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John Glerum, former president and CEO of Ore-Ida Foods, has been named science and technology coordinator for the Idaho Department of Commerce. Glerum also will serve as director of the new Technology and Entrepreneurial Center, to be built on the campus of Boise State University West.

The first two installments of SSTI's annual look at how TBED will play in the 2005 legislative priorities of the governors can be found in the Digest archives on our website: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm

Indiana

Business community advocacy for public investments in technology-based economic development (TBED) may make the difference between legislators appropriating programs $1 million or $100 million.

We greatly appreciate the praise and suggestions we've received from readers regarding the Tech-based Economic Development (TBED) Resource Center, a cooperative project of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Technology Policy and SSTI. The new online library contains links to more than 1,300 research reports, strategic plans, best practices and impact analyses from state and federal government, university researchers and foundations.

To fulfill a goal within the state's 2010 Initiative of becoming a recognized leader in research and technology development, the South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development will operate an Office of Commercialization under the direction of Mel Ustad, current Interim Vice President for Research at the University of South Dakota.

Anyone working with an entrepreneur knows they like to write their own rules. The latest survey characterizing the world's pool of entrepreneurial talent finds a large majority of them also write their own checks to finance their businesses. It's easier to write - and change - the rules when you also control the purse strings.

Large industrial or technology firms are often sought by economic development recruiters to serve as anchors for cluster development. Once an anchor is attracted, policymakers often nurture local industrial districts as ways to promote transmission of technical know-how and deepen industrial relationships. Does the strategy work?

Many regions support local knowledge clusters in the hopes that geographic proximity will promote technology diffusion and enhance industrial competitiveness. A working paper from Italy suggests the effectiveness of such clusters or science parks depends upon the nature of the firms and institutions involved.

A recent collection of weekly headlines gathered by the Montana Associated Technology Roundtables brought to our attention the annual world academic rankings compiled by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

For the past two years, the school has identified the world's top 500 academic institutions based on a weighted scale of six indicators:

A bipartisan coalition of more than 50 U.S. Senators support continued funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, according to the Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Modernization Forum. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Me) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT), co-chairs of the Senate Task Force on Manufacturing, spearheaded a letter to Senate appropriators requesting $110 million in FY 2003 funding for the program.

Connecticut-based bioscience research and development (R&D) investment in 2001 totaled $3.6 billion, an 18 percent increase over 2000, according to the Seventh Annual Economic Report of Connecticut United for Research Excellence (CURE), Connecticut's bioscience Cluster.



2001 Gains and Future Opportunities, released last week at Yale University, highlights several economic indicators that demonstrate the growth of the bioscience industry in Connecticut, including:

Georgia Tech topped the nation in its efforts to help state and local agencies with economic development, according to a study released by the Southern Growth Policies Board's Southern Technology Council (STC).

Conducted by Louis Tornatzky and Paul Waugaman, senior fellows at STC, Innovation U.: New University Roles in a Knowledge Economy offers comprehensive case descriptions of how national research universities operate in the following areas:

Small businesses bearing a critical role to the regional economies of upstate New York must overcome several barriers to growth if they are to enjoy future success, suggests a report by the Buffalo Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

In SSTI's second look at the 2000 Annual Survey of Manufactures, Geographic Area Statistics in as many weeks, SSTI highlights more of the report's key findings, including data on such fields as the value added by manufacturers, value of shipments, and average value added per employee.

Areas working to encourage the growth of technology companies and build tech-based economies have a new resource to aid their cause. A new website, the Tech-based Economic Development (TBED) Resource Center (http://www.tbedresourcecenter.org), offers users the chance to learn from others’ experiences and benefit from the latest research on building a tech-based economy.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, State of the State Address, Jan. 10, 2005

Michigan Governor John Engler recently signed Senate Bills 880, 881 and 999 to help make high-speed Internet connections available and affordable to consumers across the state. Almost unanimously approved in the Michigan House and Senate, the Governor’s broadband initiative was supported by a coalition of more than 50 statewide associations, local groups and companies. The bills are as follows:

Responding to the demands of business leaders to close the nation's workforce skills gap, the National Skill Standards Board (NSSB) has created the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Voluntary Partnership to represent the telecommunications, computer and information industry sector.

NASA's Office of Aerospace Technology has released an integrated strategy, or blueprint, that suggests developing new technology will lead to a new era of aviation. The strategy, while not completed in time to be reflected in the Administration's 2003 budget request, will be used to guide federal aeronautics investments in research, education and development.

As a means of highlighting the performance and composition of state economies, Harvard's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, led by Dr. Michael Porter, has published profiles on all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The U.S. Small Business Administration and My Own Business, Inc., have jointly created a free, online entrepreneurship course for small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. The announcement was made at the Conference on Women Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century in Washington, D.C., earlier this week.

The Ohio Department of Development, which works collaboratively with businesses, communities and the Ohio Legislature to develop financial and technical programs, seeks to fill the position, Grants Administration Manager. The position's duties include managing the outside Grant Administration Team, assessing project results and progress, and performing other duties assigned by the Deputy Director of the Technology Division.