The use of Congressional earmarks on federal agency budgets to support projects and programs in academic institutions has exploded since 1996, according to statistics compiled by and reported in the September 27, 2002 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

With more than 1,000 links to socio-economic data sources, EconData.Net provides a convenient and valuable starting point for gathering information to understand regional economies. Funded by the Economic Development Administration, EconData.Net is a 100 percent free website offering easy access to state and sub-state socio-economic data for practitioners, researchers, students and data users in general.

Minnesota Technology, Inc. (MTI), the state's leading tech-based economic development corporation, currently is searching for a dynamic individual with top-notch skills to help bring federal technology transfer activities to Minnesota companies.

Anthony Armstrong returns to the Indiana 21st Century Research and Technology Fund as its new director.

Bay Area Regional Technology Alliance (BARTA) has been renamed the TechVentures Network as the Bay Area's leading source of access to financing, business data and services for emerging technology.

Anthony Armstrong returns to the Indiana 21st Century Research and Technology Fund as its new director.

Bay Area Regional Technology Alliance (BARTA) has been renamed the TechVentures Network as the Bay Area's leading source of access to financing, business data and services for emerging technology.

John Bradley is the Tennessee Valley Authority's as its first chief of economic development. Bradley had been senior vice president of economic development at the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Randy Goldsmith resigned as President & CEO of the Oklahoma Technology Development Corp to assume the role of President and CEO of the San Antonio Technology Accelerator Initiative.

J.A. Hans Roeterink, chief technical officer and vice president of network operations for T-Systems in New York, is the new executive director of the Alaska Science & Technology Foundation. Roeterink begins Nov. 1, succeeding Jamie Kenworthy.

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.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) recently named 27 states winners of the second Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST) awards. At $100,000 each, the awards totaled $2.7 million. Created in December 2000 legislation that reauthorized the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, FAST provides matching funds to enable states to augment or expand their tech business assistance and SBIR outreach efforts. The FY 2002 winners are:

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.

Because knowledge-based services can be supplied anywhere across the world due to increased international investment in IT infrastructure, future U.S. competitiveness hinges on diversification and broadening of the technology-based manufacturing sector, according to NIST Senior Economist George Tassey.

To shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of the region's biotechnology cluster, Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Economic Development (CED) has published A Biotechnology Action Plan for Southwestern Pennsylvania. The CED report says the Pittsburgh biotechnology cluster largely depends on the amount of available venture capital and the development of new technologies and that total funding levels must be increased to continue biotech development.