SSTI Digest

While touting broad support from lawmakers for his 2012 legislative agenda during the regular session, Gov. Bob McDonnell also expressed concern about several economic development and education initiatives left out of the 2012-14 biennial budget passed by lawmakers during a special session that ended last month. Just in time for the deadline, Gov. McDonnell submitted $43.9 million in budget amendments, which include restoring funds for research, life sciences and teacher recruitment.

Within the Office of Commerce and Trade, the governor is asking for $2.5 million each fiscal year ($5 million total) to partially restore funding for a life sciences initiative that was included in the proposed budget bill and later removed. The research consortium would be comprised of higher education institutions that would contract with private entities, foundations and other government sources to capture and perform research in the biosciences. The original proposal called for $10 million over two years to fund the effort.

SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series has returned for its 12th annual edition. The series highlights new and expanded TBED proposals from governors' State of the State, Budget and Inaugural addresses across the nation. The first installment includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Georgia, Iowa, New York, Kentucky, South Dakota, Vermont, and Virginia. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, State of the State Address, Jan. 10, 2012 "... I want to announce two ambitious goals. Georgians deserve a world-class, public medical university, and it will be a priority of this administration to have a medical college among the top 50 nationally. ... "... Also within this push, the Georgia Health Sciences University will seek to become the state's second National Cancer Institute designated Cancer Center ... This designation would mean greater access to research dollars and enhance our ability to recruit top cancer specialists. "... To support this goal of a second Georgia-based Cancer Center, my budget proposal includes an investment of $5 million. ... "...

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell unveiled his 2012 legislative and budget actions that support his administration's ongoing Opportunity to Learn K-12 education agenda. The governor's proposed budget also includes $438 million in new K-12 funding over the next biennium.

To help meet the goals of Virginia's Top Jobs Act enacted earlier this year, Gov. Bob McDonnell proposed $200 million in additional higher education funding over the next two years. A large portion of the new funds would support cancer and high-tech research, competitive research grant awards, and efforts to graduate more science, technology, engineering, mathematics and healthcare (STEM-H) majors. The Top Jobs Act outlines a plan for achieving an additional 100,000 undergraduate degrees over the next 15 years through a new higher education funding policy, targeted economic and innovation incentives, and the creation of a STEM public-private partnership. In accordance with the legislation, the state's colleges and universities completed six-year plans identifying initiatives to help meet those objectives.

Gov. McDonnell's proposed funding for the 2012-14 biennium would support some of the efforts proposed by the universities, including:

Jeffrey Brancato has recently joined NorTech as vice president. Prior to joining NorTech, Brancato was the associate vice president for Economic Development at the University of Massachusetts.

Randal Charlton has announced his retirement as executive director of TechTown, the Wayne State University research and technology park. Leslie Smith, the general manager of TechTown has been appointed to fill the position beginning Nov. 1.

Martin Briley has been named CEO and president of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. Since 1997, Briley has been executive director of the Prince William County Department of Economic Development.

Richard Baier, Nebraska's Department of Economic Development director plans to step down at the end of Oct. to take an executive-level position with the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce.

With less than three months until the start of the 2012 legislative session for many states, governors and state economic development groups are working to define areas of investment seen as key to their state's competitiveness. In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott unveiled a job creation and growth agenda that prioritizes science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education to produce more graduates for a competitive workforce. Meanwhile, leaders in Mississippi and Virginia issued reports that identify industry sectors most likely to grow their states' economies.

Florida

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced a $27.5 million, five-year grant to the University of Maryland for a multi-disciplinary research center focused on the interplay of human activity and healthy ecosystems. The grant is the largest ever received by the university and will provide funds for research in environmental sciences, public policy, engineering, computer science and economics. Additional funding will be provides by the University of Maryland, College Park, the university's Center for Environmental Science, Resources for the Future (a nonprofit research organization) and the state of Maryland. Read the announcement...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, a public-private partnership, intends to connect NSF-funded scientific research with a project team, made up of professionals from the technological, entrepreneurial and business communities, to help transition NSF-funded scientific and engineering discoveries at institutions of higher education into commercial technologies, products and processes. I-Corps grants will provide financial support to project teams in determining the commercialization potential of the technologies developed through previous or current NSF awards. Each I-Corps team will include a principal investigator, an entrepreneurial lead and an I-Corps mentor. The outcome of each I-Corps funded project will be:

• A clear go/no-go decision regarding viability of products and services;
• A transition plan to do so (only if the decision is to move forward); and
• A technology demonstration for potential partners.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently awarded a five-year, $10 million grant to the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) to create a national center for entrepreneurship engineering. STVP will partner with the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) to develop resources for undergraduate entrepreneurship programs at engineering schools across the country. Read the announcement...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a five-year strategic plan for the agency, focused on education and research impact. Under the goals set in the report, NSF would weigh intellectual merit and the broader impacts of research more heavily when evaluating research proposals. The agency also would increase its use of resources, such as the STAR METRICS project, which provide a clearer assessment of the impact of science investments. Read the plan...

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland is seeking a dynamic and innovative biomedical/biotechnology expert to provide strategic leadership as the director of the newly created Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination (OTAC). The OTAC is charged with accelerating the translation of basic discoveries and innovations into new diagnostics, devices, and therapeutics, and facilitating the development of new technologies via SBIR initiatives. The job announcement will be posted on www.usajobs.gov in late March/early April for 10 days and open to all U.S. citizens. Applicants must possess a Ph.D.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich named James Leftwich as the director of the Ohio Department of Development, effective March 25. Leftwich has worked at the Dayton Development Coalition for six years, including three years as president and CEO. Leftwich will take the post previously held by Mark Kvamme, a California venture capitalist named the state's development director in January. Kvamme was appointed director of Job Creation within the governor's office, effective immediately.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour announced that Jackson businessman Leland Speed will return as executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority for the remainder of the governor's term that ends at the end of this year. Speed, who served as executive director from 2004 to 2006, will succeed Gray Swoope. Swoope recently announced his resignation at MDA to lead Enterprise Florida, that state's economic development organization.