Last week, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh announced that the country would form a quasi-independent panel modeled on the U.S.

Two weeks ago, SSTI reviewed the TBED strategies states are advised to pursue as presented in the 2008 State New Economy Index released by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and the Kauffman Foundation (see the

The U.S. Census Bureau has released a new data series tracking employment changes at the establishment level. This data allows users to track the expansion and contraction of employment within existing businesses and creation and destruction of jobs through the birth and death of firms. In addition, the Census Bureau has broken down the data by firm size, age, sector and state.

Gov. Jim Douglas plans to merge the Vermont Departments of Economic Development and Housing and Community Affairs.

The Complete description of this opportunity and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

Several years of virtually flat and occasionally declining federal funds for the nation's research and economic development communities could end abruptly with passage of an economic recovery plan resembling either proposal released by President-elect Obama or Congressional Democrats.

The House Appropriations Committee version of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act released this morning includes support for improvement to the U.S. digital infrastructure. The proposal calls for significant spending to boost the economy through science and technology.

During his presentation of the fiscal year 2009-11 budget last week, Gov. Mitch Daniels said the state's weakening economy will require the suspension of funds for some initiatives supported by his administration.

Facing a $2.3 billion deficit in FY 2010, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has proposed a new financing program to promote small business growth through the current financial crisis. Calling it an Economic Stimulus Plan, the governors.'s proposal will target small Florida-based companies with high-growth potential through direct loans and other support services.

Since the SSTI Funding Supplement became a members-only publication in 2006 more than 4,250 funding opportunities have been distributed. In 2008 only, there were more than 1,400 different opportunities for your client companies and university research faculties to secure funding -- if you were an SSTI member. Competition for federal research funding is growing, particularly as program budgets have been relatively flat or declining in recent federal budget cycles.

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

Investment by angel groups declined at least ten percent this year, according to the Angel Capital Association's (ACA) annual survey of angel group leaders. In January and February, about 55 percent of these leaders predicted that both their number of deals and total invested dollars would increase in 2008. Half of them now admit that their predictions for the year were overly optimistic.

The University of Texas System Board of Regents recently approved $15 million in funding for three programs that will support innovation and extraordinary effort among its faculty. Two of these programs will make awards for teaching excellence, one for faculty at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) and the other for teaching at the system's other eight universities.

The Scottish Government announced last month a funding plan for the university system that directs more than 10 percent of current funding into a new Horizon Fund created to make targeted investments in research, technology transfer, and entrepreneurial development.

In the "TBED People and Organizations" column of the Dec. 10 Digest, Oklahoma Gov.

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

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

SSTI has an effective new learning tool for TBED policymakers and practitioners seeking guidance in approaches to building and sustaining tech-based economies. Through exclusive interviews with Excellence in TBED Award recipients, find out first-hand how these award winning initiatives successfully responded to a critical need by applying innovative approaches to generate substantial economic gains for their region.

Four recipients selected as best practice models in technology-based economic development were honored during an awards ceremony last week in Cleveland during SSTI's 12th Annual Conference. The awards follow a national competition emphasizing impact and replicability in approaches to building and sustaining tech-based economies.

Bank bailouts may be capturing all of the headlines, but a new initiative from the European Union (EU) promises to inject a considerable pool of money during the downturn to accelerate the development of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. The European Commission, as well as participants from the European research community and industry will contribute nearly 1 billion Euros (U.S. $1.28 billion) to the public-private partnership over the next six years to fund research.

Still no sign of improvement as the U.S. enters the third quarter of its initial public offering (IPO) drought.  Just one venture-backed company made an IPO exit in the third quarter of 2008, according to a release from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).