Maine lawmakers have passed an R&D investment package to increase the state's research and development capacity. The package includes a $20 million bond issue that must be approved by the voters in November.

The bond initiative would provide:

Joel B. Russ was recently named the new president of the Maine Science and Technology Foundation (MSTF). Prior to accepting this position, Russ served as the President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of the Greater Portland Region, as well as serving as a member of the MSTF's Board of Directors. MSTF is a state-chartered, non-profit organization whose mission is to stimulate science and technology-driven economic growth in Maine.

TOP Reauthorized and To Grow, Says Senate Commerce Committee

Joint Venture: Silicon Valley has named Russell Hancock as its new president and CEO.

Maine Governor John Baldacci has nominated one of his senior policy advisors, Jack Cashman, to become Commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development. Cashman formerly served as a Democratic state representative from Old Town.

On Tuesday, voters in Maine approved Governor John Baldacci's request to issue $60 million in bonds to finance several research infrastructure, economic development and housing related projects. Packaged and marketed as the Jobs Bond, the measure won easily with 60 percent of the vote in this special election. The tech-based economic development portion of the bond will be allocated as follows:

Note: With this issue, the SSTI Weekly Digest is launching a new occasional "Programs with Results" series — articles profiling a variety of technology-based economic development programs that have been around many years and are yielding positive results. Our goal is to help answer the question "What Appears to Work?" with models that potentially could be duplicated in other states, regions or communities.

Bay Area Regional Technology Alliance (BARTA) has been renamed the TechVentures Network as the Bay Area's leading source of access to financing, business data and services for emerging technology.

Joined by actor Christopher Reeve and several of California's leading biotech researchers, Governor Gray Davis Sunday signed legislation designed to promote stem cell research in California.

True technology growth for Orange County hinges on a broader, more supportive infrastructure, argues the latest research report by the Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance (Larta).

"California must continue to increase funding for science and technology in its university systems or risk losing one of its most important comparative advantages," warns the Milken Institute in the State Technology & Science Index: Comparing and Contrasting California.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans has awarded a $6.44 million grant, the largest-ever economic development grant given by the Bush Administration, to Advancing California’s Emerging Technologies (ACET) to expand the Oakland Alameda Bio Tech Incubator to a 40,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art laboratory.

Manufacturing is a robust driver of California's economy according to a Manufacturing Matters: California's Performance and Prospects, a new report prepared by the Milken Institute. The analysis was prepared for the California Manufacturing and Technology Association.

Lewis Attardo is the first director of the new Sacramento Regional Technology Alliance. Attardo formerly was a Florida-based private business and economic development consultant.

Ohio Proposes to Join Race With the growing need to identify cleaner sources of power, coupled with recent advances in alternative energy technologies, many states are targeting science and technology investments toward fuel cells. California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York all have made investments in fuel cell research demonstration or commercialization projects through energy related research funds.

Two recent studies on Internet usage in Maryland and Maine offer detailed maps of broadband infrastructure. The studies offer some insights on how businesses and, in the case of Maryland, private citizens are accessing the Internet. Specific findings are not presented below; however, each of the studies are available in their entirety via the links that follow the respective summaries.

With a large land mass and a population surpassing the 21 least populated states and the District of Columbia combined, California has scores of public programs and nonprofit organizations dedicated to encouraging technology-based economic development on the state, regional, local and sub-local levels. Best practices in the field, then, could have applications in a number of other states and communities.

Sacramento's economic development director, Andy Plescia, is moving on to become a private development consultant.