California's Treasurer Phil Angelides called earlier this month for the nation's largest and third largest pension funds to invest at least $1.5 billion into environmental technologies and environmentally responsible companies.

Advanced research grants and equity financing are just two items slated for funding in Maine Gov. John Baldacci's $120 million revenue bond package, unveiled last week. The tech-based economic development (TBED) items would receive a combined $7 million in funding. The largest portion of the governor's package, $65 million, is dedicated to land conservation and parks. Other elements address housing, health and environmental issues.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced the top 10 U.S. universities receiving the most patents during calendar year 2003. The University of California tops the list for the tenth consecutive year.

Victor Hwang has been promoted to the position of president at Larta.

On Jan. 18, the San Diego Union-Tribune ran a series of three interesting articles examining the biotech sector. One story considers, now that a number of local biotech firms are completing clinical trials, where will they develop their multimillion manufacturing facilities. The other two articles look at selected state and local efforts around the country to support the biotech industry, including Washington, D.C., St. Louis, and Marshfield, WI.

Diane Wirth is new executive director of the Valley Economic Development Corp., a public-private organization for the San Jacinto Valley.

The Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance has appointed Tony Moon as its new president.

Does it matter whether a start-up takes money from a large venture firm or a small venture firm? According to the just-released VentureOne Deal Terms Report, the answer is a resounding yes.

The University of California, San Diego's CONNECT program will begin a search for a new director since Fred Cutler's resignation at the end of September.

On Tuesday, voters in Maine approved Governor John Baldacci's request to issue $60 million in bonds to finance several research infrastructure, economic development and housing related projects. Packaged and marketed as the Jobs Bond, the measure won easily with 60 percent of the vote in this special election. The tech-based economic development portion of the bond will be allocated as follows:

Richard C. Atkinson, the president of the University of California system since 1995, will receive the prestigious 2003 Vannevar Bush Award from the National Science Foundation for lifetime contributions to the nation in science and technology.

Nonprofits looking for financial assistance, technology assistance or assistance in general may not need to look much further than one browser window. Two online resources, TechSoup and Gifts In Kind, offer a wide variety of tools that can help nonprofit organizations stretch tight budgets.

Maine Governor John Baldacci got nearly everything he wanted in a bond proposal to encourage technology-based economic development (TBED). The Maine legislature shaved $10 million from the Governor's original request before passing the bond on to Maine voters for consideration at a special referendum June 10. The bond proposal includes:

The State of Maine's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Committee is seeking a Statewide EPSCoR Director to provide leadership and vision for the State's EPSCoR Committee, called the Research Capacity Committee (RCC), and the state's research enterprise. Working directly with the RCC, the Director participates in the development and implementation of the state's EPSCoR strategy. The Director also reports to the Chair of the RCC.

State and local governments are starting to develop entrepreneurship programs, but the past decade's progress could be threatened by the looming fiscal crisis facing the states, according to a new study released by the National Commission on Entrepreneurship (NCOE) and the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC).

Central California's Regional Technology Alliance has changed its name to the Inland Empire techSOURCE.

Annually, SSTI looks at the various addresses given by the nation's governors at the beginning of the year. Over the next several weeks, the SSTI Weekly Digest will profile the excerpts concerning programs, policies and issues immediately affecting the tech-based economic development community.

The University of Southern California (USC) will serve as the first Homeland Security Center of Excellence, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced last week. DHS anticipates providing USC with $12 million over the course of the next three years for studying risk analysis related to the economic consequences of terrorist threats and events.

Joined by actor Christopher Reeve and several of California's leading biotech researchers, Governor Gray Davis Sunday signed legislation designed to promote stem cell research in California.

True technology growth for Orange County hinges on a broader, more supportive infrastructure, argues the latest research report by the Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance (Larta).

"California must continue to increase funding for science and technology in its university systems or risk losing one of its most important comparative advantages," warns the Milken Institute in the State Technology & Science Index: Comparing and Contrasting California.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans has awarded a $6.44 million grant, the largest-ever economic development grant given by the Bush Administration, to Advancing California’s Emerging Technologies (ACET) to expand the Oakland Alameda Bio Tech Incubator to a 40,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art laboratory.

Manufacturing is a robust driver of California's economy according to a Manufacturing Matters: California's Performance and Prospects, a new report prepared by the Milken Institute. The analysis was prepared for the California Manufacturing and Technology Association.

The legal ban on non-compete contracts may have played a role in and continues to affect the development of the high tech sector in California. This is the conclusion of Rob Valletta, Research Advisor, in the August 16, 2002, edition of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter. The article, On the Move: California Employment Law and High-Tech Development analyzes the relationship between high tech development and states that do not legally allow non-compete contracts.

Meriby Sweet has been appointed technology business counselor by the Maine Technology Institute and the Maine Small Business Development Centers.