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The Georgia Biomedical Partnership named Charles Craig as its new president.

E. Dana Dickens announced he will step down from the Suffolk City Council (Va.) to become president of the Hampton Roads Partnership, a group promoting economic development in the region.

Ohio Department of Development Director Bruce Johnson has been sworn in as the state's lieutenant governor. Johnson is expected to serve both positions for the balance of Gov. Bob Taft's term.

Jafar Karim is the new director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development in South Dakota.

David Harmer, executive director of the Utah Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), announced his retirement. Chris Roybal, senior advisor to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. for economic development, will take on many of Harmer's responsibilities.

It is an unfortunate and annoying consequence of politics that sometimes, with the change of gubernatorial administrations even within parties, excellent people with enviable records of delivering results for tech-based economic development programs lose their positions. SSTI has learned that Rod Linton and Michael Keene were among 33 "at-will" economic development staff at the Utah DCED fired en masse last Thursday. Gov. Huntsman, who began his term of office on Jan.

Coming a little late in the year to be included among our Tech Talkin’ Govs series (see Digest issues for Jan. 8, 15 and 29 and Feb. 19), Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland delivered his first State of the State Address on Mar. 14. Below are excerpts from his address calling for a $1 billion investment in alternative and renewable energy technologies over four years.

 

More than 51,000 early-stage ventures took in $25.6 billion of angel investment in 2006, according to the 2006 Angel Market Analysis released Mar. 19 by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. The dollar figure reflects a 10.8 percent increase from the 2005 findings. The number of deals made in 2006 only rose 3 percent over the previous year. As a result, average deal size grew 7.5 percent.

 

South Dakota recently announced it is reorganizing its programs to support entrepreneurs and high-tech start-ups. Instead of offering assistance to new firms through small, targeted programs, the state will reallocate the funding for these smaller programs into a larger fund with fewer restrictions on how that money can be spent. The change will allow the state greater leeway to assist expanding businesses, many of which were not eligible for the existing support programs.

Every year, some graduating high school students make the transition to college, many of them choosing to move to another state in order to continue their education. In some states, the number of students leaving the state is greater than the number entering, resulting in a “brain drain.” This net out-migration of students, many of which never to return to the state of their high school graduation, may impact a state’s skilled and competitive workforce, tax revenues, productivity gains, and appreciation of diversity.

The Digest story above details the push to keep high school graduates in-state for their university experience, with the expectation that upon graduation they will positively impact the economy of the state. An essential part of keeping an educated workforce local, however, is the ability for individuals to find gainful employment upon graduation.

Southern Growth Policies Board is polling citizens on their attitudes and ideas about building a competitive Southern Workforce. Visit http://www.southern.org/surveyintro.shtml and share your ideas on how to build a competitive, entrepreneurial workforce to support the southern region's economic development initiatives in high-growth industries.

SSTI serves as the TBED community’s go-to resource and strategic partner when dealing with TBED issues. SSTI’s unique ability to address the information needs of its members comes from the fact that SSTI’s staff and board have been “in the trenches” of technology-based economic development. SSTI’s president, vice president and board members, including former Governors John Engler of Michigan and Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts, have more than two decades’ of direct policy development and service delivery experience.

Using one-time lottery surplus funds available for fiscal year 2008, Gov. Joe Manchin wants to invest $80 million in world-class research and specialized job training to propel the state toward a knowledge-based economy. The proposal was unveiled to lawmakers during Gov. Manchin’s State-of-the-State Address last week in conjunction with the fiscal year 2009 budget recommendation.

In his recent combined State of the State and budget address on March 7, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich proposed the formation of the Illinois Community Assets Fund (ICAF), a $100 million venture designed to increase access to capital and financing to economically distressed communities and populations that have had inadequate access to mainstream capital markets within the state. The assets of ICAF would be contained within the State Treasury, and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) would administer the fund.

Gov. Phil Bredesen’s budget proposal for 2007-2008 includes more than $100 million in new funding for several new education and high-tech development initiatives and a strategy to spur the state’s alternative fuels industry.

 

The U.S. needs to increase the number of people receiving a bachelor’s or associate degree by 37 percent over current attainment levels if it desires to have 55 percent of the adult population with a college degree by the year 2025, Jobs for the Future reports. In Hitting Home: Quality, Cost, and Access Challenges Confronting Higher Education Today, the nonprofit organization predicts 55 percent will be the level of degree attainment for some of the top performing OECD countries in 2025. To remain competitive, the U.S. must use this figure as a target.

 

The American science and technology workforce is undergoing a major demographic shift. A report issued last week by the National Science Foundation shows that more women are participating in university science and engineering (S&E) programs than ever before. The biannual NSF report, entitled Women, Minorities, and Persons With Disabilities in Science and Engineering, provides a broad overview of demographic trends within university S&E programs. In 2007, the report's overriding theme is that although U.S.

The following recently became SSTI affiliates or supporters:

This past fall, Vermont released what may be the nation's first statewide effort to lay out an economic development strategy based on the creative economy theories advanced most prominently by George Mason professor Richard Florida.

NBIA Releases Revised Business Incubation Guide

Virginia Bauer, former New Jersey commerce secretary, was sworn in as CEO and secretary of the New Jersey Commerce & Economic Growth Commission.

Virginia Bauer, former New Jersey commerce secretary, was sworn in as CEO and secretary of the New Jersey Commerce & Economic Growth Commission.

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council announced Barry Broome will become the new president & CEO beginning in February.

Michael DeAloia has been named tech czar for the City of Cleveland.