Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, State of the State Address, Jan. 10, 2005

Gov. Rick Perry is asking the Texas Legislature to appropriate $300 million for a new program designed to foster emerging technologies, enhance university-industry collaboration, and promote technology commercialization. If approved, the multi-faceted effort would be the most aggressive tech-based economic development initiative in the state's history.

Garza Fernandez, president of the Southern Arizona Industry and Aerospace Alliance, announced her resignation to devote more time to the Technology Development and Research Institute.

Washington State remains poised to capture more benefits from its technology-driven economy, according to the Index of Innovation and Technology released last month by the Washington Technology Center (WTC). As the state's lead organization to support science and technology, WTC publishes the Index to provide the state's decision makers with annual benchmarks for setting policy and  public investments to promote technology-based economic development.

With only two months to go in the 2004 fiscal year for most states, 32 are projecting small surpluses in the end - a sharp contrast to the situation they faced a year ago - according to a new report by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

Scott Davis will be the new director for the University of Arizona Office of Economic Development.

Washington Gov. Gary Locke appointed Juli Wilkerson to serve as director of the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, replacing Martha Choe, who is now serving as state coordinator for the Boeing 7E7 project.

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council announced Barry Broome will become the new president & CEO beginning in February.

Patrick Tam resigned last month as executive director of the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute.

Many minority population groups are historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. This is particularly true of the country's Latino population, one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S workforce. As a result, several state and regional tech-based economic development programs are looking for ways to broaden participation in STEM fields. A recent evaluation of a Texas program finds encouraging results, perhaps suggesting a model for others to replicate.

Led by the Fort Myers-Cape Coral metro area, a burgeoning retirement and tourist destination on the state’s southwest coast, Florida landed seven of the top 15 metros in Milken Institute’s 2004 Best Performing Cities Index released last week. The others are West Palm Beach-Boca Raton (4th), Daytona Beach (5th), Sarasota-Bradenton (6th), Fort Lauderdale (9th), Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (12th) and Naples (15th).

The National Technology Transfer Center named James Goulka as its new CEO. Goulka formerly was president and CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation in Scottsdale, AZ.

Ken Marcus is the new director of the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park.

With the goal of creating new access to venture capital (VC) for area businesses, Arizona and Montana are investing up to $50 million into a “fund of funds” concept. Both states are undertaking this multi-management model with the hopes of luring high-tech start-up companies. Their efforts are described in further detail below.

The number of business establishments in the U.S. grew by 17.4 percent between 1998 and the end of 2003, although a slight net decline occurred in 2003 for the first time in six years, according to data recently released by infoUSA.

A Visa analysis of innovation and creativity among the nation’s top 50 metro areas has Seattle ranked first in combined scoring, followed by Austin, Nashville, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. Visa’s Innovation Index measures entrepreneurialism, community support and creativity on a per capita basis throughout the major Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

An advocate for small businesses in Washington known as “Mr. Small Business,” Milton Stewart died of pneumonia on Nov. 5 in Phoenix.

If you haven't purchased your 2005 wall calendar or updated your computer-based planner yet, you will need to soon, to schedule travel and update budget requests. At the top of many lists will be SSTI's 9th annual conference, Oct. 19-21, 2005 in Atlanta, but how do you conveniently find out about the many other high quality events happening throughout the year?

The Oct. 25 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest previewed ballot issues in six states that would have implications for their respective state efforts to grow a knowledge-based economy. The unofficial results at press time for each are provided below:

Gov. Rick Perry announced last month a long-term, strategic job creation plan that will focus state efforts on six industry clusters that economists say will be the engine of future job creation and economic growth in the U.S. Although the state already has an advantage in terms of a growing workforce, the key is retaining workers that are skilled and trained in emerging technology fields, the governor said.

While the presidential election has been dominating the news, voters across the country will be acting on an array of tech-based economic development issues on Election Day next week. The largest is an initiative in California that would provide up to $3 billion for embryonic stem cell research. If approved by California voters, Proposition 71 would have the potential of significantly changing the landscape of where stem cell research is carried out and have significant economic development implications.

With the first round of state funding not expected until April 2008, private foundations have stepped in to provide a jumpstart for the Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF). Last week, six Washington-based research teams were awarded more than $4.5 million in private funding to support projects that improve health care quality and capitalize on economic development opportunities within the state.