SSTI Digest

The role of a technology incubator or accelerator for supporting nascent firms generally is regarded with the utmost importance by the tech-based economic development community. Tech incubators provide essential resources for startup companies to develop and commercialize new technologies, leading to the creation of high-quality jobs.

With estimates suggesting there could be as many as 5,000 incubators of all shapes and sizes worldwide, finding the latest and best practices for tech business incubation could be a challenge. Fortunately, award programs, such as the currently open SSTI's 3rd Annual Excellence in TBED Award, can help call attention to some of the most successful approaches.

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

The Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center (IMEC) has posted a job opening for vice president, service development and delivery, to plan, organize and initiate activities aimed at achieving IMEC's objectives in service/product delivery to MEP small manufacturers, OEM/large manufacturing, and non-manufacturing markets.  Other duties include consulting services development and leadership, value stream management, service/product development and improvement, and corporate planning and coordination. The candidate must have 10 or more years of experience in the leadership of a business or organization comparable to IMEC.

In honor of Earth Day, SSTI has prepared a special edition of the SSTI Weekly Digest focused almost exclusively on green issues, ranging from a round-up of recent developments to encourage the creation and growth of alternative energy companies to a profile of Toledo's solar success story. Enjoy the news, and pass this issue along to others you think would be interested-but do it electronically, please.

Last week, the Board of Trustees at the University of Toledo approved the creation of a School of Solar and Advanced Renewable Energy. The School will integrate faculty from multiple science, engineering, and business disciplines to offer its own degrees and perform collaborative research, often with industrial partners associated with the region's established solar energy and photovoltaics cluster.

Building a cluster of academic and industrial research can happen without policy interventions; however, Toledo's situation is different. The region's leadership in advanced renewable energy is the result of deliberate choices and continual injections of funding by a host of public and private partners. So how did Toledo do it?

The Ohio Department of Development invites bids for two Requests for Proposals (RFP) to provide evaluation services and other forms of technical assistance for the state's fiscal years 2010 and 2011.  Proposals for either opportunity are due by May 29. Specifically, Development is seeking contractors for the following:

Make 2009 your organization's year to be recognized as a national leader in the TBED community!

Legislative leaders and key stakeholders need to know the valuable impact of TBED on local, state and regional economies. SSTI's Excellence in TBED Awards showcase these accomplishments and tell the story of how successful TBED initiatives have responded to a critical need by applying innovative approaches to generate substantial economic gains for their region.

As an award winner, you:

Today's Digest marks SSTI's 600th issue. The Digest's growth in circulation and coverage over the past 13 years parallels the explosive expansion of activities to strengthen regional economies through technology-based economic development. From its humble beginnings as a two-page fax sent out to 50 people on Friday March 1, 1996, to its current world-crossing circulation now in the thousands, the Digest remains committed to delivering timely information that will help state, local and university TBED practitioners succeed. For the history buffs among our readership, nearly every past issue of the Digest is archived on our website: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm.

More than 50 research funding opportunities totaling more than $100 million were sent to SSTI Members this week in SSTI's Funding Supplement. This members-only electronic publication provides readers with application information, eligibility criteria and submission deadlines for hundreds of research and economic development funding opportunities offered by the federal government and others. Additional information about SSTI Membership is available at:  http://www.ssti.org/benefits.htm

Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation has named Jim Carroll as director of its Center for Entrepreneurial Growth.

Catapult Bio, a nonprofit organization designed to help transform emerging research discoveries into business opportunities, accelerating the commercialization of life sciences in Arizona, announced its official launch with a grant of up to $14 million from Abraxis Bioscience.

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

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

Not all of the news coming out of governors' offices is bad for TBED strategies. For example, just in the past week, governors in Missouri, Ohio and Texas proposed increases in state investments for job creation in emerging fields, higher education scholarships, and technology commercialization and research programs. The following overview provides highlights of their recommendations for TBED proposals in the upcoming fiscal year or biennium.