California Promotes Stem Cell Research With New Law
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.
Stronger TBED Efforts Would Benefit Orange County, Larta Asserts
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).
Milken Releases California Tech & Science Index
"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.
EDA Gives ACET $6.44M Grant
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.
Milken Assesses Manufacturing's Impact for California
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.
People
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.
Fuel Cells Increasingly on States' Radar
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.
California's Best TBED Programs Identified
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.
People
Sacramento's economic development director, Andy Plescia, is moving on to become a private development consultant.
People
Marguerite Wilbur has been named president and CEO of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley.
Symposium to Reveal 'Patterns' Shape the Network Society
More than 60 presentations on patterns, or solutions to problems in a given context, figure to be the highlight of CPSR's 8th biannual Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC) symposium, "Shaping the Network Society: Patterns for Participation, Action, and Change," being held May 16-19 in Seattle.
SSTI Analysis: Tech Councils Adapt with Economic Times
[Note: SSTI defines a technology council as a regional entity that is membership-based and independently funded with science and technology-based economic development as one of its primary goals. National trade associations and government-created technology councils which serve in an advisory or policy role are excluded from this discussion.]
People
San Diego Community College Chancellor Augie Gallego has been selected as the new chairman of the American Council of Education, only the second community college executive to hold the position since the organization's founding more than 80 years ago.
Index, White Paper Offer Foray into Silicon Valley
While Silicon Valley lost jobs last year — the first decline since 1992 — value added per employee, a measure of productivity, increased 4.6 percent to $170,000 compared to $56,000 nationally, according to the Index of Silicon Valley 2002 released in January by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network.
California Doubles Number of RTAs
Last week, Governor Gray Davis announced the award of three grants to support the creation of new Regional Technology Alliances (RTA) for the Inland Empire, San Joaquin Valley, and Sacramento/Capital regions. The three new non-profit organizations join existing RTAs in Los Angeles, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay area to provide decentralized business support services for innovative, California-based technology firms.
Redefining Silicon Valley
No region of the world encapsulates the aspirations of many metro and regional technology-based economic development programs as Silicon Valley, particularly to the benefits of having a cluster of technology companies feeding off of each other to the mutual benefit of all. The Valley was the global tech leader during the heyday of the IT boom, but is undergoing a tremendous structural shift since the dot-com bubble burst.
Tech Talkin' Govs III
New and re-elected Governors gave inaugural addresses in Alabama, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas during the past 10 days. Additionally, State of the State addresses were made in Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah. Building tech-based economies remains a high priority for many Governors, as evidenced in the following:
Nevada
People
Central California's Regional Technology Alliance has changed its name to the Inland Empire techSOURCE.
Tech Talkin' Govs 2003: The Inaugural, Budget, and State-of-the-State Addresses
Annually, SSTI looks at the various addresses given by the nation's governors at the beginning of the year. Over the next several weeks, the SSTI Weekly Digest will profile the excerpts concerning programs, policies and issues immediately affecting the tech-based economic development community.
People
At the University of New Mexico, Avi Shama has been named Special Advisor to the President on Economic Development. The new position will encourage, coordinate and promote economic development activities of various UNM units.
Do Non-compete Clauses Discourage Innovation?
The legal ban on non-compete contracts may have played a role in and continues to affect the development of the high tech sector in California. This is the conclusion of Rob Valletta, Research Advisor, in the August 16, 2002, edition of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter. The article, On the Move: California Employment Law and High-Tech Development analyzes the relationship between high tech development and states that do not legally allow non-compete contracts.
TBED People
Michael Anastasio is the new director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, effective July 1. He was serving as deputy director of strategic operations for the lab.
TBED People
John Dixon, director of the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute, a cornerstone in the state's life sciences initiative, has resigned to join the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Diego.
New NSF Institutes to Strengthen Mathematics as Base for National S&T
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is establishing three new research institutes that are designed to help strengthen the mathematical sciences as the backbone for U.S. scientific and engineering research. The three centers are expected to receive $24 million over five years. A fourth $9 million award renews for six years the operation of an existing mathematical center that integrates education with research.
TBED People on the Move
Joe Raguso has left the California Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency to become vice president for strategic and corporate partnerships for SRI International. Raguso served the agency as Deputy Secretary for the Division of Science, Technology and Innovation.