A survey of Georgia's 12 regions finds collaboration and leveraging assets to support existing businesses are most critical for enhancing the innovation economy. In support of these efforts, a task force convened by Gov. Nathan Deal recommends increasing funds for the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), extending the state's angel investor tax credit, and marketing the state to promote its research and innovation assets. Gov.
Facing massive government deficits and stagnant regional economies, many states are exploring new options for their economic development activities. Three states recently have taken steps towards eliminating their primary economic development agencies, and replacing them with public-private partnerships, intended to reduce state spending and improve the responsiveness of state efforts.
Across the U.S. and Canada, universities continue to forge public-private partnerships focused on creating a formalized approach to turn university research into market-ready products and startup companies. Three universities and their respective partners recently have announced efforts to bring inventors, the community and investors closer together. They also intended to provide potential entrepreneurs with the skills, mentorship and resources need to launch a startup company.
Governors in several states are bringing lawmakers back into session this fall with a more focused agenda on job creation. During a one-day special session on Friday, lawmakers in Mississippi approved a $175 million incentive package to bring two high-tech manufacturing facilities to the state. Meanwhile, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon will try again to enact the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act (MOSIRA) to support science and tech companies and the Compete Missouri Initiative, both which failed to pass during the regular session.
Alabama's new strategic plan defines three economic development drivers to help diversify the state's economic development efforts and maximize opportunities for growth. Programs that focus on job creation through innovation, entrepreneurship, R&D, and commercialization are listed among the "renewal" efforts of the three-part plan. This includes establishing a statewide innovation council, designating funds to expand commercialization programs, and creating a mechanism to provide state grant matching for SBIR/STTR awards.
Gov. Dirk Kempthorne recently received some good news about his future when President Bush nominated him to serve as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior. The news was not as rosy on the home front for Idaho's economic future, however, as the state legislature in late March rejected the governor's plans for Idaho to take a more proactive role toward building a tech-based economy.
Just as bread won't rise without yeast, the key knowledge-building ingredients for many state tech-based economic development strategies - increasing investments in university-based research, emphasizing workforce development and science and math education, and identifying clusters of co-located firms in related industry sectors - won't lead to the spillovers of knowledge critical to sustaining growth without an active reagent.
SBDCs slated for $23 Million Increase; FAST Restored
Mark Your Calendars! Book your Flights! Make your Reservations! Pack Your Bags!
Planning is underway for SSTI's fourth and largest annual gathering of S&T policymakers and practitioners. The event will be held October 3-4, 2000 in Chicago, Illinois. As in the past, two limited-seating in-depth workshops will precede the conference on Monday, October 2.
States and regions across the U.S. are continuing to make significant investments and implement policies to capitalize on the growing biosciences sector. However, a challenge they face in coming years is a leveling off of federal bioscience R&D dollars, concludes a recent report prepared by Battelle, SSTI and PMP Consulting.
Despite all the press generated each time a state commits multimillion portions of its tobacco settlement distribution toward R&D and technology-based economic development (TBED), readers may be surprised to learn economic development activities captured only 4 percent of the total payments in 2005, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
This week, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) released its plan to implement the national network of manufacturing institutes announced by President Obama last March (see the March 14, 2012 issue of the Digest). The institutes would serve as regional hubs of innovation and help to accelerate the development and adoption of new manufacturing technologies. Under the newly released plan, each of the institutes would be led by U.S.
Leslie Guice officially was approved by the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors to become the 14th president of Louisiana Tech University. Guice will take office July 1, 2013.
Camille Saltman has joined MD Revolution as president. Saltman was previously president of CONNECT and continues to be a member of CONNECT's board of directors.
With Congressional approval, the Department of Homeland Security's principal research unit could receive a substantial increase in its fiscal year 2005 budget. The Administration's FY05 request for the Science and Technology Directorate is $1.039 billion -- 13.8 percent higher than the FY04 appropriation level of $913 million.
Venture capital (VC) investments in the U.S. continued to surge in the fourth quarter of 2003, two independent reports show. Among highlights, investment in life sciences companies outpaced other industry sectors. The sector's $4.89 billion total for the full year 2003 is the highest proportion directed to the life sciences in the last 12 years, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers/Thomson Venture Economics/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree™ Survey.
As the nation's economy shifts to knowledge- and technology-based industries, Mississippi's colleges and universities must provide expertise and leadership to attract new jobs and build a stable state economy, members of a special committee told the state House of Representatives last week.
In SSTI's final look at the 2004 State of the State and Budget addresses, the importance of building tech-based economies continues to be emphasized by governors across the country. Below are excerpts from speeches given in Alabama, Maryland, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
National Science Foundation (NSF) Director Rita Colwell has announced her retirement from the foundation, effective Feb. 21, 2004. Dr. Colwell took office at NSF in August of 1998. With five-and-a-half years as NSF's leader, Dr. Colwell is the third longest-serving director in the Foundation's 54-year history.
The 2005 budget request submitted this week by Florida Governor Jeb Bush includes $20 million to establish two more Centers of Excellence at Florida universities.
Despite a sluggish national economy, North Carolina held its own over the last three years, according to a measure of 25 broad indicators of innovation, technology and economic growth released earlier this week. In all, Tracking Innovation: North Carolina Innovation Index 2003 considers more than 50 performance measures across five general categories, highlighting the state’s strengths and weaknesses.
It's one thing to call your entrepreneurship education efforts the best, but it's another when more than 950 of your peers from around the country do. The entrepreneurship program at Harvard Business School (HBS) recently won the top award for MBA programs nationwide from the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), an organization devoted to entrepreneurship education and development.
This is the third in a series of articles as SSTI continues its look at the prominence of tech-based economic development in the Inaugural, State of the State and Budget Addresses given by the nation's governors. Highlights from this week's speeches are provided below.
In last week's Tech Talkin' Govs II article, we inadvertently listed Mark Warner as the Governor of South Carolina. Gov. Warner leads the Commonwealth of Virginia. Mark Sanford is Governor of South Carolina. SSTI regrets the error.
Following 41 straight months of job losses in the manufacturing sector, the Bush Administration released its long-awaited strategy to help revive manufacturing. Manufacturing in America: A Comprehensive Strategy to Address the Challenges to U.S. Manufacturers makes 31 recommendations designed to address challenges identified through 23 roundtable discussions that were held across the country.
The satisfying flavor of success in tech-based economic development is whetting Oklahoma's appetite for more. Lots more.