Dennis Yablonsky, who has been serving as CEO for both the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse and the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse for most of the past year, has decided to focus exclusively on the biotech initiative. His replacement as president and CEO at the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse is David Ruppersberger.
A ballot proposal being put forth by Citizens for a Healthy Michigan would reduce funding for Michigan Life Sciences Corridor sponsored projects by nearly $50 million annually, estimates a report released by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). The annual reduction includes both the cut in direct funding and required matching funds for Corridor funded projects.
The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) has announced 40 awards potentially totaling $101.6 million in ATP funding matched by an industry cost-share of $92 million if carried through to completion. These awards were selected from proposals submitted to 2002 competition.
Construction is underway for the Cool Springs Life Sciences Center (CSLSC), a $74 million biomedical research facility planned for Franklin, TN, 15 miles south of Nashville. When completed, the 10-acre center will be home to life sciences-focused R&D facilities for biotech, pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
The National Commission on Entrepreneurship (NCOE) has released the American Formula for Growth – Federal Policy and the Entrepreneurial Economy, 1958-1998, a report that provides an extensive review of the role of public policy during the “entrepreneurial revolution” of the past 40 years.
In the 1990s, the dialogue on information technology (IT) centered on dot.coms and e-commerce, and little focus was placed on the effect of IT on the labor market. Richard Freeman addresses this issue in The Labour Market in the New Information Economy, an NBER working paper released this month.
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty committee has suggested that the university provide off-campus facilities to help faculty perform classified public service or research involving the nation’s security. In the Public Interest, a report of the Ad Hoc Faculty Committee on Access To and Disclosure of Scientific Information of MIT, presents recommendations for the university in handling classified work in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
The economic downturn and continuing state and local fiscal problems are not stopping most efforts to develop tech-based economies. Here are a few examples of recent groundbreakings from around the country.
NASA has selected 45 consortia in the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program (Space Grant) to receive funding for aerospace workforce development. A total of $3.56 million is being awarded in response to the proposals submitted by the state organizations to NASA's Education Division in the Office of Human Resources and Education at Headquarters in Washington.
Peter Jobse has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology.
Patrick Jones, executive director of the Biotechnology Association of the Spokane Region, has been named executive director of Eastern Washington University's new Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis.
Peter Jobse has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology.
Patrick Jones, executive director of the Biotechnology Association of the Spokane Region, has been named executive director of Eastern Washington University's new Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis.
Dennis Lower of the Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana is the new leader of the Louisiana Economic Development Council.
Judy McKinney-Cherry is the new director of the Delaware Economic Development Office.
Carl Russell has resigned as president and CEO of Tucson Technology Incubator Inc. Bo Statham, a consultant to UniSource Energy Corp. on new business development and a client adviser at the incubator, has been named interim president.
Dr. Melvyn Schiavelli, senior program officer for the Harrisburg Polytechnic Development Corporation, has been named acting president and CEO, succeeding Dr. Charles Clevenger.
Lt. Gov. Gary Sherrer has left his position as secretary of the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing to become executive vice president with GoldBanc Corp. Sherry Brown, who had retired from the department, will return to serve as interim secretary.
Yesterday proved a big day for supporters of stem cell research as measures advanced in both Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Massachusetts law described in the May 16 issue of the Digest became law immediately after the state Senate voted 35-2 and the House voted 112-42 to override Gov. Mitt Romney's veto.
The Administration's proposal to replace 18 federal programs targeting different elements of community and economic development with a single, smaller program called the Strengthening America's Communities Initiative (SACI) received another blow last week (see the Feb. 14 issue of the Digest for more information on SACI).
New York's lead agency for promoting tech-based economic development (TBED) in the state soon will have a new name, if not a complete makeover. Under enacted budget legislation, the New York Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) will become the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation by Jan. 1, 2006.
Louisiana State University's Business and Technology Center (LBTC) recently received the National Business Incubation Association's (NBIA) 2005 Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year award, recognizing overall excellence in business incubation programs. The award is NBIA's most prestigious honor, presented as a tribute to NBIA's first chairman.
The U.S. is currently the global leader in nanotechnology R&D, number of nanotechnology start-up companies, and research output as measured by patents and publications. However, that role is under increasing competitive pressure from other nations, according to an assessment of the multi-agency National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), which organizes federal nanotechnology research.
Recognizing the benefits of a skilled workforce to match the new manufacturing and high-tech jobs of the 21st Century, states are turning to worker training and retraining programs in order to remain economically competitive. During the past month, Tennessee, Nebraska and Connecticut committed a combined total of $37 million for worker training initiatives.
While many regions, states and countries are lamenting a drain of talent from their area, the Pakistan Higher Education Commission is taking an opposite strategy to strengthen the nation's science and research capacity: sending up to 15,000 of its brightest students to study selected disciplines abroad through its Foreign Ph.D. Scholarship Program.
In the opening ceremony of the 2005 FORTUNE Global Forum, held in Beijing on May 16, Chinese President Hu Jintao broadly outlined the course his country is taking to reach a goal of quadrupling its 2000 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the year 2020. Science, technology and innovation figure prominently in the strategy.