Complete descriptions of these opportunities and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty recently unveiled four energy initiatives to promote clean energy R&D and the use of renewable energy technologies in the state. Through a combination of executive orders and legislative proposals, the programs are intended to push Minnesota towards its goals of having 25 percent of the state’s energy come from renewable sources by 2025 and reducing the state’s greenhouse emissions 80 percent by 2050. These new initiatives are:

Referring to his fiscal year 2008-09 budget recommendation as “back to basics,” Gov. Phil Bredesen proposed significant investments in research and workforce initiatives while vowing not to tap into reserves or raise taxes.

 

A complete description of this opportunities and others is available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

Gov. Phil Bredesen’s budget proposal for 2007-2008 includes more than $100 million in new funding for several new education and high-tech development initiatives and a strategy to spur the state’s alternative fuels industry.

 

The Tennessee Technology Development Corporation (TTDC), the lead organization in Tennessee for technology-based economic development, is seeking a president and chief executive officer (CEO). This position is responsible for the overall direction and management of TTDC and its programs, including resource development, finances, contracts, compliance reporting and operational policies. He or she will work with a 22-member board of directors to establish and successfully implement a work plan that fulfills the organization's mission.

Funding for energy and TBED initiatives were highlighted in the fiscal year 2007-09 biennial budget at the close of the legislative session in Minnesota late last month. Winning nearly unanimous approval from the legislature was Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Next Generation Initiative announced during his State-of-the-State Address (see the Jan.

Like many low-population states that cannot benefit from tax revenues from oil and gas exploitation such as Wyoming and Alaska, Rhode Island must leverage its existing university and industry research capabilities more fully and encourage more private investment activity, according to the five initial recommendations of the Rhode Island Science & Technology Advisory Council (STAC).

Study Suggests Cultural Changes in Universities Could Be Key to Promoting Greater Tech Transfer

Michael Terry, president and CEO of EmergeMemphis, has announced he will resign at the end of the year.

Peter Bianco has been named executive director of University Enterprise Laboratories, a nonprofit entity created by the University of Minnesota that provides incubator laboratory space for bioscience start-up companies.

The presentations from last week's conference, Knowledge Clusters and Entrepreneurship in Regional Economic Development, now available online, provide a good introduction to many of the topics and issues to be discussed at SSTI's annual conference, Building Tech-based Economies: Preparing for Tomorrow's Challenges, in Philadelphia, Oct. 13-15.

Jacques Koppel, president of Minnesota Technology, Inc. since 1991, announced his resignation on July 28. Under Mr. Koppel's leadership, MTI worked with more than 5,600 manufacturing and technology companies around Minnesota, helping the state's economy realize gains of more than $700 million in the process.

Before ending its 2003 session, the Rhode Island legislature signed off on nearly all of the technology-based economic development (TBED) initiatives at the core of Gov. Donald Carcieri's strategy to help the state rebound from the down economy. First outlined in his Feb. 4 State of the State Address (see the Feb.

Providence was listed among the top 50 cities in the U.S. in which to do business in a June issue of Forbes Magazine. Now, a new initiative to jumpstart economic development in the Rhode Island capital is aimed at solidifying the ranking.

Jeff Wadsworth has been named the next director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Wadsworth was a former deputy director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Fred Tompkins, professor and interim dean of the University of Tennessee (UT) College of Engineering, has been named interim executive director of the UT Research Foundation.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty recently announced the formation of a Biodiesel Task Force to accelerate development of the state's biodiesel industry. The nine-member group will advise the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) on methods to increase production and use of biodiesel in Minnesota.

Chris Matthews is the president of the new Chattanooga Technology Council, which held its official kickoff event earlier this month.

Katherine O'Dea has been named executive director of the Rhode Island Technology Council.

Rhode Island, like nearly every state in the country, is facing a projected budget deficit in FY 2004. To deal with a $175 million or 6.6 percent shortfall, 21 agencies are facing budget reductions in Governor Don Carcieri's first budget request to the Rhode Island General Assembly. However, demonstrating his commitment to "make strategic investments to promote job growth," Gov. Carcieri calls for increased support for several tech-based economic development initiatives.

Minnesota manufacturers are cutting payrolls, bidding low and scrambling to compete with the giant threat of cheap labor and enhanced manufacturing facilities offered in China, according to a recent survey of Greater Minnesota manufacturing companies.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty recently unveiled a plan to help make Minnesota a leader in biosciences. Governor Pawlenty says the state's history, expertise and economic infrastructure make it better prepared than most other states to capitalize on the bioscience industry.

Despite an economic slowdown, the Twin Cities is more competitive than it was a year ago, according to a study released by the Great North Alliance, a regional civic leadership organization. Conducted annually, the Great North Opportunity Forecast uses regional productivity and innovation to predict future competitiveness and opportunity.

Cleveland Fed: "Innovation, Growth, and Economic Policy in an Environment of Change,"

At a time when manufacturing jobs are relenting to the pressures of an expanded service sector, foreign competition and productivity growth, the idea of economic prosperity has a renewed urgency with innovation as the greatest strength and flexibility the greatest asset, argues a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.