State universities and research programs depend on public support to develop and commercialize new technologies, but the actual science involved in these discoveries can seem intimidating and arcane to the layman. How then should a state go about engaging the public in scientific research?

 

In his inaugural address last week, Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas announced a four-part plan to bolster research and high-tech economic development. The governor’s Vermont Way Forward strategy would promote high-tech business, particularly in the state’s emerging environmental engineering industry. In addition, the strategy includes a plan to make Vermont what the governor says would be the country’s first “e-state,” one in which universal access to broadband and wireless technology are available anywhere within the state’s borders.

ConnectKentucky, a public-private partnership leading efforts to accelerate broadband availability and technology literacy throughout the Commonwealth, has formed a national umbrella organization called Connected Nation. In addition, René True has joined ConnectKentucky as director of operations, and Brent Legg has been added as director of state and local initiatives for Connected Nation

The pace for new advances in science and technology has quickened significantly over the past 10 years -- so much so that companies are challenged to stay current with the latest innovations. Entire new fields such as nanotechnology are being created while products introduced this week may be obsolete before the year is out.

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.

According to Gov. Ernie Fletcher, Kentucky is on the wrong side of a widening digital divide as the Commonwealth ranks 44th in its proportion of high-tech companies, 45th in household computer use, and 43rd in citizen Internet use. To help improve these figures, the governor has called for a broadband deployment and adoption plan that will leverage state, federal and private investment to have full, statewide broadband deployment by 2007.

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

The Alaska MEP, a new nonprofit entity formed by the Alaska Native Arts Foundation and the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation, has named Robert Pope as the first Interim Director.

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.

The Bullitt County Economic Development Authority of Kentucky has named Bob Fouts as interim director.

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.

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.

A technically-skilled workforce is one of the elements required for a tech-based economy, so the issue of stopping the brain drain is of critical importance to some regions and states.  The choice for some states, it has been observed, is to turn into retirement homes or to retain their college graduates; in short, to avoid losing their minds.  Maine, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are just a few of the states that have been looking at the issue.

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.

Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher joined National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) officials earlier this month to announce a partnership in support of the Moon-Mars initiative. The agreement pairs the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. (KSTC) with the nation's principal agency for space exploration.

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

Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher has named Derrick Ramsey as deputy secretary of the Commerce Cabinet.

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.

Building on the his first economic plan, Vermont Governor James Douglas has announced a second set of proposals to retain and create jobs in the state. The governor's eight-page Creating Jobs for the 21st Century embodies several tech-based economic development elements within the four primary goals outlined below. Some of the highlights include:

Buddy Buckingham, director of regional planning at Murray State University, will serve as interim director of the new MSU Innovations and Commercialization Center. Buckingham also currently serves in the Kentucky General Assembly.

Sixty-nine percent of Kentucky businesses use computer technology to handle some of their business functions, but only 36 percent use the Internet and little more than 20 percent have a website, according to a report released by Governor Paul Patton's Office for the New Economy. Kentucky Prepares for the Networked World, which details computer, Internet and website use among the state's businesses, shows more than 50 percent see "no need" to use the Internet.