and retention models.

The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) has issued a new study showing Maryland continues to underperform in some key areas of innovation while leading competitor states in other areas.

The St. Louis BioBelt announced this week it is well along in launching four new initiatives designed to position the region as a "location of choice" for start-up and evolving plant and life science companies.

A new 225-page report released by the U.S. Department of Commerce examines employer demand for information technology (IT) workers, the IT education and training landscape, and the role of employers and workers in IT education and training. Education and Training for the Information Technology Workforce, mandated by the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act of 2000, highlights five broad findings: