Steve Biggers, deputy director, Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology has retired after 31 years of service to the state. He has served at OCAST for the last 19 years.

Tom Thornton, president and CEO of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, submitted his letter of resignation to the board effective immediately. David Vranicar, president of the authority's Heartland BioVentures division, was named interim president and CEO.

Included below are recent development plans and groundbreaking news for research parks announced by officials in Connecticut, Colorado, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

James Weyhenmeyer has been named the vice president for Research and Economic Development at Georgia State University.

As the outlook for general revenue funds improves in many states, governors are looking to boost investment in higher education and STEM as a means for growing the economy and enhancing the workforce. Universities' economic return to states can be quite impactful.

Spencer Eccles, executive director of the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development, is departing state government to form a private investment company.

Travis Sheridan, currently the assistant vice president for innovation and entrepreneurship for the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, will become the new executive director of the Venture Café Foundation.

The fourth installment of SSTI’s Tech Talkin’ Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Illinois, Massachusetts and Utah.

University-focused initiatives that help bring new technologies and products to market help drive regional economic development and encourage an entrepreneurial culture on campuses. SSTI’s latest Trends in TBED report featured a number of commercialization efforts launched in 2013, including university-based funds to support ideas from faculty, staff and alumni. So far, 2014 also has proven active in this area with the announcement of several new initiatives to support university technology startups.

The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program recently awarded $2.5 million for five pilot projects to improve small U.S. manufacturers' supply chain competitiveness and foster their readiness to adopt advanced technologies. The projects will be led by MEP centers and bring together teams of experts in specific technology areas. MEP centers in California, Georgia, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin each will receive approximately $500,000 for the pilot efforts, which, in most cases, involve partners in other states.

Between FY2007-12, research and development (R&D) spending at U.S. universities grew 27.5 percent, from about $51.6 billion to $65.8 billion, according to the latest edition of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey. The survey provides a look at R&D spending at U.S. universities, with data broken down by state, institution, research area and funding sources.

In an effort to help spur economic prosperity, several universities recently have unveiled new initiatives to connect potential entrepreneurs with university resources and help integrate the entrepreneurs into their region’s innovation ecosystem. The Blackstone Charitable Foundation also announced it will expand LaunchPad, a university-led entrepreneurship program, to a partnership that includes three universities in Southern California.

A bill providing $35.4 million in workforce training grants to expand Wisconsin’s Fast Forward program was signed into law on Monday by Gov. Scott Walker. Funding will be available in the form of grants to technical colleges to reduce waiting lists for enrollment and for programs and courses that train students in high-demand fields. The funds also will support collaborative projects among school districts, technical colleges and businesses and for employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Increased scrutiny for public investments has grown in recent years amid tight budget conditions. Returns on innovation-focused efforts often take time, and as a result TBED groups are always looking to improve metrics and reporting to meet greater demand for transparency. In Utah, lawmakers recently passed a bill providing more oversight for the state’s signature innovation-capacity building program following a critical audit last year. At the same time, lawmakers continued to embrace the concept of the agency they established eight years prior, and appropriated level funds to continue USTAR’s efforts in research and commercialization. The legislature also passed a bill dedicating $20 million to the STEM Action Center created last session.

Over the last week, several states have announced/passed new programs focused on increasing the capital available to spur small business growth and innovation. Officials from New Jersey announced the state's new angel tax credit will take effect July 1. In Arizona and Wisconsin two bills await gubernatorial approval that would rework the Arizona R&D tax credit program and establish a $75 million venture capital fund in Wisconsin. Meanwhile, the Minnesota state legislature did not approve an additional $5 million for its popular Small Business Investment Tax Credit.

States across the U.S. are directing their attention to science, technology, education and technology (STEM) education, and already have passed a plethora of new initiatives in the current legislative session.  These programs are directed at various levels of education including primary education and higher education, with one program specifically designated for the state’s community colleges. A number of states have created STEM advisory councils under the governors’ offices, following the lead of Iowa and Massachusetts.

A new online flexible degree program backed by Gov. Scott Walker and the University of Wisconsin (UW) System aims to significantly raise the number of college graduates by allowing adults with some college experience to work at their own pace, earn credit for what they already know, and pay reduced rates through partnerships with employers. In order to appeal to the nearly 700,000 Wisconsin adults with some postsecondary education credit, the UW Flexible Degree provides a more personalized, self-paced college experience and a shortened time to degree completion.

Betsy Biemann, who has served as president of the Maine Technology Institute since 2005 has resigned. Joe Migliaccio, manager of MTI's Business Innovation Program, is serving as interim president.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has been named the next president of Purdue University. Daniels will become the 12th president in Purdue's 143-year history in January at the end of his second term as governor.

Caren Franzini, the CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, stepped down after leading the agency for 21 years. Michele Brown, Gov. Chris Christie's appointments counsel, will take over as CEO.

The third installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs' series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Utah. The first and second installments are available in the Jan. 11 and Jan. 18 editions of the Digest. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, State of the State Address, Jan. 19, 2012 "Following up on the recent "Imagine Delaware' forum sponsored by the News Journal, we are finding new ways to support entrepreneurs. Over the last months, we studied best practices at entrepreneurial support centers around the country...

Ted McAleer has resigned as executive director of USTAR. Also Gary Herbert has announced the appointment of former Lt. Gov. Greg Bell as chair of the USTAR Governing Authority. Bell, now president and CEO of the Utah Hospital Association, takes the place of outgoing chair Dinesh Patel.

Crowdfunding was poised to make a major splash on startup financing in 2013, aided by the passage of the 2012 JOBS Act, a projected explosion in the number of crowdfunding portals and the adoption of state crowdfunding exemptions. However, the crowdfunding industry did not have the anticipated gamechanging impact on startup financing.