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Ellis Rubinstein, former editor of the magazine Science, has been appointed to serve as Chief Executive Officer of the New York Academy of Sciences.

At the University of New Mexico, Avi Shama has been named Special Advisor to the President on Economic Development. The new position will encourage, coordinate and promote economic development activities of various UNM units.

Jack Spencer is the new president of the Georgia Biomedical Partnership.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) is joining Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) as co-chair of the monthly Congressional Forum on Technology and Innovation.

Although only a few events remain for 2002, SSTI's web calendar of S&T items has brief descriptions and contact links for more than 120 regional or national conferences, meetings and workshops planned for 2003.

Homeland security R&D, high-end computing, the National Nanotechnology Initiative, and the President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative are among the interagency R&D priorities that will receive a special focus in agency budget requests, according to a memorandum outlining the Administration's R&D budget priorities for 2007.

SSTI is proud to announce the addition of two new staff members to its team. Sheri Stickely will join SSTI on Aug. 15 as a Vice President. Sheri is leaving the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Technology (OCAST) to join SSTI. She has served most recently as Interim Executive Director and has been with OCAST since its inception in 1987.

While some state legislatures debate banning public funds for some or all stem cell research, others are using whatever funding tools they have available to advance the controversial science. Some states use tobacco settlement money, others use revenue bonds, and still others use direct appropriations. Some states use voter referenda while most stay within the traditional state legislative process. The newest twist comes from Illinois, where Illinois Gov.

The Oregon Legislature overwhelmingly passed S.B. 853 last week, creating venture development funds to facilitate technology commercialization for students and faculty at the state's seven public universities.

For many practitioners, the quickest summary of a recent 16-page analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York might be "something has to change." Looking at job creation since the recovery began three years ago, Richard Freeman and William Rogers III state in The Weak Jobs Recovery: Whatever Happened to "The Great American Jobs Machine"? that this is the worst recovery in all post-World War II recoveries.

The quality of the economic performance assessment of federal programs has improved, but gaps still remain in the application of the measures used, according to the latest report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

A new resource published by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) argues that indices claiming to measure the same thing - namely, the capacity or potential for economic growth - often vary widely in their results and are not effective yardsticks of economic potential.

More than 100 technology clusters may exist in the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) area, but challenges to exploit and nurture the clusters still exist. A new report analyzes the ARC region's concentration of technology resources at a sub-regional level and uncovers localized technology strengths that might be promoted through concentrated economic development policy.

Economic growth in a regional economy can be positively linked to an increase in intensity of industry R&D, according to recent research by Marios Zachariadis of Louisiana State University. R&D, Innovation, and Technological Progress: A Test of the Schumpeterian Framework without Scale Effects, released in September 2002, establishes a connection among R&D intensity, patenting, technological change and economic growth.

Manufacturing jobs in rural Minnesota numbered almost 120,000 in 2000, a 25 percent increase since 1990, according to a recent study by the Center for Rural Policy and Development and Minnesota Technology Inc., two agencies dedicated to helping industry in Greater Minnesota.

Universities should revamp how they evaluate S&T teaching, report says

Two independent surveys of venture capital investments made during the third quarter of FY 2002 suggest the downward trends in the flow of money and number of VC placements will continue.

Competition Canceled in Florida

The U.S. can watch as another country significantly expands its investments in innovation. This time it's France, as newly appointed Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin last month announced that the national government will double its funding from €500 million to €1 billion for the Industrial Innovation Agency (IIA), and give €350 million to the National Research Agency (ANR).

Just over two months ago, Acting Gov. Richard Codey announced budget shortfalls were delaying the state's $380 million stem cell research initiative (see the April 25 issue of the Digest).

In its third special session of the year, Mississippi legislators passed House Bill 3, an economic development package of grants and loans for high-tech and existing industry, including Gov. Barbour’s Momentum Mississippi Initiative.

Within days of taking office in January, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. dismantled the Department of Community and Economic Development and promised to make significant changes to how Utah approaches wealth generation and economic growth.

The latest Fiscal Survey of States reveals that many states still face tough budget challenges, despite the fact that extreme revenue shortfalls of the past have subsided. The survey, which measures the fiscal health of states, is conducted semi-annually by the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) and the National Governors Association (NGA).

Research continues to point to universities and public research organizations as the engines of innovation. But how does one build bridges between academics and industry that result in formal research agreements and specific problem-solving approaches? Two French studies suggest academic research with links to industry and across disciplines enhance the transfer of knowledge, focusing on directly applicable outcomes.

Recently released U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data show Nevada outpaced all other states in the percent growth of its real gross state product (GSP) over the period 2000-2004. The western state's real GSP grew from nearly $74.8 billion in 2000 to more than $90 billion in 2004, a 20.8 percent change, based on 2004 estimates.