SSTI Digest

A bill being debated in Congress would provide federal support for the development of research parks, a major contributor to scientific discovery, technology commercialization and new company formation. S. 583, entitled the Building A Stronger America Act and introduced earlier this year, would make available grants and loan guarantees for the development and construction of science parks to promote the clustering of innovation through high technology activities. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hear testimony today in support of the legislation from Brian Darmody, President of the Association of University Research Parks and Charles Wessner of the National Research Council. Over the past few months, several announcements for development of new research parks have been made from around the world. Following is an overview of select announcements.

All eyes are on New Jersey and Virginia as newly elected governors soon will unveil action plans and proposals for their first year in office. During the recent gubernatorial campaigns, Governors-elect Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell both outlined plans to transform their respective states’ economies and create high-paying jobs through targeted investments in renewable energy. The following is an overview of the energy proposals outlined during the campaigns.

New Jersey
Gov.-elect Chris Christie’s Energy as Industry plan focuses on re-branding New Jersey to promote the state’s resources to energy producers and providing incentives for renewable energy manufacturers to locate in the state and create high-paying jobs.

Tuesday’s Republican victories in the gubernatorial races for New Jersey and Virginia mean a shift in political power for both states. With current fiscal conditions continuing to press state revenues lower and unemployment rolls higher, much of the new governors’ attentions could pass over tech-based economic development policies. Alternately, increased investments in TBED may be exactly what are needed right now to help create high-wage jobs in both states.

A look at the posted campaign platforms for the two successful gubernatorial candidates suggests changes are afoot in both states, if actions follow the campaign rhetoric when they take office in January. Highlights for both states follow (energy-related policies will be covered in next week’s Digest).

Virginia
The website for the campaign of Bob McDonnell, a 55- year-old former state attorney general, states the governor-elect will focus heavily on traditional business recruitment/retention strategies, regionalization of job training and university research investments, and increasing higher education graduation rates.

The newly-created Clean Energy Leadership Council, convened by the Washington governor's office and a state-wide public-private clean energy alliance, held its first meeting. The council will deliver a clean energy strategy and recommendations by December 1, 2010.

Vicki Gaddy has been appointed director of workforce development for BioNJ.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear shuffled two top positions in his administration. Larry Hayes will be secretary of the state Economic Development Cabinet and budget director Mary Lassiter will replace Hayes as Executive Cabinet secretary. Hayes has been interim Economic Development Cabinet secretary since last September. Lassiter will keep her position as budget director.

Over the past few months, several states have enacted spending plans for the upcoming fiscal year and passed legislation to support renewable energy initiatives and tax credits for R&D. While some TBED programs will face dramatic cuts in FY10, others are slated for slight decreases or will receive level funding. The following synopsis provides an overview of the 2009 legislative sessions across the following states:

Massachusetts
Lawmakers rejected Gov. Deval Patrick's amendment to the state budget aimed at securing funding for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) in the upcoming year.

The lazy days of summer may be the most challenging time to keep students and teachers motivated and engaged in academics. Fortunately, several programs across the country have risen to the challenge. And, with the Obama Administration's pledge to make math and science education a national priority, now may be an opportune time for collaboration among federal and state agencies, private foundations, and industry to reverse the U.S. decline in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

The Piedmont Triad Research Park laid off Bill Dean, director of the park, and Nancy Johnson, marketing director. Park officials said that the park's project manager and executive assistant also were laid off.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter announced that he has tapped Don Elliman, director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development, to serve as the state government's first chief operating officer.

Funding for the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology, which administers the state's stem cell research program, would be cut nearly in half under Gov. Jon Corzine's FY10 budget recommendation. The commission is slated to receive $10.4 million, a decrease of $9.9 million from the FY09 adjusted appropriation, to administer grant programs focused on commercializing new technologies, develop early-stage growth companies and business incubators, and enhance New Jersey's stem cell research capability.

News of the reduction comes on top of additional proposed cuts to the commission in the current fiscal year. In February, Gov. Corzine called for additional 2009 budget cuts totaling $1.3 billion that included a reduction of $12.7 million for Commission on Science and Technology grants, and in January, the governor proposed a $13.7 million reduction for the New Jersey Stem Cell Research Institute.

Oregon
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has unveiled a suite of policies to address global climate change and support the state's renewable energy and clean technology industries. His proposals include instituting a cap and trade system for carbon emissions, improving the energy efficiency of commercial and residential construction, and tax credits for energy-conscious investments. The governor hopes to see the climate plan passed by the legislature in the coming year.

Southern Growth hired Ted Abernathy, Jr., former Executive Vice President & COO of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, to serve as its Executive Director, filling the vacancy created by Jim Clinton's resignation in September.

The Minnesota Center for Engineering & Manufacturing Excellence has hired Ronald Bennett as executive director.

The City of Virginia Beach Economic Development Department has hired Scott Hall to fill their newly created position of Business Development Coordinator.

According to National Science Foundation (NSF) data released two weeks ago, companies spent in aggregate $247.7 billion on R&D expenditures performed in the U.S. in 2006. Leading the nation was California, with $58.4 billion in industrial R&D, followed by Michigan ($16.5 billion), Massachusetts ($15.6 billion), New Jersey ($14.6 billion), and Texas ($13.3 billion).
 
SSTI has prepared a table presenting the state rankings for industrial R&D performed in 2006, the per-state gross state product in 2006, and each state's industrial R&D intensity. The industrial R&D intensity is the ratio of industry-based R&D to the gross state product.
 
Using these calculations, Massachusetts experienced the largest industrial R&D intensity in 2006, at 4.64 percent. This was followed by Michigan (4.38 percent), Connecticut (4.04 percent), Washington (3.89 percent), and California (3.35 percent). The industrial R&D intensity for the U.S. as a whole was calculated to be 1.89 percent.
 

President Bush announced he will nominate Assistant Secretary of Commerce Sandy Baruah to serve as the administrator of the Small Business Administration.

The Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce has created the Economic Development Partnership to help businesses relocate to or expand in the county.

Barbara Fleisner has been hired as executive director of Centergy, the Central Wisconsin Alliance for Economic Development.

Dr. Lee Herron has joined the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) as vice president of commercialization. Herron previously was general manager, Biosciences, for the Advanced Technology Development Center.

Linden Rhoads was named vice provost of the University of Washington's TechTransfer department. Rhoads replace Jim Severson, who left to join a start-up company.