Merideth Andreucci has succeeded Michael Wilton as president of the USA Niagara Development Corp. Wilton was nominated by Governor George Pataki to serve as President of the New York State Higher Education Services Corp.

State Partnership with Texas Instrument Yields $3B Investment

From the outsider's perspective, it could be analogous to a world wrestling prize fight, except the punches and stakes are real. Two big, proud states wrestling for dominance in one lucrative industry — semiconductors.

The previous issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest (June 27, 2003) included a story with the headline "Québec Investing More Than $500M for Biotech." It was the kind of big initiative with a hefty price tag that a few states have launched and most others salivate to replicate. A perfect item for the Digest.

The problem is that big initiative never actually happened.

New York Ecomm has changes its name to The Executive Council of New York to better reflect the organization's broader membership and program offerings.

The Ontario Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation has launched a two-phase, $30 million program intended to accelerate the development of Ontario's biotechnology cluster. The Biotechnology Cluster Innovation Program (BCIP) will support biotechnology infrastructure projects that will help create new companies.

Competition for state, federal and industrial funding to support university research is increasingly fierce in the U.S. Growing interest in developing academic research capacity, eroding state support for higher education and federal R&D budgets barely keeping pace with inflation, let alone absorbing the growing percentage dedicated to Congressional earmarks, are some of the reasons.

With its economy already outpacing the average growth for the member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for the past five years, the Czech Republic is injecting 348 million euros ($417.6 million US) into several tech-based economic development (TBED) initiatives.

Increased financial support for start-up companies and the research sector has the attention of Canadian Minister of Finance Ralph Goodale. In the Minister's 2004 budget report, released last month, venture capital (VC) initiatives totaling $270 million (CAN) are targeted for investment. Combined with private sector investments, total VC funding is expected to amount to $1 billion.

Although their courses of action may differ, competing proposals sponsored by the New York State Senate and Assembly would seem to have the same goal — create jobs, support small businesses, and transform the state's manufacturing sector.

Although much collaborative work is underway in the United Kingdom, there is more to be done on the parts of universities, government and businesses, according to the Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration. The conclusions and recommendations of the report span the Atlantic, offering advice of potential value for American university-industry relations.

Andrea Lohneiss, community development director for Riverhead, N.Y., is leaving to become Suffolk County's commissioner of economic development.

Dr. Russell Bessette has been appointed to the Federal Homeland Security Science and Technology Committee. Dr. Bessette currently is the executive director of the New York Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR).

Nearly every region engaged in building a tech-based economy wants more access to seed and venture capital money. It's particularly useful when your largest employer announces it will lay off up to 23 percent of its workforce – as many as 5,000 people in your community and 15,000 across the globe – during the next three years.

New York Governor George Pataki, in his 10th State of the State Address last week, outlined a variety of initiatives designed to further promote tech-based economic development (TBED) in the state. From refining the state's Empire Zones program and strengthening the manufacturing sector to making New York a leader in renewable energy and academic research, the governor's agenda is not short on TBED items.

A new study examining the post-Sept. 11 economy of New York argues the city's traditional approach to economic development, one which has banked on a few favored sectors such as financial and business services, is outdated and should be reconceived.

Following extensive public consultation, the French Ministry for Industry and Research has announced a revamped national strategy to boost support for research and development (R&D) activities in France. The plan, to be implemented in 2004, aims to make financial resources for innovative companies more accessible and to increase France’s appeal to the international R&D community.

Some of the key measures include:

Hempstead (New York) Mayor James Garner was elected to serve as the 61st president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors during its annual meeting this week.

Ontario is performing from a base of strength in its transition to a knowledge-based economy, according to the Ontario Innovation Index recently released by the Ontario Science and Innovation Council (OSIC). Using 30 indicators, the report measures all aspects of the province's innovation system, from community awareness and support for science and technology (S&T) to levels of investment to support its infrastructure.

On Jan. 26, New York Gov. George Pataki and State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno announced legislation to create a $200 million Biotechnology and Biomedicine Research Initiative through the New York State Charitable Assets Foundation.

Earlier this week, the European Commission presented its strategy to respond to the March 2002 Barcelona European Council's call to raise research spending to 3 percent of the European Union's (EU) average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2010. Today, Europe is at 1.9 percent on average across the member countries.

Kathleen Wise is the new Director of Programs for the New York Office of Science, Technology and the Advancement of Research. She fills the position vacated this summer by Keith Servis.

Whether it's oil, gas, mining, lumber, fishing or farming, economies dominated by natural resource exploitation are subject to periods of boom and bust. In order for the four provinces of Canada's Atlantic region to shield themselves from such market swings and scarcity problems, it is necessary to build R&D partnerships and to collaborate more than ever, concludes a report released by Dr. Alan Cornford of GPT Management Ltd., Marin Consultants, Inc. and Gardner Pinfold Consultants Ltd.

Hard evidence of the increasing global research competence discussed in the Thursby's paper above was provided last week when the Singapore Ministry of Trade & Industry (MTI) announced plans last week to commit $7.5 billion ($4.6 billion US) over the next five years to sustain innovation-driven growth through economic-oriented R&D. All figures below are in U.S. dollars.

Temi Bova is the new director of Union College's U-start technology business incubator in Schenectady, N.Y.

University partnerships lead to diversity in teaching and research, highlight the importance of university research and lead to the development of special expertise, concludes a policy brief by the Conseil Superieur De L’Education in Quebec.