SSTI Digest

While Albany securing Sematech North has captured national attention in the TBED community for the past week, area leaders have been working for more than a year to forge a partnership toward regional technology-based economic development. That effort came to fruition in June when leaders of the Albany-Colonie Regional, Rensselaer County Regional and Schenectady County Chambers of Commerce announced the formation of the Tech Valley Chamber Coalition. Combined, the three chambers have nearly 5,000 members employing more than 174,000 individuals in the region.

The Coalition will focus its efforts in three areas: promotion of the region as Tech Valley; development of programs that will enhance the business climate for members of all three chambers; and advocacy on issues of importance to each organization, as well as the greater business community. Each of the chambers is taking the lead on one of the three focus areas.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) recently posted the abstracts for award selections from the FY 2002 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I solicitations. For DOD, abstracts are for 02.1, the first solicitation of the fiscal year.

With information provided by the agencies and their websites, SSTI has prepared a table presenting the number of proposals submitted, the number of firms involved, the number of awards, and the proposal-to-award conversion percentage. For USDA, the total award amounts were also available by state. The table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/072602t.htm

The Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation (CATI) Partnership Board and the Gateway Technical College Board of Directors recently held a groundbreaking to begin construction of the new 40,000-square-foot facility located in Sturtevant’s Renaissance Park.

The Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation (CATI) of Racine County was formed to promote business development, workforce development, and technology innovation in southeastern Wisconsin. CATI is a partnership among more than a dozen local and regional educational institutions, business development  organizations, and local industries. The effort is spearheaded by the Racine County Economic Development Corp.

Once completed, the new facility will allow CATI to offer students and entrepreneurs:

Forty-four research universities in 28 states and the District of Columbia will receive $80 million from Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to help address the challenges of the rapidly changing and increasingly interdisciplinary nature of undergraduate biology education. The grants will support programs that encourage graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to hone their teaching skills in undergraduate courses.

Other programs will bring emerging scientific disciplines such as genomics and computational biology into the undergraduate curriculum and encourage minorities to pursue careers in science.

The four-year grants range in size from $1.2 million to $2.2 million each. A panel of scientists and educators reviewed proposals from 189 institutions.

Anne Armstrong, president of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology since 1999, has resigned from the position effective the end of this month. Virginia Secretary of Technology George C. Newstrom will serve as Interim President during a search for a new president.

Michael Anastasio is the new director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, effective July 1. He was serving as deputy director of strategic operations for the lab.

Ken Berlack, formerly communications director for the National Commission on Entrepreneurship, has joined KCCatalyst, a regional organization dedicated to encouraging technological innovation and entrepreneurship in the Greater Kansas City area.

Anne Armstrong, president of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology since 1999, has resigned from the position effective the end of this month. Virginia Secretary of Technology George C. Newstrom will serve as Interim President during a search for a new president.

Michael Anastasio is the new director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, effective July 1. He was serving as deputy director of strategic operations for the lab.

Ken Berlack, formerly communications director for the National Commission on Entrepreneurship, has joined KCCatalyst, a regional organization dedicated to encouraging technological innovation and entrepreneurship in the Greater Kansas City area.

John Dixon, director of the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute, a cornerstone in the state's life sciences initiative, has resigned to join the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Diego.

Michael Douglas is the new associate vice chancellor for technology management at the University of Washington. Douglas comes to the position from a St. Louis biotech firm.

SSTI is excited to announce the addition of two new policy analysts to its staff. Rich Healy is an economic geographer formerly with the Columbus-based engineering and architecture firm Burgess & Niple. Heidi Findley served as press secretary to former Ohio Governor Richard Celeste for several years and, prior to that, as assistant deputy director for the Ohio Department of Development's Division of Technological Innovation.

The Greater Flagstaff Economic Council has announced Lewis Humphreys is its new vice president. Humphreys was with the Greater Tucson Economic Council.