Governors in several states are bringing lawmakers back into session this fall with a more focused agenda on job creation. During a one-day special session on Friday, lawmakers in Mississippi approved a $175 million incentive package to bring two high-tech manufacturing facilities to the state. Meanwhile, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon will try again to enact the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act (MOSIRA) to support science and tech companies and the Compete Missouri Initiative, both which failed to pass during the regular session.

The University of Kansas' Center for Technology Commercialization is seeking a director that will be responsible for effectively managing faculty-generated intellectual property across all the University of Kansas campuses and deploying it for the greater social good.

A newly established policy academy providing guidance and technical assistance will help seven states improve their environment for innovation and align state R&D investments, workforce development and education systems with current and future needs of advanced manufacturing industries. The policy academy will help each state develop a plan or overcome barriers for putting a plan into action through a highly interactive team-based process that includes input from NGA, MEP, EDA, SSTI, private sector consultants, and research organizations.

As budgets for economic development tighten across all sectors, measuring and reporting impact becomes even more crucial for sustaining support. The Association of University Research Parks points to three impressive impact reports released this year from Indiana's Purdue Research Park, Nebraska Technology Park and North Dakota State University Research and Technology Park.

With increasing pressures from state and local policymakers to show a return on investment, universities and colleges across the country are stepping up their efforts to transform innovative ideas into ready-for-market products and develop a new generation of entrepreneurs that will spur regional and state economic growth.

Job Corner

The Board of Directors of the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC) seeks a Chief Executive Officer to lead the organization. The CEO is responsible for executing the agency's mission, including strategic development and cultivation of the region's innovation infrastructure. A minimum of a bachelor's degree plus ten or more year's employment in technology-based economic development with at least two years in a supervisory capacity is required.

Kevin Carr was named CEO of Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp., after serving as interim leader since June 2009. KTEC is a public-private partnership charged with promoting tech-based economic development throughout the state.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the selection of 10 regional economic development and job creation efforts through a new pilot program, Innovative Economies, that supports small business participation in regional economic clusters. SBA's funding is designed to expand the opportunities and the role small businesses play in these regional collaborations. The awardees were selected from among 173 applicants. Awards went to organizations in: Alabama, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina.

Neal Wade will resign his position as director of the Alabama Development Office in November and has been named senior vice president of economic development for St. Joe, one of Florida's largest real estate development companies.

Often credited with contributing significant revenue to states' economies, research parks also house facilities for workforce training and provide resources for tech-based industries, which is especially important as the nation's employment begins to pick up steam. In West Virginia, officials are building a $15 million advanced technology-training center at the state-owned research and technology park, and in Utah, officials recently broke ground on a building that will house engineers and analysts working on the nation's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program.

The Tennessee Biotechnology Association has changed their name to Life Science Tennessee.

Ann Arbor SPARK recently added Bill Mayer as director of their business accelerator team.

TBED People
Walter Bumphus has been named the next president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges. Bumphus currently serves as a professor in the Community College Leadership Program and chair of the Educational Administration Department at the University of Texas at Austin. Bumphus will begin his tenure with AACC in January.

SSTI Board member Phillip Singerman has been named as the Associate Director for Innovation and Industry Services for the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He will assume this position on January 31.

Alabama Gov.-elect Robert Bentley named former house speaker Seth Hammett as the director of the Alabama Development Office.

The second installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs' series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, Kansas, New Hampshire, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. Our first installment was in the Jan. 5 Digest.

Alabama then-Governor-elect Robert Bentley on January 3 named former House Speaker Seth Hammett as director of the Alabama Development Office, replacing Interim Director Linda Swann. He also appointed the president of the Birmingham-based Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, Bill Taylor, to lead efforts to grow and retain existing Alabama industries, while at the same time recruiting new businesses to the state.

While seeking to spur economic growth through new investments in university-based research, Gov. Sam Brownback also proposes to consolidate the efforts of a longstanding program recognized for creating high-wage jobs and diversifying the state's economy. Under the governor's FY12 budget proposal, many of the programs currently managed by the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC), which provides dedicated support for researchers, entrepreneurs and technology companies, would be transferred to the Department of Commerce.

Voters in 37 states will decide on more than 170 ballot measures this year, many of which are related to tech-based economic development (TBED). Tax measures seem to be dominating ballots this year, with questions relating to both decreases and increases for sales, property and income taxes. Several states are counting on voters to agree to temporary increases to help fill budget deficits and ensure steady funding for education.

Lawmakers in Georgia and Kansas recently approved scaled-back funding for their states' respective tech-based economic development (TBED) programs in the coming fiscal year. Although many states are struggling to fill large deficits in the aftermath of a national economic downturn, funding for TBED initiatives, even at reduced levels, continues to be a priority for most states as a means to grow and diversify the economy.

Georgia

Kansas is home to more than 20,000 green jobs and expects that number to reach 30,000 by 2012, according to a recent survey by the state Department of Labor. The survey of 6,000 Kansas employers reveals that job growth in renewable energy, energy efficiency will drive green job numbers over the next two-to-three years. The biggest employment gains are expected in the renewable energy sector, which is expected to grow by 121 percent. Read the report ...

Silicon Valley, a region often looked to for trends in the technology field, is expected to see a rise in the number of new high-tech incubators and the expansion of existing incubators in the coming months. A recent Wall Street Journal article points to these openings as a sign of revival for technology startup companies amid a relatively slow period last year as startup investment plunged during the recession.

Chris Atkinson is the new director of West Virginia University's Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines, and Emissions (CAFEE).

Across the U.S. and Canada, universities continue to forge public-private partnerships focused on creating a formalized approach to turn university research into market-ready products and startup companies. Three universities and their respective partners recently have announced efforts to bring inventors, the community and investors closer together. They also intended to provide potential entrepreneurs with the skills, mentorship and resources need to launch a startup company.

Alabama's new strategic plan defines three economic development drivers to help diversify the state's economic development efforts and maximize opportunities for growth. Programs that focus on job creation through innovation, entrepreneurship, R&D, and commercialization are listed among the "renewal" efforts of the three-part plan. This includes establishing a statewide innovation council, designating funds to expand commercialization programs, and creating a mechanism to provide state grant matching for SBIR/STTR awards.

Richard Bendis has been named the first president and CEO of BioHealth Innovation, Inc. a regional private-public partnership focusing on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early stage funding in Central Maryland.