MEP Career Opportunity
The New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program is recruiting a technology transfer and commercialization project manager with a proven track record in related disciplines from the private and/or public sector.
Tech-Talkin’ Governors: The State of the State and Budget Addresses
Editor’s Note: During the next few weeks, nearly every Governor will present a State of the State and/or budget address outlining new initiatives or priorities for the upcoming year. In the past, SSTI has compiled excerpts relevant to tech-based economic development for publication. This year we will highlight significant proposals in the SSTI Weekly Digest and provide links to the actual speech, related background, press releases, etc.
ASTF Releases First S&T Innovation Index
"High paying jobs in growth areas are critically needed to offset the decline in wealth and employment from Alaska's North Slope. These new jobs require technical innovation, capital, management, and trained workers."
New Mexico Governor Proposes Education, Research and Energy Initiatives for 2007
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson recently announced a series of budget requests for the 2007 legislature intended to increase access to public universities and to support research and investment in emerging technologies. Together, the requests call for more than $120 million in state investment in higher education quality and affordability, supercomputing and stem cell research, and new energy initiatives.
Higher Education
People
Art Garcia has resigned as director of the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund to accept a job with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in his home state of New Mexico.
People
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has appointed Stephan Helgesen as director of the Office of Science and Technology at the state Economic Development Department.
New Mexico Gov. Wants $100M for Private Spaceport
Nearly 40,000 people in 120 countries have placed deposits with the British commercial space company for the opportunity to become tourists in space, according to Virgin Galactic. Last Tuesday, New Mexico's governor said he wants the state to spend $100 million over the next three years to help get them there.
Alaska Authorizes Nearly Eight-fold Increase in Public VC Investments
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.
People
Eric Griego was appointed assistant secretary of economic development for the New Mexico Economic Development Department.
Southern Growth Seeks Nominations for Innovative Programs in South
Southern Growth Policies Board, a regional public policy think tank, is accepting nominations for its Innovator Awards.
Useful Stats: Top 100 NIH Cities and Five-Year Funding by State
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.
People
Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski appointed Bill Noll as commissioner of the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. Noll has been serving as the governor's communications director.
People
Albert Clough is the new Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, following the resignation of Edgar Blatchford last week.
People
Gov. Bill Richardson appointed William Enloe, CEO of Los Alamos National Bank, to serve as chairman of the New Mexico Economic Development Partnership.
New Mexico Adds Tax Credit, Loan Program to TBED Portfolio
Tech firms in New Mexico received happy tax news on April 4 as Gov. BIll Richardson signed several bills to encourage economic growth across New Mexico.
New Mexico Governor Signs Budget Bills, Vetoes Capital Package
New Mexico’s 2008 legislative session wrapped up last week, resulting in no final action on several TBED-related bills and leading Gov. Bill Richardson to call a special legislative session to address his health care reform agenda.
New Mexico Legislature: Tax Credits, Energy Initiatives among Successes of 2007 Regular Session
With the close of its 2007 regular session, the New Mexico State Legislature wrapped up "one of the most productive sessions in state history." Those were the words of Gov. Bill Richardson, following the legislature's adjournment last month. The governor had outlined a number of economic development and energy initiatives in his 2007 State of the State Address that he hoped would be brought to bear (see the Jan. 15, 2007 issue of the Digest).
People
Sigfried Hecker, the director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, announced that he is stepping aside in order to participate more closely in scientific collaboration between US and Russian researchers. Hecker has headed Los Alamos since 1986.
People
Thomas Bowles was named science advisor to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, succeeding a number of fellow Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists serving the governor.
SSTI Job Corner
Complete descriptions of the position openings described below are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.
New Mexico Legislature Approves Technology Tax Credit Legislation
In the last days of a special legislative session, the New Mexico Legislature unanimously passed two technology tax credit bills. Entitled the “Technology Jobs Tax Credit Act” and the “Laboratory Partnership with Small Business Tax Credit Act,” these measures are intended to assist New Mexico’s technology-based businesses with the development of increased research investments and laboratory partnerships, especially in rural areas.
People
Durand Smith, the director of the New Mexico Department of Economic Development's Science and Technology Division, has returned to the private sector. Marsha Oldakowski is serving as acting director of the division.
ASTF SEEKS GROUP PROJECTS ADMINISTRATOR
The Alaska Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF) seeks a Group Projects Administrator to work with industry on R&D projects to benefit the Alaska economy and to track project results. The position requires training and experience in project management with sufficient technical and/or business background to work productively with scientists or engineers to identify economically feasible projects.
Conference Profile: Sandia National Laboratories
As a national security laboratory operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by the Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, Sandia’s science and technology competencies are leveraged to support several missions that are synergistic to its primary mission — to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile in the absence of underground testing, indefinitely.