Search

Texas Gov. Rick Perry unveiled his budget proposal for fiscal year 2008-09 with an additional $300 million to recapitalize the state’s Emerging Technology Fund (ETF). The program provides loans and grants to commercialization projects with ties to state universities, and to create research centers in key technology areas. The funding would represent a significant expansion of the program, which received $200 million when it was established in 2005 and no new funding in 2006.

 

Over the past 27 years, the Bayh-Dole Act has been frequently cited as critical for university tech transfer in the U.S. The Act allows universities to assume ownership over the intellectual property (IP) produced on campuses, whenever that property derives from research funded in whole or in part by the federal government. The possibility of financial returns from licensing agreements or on the sale of IP gives institutions an important incentive to engage in applied research and move their discoveries to market.

 

Looking for that perfect professional development opportunity for you or your staff. If so, the SSTI Web calendar of events should prove useful in your search.



By visiting www.ssti.org/calendar.htm, you can view more than 170 technology-based economic development events.



Events include:

Mark Benedetto, president of the University of Sioux Falls, has been elected chairman of the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce.

Mark Benedetto, president of the University of Sioux Falls, has been elected chairman of the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce.

Julie Coons is the new president of the Technology Council of Maryland. Coons most recently served as executive vice president of PCIA -- the Wireless Infrastructure Association.

The Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest has hired Arthur DeMonte as its first executive director. DeMonte was global director of the e-Business Technology Center at Dow Chemical.

Norma Grace, vice chancellor for technology and economic development at the University of New Orleans, has been elected as the 2004-05 president of the Association of University Research Parks.

The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology has named Dr. Gautam Pillay to the new position of vice president for research. Pillay was executive director of the Inland Northwest Research Alliance.

Duane Roth is the new executive director of UCSD CONNECT. Roth was CEO of Alliance Pharmaceuticals in San Diego.

Michael Terry, president and CEO of EmergeMemphis, has announced he will resign at the end of the year.

Earlier this month Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell announced a broad state strategy to improve the state’s energy independence, support alternative energy business, and reduce the state’s environmental impact. The key element of the new state plan is an $850 million Energy Independence Fund, designed to reduce energy costs for consumers and shift the state’s usage toward clean and renewable sources. Gov. Rendell hopes the plan will save Pennsylvania consumers $10 billion over the next 10 years by lowering energy costs and reducing consumption.

 

Energy giant BP has announced that the University of California at Berkeley, in partnership with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will receive a total of $500 million to host a research center dedicated to developing biofuel technologies. The Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) will conduct both basic and applied biological research relevant to energy. BP and the university plan to launch research programs this summer.

 

A recent study completed for the Small Business Administration (SBA) concludes that small business establishment births are the single-largest determinant of the growth rate of gross state product (GSP), state personal income, and total state employment using data from the years 1988-2002. The authors contend state efforts to promote the creation of small businesses will generate more economic growth then any other policy option included in their models.

Rapid growth in the number of international patents filed by northeast Asian nations during 2006 has resulted in a shift of positions for the top-performing nations, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). With 34.1 percent, the U.S. maintained its global dominance with 49,555 patent filings. The figure represents an increase of 6.1 percent over America’s 2005 total; the U.S. rate of growth is slower than the 6.4 percent growth in total world filings.

 

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, in partnership with the Richard Florida Creativity Group (RFCG), recently announced the formation of the Knight Creative Communities Initiative in three metropolitan areas of the country: Charlotte; Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wisc.; and, Tallahassee. The goal of the initiative, utilizing Dr. Florida’s theories on the importance of creativity and innovation for economic growth, is to produce through community dialogue a vision to enhance each region’s environment for ingenuity.

Increasing federal funding for life science research is one of the most significant ingredients for improving a state’s position in building a strong biotech and biomedical sector. As appropriations for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were increasing annually – as they did in the last half of the 1990s and the first few years of this decade – this was not a zero-sum game. All states could win.

 

Peter Bianco has been named executive director of University Enterprise Laboratories, a nonprofit entity created by the University of Minnesota that provides incubator laboratory space for bioscience start-up companies.

Peter Bianco has been named executive director of University Enterprise Laboratories, a nonprofit entity created by the University of Minnesota that provides incubator laboratory space for bioscience start-up companies.

Former Massachusetts House Majority Leader Salvatore DiMasi has replaced Thomas Finneran as Speaker of the House. Finneran recently resigned to run the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.

Eugene Huang will replace Virginia Secretary of Technology George Newstrom, who is resigning after two years in the position.

Jesse Jones is the new CEO of Ohio's IT Alliance. Jones formerly was chief technology officer of the City of Columbus.

Fred Kocher has been elected president of the New Hampshire High Technology Council, which advocates technology-based businesses in New Hampshire.

Laurie Lachance recently was named the next president of the Maine Development Foundation, Maine's economic development policy organization. Lachance is a former economist for the Maine State Planning Office.

Kenneth Lynn has been appointed president of KCCatalyst. Lynn formerly was a consultant to biotechnology companies assisting in technology acquisition, strategic planning, and commercial development.