SSTI Digest

Temi Bova is the new director of Union College's U-start technology business incubator in Schenectady, N.Y.

On Jan. 26, New York Gov. George Pataki and State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno announced legislation to create a $200 million Biotechnology and Biomedicine Research Initiative through the New York State Charitable Assets Foundation.

The new program would provide challenge grants that are expected to generate an additional $600 million in federal, nonprofit and private sector matching funds to expand biotechnology and biomedicine R&D at public and private academic and nonprofit biomedical research institutions throughout the state.

Roger Biagi was named to the newly created position of director of government relations at the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research.

Robert Chernow was appointed to the newly created position of vice provost for entrepreneurship at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Jim Denn was named deputy executive director of the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR).

Michael Tentnowski is the new director of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Incubator.

A community essentially has two options for strategies to diversify its economic base: traditional economic development or technology-based economic development (TBED). The traditional approach of recruiting or inducing companies to relocate to their community from elsewhere creates an atmosphere of competition, rivalry and one-upmanship among cities and regions as they bid to buy firms' location decisions. Often, it is also difficult for small and mid-sized communities to compete on these terms. The result, particularly with large manufacturing facilities, can be publicly financed incentive packages that may prove economically more expensive to a community than the benefits promised by the new development. Increasingly, economic development professionals are learning those promised jobs may never fully materialize.

New York's lead agency for promoting tech-based economic development (TBED) in the state soon will have a new name, if not a complete makeover. Under enacted budget legislation, the New York Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) will become the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation by Jan. 1, 2006.

Assembly Bill 6843, the state's 2006 budget, provides $250 million for the new public authority "to fulfill the public purposes of furthering job creation and economic growth and advances in the fields of science, technology and innovation and to facilitate the commercialization of scientific and other innovations in New York State." A 13-member board comprised of public and private representatives will oversee the foundation, directing all existing NYSTAR programs, a new regional partnership program, and two new funds.

New York's Empire Zones Program dodged a veto from Gov. George Pataki as an agreement was met with the legislature to restructure the program. The state budget, signed into law last week, extends the program and allows for an additional 12 zones to be created throughout the state.

Under the agreement with the legislature, Gov. Pataki will give up some control of the administration of the program to a new board, which will oversee creation of the new zones and rule on boundary issues for all existing zones, according to an article in the New York Times. The new board will consist of a panel of representatives appointed by the legislature and the governor.

Craig Watters is serving as interim director of the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship at Syracuse University. Past director Nola Miyasaki has relocated to Hawaii to join a biotech company.

George "Mick" Stadler is the new CEO for the incubator at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Michael Relyea was named deputy executive director of the New York State Office of Science and Technology Academic Research.