People
Mel Ustad, current interim vice president for research at the University of South Dakota, is the new director of the state's first Office of Commercialization.
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People
The Kauffman Foundation named Patrick Von Bargen CEO of the Center for Venture Education. Von Bargen was the former managing executive for policy and staff at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.
People
Tom White, president of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, announced he will resign his position after 28 years with the organization.
People
Kim Zentz, CEO of the Spokane Transit Authority, announced she will take a one-year position as interim executive director of the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute.
People
Gov. John Huntsman, Jr. named Jack Brittain, dean of the University of Utah Business School, vice president in charge of the new Office of Technology Ventures. Brittain, dubbed the "innovation czar," will continue to lead the business school in addition to his new position.
People
Gov. Jim Doyle named Mary Burke as the new head of the Wisconsin Department of Commerce. Burke replaces Cory Nettles, who resigned last month.
People
Rose-Hulman Ventures President Jim Eifert and Executive Vice President Brij Khorana resigned their positions to return to faculty duties at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
Arkansas Enacts $140M TBED Package
With all of the recent activity from its state legislature, Arkansas will soon possess one of the nation's most comprehensive portfolios of state-supported TBED initiatives. A number of TBED-related acts passed by the Arkansas General Assembly this session have all received Gov. Mike Beebe's signature. The result could be a public injection of up to $140 million for Arkansas's TBED community over the next biennium.
Canada Launches 5-year, $900M Aerospace and Defense Initiative
To promote excellence and accelerate innovation in the nation's aerospace, defence, security and space industries, Canada earlier this month launched the Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative (SADI) -- a repayable contribution program being administered by Industry Canada's Industrial Technologies Office (ITO).
North Carolina Lays Out $25M Plan for Biofuels Industry
Several U.S. states have introduced plans in attempts to take the early lead in the country's emerging biofuels industry. For example, in 2006, the Washington legislature approved the initial components of the state's Bioenergy Program. Tennessee Gov.
$50M Tech Fund Makes Cut for Maine Bond Package
A $295 million three-part bond referendum package passed by the Maine State Legislature last week includes a number of components central to the state’s TBED strategy, including funds to support continued development of the state’s research enterprise, expanded broadband access and increased rural/economic development financing.
Mississippi Rolls Out Five New Capital-attracting Funds
One of the most vexing problems facing states, outside of a few well known success stories, is a persistent lack of attention from the venture capital industry. In 2006, almost 60 percent of venture capital investment was concentrated in California and Massachusetts. The other 48 states have had to devise their own strategies to compete with Silicon Valley, Route 128 and each other to gain the attention of potential investors.
Useful Stats: Per Capita Personal Income by State, FY 2003-2006
The U.S. as a whole showed an increase of 5.41 percent in per capita personal income from fiscal year 2005, according to second quarter 2006 estimates of state personal income data released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
ATP Announces Details on Competition, Proposers’ Conferences
Approximately $60 million is expected to be available under a new Advanced Technology Program (ATP) competition to support high-risk industrial R&D projects, the program announced today.
New Mexico Legislature: Tax Credits, Energy Initiatives among Successes of 2007 Regular Session
With the close of its 2007 regular session, the New Mexico State Legislature wrapped up "one of the most productive sessions in state history." Those were the words of Gov. Bill Richardson, following the legislature's adjournment last month. The governor had outlined a number of economic development and energy initiatives in his 2007 State of the State Address that he hoped would be brought to bear (see the Jan. 15, 2007 issue of the Digest).
Reports Examine Two States' Experience with Economic Incentives
Incentive packages to attract companies are nothing new in economic development. In recent years, though, incentives have been used to recruit technology companies, and these incentive packages are growing in scope and complexity, with some in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Two recent reports that take a close look at experiences in North Carolina and Iowa may be of interest to communities and states using incentive packages to recruit companies to their area.
North Carolina
Department of Education Announces Major Changes in Federal Financial Aid
The Department of Education is beginning to implement the first wave of initiatives based on the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Department Secretary Margaret Spellings recently met with national leaders to discuss the recommendations of the commission's report, released in September 2006. Secretary Spellings emphasized the federal government's commitment to cooperating with states in order to create an educational system tailored to the 21st century economy and the needs of students.
Useful Stats: 2004 Federal R&D Obligations Per Capita to Universities and Colleges
Elaborating on last week's "Useful Stats" article (see the March 26, 2007 issue of the Digest), SSTI has created a table of federal R&D obligations standardized by state population for each of the five years from 2000 to 2004 and ranked by five-year percent change.
SSTI Co-sponsoring Two Conferences of Note
SSTI is partnering with other organizations to sponsor two conferences that will be of interest to the TBED community: the Regional Workforce Education & Training Best Practices Conference put on by the ASME Center for Engineering Entrepreneurship & Innovation and the Internationalization of Regional Innovation organized by the European-based Technopolicy Network.
Venture-backed Companies Make Formidable Impact on Economy
A little money has gone a long way, when you consider the initial size of venture capital investments each year, the $2.1 trillion in revenues captured in 2005, and the nearly 23,000 venture-backed companies that have received investments. In fact, 16.6 percent of the 2005 U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) was directly attributable to the $2.1 trillion in revenues received by venture-backed U.S. companies, while the $23 billion of VC invested in 2005 only equaled 0.2 percent of GDP.
Cities Pursue Innovative Strategies to Grow Clean Technology Businesses
As renewable energy and environmental technologies emerge as some of the promising industries for high-tech economic development, more cities are seeking new ways to boost clean technology research and businesses. Austin, San Jose, Berkeley, Pasadena and Boston have been singled out for their efforts to promote cleantech industries by SustainLane Government, a nonprofit Internet-based organization that provides current practices and news about municipal sustainability.
The Science & Psychology of Innovation
Browsing the business section of a bookstore may yield dozens of titles purporting to explain the process of innovation. This newsletter and most others serving the nation’s policymakers and science and technology communities have covered reports calling for a national innovation strategy. Unfortunately, most meetings on the subject have to begin by developing a working definition of the term innovation that most can accept.
The Bright and Dark Sides of IT
Information technology (IT) permeates almost all aspects of the economy and is what really drives economic growth, according to a report released this month by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). The report’s authors, Robert Atkinson and Andrew McKay, believe the diffusion of information technology increases worker productivity 3-5 times more than non-IT capital.
Useful Stats: 2004 Federal R&D Obligations to Universities and Colleges by State
The federal government distributed $23.8 billion in R&D obligations to universities and colleges in fiscal year 2004 — a 4.4 percent increase from the FY 2003 total of $22.8 billion, according to new National Science Foundation (NSF) data. In its report, Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions: Fiscal Year 2004, NSF details all categories of direct federal science and engineering support to institutions of higher education in the U.S.
People
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.