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Tony Jeff is the new executive director of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Mississippi.

Robert McMahan has been named North Carolina's Science Advisor. In addition to advising the Governor on science and technology matters, McMahan will oversee the support staff for the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology. The advisor position will report to the secretary of the Department of Commerce.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) promoted Michael Werner to the new position as chief of policy. Formerly, Werner served as BIO's vice president for bioethics.

Investments in science and technology (S&T) – from higher education to industry research and development (R&D) – are the decisive factors in creating a sustainable economic future, a new study finds.

Gaining an understanding of the real and potential economic impact of government investments in research and development (R&D) has suffered for decades from a lack of rigorous but broadly applicable methodologies for the assessment. To advance the field toward a more appropriate degree of uniformity, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently released a primer on economic impact analysis of government R&D programs.

An educated workforce is one of the elements required for a knowledge economy, but not all of the critical jobs require a Ph.D. or even a B.A. Few would dispute, though, the importance of successfully completing high school.

Seats Available for Developing Angel Organizations, Financing TBED Workshops

Randy Burge has announced his resignation as director of the New Mexico Department of Economic Development's Office of Science and Technology. Mike Orshan will serve as acting director beginning Sept. 29.

Randy Burge has announced his resignation as director of the New Mexico Department of Economic Development's Office of Science and Technology. Mike Orshan will serve as acting director beginning Sept. 29.

Donald Jakeway will be the new president and CEO for the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Joseph James is the new chief operating officer for the South Carolina Department of Commerce.

The Florida Venture Forum named Robin Kovaleski as the first executive director for the organization.

Former U.S. Congresswoman Connie Morella has been sworn in as the US Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

SSTI extends its sympathies to the family of Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon. During his interrupted term in office, Gov. O'Bannon proved to be a strong friend of tech-based economic development efforts in the state.

Gov. Jim Doyle last week unveiled his plan to jumpstart the Wisconsin economy. The plan, "Grow Wisconsin," calls for a series of executive actions, private sector partnerships and legislative steps to create high-wage jobs and achieve other goals. Some of the tech-based economic development items outlined in "Grow Wisconsin" are:

Gov. Mitt Romney outlined a legislative package on Monday totaling $125 million designed to create more jobs. Many elements of the package target the science and technology communities.

Approximately $350 million in grants recently awarded by one of the nation's leading biodefense research agencies are intended to lessen the effects of any future bioterror attack. Administered by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the funding will be spread over five years for establishing eight Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (RCEs).

Specialization may be the key to successful economic development strategies based on the life sciences, suggests the September issue of the fedgazette, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. This month's entire e-zine focuses on two issues of importance to many state and local tech-based economic development professionals — biotechnology and clusters.

The availability and use of equity capital for early-stage investments varies greatly across the country. Seen as an integral component of most tech-based economic development, access to venture capital (VC) is on the agendas of several states — but several different approaches are used to address the problem. Recent announcements in four states illustrate the point:

A new study examining the post-Sept. 11 economy of New York argues the city's traditional approach to economic development, one which has banked on a few favored sectors such as financial and business services, is outdated and should be reconceived.

Two new grants, each greater than $1 million, have been awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the societal implications of nanotechnology — the emerging discipline that seeks to control and manipulate matter on a molecular scale. The grants are the largest awards the foundation has ever devoted exclusively to research in societal implications.

Tight budgets are causing many state and local tech-based economic development (TBED) programs to delay new initiatives, even forcing some to scale back on the services already provided. But mottos like "getting more bang for the buck" and "doing more with less" are fast becoming tired, transparent clichés.

Through an editorial glitch between browsers, the two external links were inoperable in the lead story in last week's issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest, "President Wants Point Person on Manufacturing." Corrected links are available below and on the Web version of last week's issue (http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2003/090503.htm).

Nineteen projects figure to share in the $23 million awarded last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) for biomass research, development and demonstration activities.

Innovation, flexibility, speed to market, and closeness to the customer are the common characteristics shared by successful small and medium manufacturers (SMMs), says a new report from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). The report reveals 15 best practices that are followed by successful SMMs and identifies challenges faced by manufacturers in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.