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The satisfying flavor of success in tech-based economic development is whetting Oklahoma's appetite for more. Lots more.

A new report from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) finds the federal government’s expanding investment in Homeland Security-related research is already proving a major boon to the high tech economy in Massachusetts, but the state’s overall leadership in federally-funded research and development (R&D) is under intensifying pressure from states throughout the country.

Three I's neatly sum up the 22 recommendations recently released by Maryland Governor Robert Erlich's Commission on Development of Advanced Technology Business — Investment, Innovation, and Image. The year-long study looked at the state's existing physical, financial and intellectual infrastructures to support the state's research and technology sectors, making specific recommendations in three groupings to foster continued growth.

On Jan. 18, the San Diego Union-Tribune ran a series of three interesting articles examining the biotech sector. One story considers, now that a number of local biotech firms are completing clinical trials, where will they develop their multimillion manufacturing facilities. The other two articles look at selected state and local efforts around the country to support the biotech industry, including Washington, D.C., St. Louis, and Marshfield, WI.

A new comprehensive study of the state of higher education in the United States says that as a whole, the nation has made large improvements in the percentage of high school students taking upper-level math and science courses.

Solicitations totaling more than $101 million have been released by the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation (see the National Nanotechnology Initiative webpage at http://www.nano.gov for more details on each opportunity). The amount of funding available is one more indication of the importance that nanotechnology is expected to play in the future.

New legislation to help revitalize technology development in Washington, D.C. received unanimous approval from the Council of the District of Columbia and is expected to be signed by Mayor Anthony Williams.

All but one of the metro areas evaluated saw their high-tech industry employment grow during the last five years according to a 135-page report, Cybercities: A City By City Overview of the High-Technology Industry.

The line was drawn in the sand a year ago. Some felt Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), the Commonwealth's lead organization for science and technology, had been set up for failure in a partisan fight for limited public revenues. Like the rest of Virginia's economic development portfolio, CIT took a big hit in the budget cycle as Virginia dealt with a multibillion-dollar deficit in fiscal year 2003.

Tech-based economic development remains high on the agendas of the most of the governors who gave State of the State or Budget Addresses this week. Selected excerpts are provided below:

Kentucky Governor Paul Patton has appointed Bill Brundage to the serve as the state's first Commissioner for the New Economy. Dr. Brundage will oversee the new Kentucky Innovations Commission, which is attached to the Governor's Office and tasked to oversee the state's $55 million New Economy initiative.

Kentucky Governor Paul Patton has appointed Bill Brundage to the serve as the state's first Commissioner for the New Economy. Dr. Brundage will oversee the new Kentucky Innovations Commission, which is attached to the Governor's Office and tasked to oversee the state's $55 million New Economy initiative.