SSTI Digest

The Tennessee Biotechnology Association has changed their name to Life Science Tennessee. Ann Arbor SPARK recently added Bill Mayer as director of their business accelerator team. Fred Mondragón, New Mexico's economic development secretary announced that he is retiring. Gov. Bill Richardson has appointed Allan Oliver, the deputy secretary of economic development, to replace Mondragón during the final weeks of the administration. Robert Rosenbaum has been appointed president and executive director of the Maryland Technology Development Corporation. John Wasilisin has been serving as acting president and executive director since Renée Winsky stepped down in July 2009 to become CEO of the Tech Council of Maryland. Wasilisin will now shift to a role as executive vice president and chief operating officer. The Ben Franklin Technology Partners has announced the appointment of John Sider, former deputy secretary for Technology Investment for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, as its managing director of Statewide Initiatives. Sider is succeeding Terry Singer who is retiring. Linda Swann has been…

Several states recently enacted spending plans for the upcoming fiscal year, which started July 1 for most states. In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal signed into law the LA GRAD Act, granting universities more flexibility to raise tuition in return for meeting certain performance goals. Lawmakers in Massachusetts allocated $10 million to continue the state's investment in life sciences, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed a jobs bill providing $8 million for green economy projects, and in Tennessee, an $80 million expansion of TNInvestco, a program that allocates tax credits to create pools of venture capital, was approved. Louisiana Starting with the 2011fiscal year, Louisiana universities can begin raising tuition and fees in exchange for achieving specific, measurable performance objectives to improve graduation rates, better meet the state's current and future workforce and economic development needs, and increase research productivity. The Louisiana Granting Resources and Autonomy for Diplomas (LA GRAD) Act allows the universities to increase tuition and fees by up to ten percent annually, without legislative approval, until they reach the average cost of their…

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. Leslie Wisner-Lynch has been named interim president and CEO of the Tennessee Technology Development Corp. The appointment, which is for a one-year period, follows the recent resignation of former TTDC president and CEO Eric Cromwell. Steve Zimmer has been appointed executive director of the United States Council for Automotive Research LLC. He succeeds retiring USCAR executive director Don Walkowicz.

Subra Suresh, dean of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the next director of the National Science Foundation. Eric Cromwell, president and CEO, and Dan Schmisseur, vice president of operations and strategy, have resigned from the Tennessee Technology Development Corporation. Rick Duke, a principal research associate with the Enterprise Innovation/Economic Development Institute at Georgia Institute of Technology has been selected as the new director of the Trent Lott National Center for Excellence in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship at The University of Southern Mississippi. The Montana Clean Technology Alliance is being formed to foster a community of interest to support companies that want to grow Clean Technology jobs in Montana.

Patrick Draper has been appointed as president and CEO of the Toronto Region Research Alliance. Arlene Garrison has been appointed as vice president of University Partnerships at Oak Ridge Associated Universities. Innovate Texas Foundation joined the Texas Tech University System and The Wind Alliance to announce the formation of the National Institute for Renewable Energy, an independent public-private collaboration that will work to solve key scientific and technology challenges facing the wind power industry.

TBED People Michael Burcham has been named the first president of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Burcham currently serves as a clinical faculty member at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management. Austin Burke, longtime president of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, is being nominated secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Burke will replace George Cornelius, who is leaving his post to become the president of Bridgewater College in Virginia. Former National Science Foundation official Deborah Crawford has been appointed Drexel University's vice provost for research. Crawford will begin her tenure at Drexel in September. New York state senators confirmed Dennis Mullen as president and CEO of Empire state Development Corp. and commissioner of the state Department of Economic Development. Mullen has been serving as acting head of Empire State Development since June 2009, when Gov. David Paterson tapped him to succeed Marisa Lago. Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle announced the appointment of Aaron Olver as the secretary of the Department of Commerce. Olver, the department's current…

Bryan Allinson has joined Ohio University as director of technology transfer. Martha Connolly, director of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute Maryland Industrial Partnership program (MIPS) at the University of Maryland, was given the President's Award at the Greater Baltimore Committee's fifth annual Bioscience Awards ceremony. In 2007, the MIPS program received an SSTI Excellence in TBED Award in the Improving Competitiveness of Existing Industries Category. Stephen Cross has been selected as Georgia Tech's executive vice president for research. Cross has served as vice president and director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute since 2003. Tony Jeff has been selected as the Mississippi Technology Alliance's new president and CEO. Jeff previously served as vice president and chief operating officer and director of MTA's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell tapped State Rep. Samuel Nixon to become Virginia's CIO. Nixon, who will take over April 5, becomes the third person to serve as state CIO in the past nine months, following George Coulter and Lem Stewart. OCTANe and the Orange County Venture Group…

Silicon Valley, a region often looked to for trends in the technology field, is expected to see a rise in the number of new high-tech incubators and the expansion of existing incubators in the coming months. A recent Wall Street Journal article points to these openings as a sign of revival for technology startup companies amid a relatively slow period last year as startup investment plunged during the recession. Across the nation, specialized incubators spanning clean energy, sustainable architecture and advanced materials have emerged over the past several months to support high-tech ventures. USTAR announced in January the opening of Utah's first incubator focused on information technology and renewable energy. The Southern Utah Information Technology and Renewable Energy Incubator, located in St. George, will support businesses focused on high technology, green technology and alternative energy. Another high-tech business incubator opened in Utah late last year. The BioInnovations Gateway (BiG) located in Salt Lake City is in an incubator for emerging biotech and medical device companies, a high-tech training facility for the next generation of bio-innovators, and…

Tech Talkin' Govs, Part V The fifth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs' series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Minnesota, New Jersey, and Tennessee. The first four installments are available in the Jan. 13, Jan. 20, Jan. 27, and Feb. 10 Digests. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, State of the State Address, Feb. 11, 2010 "So today, I urge the Legislature to pass my Jobs Creation Bill that has six vital parts: a 20 percent reduction in the corporate tax rate; a 20 percent exclusion from taxation for small businesses; an angel investment tax credit; a supercharged research and development tax credit; a capital gains exclusion for qualified investments; and, incentives for companies to invest in Minnesota small businesses. ... "... One thing we can, and should do now, is improve and renew the JOBZ program." New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Remarks to the Special Session of the New Jersey Legislature, Feb. 11, 2010 "The "InvestNJ" program has a large unspent balance and a failed record in actually creating new jobs. We can save taxpayers $50 million by terminating this program now…

The fifth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs' series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Minnesota, New Jersey, and Tennessee. The first four installments are available in the Jan. 13, Jan. 20, Jan. 27, and Feb. 10 Digests. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, State of the State Address, Feb. 11, 2010 "So today, I urge the Legislature to pass my Jobs Creation Bill that has six vital parts: a 20 percent reduction in the corporate tax rate; a 20 percent exclusion from taxation for small businesses; an angel investment tax credit; a supercharged research and development tax credit; a capital gains exclusion for qualified investments; and, incentives for companies to invest in Minnesota small businesses. ... "... One thing we can, and should do now, is improve and renew the JOBZ program." New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Remarks to the Special Session of the New Jersey Legislature, Feb. 11, 2010 "The "InvestNJ" program has a large unspent balance and a failed record in actually creating new jobs. We can save taxpayers $50 million by terminating this program now. Instead, I believe we should…

Development of a new graduate energy sciences and engineering program at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK) that intends to create 200 faculty appointments for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers is underway following near unanimous passage of a higher education bill last month during a special legislative session. The measure was approved 32-0 in the Senate and 93-2 in the House. In support of the new program, Gov. Phil Bredesen's FY11 budget includes $6.2 million in non-recurring funds over a three-year period. Program expenses beyond FY13 would be funded by UTK and ORNL, according to budget documents. Through the partnership with ORNL, the governor hopes to move UT into the position of a top 25 research university within the decade. In addition to attracting researchers, the program is expected to double the number of doctoral degrees awarded by the university. The higher education bill signed by the governor also makes changes to the state's higher education funding formula, rewarding schools for graduation rates rather than enrollment, establishes dual-enrollment policies, and creates a statewide transfer policy between two- and four-year…

TBED People Eric Abelquist has been named executive vice president of Oak Ridge Associated Universities and deputy director of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. Arn Boezaart, who has been interim executive director of the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center the past six months, will take over the position permanently. Melanie Brandt has been hired as chief operating officer for the Technology Association of Georgia. President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale to serve as assistant secretary of commerce for manufacturing and services within the International Trade Administration. James Maher, provost and senior vice chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh, announced his intention to leave that position and return to the faculty at the beginning of the next academic year or as soon after that as his successor can be in place. Steve Martin has been named head of Mississippi State University’s Delta Research and Extension Center. Maine Gov. John Baldacci swore in Thaxter Trafton as the new acting commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development…