The city of Montpelier, Vt., will soon join the ranks of other high-tech cities as it prepares to implement its first Wi-Fi “hotzone” in the central downtown area. With support from Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), city officials and local businesses, the Vermont Broadband Council recently launched MontpelierNet, a high-speed Internet network that will bring wireless broadband Internet access to the city.

This past fall, Vermont released what may be the nation's first statewide effort to lay out an economic development strategy based on the creative economy theories advanced most prominently by George Mason professor Richard Florida.

For most people in the business sector and economic development field, perhaps, the word "innovation" is quickly associated with tech start-ups and entrepreneurial businesses. The new Tennebaum Institute at Georgia Tech, opened last month with a $5 million donation from school alumnus Michael Tennebaum, is hoping to change that.

Fred Kocher has been elected president of the New Hampshire High Technology Council, which advocates technology-based businesses in New Hampshire.

Tino Mantella has been appointed president of the Technology Association of Georgia, a nonprofit organization that focuses on promotion and economic advancement of the state's technology industry.

In a move to integrate technology and traditional learning, New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson introduced on Tuesday a four-year pilot program to bring laptop computers into classrooms. The program, Technology Promoting Student Excellence, is intended to provide wireless connectivity to all 7th-grade students and teachers from selected schools.

C. Michael Cassidy, president of the Georgia Research Alliance, has been appointed to the governing board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

With the sustained depth of the recession, the IT crash, the rapid growth in unemployment and the speculative office construction craze of the late 1990s, one would expect office vacancies to climb and property lease rates to edge down in many cities. Following this thought further might suggest, with cheaper office space available, the need for publicly supported low-rent technology incubator space would decrease.

Blair Carnahan will be the first director of the new Columbus Regional Technology Center in Columbus, Ga. The new facility will house an incubator, the Columbus Georgia Tech regional office and the Columbus office of the Small Business Development Center.

Capital for start-up and early-stage business ventures should become more plentiful in Vermont based on legislation, S. 178, passed in late May. A spokesperson for Governor Jim Douglas appraised the act's total impact as representing a $105 million investment into the state's economy.

The FY 2004 budget passed by the Georgia Senate last week eliminates all $32 million the House approved for the OneGeorgia Authority, the state's loan and grant program targeting rural tech-based and traditional economic development. Created in 2000, the OneGeorgia Authority was anticipated to spend $1.6 billion over 25 years (one-third of the state's tobacco settlement funds) to assist the state's most economically challenged areas based on unemployment and poverty rates.

Sean O'Kane, a hotel manager from Manchester, N.H., has been confirmed as the new commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development.

Robin Siss, Vermont's first commissioner for the Department of Information and Innovation, has announced her resignation. Siss began the position in August. Denise Fehr will serve as acting commissioner.

The launch of a targeted small business development program designed to foster the success of new high growth, high-tech firms in Vermont was announced last month at a press conference by Sen. Patrick Leahy, Gov. James Douglas and University of Vermont (UVM) President Daniel Fogel.

George Bald, Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development, has announced his resignation to become executive director of the Pease Development Authority.

The Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism, in partnership with the University System of Georgia, has appointed Page Siplon and Michael Hale as directors of the Maritime Logistics Innovation Center and the Middle Georgia Innovation Center for Aircraft Lifecycle Support, respectively.

The University of Vermont announced that Janice St. Onge has joined the Vermont Business Center as the director of business education.

Janice St. Onge has resigned from the Vermont Department of Economic Development to pursue career opportunities at the University of Vermont. St. Onge, whose resignation is effective Jan. 30, served for four years as the state's technology business development director.