As states and communities consider how to build a tech-based economy, the prospects of centering efforts around hydrogen fuel cell technology has become an increasingly appealing option. Fuel cells may have huge implications for the future, and the technology already is the focus of some states' multi-billion economic development strategies.

Nonprofits looking for financial assistance, technology assistance or assistance in general may not need to look much further than one browser window. Two online resources, TechSoup and Gifts In Kind, offer a wide variety of tools that can help nonprofit organizations stretch tight budgets.

Gov. Bill Richardson has appointed his chief of staff, David Harris, to serve as executive director of the New Mexico Finance Authority.

Perhaps in no other sector are efforts to grow an industry so dependent on a strong public-private partnership as they are for biotech and the life sciences. Most of the research funding for the field flows from the government to universities and research institutions. Industry then steps up for clinical studies and commercialization.

Increased funding for equity investments and a new university-industry R&D partnership program are among the pieces of legislation New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson signed this week, greatly expanding New Mexico's portfolio of programs to grow a tech-based economy. Most of the initiatives were included in the economic development agenda Gov. Richardson outlined during his first State of the State address in January. They are:

The Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance announced this week that Clare Emerson will replace Lewis Attardo as executive director.

A recent $10 billion judgment against Philip Morris may have the tobacco giant filing bankruptcy. Philip Morris has claimed it cannot post a $12 billion bond to appeal a lawsuit in Illinois or even meet the $2.6 billion payment due mid-April for the 1998 settlement with the states.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has posted a preliminary list of the 10 U.S. universities receiving the most patents for inventions during calendar year 2002. The University of California tops the list for the ninth consecutive year. The table below also presents the school's 2001 ranking and total. 

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.

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.

Bill Richardson, Governor-elect of New Mexico, has named Rick Homans as secretary of the state's Economic Development Department.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The California Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency (TTCA) has released A County Level Analysis of California's R&D Activity 1993-1999, which, for the first time, offers California state and regional policymakers a county-by-county, instead of statewide or national, analysis of research and development trends.

California

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.

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.

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.