SSTI Digest

Included below are recent development plans and groundbreaking news for research parks announced by officials in Connecticut, Colorado, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

Lawmakers last week advanced a bill to provide $25 million for a new research park at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as part of the Innovation Campus. The Innovation Campus includes a life sciences research center and a U.S. Department of Agriculture Research facility, reports Bloomberg.

University of Connecticut officials announced a plan to build an $18 million tech park financed with state bonds. The tech park will house large, flexible-use laboratories with specialized equipment for research and will provide space for business incubators and individual companies. The plan also includes $2.5 million in state funds to create the Innovation Partners Eminent Faculty program designed to attract top scientists.

TBED People
SSTI board members Rob Atkinson and Rebecca Bagley and SSTI member Stephen Tang were appointed to the U.S. Department of Commerce Innovation Advisory Board. The 15-member board will guide a study of U.S. economic competitiveness and innovation to help inform national policies.

Tom Thornton, who recently resigned as president and chief executive of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, has joined Cleveland Clinic Innovations as its general manager of alliances.

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple named Alan Anderson to head the North Dakota Department of Commerce. Paul Govig has been serving as the acting commissioner since December of last year when Shane Goettle left the department. Govig will continue to serve as deputy Commerce commissioner.

The sixth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Connecticut, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey and North Carolina. The first five installments are available in the Jan. 5, Jan. 12, Jan. 19, Jan. 26 and Feb. 9 issues of the Digest.

Connecticut

Gov. Dan Malloy, Budget Address, Feb. 16, 2011

“We are combining our economic development efforts under one agency so we can have a single powerful voice when it comes to attracting, retaining, and growing jobs in Connecticut...like our new First Five initiative that will offer powerful incentives to the first five companies that bring hundreds of new jobs to Connecticut.

Southerners voiced that focusing on innovation and technology-based business operations, supporting entrepreneurship, identifying community asset, developing skilled workforce and increasing community involvement in economic development strategies are vital for the South to recover from the current economic downtown according to a recent report — The Road to Recovery is Named Main Street — from the Southern Growth Policies Board. The report was assembled using comments of over 2,300 citizens from communities across the south. During community gatherings and via online surveys, Southerners discussed not only the challenges and concerns caused by the Great Recession, but also the priorities and potential to build stronger regional economies. Participants provide states, regional economic development organizations and local governments with five key themes: look beyond industrial recruitment, reduce regulation, identify and build on community assets, revamp workforce training and facilitate partnerships.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the selection of 10 regional economic development and job creation efforts through a new pilot program, Innovative Economies, that supports small business participation in regional economic clusters. SBA's funding is designed to expand the opportunities and the role small businesses play in these regional collaborations. The awardees were selected from among 173 applicants. Awards went to organizations in: Alabama, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina. Read the full release

Ray Gilley resigned as chief executive of the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission after nine years on the job. Gilley was responsible for helping lure the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute to Central Florida.

Peter Ginsberg joined the North Carolina Biotechnology Center as vice president of Business & Technology Development.

Leslie Smith was hired as the first general manager of TechTown, Detroit's research and technology park. A Detroit native, Smith previously served as director of business acceleration for the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Deputy Director Jonathan Taylor will fill the position of director of the Texas Emerging Technology Fund following the resignation of Alan Kirchhoff earlier this month.

North Carolina's Golden LEAF Foundation is seeking proposals for a special $4 million initiative to improve STEM education for 4th-to-9th graders in rural, economically-distressed and/or tobacco-dependent regions of the state. Applicants must be a governmental entity or 501(c)3 organization, and are eligible to receive up to $750,000 in funding. The program is seeking projects that have a regional focus and connect educational outcomes to the needs of local industry sectors. Letters of intent are due September 7, 2010. Read more ...

Specialized and high-tech incubators provide crucial services and resources to promote and enhance Commercialization & Entrepreneurship, one of the six thematic tracks of this year's annual conference. Three sessions tied to this theme will be explored during SSTI's annual conference, focusing on direct lessons from successful and proven TBED programs, regional innovation clustering, and more. They include:

• Distributed, Non-University Models for Commercializing New Technologies
• Technology Entrepreneurship: Direct Contact Required
• Sustaining Entrepreneur-in-Residence & Mentoring Programs

Announcements of new incubators designed to hatch ideas, speed commercialization of university-based inventions, and grow technology-focused companies across the nation are detailed below.

Several components of Gov. Bev Perdue's JobsNOW small business package related to tech-based economic development efforts in North Carolina were approved in the FY11 budget signed into law on June 30. A program to provide matching funds for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) will see its budget more than double in the second year of the biennium and life science programs will receive more than $22 million in recurring appropriations. The enacted budget also extends to Jan. 1, 2013 the Qualified Business Investment Venture credit, which provides a capped incentive for angel investment in cutting-edge industry sectors. The governor had proposed raising the cap from $7.5 million to $10 million, a measure that was not included in the final budget.

North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue recently signed off on a package of economic incentives for small businesses, including tax credits for interactive digital media firms, particularly those that collaborate with the state's research universities or community colleges. Digital media companies, including video game studios, are eligible for a 15 percent income tax credit; 20 percent for higher education collaborations. The bill also provides a 35 percent tax credit for research performed within one of the state's Eco-Industrial Parks.

Read the bill ...

Andre Pettigrew, the director of the Denver Office of Economic Development, will become the first executive director of Climate Prosperity Inc., a Washington, D.C., climate-change think tank. LaCharles Keesee, the city's deputy chief financial officer, will assume an interim role as head of the city's economic development department until a final replacement is named.

The Ohio Development of Department has named Karen Shauri director of the Small Business Development Centers of Ohio.

Terri Shelton, director of the University of North Carolina Greensboro Center for Youth, Family, and Community Partnerships has been named the vice chancellor for research and economic development.

Holli Baumunk, vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, has been named president and CEO of the Colorado BioScience Association.

Georgia Gov. Sunny Perdue has tapped Heidi Green to replace Ken Stewart as commissioner of the State of Georgia's Economic Development Department. Green, who currently serves as deputy commissioner for Global Commerce, will assume the new role at the end of June. Beginning July 19, Stewart will become senior advisor on Industry Strategy at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Marie Johns has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as deputy administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Johns will be the second-ranking official at SBA, with major responsibility for management, policy development and program supervision.

Tom Rankin has been selected to lead the Washington Clean Technology Alliance as president and chief executive.