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One of the few new spending bills to make it through the 2001 session of the Minnesota Legislature provides $10 million in seed money for technology commercialization through a new Biomedical Innovation and Commercialization Initiative (BICI – pronounced beach-ee). The BICI appropriation is contingent upon state economic development officials securing a three-to-one private sector match.

Ohio Governor Bob Taft last week signed legislation creating the Ohio Aerospace and Defense Council to examine state and federal laws, rules, and policies that affect the two industries and associated federal installations in Ohio. Ohio is home to Wright Patterson Air Force Base, the state’s largest single-site employer, and the NASA Glen Research Center in Cleveland.



Six objectives are to be addressed by the council:

The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania has issued a Request for Proposals to develop an asset-mapping study of the nanotechnology sector in the four-state Philadelphia Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The Rhode Island Technology Council (RITEC) is launching a benchmarking survey this week of the state’s information technology (IT) industry to determine how the council and state economic development organizations can be most effective at addressing the sector’s needs in light of the continued restructuring of the national IT industry.

Brain drains and a lack of technically skilled workers, both scientists and engineers, are commonly heard complaints of state and local tech-based economic development practitioners across the country. But are federal and state innovation policies part of the problem? Paul M. Romer, of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, says yes in Should the Government Subsidize Supply or Demand of in the Market for Scientists and Engineers?

Includes $24M for Biomedical Research, $50M for Wright Centers

When Florida Gov. Jeb Bush surprised the world last October by announcing the state had landed an East Coast campus for the Scripps Research Institute, the draw from the public coffers cost was pegged at $510 million. The state was contributing $310 million and the county's share was up to $200 million for land acquisition and building construction.

Michigan small businesses receiving state and federal grants for research and development will be able to put more of those funds into their work, with legislation unanimously passing the state Senate last week.

The House Appropriations Committee passed on June 9 its version of the fiscal year 2005 Homeland Security bill, approving $70 million for university programs in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The funding level is $40 million above the President's FY 2005 request. The additional $40 million is allocated specifically for university-based centers of excellence.

A new report assessing 2002 federal research and development (R&D) funding in U.S. universities and colleges finds 45 percent of all federal R&D funds went directly to the nation’s 126 medical schools. This striking discovery, the authors contend, raises the question of whether other areas having substantial R&D funding needs such as environment, energy, homeland security and education are receiving the attention they require.

Although a significant gap still exists between women-led companies and their male counterparts, in terms of venture funding, some promising news may suggest a change in fortune for the former, a study released today by Growthink Research of Los Angeles and Chicago-based re:invention Inc. shows.

Most states recognize the importance university research plays in building a strong knowledge economy; it is a prominent component of the strongest regional technology clusters. Many states are increasingly focused on expanding their university research capacity and increasing the number of students in key science and engineering fields.

Women made significant progress in the sciences over the last two decades, but gains have stalled — and in some cases eroded — in engineering and computer sciences, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Council for Research on Women (NCRW). The downturn comes despite effective new programs to increase women's participation in these fields. 

With federal support for the National Institues of Health increasing substantially each year -- to the point now that NIH supports more than 50 percent of the federal basic research budget -- and some states directing millions of dollars each year into health and biotechnology research, one might stop to ask: is it worth it?

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge will deliver the keynote address at Creating Opportunity: Tools for Building Tech-Based Economies, SSTI’s Fifth Annual Conference, which will be held September 19-21, 2001 at the Omni William Penn in Pittsburgh. 

Albany, New York 

The National Science Foundation has released Federal Funds for Research and Development: Fiscal Years 1999, 2000, and 2001, Vol. 49, presenting 111 detailed statistical tables. 

George Atkinson is taking a year-long leave of absence from his position as a professor in chemistry and optical sciences at the University of Arizona to serve as the first American Institute of Physics science fellow at the U.S. State Department. 

George Atkinson is taking a year-long leave of absence from his position as a professor in chemistry and optical sciences at the University of Arizona to serve as the first American Institute of Physics science fellow at the U.S. State Department.&nbsp