SSTI Digest

Two common themes emerged in a trio of reports aimed at growing the bioscience sectors in Indiana, New York and Pennsylvania: the need for a sustained financial commitment from the states and the importance of a shared vision and better communication between policymakers and industry leaders. In all three reports, the authors say the payoff is big for the states. The bioscience and life science industries support high-wage jobs and attract significant federal funds. Indiana The Indiana Health Industry Forum unveiled a five-year strategic plan designed to create a renewed interest in growing Indiana's health sciences sector. Developing an early stage funding mechanism focused exclusively on health sciences and complementing the funding with a statewide support infrastructure geared towards health sciences-specific entrepreneurial support are listed as the top two recommendations. The report includes summaries from five committees charged with implementing the plan. The capital formation committee calls for creation of a new fund that would be managed by individuals with expertise in targeted sectors who can quickly develop teams to evaluate applicant…

As budgets for economic development tighten across all sectors, measuring and reporting impact becomes even more crucial for sustaining support. The Association of University Research Parks points to three impressive impact reports released this year from Indiana's Purdue Research Park, Nebraska Technology Park and North Dakota State University Research and Technology Park. The Purdue study found the park network is responsible for a $1.3 billion annual impact for the state and more than 4,000 high-quality jobs paying an average annual salary that is 65 percent higher than the state's average. In Nebraska, researchers found the University of Nebraska Technology Park has an estimated $589.6 million annual impact on the state's economy, and North Dakota State University Research and Technology Park generates $10.9 million annually for local and state governments. SSTI has compiled below recent announcements for development of tech parks from states including Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, South Carolina, and West Virginia. Phase II of the Alabama Robotics Technology Park opened in August. The 35,000-square-foot facility features a test…

Jill Kline has been named the State director of the Wyoming Small Business Development Center. Daniel Hasler has been named the Indiana Secretary of Commerce, effective Sept. 16. He will replace Mitch Roob who is leaving the post to accept a position in the private sector. The National Governors Association named David Moore as the director of its NGA Center for Best Practices. Phillip Halstead has been named executive director and CEO of the West Virginia Regional Technology Park Corporation. James Watson has been appointed as the president and CEO of CMTC (California Manufacturing Technology Consulting). Steven Ceulemans is joining the Birmingham Business Alliance as vice president of Innovation and Technology.

With the number of startups on the rise, several states and cities are reaching out to entrepreneurs to connect them with the assistance and capital they need to survive. Indiana The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) has launched a new initiative to connect entrepreneurs to sources of early stage capital. The INVEST Indiana initiative will use the resources of Indiana's 21st Century Research and Technology Fund to build a statewide network of entrepreneurs, private sector investors and regional stakeholders. This public-private network will provide new ventures with access to experienced entrepreneurs and will actively seek out new, non-traditional sources of capital. A new nonprofit, Elevate Ventures, has been commissioned to engage investors and work with regional stakeholders. The group hopes to attract federal and private funding to develop regional entrepreneurial action plans across the state. Find out more about INVEST Indiana at: http://www.in.gov/portal/news_events/67630.htm. Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman recently announced a new partnership to provide the state's entrepreneurs with experienced mentors and business…

Arden Bement, head of the National Science Foundation since his appointment as acting director in early 2004 and permanent director in November of that year, will become director of the new Global Policy Research Institute at Purdue University, effective June 1. Bement served as director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology from 2001 to 2004. NSF directorships are Presidential appointments with six-year terms. Bement's term would have expired in November, 2010. The White House has yet to name Bement's successor. Bement returns to Purdue where he was a nuclear engineering professor and department head and retained tenure at Purdue during his stints in senior science policy posts in Washington, D.C. While at Purdue, Bement was the David A. Ross Distinguished Professor of Nuclear Engineering and former head of Purdue's School of Nuclear Engineering. He also held appointments in the School of Materials Engineering and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He joined the Purdue faculty in 1992 after a 39-year career in industry, government and academia. Read the announcement at: http://nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=116338&…

Indiana University is launching a $10 million venture capital fund to invest in technology companies coming out of the university. Half of the fund will be dedicated to seed- and early-stage companies, while the other $5 million will support later-stage firms. Last month the university dedicated a new $10 million Innovation Center, which will work with the fund to support university-affiliated companies.  Read more at: http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/12745.html

Indiana University is launching a $10 million venture capital fund to invest in technology companies coming out of the university. Half of the fund will be dedicated to seed- and early-stage companies, while the other $5 million will support later-stage firms. Last month the university dedicated a new $10 million Innovation Center, which will work with the fund to support university-affiliated companies.  Read more at: http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/12745.html

Robert Fritzinger has been named the director of the new SUNY Fredonia Business Technology Incubator. Ioanna Morfessis, a consultant from Phoenix, was unanimously appointed as the executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation by the board of directors. Morfessis is expected to start work in January, and will serve as acting director until the Senate confirms her appointment. Alan Rebar, senior associate vice president for research and executive director of Discovery Park, and Richard Cosier, dean and Leeds Professor at the Krannert School of Management, have been named to lead Purdue University’s Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.

While maintaining a $1 billion reserve over the next biennium, the 2009-11 budget signed into law by Gov. Mitch Daniels reduces by half funding for the state's 21st Century Research and Technology Fund and appropriates only a fraction of the requested $70 million for the Indiana Innovation Alliance, an initiative to grow the state's life science industries. Indiana's 21st Century Research and Technology Fund administered by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) will receive $35 million over the next two years - half the amount appropriated last biennium. Supporting numerous entrepreneurial ventures over the last 10 years, IEDC uses the fund to offer loans and grants to companies bringing new technologies to market, to match SBIR grants, and to create University Centers of Excellence. Additionally, no funding was included for IEDC's High Growth Business Incentive Fund, which received $3 million last biennium. The Technology Development Grant Program, which supports the creation and expansion of technology parks, will receive $3.8 million over the biennium, $400,000 less than last biennium. Lawmakers allocated $20 million over the next two years…

J. Mike Books is leaving his post with the Indiana Health Industry Forum to become the first economic development director for the city of Columbia, Missouri. He also will serve as president of the Regional Economic Development Inc. Brooks will assume his new responsibilities on July 15. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the appointment of Judith Canales as Administrator for Rural Business and Cooperative programs in USDA's Rural Development agency. Donald Cardon, who has been serving as director of the Arizona Department of Housing since March, was named director of the Arizona Department of Commerce. John Chaffee has assumed the post of president and CEO of North Carolina's Eastern Region Development Commission. His predecessor, Al Delia, left when he was appointed as Gov. Bev Perdue's policy director. Howard Gobstein is now the Executive Officer and Vice President of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. Toronto's MaRS Innovation has appointed Dr. Raphael (Rafi) Hofstein as President and CEO, effective June 8. Jeff Mason, currently senior vice president and chief business development officer for the…

Karl Fooks, a past managing director for J.P. Morgan & Co. in Asia, is the new president of the Hawaii Strategic Development Corporation. Fooks replaces John Chock who retired last year. The U.S. Senate confirmed by unanimous consent President Barack Obama's nomination of Karen Gordon Mills as the 23rd Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation has named Stephen M. Hourigan executive director of the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund. He also will oversee the state's entrepreneurship efforts. Hourigan replaces Bruce Kidd who resigned in December. Innovate Texas Foundation was launched to enhance Texas' competitiveness in bringing promising technologies to the marketplace and creating high-value jobs in the state. David Guajardo Nance will become the Foundation's first executive director. Northern Kentucky University and their alliance partners have formed the Northern Kentucky Entrepreneurial Alliance to promote entrepreneurship in the region. Bill Taylor, the longtime head of Mercedes-Benz's Alabama operations, will become president of the Economic Development Partnership of…

The following overview is a synopsis of select recent announcements from research parks across the nation, including groundbreakings and development plans to support vibrant regional economies based on science, technology and innovation.  The University of Missouri Mizzou Innovation Center is the anchor research tenant in the new Missouri Innovation Park - a 500-acre knowledge-based science and technology park being developed by the City of Blue Springs and the university. The project will support public research organizations, private businesses, and other research-related organizations establishing business clusters that focus on commercializing technological innovations. Initial seed capital is provided by the Blue Springs Economic Development Corporation, the City of Blue Springs and Kansas City Power & Light. Tenants are expected to move into the research park within the next five to 10 years, reports the Columbia Daily Tribune. Plans for a 350-acre biomedical research campus in Kansas City were unveiled last month by Oxford Redevelopment Company. The proposed development, which is called Oxford on the Blue, is part of an overall concept…