Don Smith has been appointed Vice President for Economic Development at the new Mellon Pitt Carnegie Corporation. MPC, a joint venture of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, is intended to coordinate the economic development and tech commercialization activities of both schools.
Jack Sommer is the new executive director of the Rhode Island Technology Council. Sommer previously worked with Student Advantage in Boston.
The Indiana Technology Partnership named Jim Wheeler as its new president. A former partner with Andersen LLP, Wheeler takes the position vacated by Tom Miller last fall.
During the 1970s, Canada routinely topped the U.S. in terms of real growth in gross domestic product per capita. As recently as 1990, Canada enjoyed the fourth highest standard of living in the world but slipped to seventh by 1999.
While Silicon Valley lost jobs last year — the first decline since 1992 — value added per employee, a measure of productivity, increased 4.6 percent to $170,000 compared to $56,000 nationally, according to the Index of Silicon Valley 2002 released in January by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network.
Last week, Governor Gray Davis announced the award of three grants to support the creation of new Regional Technology Alliances (RTA) for the Inland Empire, San Joaquin Valley, and Sacramento/Capital regions. The three new non-profit organizations join existing RTAs in Los Angeles, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay area to provide decentralized business support services for innovative, California-based technology firms.
High school courses for advanced study in mathematics and science should focus on helping students acquire in-depth understanding rather than the more superficial knowledge that comes from covering too much material too quickly, according to a new report from the National Academies' National Research Council.
An economic diversification package recently approved by officials in Orange County, Florida, is intended to offset some of the post-September 11 difficulties experienced by the local economy.
More than $1 million for the Orange County Economic Stimulus Package was approved in late January by the Board of County Commissioners. The initiative provides funding for five measures, including:
This is the final installment in this year's coverage of the Governors' State of the State and Budget Addresses highlighting issues of importance to the tech-based economic development community.
Illinois
President Bush has nominated Major General Charles F. Bolden, U.S. Marine Corps to serve as NASA's next Deputy Administrator. A former astronaut, Bolden currently serves as the Commanding General, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.
Last week, David Allen began his tenure as Assistant Vice President for Technology Transfer at the University of Colorado. Allen was the Assistant Vice President for Technology Partnerships at the Ohio State University.
On April 1, Jerry McGuire becomes the first director of technology transfer for the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. McGuire currently is the director of technology transfer and licensing for the University of Buffalo.
Telecommunications entrepreneur R. Chadwick Paul Jr. has been hired as chief executive officer of the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
We read a lot of e-mail for the Digest. A lot of e-mail. We know that e-mail boxes are getting fuller all the time, so even thinking of recommending that you increase your reading load takes a lot of nerve, or a very good reason. This one is the latter.
Most of the nation's governors use the winter months to publicly lay out their agendas, visions and budget requests for the coming year. The text of State of the State Addresses, Budget Messages and, to a lesser extent, Inaugural Addresses, often reveals each governor's legislative priorities and new initiatives to be pursued over the coming months.
Hoping to combat and reverse job losses in the manufacturing sector, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell outlined his blueprint for recovery last month, entitled "Manufacturing Innovation."
Ah, the difference positive revenue figures make for some states' tech-based economic development (TBED) portfolios! In mid-December, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner introduced an amended 2004-2006 biennial budget that is the most favorable yet during the Warner term for programs to promote economic growth through strategic investments in science and technology.
A December gathering of leaders from many of the nation's largest companies raised what could be considered a battle cry for the U.S. to take more seriously the implications of globalization.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued the detailed statistical tables for Science & Engineering Doctorate awards for 2003. As was done for 2002, 2001 and 2000, SSTI has compiled a 50-state table presenting the number of degrees and rank for each major field of science & engineering. In addition, SSTI has used population in the form of "S&E doctorates awarded per 100,000 residents" to standardize the data to facilitate comparisons across states.
That is the question facing researchers who have innovative ideas that become marketable products. Researchers who file patents to protect intellectual property rights may diminish the value of the research to potential developers due to "knowledge leakage" to competing developers. Instead, a researcher might approach a developer directly to negotiate an exclusive contract in which a researcher receives some immediate compensation and a stake in the licensed, developed product.
Just what makes firms productive? Economists continue to refine their thinking on the interactions that enhance productivity. Knowledge capital and knowledge relatedness play an active role in increasing firm competitiveness, especially in large, high-tech manufacturing sectors, according to a study presented at a recent conference of the Groupe de Recherche en Economie.
The number of states reporting cost overruns, budget cuts and use of their fiscal reserves has grown significantly over the last three months, according to a report released last week by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
Royalty payback requirements and expanding roles for universities are among the changes outlined by the U.S. Department of Commerce in The Advanced Technology Program: Reform with a Purpose. With goals of improving the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and providing "stability" — making the program more palatable to its perennial Congressional detractors — the Department of Commerce has identified six structural changes within ATP.
Earlier this week, Governor Don Sundquist and the Tennessee Technology Development Corp. (TTDC) released the New Economy Strategy, a broad plan to improve the state's economic viability through science and technology. The strategy encompasses many new initiatives to complement TTDC's existing portfolio of tech-based economic development efforts.