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Iowa: Davenport Sells City Land for Tech Incubator

For the fifth consecutive quarter, venture capital (VC) investments in the U.S. hovered around the $4 billion range, showing a sign of stability, according to two independent reports. The reports affirm the industry's shift in focus away from information technology and toward the life sciences.

Biotechnology is projected by many to be the "next big thing" for economic growth — and money is following the hype. Congress has over the last several years accomplished the goal of doubling the budget for the National Institutes of Health, already the nation's largest funder of life science research.

In 2002, angels invested $15.7 billion in entrepreneurial businesses in the U.S., according to the Center for Venture Research. Yet – until now – there was no organization to establish best practices or collect data on how to maximize the performance of groups of angel investors.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a statistical report on Science and Engineering Doctorate Awards: 2002. The data show trends in science and engineering (S&E) doctorate awards by S&E field and recipient characteristics, institutions awarding doctorates, and postgraduation plans of recipients.

Case Western Reserve University is seeking an executive director of The Power Partnership for Ohio, one of the new Wright Centers of Innovation funded in part by a $18 million grant from the State of Ohio.

Sam Bodman, presently Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has been nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Treasury.

John Calvin, Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development, has announced his resignation effective Dec. 15.

Sam Bodman, presently Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has been nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Treasury.

John Calvin, Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development, has announced his resignation effective Dec. 15.

TechPoint, Indiana's statewide technology council, has named Cameron Carter to serve as president and chief executive officer.

U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Thomas Q. Donaldson, V has been appointed Director of the John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC), effective Jan. 5, 2004.

Carol Ann Dykes is the new president of the National Association of Management and Technical Assistance Centers.

The new position of vice president of research and health services at the University of South Carolina will be filled by Harris Pastides.

The on/off binary fundamental of information and communication technology (ICT) could just as well describe the U.S. position in the field. For the third time in five years, the U.S. leads all nations on the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) contained in the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report 2005-2006.

African-American and Hispanic students begin college interested in majoring in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields at rates similar to those of white and Asian-American students and persist in these fields through their third year of study, but do not earn their bachelor’s degrees at the same rate as their peers, according to a new analysis conducted by the American Council on Education (ACE).

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne recently received some good news about his future when President Bush nominated him to serve as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior. The news was not as rosy on the home front for Idaho's economic future, however, as the state legislature in late March rejected the governor's plans for Idaho to take a more proactive role toward building a tech-based economy.

Just as bread won't rise without yeast, the key knowledge-building ingredients for many state tech-based economic development strategies - increasing investments in university-based research, emphasizing workforce development and science and math education, and identifying clusters of co-located firms in related industry sectors - won't lead to the spillovers of knowledge critical to sustaining growth without an active reagent.

The process of registering trademarks in multiple countries became simpler on Nov. 2 when an international treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) entered into force in the U.S.

Young, single, college-educated people are moving to large metropolitan areas, often to central cities — a trend that defies the general population’s outward migration from the same areas, according to a report based on Census 2000 data released by the U.S. Census Bureau today.

By a narrow margin, Ohio voters on Tuesday rejected a constitutional amendment that would have permitted the state to issue up to $500 million in bonds over 10 years to fund technology-based economic development projects. Defeated 51 percent to 49 percent, Issue 1 would have made up the final component of Gov. Bob Taft's proposed 10-year, $1.6 billion Third Frontier project. The remaining $1.1 billion is unaffected by Tuesday's vote.

State budget woes will continue into fiscal year 2005, reports the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. According to the five-page A Brief Overview of State Fiscal Conditions and the Effects of Federal Policies on State Budgets, FY05 estimates released by 21 state budget offices project a combined total shortfall of up to $33 billion — or 9 percent of those states' expenditures.

To stimulate business development and job growth in rural areas, officials of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) signed on Oct. 31 a collaborative agreement to create the Rural Business Investment Program (RBIP). The initiative will allow newly formed venture capital investment companies to leverage private capital funds with government financial assistance and to obtain both government and private grant resources for technical assistance.

Coupling manufacturing's sharp employment drop with the perennial struggles of a rural economy and the current economic downturn can cause massive struggles for many of the country's sparsely populated areas. The closure or significant downsizing of one manufacturing plant can be terminal for a small, rural town.

With the support of Maryland's Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), BrainChild Maryland was launched this week to identify and capitalize on Maryland's most promising new technologies. The for-profit company will identify university and federal lab technologies that have the greatest potential for becoming viable products and services.

Based on the Census report and accompanying data, SSTI has prepared two summary tables presenting net migration figures for the 1995-2000 for each state and for the 276 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the U.S. For each table, the jurisdictions are ranked by numerical gain or loss in migration.