The University of Missouri System is seeking applicants for the position of intellectual property attorney.

The newly-created Clean Energy Leadership Council, convened by the Washington governor's office and a state-wide public-private clean energy alliance, held its first meeting. The council will deliver a clean energy strategy and recommendations by December 1, 2010.

Chris Atkinson is the new director of West Virginia University's Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines, and Emissions (CAFEE).

Bryan Allinson has joined Ohio University as director of technology transfer.

Jeff Blodgett, Vice President of Research, at the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc. is retiring.

The University of Virginia has named W. Mark Crowell, vice president for business development at The Scripps Research Institute, to the newly created position of executive director and associate vice president for innovation partnerships and commercialization.

A jobs bill that garnered near unanimous support in both legislative chambers was signed into law by Gov. Jodi Rell last week. The bill includes pre-seed funding for innovative ideas, a program authorizing tax credits for insurers investing in many different types of businesses, including technology startups, student loan reimbursements to retain green collar workers, a small business loan pool, and a green manufacturing pilot program.

Subra Suresh, dean of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the next director of the National Science Foundation.

Eric Cromwell, president and CEO, and Dan Schmisseur, vice president of operations and strategy, have resigned from the Tennessee Technology Development Corporation.

The second installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs' series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, Kansas, New Hampshire, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. Our first installment was in the Jan. 5 Digest.

The sixth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Connecticut, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey and North Carolina. The first five installments are available in the Jan. 5, Jan. 12, Jan. 19, Jan.

Citing a lack of coordination among the state's economic development agencies as an obstacle for small businesses and entrepreneurs looking to set up shop, Gov. Dan Malloy unveiled a plan to consolidate job training and grant programs as part of the 2012-13 biennial budget. The governor's budget also would incentivize large employers through a competitive program rewarding the first five companies that create at least 200 new jobs within two years.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich named James Leftwich as the director of the Ohio Department of Development, effective March 25. Leftwich has worked at the Dayton Development Coalition for six years, including three years as president and CEO. Leftwich will take the post previously held by Mark Kvamme, a California venture capitalist named the state's development director in January. Kvamme was appointed director of Job Creation within the governor's office, effective immediately.

High-tech manufacturers in Connecticut seeking to innovate and diversify their processes are eligible for grants of up to $25,000 each under a new pilot program announced last week by Gov. Jodi Rell. The goal of the Connecticut Small Business Innovation and Diversification Program is to help the state's small businesses develop, produce and commercialize new products while streamlining delivery of products and services, according to the governor's press office.

Most impact models look at broad measures, sometimes including multiplier estimates for indirect effects. Connecticut Innovations (CI) takes a different approach, but one that might be expected from the venerable equity investment program – the direct capital return to its initial stakeholder, the state.

Bottom line: the program pays for itself, according to recent impact study performed by Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development.. In fact, it has paid nearly $2 for every dollar invested between 1995 and 2008.

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.

Gov. Jodi Rell last week unveiled her FY11 midterm budget adjustments, eliminating or reducing funding for several TBED initiatives in the second year of the biennium. At the same time, the governor proposed an economic recovery package that includes a lending program for small businesses, a student loan forgiveness program to retain green collar workers, and a sales tax exemption for green energy industries.

Specialized and high-tech incubators provide crucial services and resources to promote and enhance Commercialization & Entrepreneurship, one of the six thematic tracks of this year's annual conference. Three sessions tied to this theme will be explored during SSTI's annual conference, focusing on direct lessons from successful and proven TBED programs, regional innovation clustering, and more. They include:

• Distributed, Non-University Models for Commercializing New Technologies

Lawmakers called into special session on Friday approved a $75 million incentive package for a Texas-based energy company to build five biofuel facilities in the state expected to generate 1,000 new jobs through a total $500 million investment. The package approved by lawmakers also includes $4 million for a workforce training fund through the state's institutions of higher education and up to $2 million for biomass research at Alcorn State University and Mississippi State University.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the selection of 10 regional economic development and job creation efforts through a new pilot program, Innovative Economies, that supports small business participation in regional economic clusters. SBA's funding is designed to expand the opportunities and the role small businesses play in these regional collaborations. The awardees were selected from among 173 applicants. Awards went to organizations in: Alabama, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina.

This year as states were wrestling with significant deficits, several proposals to consolidate TBED initiatives with other units of government emerged. The most recently decided was in Connecticut, where the General Assembly did not move forward with a plan to merge the state's two primary financing agencies, Connecticut Innovations and the Connecticut Development Authority to form a new Connecticut Economic Innovations Authority. Gov. Jodi Rell had proposed the consolidation.

The national recession that began at the end of 2007 is "very likely over," according to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Recovery, however, may be a long way off. Because states were affected differently by the economic downturn in both timing and impact, recovery for state and local economies is likely to occur at different times. Moody's Economy.com predicts, according to an MSNBC article, that job growth will return first in five states: Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.

Often credited with contributing significant revenue to states' economies, research parks also house facilities for workforce training and provide resources for tech-based industries, which is especially important as the nation's employment begins to pick up steam. In West Virginia, officials are building a $15 million advanced technology-training center at the state-owned research and technology park, and in Utah, officials recently broke ground on a building that will house engineers and analysts working on the nation's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program.

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.

Governors in Arkansas, Mississippi and Wyoming recently unveiled spending plans for the upcoming year or biennium. Funding for many tech-based investments would be maintained or increased under the governors' proposals. New proposals range from additional funds for energy research at the University of Wyoming to new funding mechanisms for colleges and universities in Mississippi. Funding for S&T efforts in Arkansas would remain level.

Arkansas