Colorado

Colorado

$10M Donation Funds Johns Hopkins Biomed Facility, Research Park

Governor Christie Whitman has announced New Jersey Jobs for a New Economy, a multi-million dollar package of technology-related initiatives to make New Jersey more competitive in the creation of high technology jobs. 

Among the plan's proposals are the following technology-related investments: 

The 18 governors who comprise the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) have agreed to create a Western High Technology Council to serve as a strategic alliance among states, technology firms and universities to advance the region's common interests in the technology-driven and knowledge-based New Economy. Hawaii Governor Ben Cayetano, WGA Chairman, proposed the idea at the WGA winter meeting held in Las Vegas during December.

Colorado Governor Bill Owen has appointed 55 technology executives and public officials to serve on the Governor’s Commission on Science and Technology. The Commission’s purpose is to issue a set of recommendations by late-2000 focused on enhancing Colorado's business climate and creating the technological infrastructure necessary to foster statewide growth of the high technology industry.

Specifically, the group is tasked to:

The Colorado Advanced Technology Institute (CATI) has been abolished effective June 30, 1999. CATI was the state's lead organization on technology-based economic development since its creation in 1983.

The Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science is providing the Southern Technology Council (STC) $150,000 in matching funds over three years to help Southern states increase innovation-driven economic development. A major element of the initiative is annual benchmarking of each state's progress in agreed-upon categories, including: industrial composition, entrepreneurial development, globalization, and human resources.

At the same time civic and corporate leaders around the country are calling for more high school students to pursue a college education, and specifically science, technology and math degrees, the student's share of the cost for higher education is climbing to record highs.

In a bid to make the South a knowledge economy leader, the Southern Growth Policies Board has released Invented Here: Transforming the Southern Economy, a 10-year strategic plan to create an innovation-driven economy in the South. 

Colorado State Representative Tim Fritz is resigning his seat to become director of Colorado's Office of Aerospace and Aeronautics.

John Hansen is the new Secretary of Technology for the State of Colorado. Hansen retains his position as Chief Technology Officer as well.

The Fourth of July might just be a paid holiday for New Jersey's tech-based economic development agency after all. Since Governor James McGreevey released his FY 2004 budget request six months ago, the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology has been living under a June 30 death sentence. Facing a deficit forecast in excess of $4 billion, the governor had called for the elimination of the $15 million program.

Colorado Governor Bill Owens has appointed Tim Fritz as the director of the Office of Aerospace and Aeronautics.

The Southern Innovation Index, a strategic plan created with the governments of 13 Southern states and Puerto Rico to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth in the South, has been released by the Southern Growth Policies Board, a bipartisan public policy group based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

The State of Colorado is creating an office to recruit and assist space technology businesses, the Associated Press reported. Approximately $240,000 has been raised for the office, which will be led by a yet-to-be-named "Colorado space advocate." One fourth of the funds are provided by the state, with the balance received from the private sector.