SSTI’s Annual Conference offers a rich and rewarding slate of professional development opportunities for seasoned conference veterans and first-timers alike. Each year, SSTI helps connect TBED professionals to the ideas and perspectives making a difference in the regional innovation. The conference also provides a vibrant atmosphere where attendees can connect to the leading thinkers and practitioners in the field. You can expect:

SSTI’s 13th Annual Conference is made possible by the support of our host sponsor, the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC), and the generous support of our national conference sponsors. SSTI extends its appreciation and thanks to the following exemplary organizations serving as our national sponsors:

• Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development
• Greater Oklahoma City Chamber
• Battelle
• National Centers of Excellence (NCOE)
• GSP Consulting
• Monster Public Sector & Education

"Tapping the Technology Innovation Program and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership"

Gov. Mark Parkinson last week unveiled his FY11 budget proposal, which includes $5.9 million from the Economic Development Initiatives Fund (EDIF) for the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC), down $1.8 million from the FY10 governor’s estimate of $7.75 million. Many of the governor’s budget recommendations, including funding for KTEC and university research initiatives, may hinge on a tax increase proposal, however.

Entering its tenth year covering governors’ State of the State, Budget and Inaugural Addresses, SSTI’s Tech Talkin’ Govs series highlights new and expanded TBED proposals from across the nation. The first edition includes excerpts from speeches delivered in the following states:

Arizona
Gov. Janice Brewer, State of the State Address, Jan. 11, 2010

The fourth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Alaska, Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, and Oklahoma. The first three installments are available in the Jan 13, Jan. 20 and Jan. 27 Digests.

Job Corner

The Board of Directors of the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC) seeks a Chief Executive Officer to lead the organization. The CEO is responsible for executing the agency's mission, including strategic development and cultivation of the region's innovation infrastructure. A minimum of a bachelor's degree plus ten or more year's employment in technology-based economic development with at least two years in a supervisory capacity is required.

Kevin Carr was named CEO of Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp., after serving as interim leader since June 2009. KTEC is a public-private partnership charged with promoting tech-based economic development throughout the state.

This week's Digest covers two new independent reports that separately assess two critical aspects to how well nations are prepared for the economic recovery: competitiveness and educational attainment. The news, obvious in our choice of headlines, may suggest the past year - actually several years - has not been kind to the United States relative to other nations. Reading the articles one will see, however, that it isn't time that is working against the U.S.

What TBED Approaches are Successful in the Current Economy?

What TBED Approaches are Successful in the Current Economy?

The current fiscal pressures on regional technology-based economic development initiatives have been never greater than they are now. And, as the article above points out, things are going to get worse over 2010 and 2011 before they get better.

Additionally, since local communities became proactive partners with their universities, businesses, tech councils, civic organizations, and states to support economic growth through innovation, the need for local TBED never has been greater. Economists and policy wonks agree: the next economy is being built on innovation and technology.

Once again, SSTI's annual conference continues to be the most affordable professional development event of the year for the state, local, and university-based TBED community. Early registration discounts, which knock off $100 from the lowest prices already in the field, will expire Sept 29. Make the smart investment for your TBED program and your career by registering today. More information, including a registration form, is available at: http://www.ssticonference.org

TBED People
Walter Bumphus has been named the next president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges. Bumphus currently serves as a professor in the Community College Leadership Program and chair of the Educational Administration Department at the University of Texas at Austin. Bumphus will begin his tenure with AACC in January.

The opportunities for improving the partnership your TBED effort has with the federal government appear to be improving rapidly. Are you ready? Is the TBED community ready? SSTI's Annual Conference theme, Seize the Moment, was developed around this growing momentum. Timely and highly interactive plenary sessions, 16 intensive breakout sessions and some of the most forward-thinking TBED practitioners and policymakers will be on hand with hundreds of your peers at SSTI's Annual Conference, Oct 21-23. Shouldn't you be there?

To help train future scientists and support cutting-edge research in health and environmental issues, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell is recommending $109.5 million in the FY11 capital budget for the University of Alaska Life Sciences Facility in Fairbanks. The multi-purpose teaching and research facility would house the Department of Biology and Wildlife and accommodate a wide-range of research programs, reports Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

The Kansas Bioscience Authority - Heartland Bio Ventures, and the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation are jointly recruiting for a federal research funding specialist.

Governors across the nation are trying to find ways to prevent their state finances from falling further in the red as revenues continue to fall while costs for Medicare and unemployment remain high. Deficit-reduction plans announced in two states seek to delay payments and cut funding to biomedical research initiatives that were established to expand the states’ research capacity and generate wealth.

Connecticut

The agricultural states that lie east of the Rocky Mountains are at the center of an escalating decline in population, far exceeding that of other regions of the country. Of particular concern is the effect of population loss among young, educated workers on the states’ economies, resulting in a brain drain that could leave the region lagging the rest of the nation for many years to come.

 

Kansas University has appointed Steve Warren as its first full-time vice provost for research and graduate studies.