Chicago

Carbondale, Illinois

Tthe five winners of the 2001 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's premier award for performance excellence and quality achievement, include, for the first time, three winners in the education category: 

Several recent project announcements highlight communities using incubators and research parks, some of the tools for technology-based economic development, in specialized formats to capitalize on existing strengths and nurture additional growth of clusters of related tech firms. Such targeted approaches can help to focus other TBED activities for additional benefits.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has nominated Jack Lavin to run the newly named Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The agency was formerly called the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. Lavin was chief financial officer for Rezco Enterprises.

Patrick Rea recently was selected as administrator for the Small Business Administration's six-state region involving Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) data on the top 100 cities for NIH awards in FY 2003 indicates Boston reasserted its leadership over New York for the top spot by increasing its spread by $401 million. Philadelphia and Baltimore remain in third and fourth place for the second year.

The first four installments of SSTI's annual look at how TBED will play in the 2005 legislative priorities of the governors can be found in the Digest archives on our website: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm

Kentucky

Goal is improved service delivery, advocacy for tech community

To produce a more focused and effective effort in the areas of commercialization and advocacy, the Illinois Coalition has divided into two separate public-private organizations.

The Illinois Technology Development Alliance (ITDA) is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation providing entrepreneur training, commercialization, and technology transition services for government, major research institutions, and corporations. ITDA is looking for a president who will work closely with the organization's board to establish a work plan and priorities to fulfill the mission of the ITDA and will have operating responsibility for the successful implementation of the plan.

The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) selected Vicki Loise as its first executive director.

The available pool of equity capital grew substantially last Thursday as the board of trustees for the $31.7 billion Alaska Permanent Fund approved the placement of 8 percent of the fund's value into alternative assets, such as venture capital funds and hedge funds. The Associated Press reports the current value of all alternative investments held by the Permanent Fund totals $292 million.

Jim Pennekamp will be the executive director of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's research and business park, effective Dec. 1.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich unveiled a $25 billion capital plan supporting, in small part, several energy and technology projects, while at the same time eliminating funding in his fiscal year 2009 operating budget for several TBED-related programs within the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO).

 

Lori Clark is the new coordinator of agency relations and research park initiatives at Northern Illinois University.