In the December 12, 2005 Issue:

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Utah Governor Outlines Funding for TBED in FY07 Budget Request
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. released last week his fiscal year 2007 budget request, providing a substantial boost in funding for the Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) Initiative. In FY 2005, the legislature appropriated $4 million to fund the initial phase of the initiative. This year, the governor is recommending $62 million for infrastructure and programs.

Under the governor's request, $50 million in one-time funding would be used for building new research laboratories at the University of Utah (U of U) and Utah State University (USU). Program funding includes $11 million of additional ongoing money for a total of $15 million to continue attracting research teams to the state and $1 million of ongoing money for commercialization of research and the creation of Innovation Centers.

The USTAR initiative is designed to attract world-class research teams in targeted disciplines where Utah already has distinct competitive advantages, according to the governor's office. The teams develop products and services that can be commercialized in new business industries that will create higher-paying jobs. Last year, the $4 million appropriation was used to recruit and hire two senior research teams at U of U and one research team at USU.

The governor's FY07 budget request also includes an one-time allocation of $1.3 million for Centers of Excellence and ongoing funding of $250,000 each for the Cluster Initiative (see the July 11 issue of the Digest) and Technology Parks. The legislature appropriated $1 million to the Centers of Excellence Program in FY06, including $500,000 in one-time funding and $500,000 in ongoing funding.

Gov. Huntsman's FY07 Budget Recommendations are available at: http://governor.utah.gov/gopb/budget.html

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Looking Back at SSTI's 9th Annual Conference
Higher Ed as the Basis for Economic Growth: The Georgia Story
Over the last 15 years, few states have been as focused on investing in higher education to encourage sustainable economic prosperity as Georgia. At SSTI's 9th Annual Conference on Oct. 19-21, 2005, presenters made the case that the southern state is a national leader in American higher education.

Higher Ed as the Basis for Economic Growth: The Georgia Story featured Mike Cassidy, president and chief executive officer of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA). Joining Cassidy were Michael Gerber, president of the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education (ARCHE), Joy Hymel, executive director of the Intellectual Capital Partnership Program (ICAPP), and David Lee, director of strategic research and analysis of the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC).

The session examined the full spectrum of Georgia's strategy to encourage university-oriented tech-based economic development (TBED) through workforce preparedness, research funding, infrastructure development, technology commercialization, and regional branding.

GRA, a public-private partnership that acts as Georgia's lead science and technology program, is a widely emulated model for TBED. It is a group whose board is drawn from the top levels of some of the state’s largest corporations and six universities - Clark Atlanta University, Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Medical College of Georgia, and University of Georgia.

Cassidy highlighted GRA's Eminent Scholars program, which recruits scientists to Georgia to lead R&D programs having high potential economic development impact for the state. The scientists come from all parts of the world and, to date, number 51. Cassidy also emphasized three GRA initiatives to encourage technology transfer - the GRA Innovation Fund, VentureLab, and funding for technology incubators at universities.

Either directly or indirectly, the alliance has over the last 10 years helped to bring Georgia from the lower or middle tier to the top tier of states on several measures of economic vitality. Examples of measures include:

Additionally, since 1990, GRA has helped attract 120 world-class researchers to Georgia and 1,500 high-tech jobs have been created at the state's research universities, Cassidy said.

Gerber's presentation detailed several reports prepared by ARCHE, an organization whose mission focuses on advancing Atlanta-area higher education. In particular, Gerber highlighted a study that ranks Atlanta in the top eight of the 60 largest U.S. metro areas across 20 measures of higher ed. Some of 2000-2001 measures cited, with ranking shown in parentheses, were total research expenditures (4); degrees conferred in engineering and related technologies (2), in the biological and life sciences (7) and in the computer and information sciences (5); total degrees (3); and total enrollment (7).

Hymel and Lee made similar presentations, detailing their respective organization's contribution to the Georgia economy through higher ed-friendly programs. Hymel, for example, noted that ICAPP has helped assist more than 1,300 Georgians to become licensed health professionals through its Health Professionals Initiative. The new positions are expected to generate an annual payroll of $45.2 million and an estimated $2.7 million each year in state income taxes.

GSFC's HOPE Scholarship Program - funded by the Georgia Lottery - will have provided more than $3.2 billion in scholarship and grant assistance by the end of 2006, Lee said. The program provides such assistance to Georgia residents who attend eligible state postsecondary institutions. Since the program's inception in 1994, more than four million awards have been made to almost one million students.

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Understanding Renewable Energy's Role in Rural ED
An increasing number of states are realizing the potential role renewable energy can play in their tech-based economic development strategies (TBED) and future growth. While nearly all provide some financial support to encourage the use of renewable sources of energy (see, for example, the Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy), several are looking at the R&D side of the equation for future technological breakthroughs. Funding and attention for the next wave is often driven toward universities, utility companies and large players in the energy market.

A less exploited element of renewable energy is the role currently available technologies from several energy streams can play for businesses in rural locations -- reducing costs, identifying alternate profit streams and giving them a competitive edge over their urban counterparts.

Two new publications from Colorado's Office of Energy Management and Conservation (OEMC) and the Governor's Office of Economic Development & International Trade provide examples of how renewable energy can be integrated into the rural development strategies.

Released Dec. 12, The Handbook on Renewable Energy Financing for Rural Colorado and Distributed Wind Generation Study for Northeast Colorado provide details on existing projects and discuss the potential of renewables in driving economic development in rural communities, particularly with agriculturally-centered economies.

The OEMC initiated these two studies to help Coloradans assess feasibility of renewable energy technologies. The studies address how renewable energy can benefit agriculture, utilities, consumers and other industries in Colorado specifically, but have applications in many regions of the country.

The Handbook uses Colorado case studies to examine existing renewable energy projects, such as biomass, biofuels, hydropower, solar and others. Descriptions of these commercially available technologies with respect to the financial, environmental and technological factors are provided in the Handbook.

Distributed Wind Generation Study for Northeast Colorado focuses specifically on wind energy's potential to provide additional power and economic benefits to Colorado. As the American Wind Energy Association reports 2005 will be a record year for installations across the country, the potential role for energy farming to play in revitalizing rural economies is growing.

The Handbook on Renewable Energy Financing for Rural Colorado is available at: http://www.colorado.gov/oemc/publications/handbook_rural_co.pdf

Distributed Wind Generation Study for Northeast Colorado will be available on the OEMC site soon: http://www.colorado.gov/oemc/programs/renewable/index.htm

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International Update
Britain to Double Support for Stem Cell Research
Britain’s Pre Budget Report 2005, released Dec. 5, calls for the United Kingdom to double spending for stem cell research to £100M within the next two years and launch a number of new initiatives to sustain innovation and science. The plan also calls for the creation of a National Institute for Health Research to support 10 new university-based centers for excellence in medical research, as many as 250 academic fellowships and 100 clinical lecture training opportunities each year, according to the Press Association.

Also, on the academic front, the budget calls for establishing a new UK-China University Partnership Scheme to support scholarships and encourage academic exchanges and collaboration between centers of excellence in science and technology within the two countries. To encourage in-migration of young foreign scientists and technologists, the government is proposing to allow all international students on completion of post-graduate degree, or an undergraduate degree in a shortage sector, to work in the UK for up to 12 months, benefiting up to 50,000 students.

More information on the Britain’s Pre-Budget Report 2005 is available at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/pre_budget_report/prebud_pbr05/prebud_pbr05_index.cfm

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China Makes 15-year, $180B Commitment toward Renewable Energy
In China, leaders of the rapidly growing nation dogged by soaring energy needs and unrelenting pollution problems made a commitment to double the nation’s use of renewable energy resources within the next 15 years.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in November, that the government will spend as much as $180 billion on renewable energy over the next 15 years in an effort to increase renewables' share of primary energy consumption from 7 percent to 15 percent by 2020. Already, China has installed solar power in 700 remote, off-grid towns at a cost of $600 million. As many as 30 million Chinese residents live without power.

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Useful Stats
Average Tuition and Fees at Academic Institutions, 1999-2004
Tuition at South Carolina's four-year public institutions increased by 106 percent over the five-year period, 1999-2004, the highest such increase in the nation, according to the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and North Carolina rounded off the top five in the same measure, with each state's institutions having increases of more than 50 percent.

For the 2003-04 academic year, NCES estimates the average cost for tuition and fees was $4,630 at four-year public institutions, $17,902 at four-year private institutions, and $1,670 at two-year public institutions. Between 1999 and 2004, tuition and fees rose by 38 percent at four-year public institutions, by 23 percent at four-year private institutions, and by 25 percent at two-year public institutions, according to the data.

SSTI has constructed state-by-state tables comparing the cost of tuition and fees at four-year public, four-year private, and two-year public institutions from 1999 to 2004. The tables are drawn from data in NCES’ Digest of Education Statistics and are available at http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/121205t.htm. The Digest of Education Statistics is available in its entirety at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/.

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People

The Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp. promoted Kevin Carr to the position of chief operations officer.

The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University announced that Jon Fjeld is the executive director of its recently unveiled Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland, College Park named Dan Goodman as its first technology commercialization fellow.

The 82nd Annual Congress of Cities in Charlotte, N.C., elected Jim Hunt, a councilmember of Clarksburg, W.Va., as the new president of the National League of Cities. Hunt follows Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony A. Williams.

The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) selected Vicki Loise as its first executive director.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels named Mitch Maurer, president of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), as the new state secretary of commerce. Maurer replaces Pat Miller, who stepped down to resume her role as president and CEO of her company, Vera Bradley Designs, Inc.

BioMed SA, a recently founded technology council to promote the development of San Antonio’s health and bioscience community, selected Ann Stevens to serve as its first executive director.

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