Most of the nation's governors use the winter months to publicly lay out their agendas, visions and budget requests for the coming year. The text of State of the State Addresses, Budget Messages and, to a lesser extent, Inaugural Addresses, often reveals each governor's legislative priorities and new initiatives to be pursued over the coming months.

As promised in her 2004 State of the State Address, Gov. Ruth Ann Minner released a New Economy Initiative last week that includes several new elements to encourage economic growth in Delaware. The $34 million package is expected to generate at least $16 million more in federal and private match. Many of the elements of the plan were recommended by the governor's Strategic Economic Council.

Tech-based economic development remains high on the agendas of the most of the governors who gave State of the State or Budget Addresses this week. Selected excerpts are provided below:

This past summer, researchers at Brown University conducted the first nationwide content analysis of state and federal government Web sites. The study, Assessing E-Government: The Internet, Democracy, and Service Delivery by State and Federal Governments, focused on features available on-line, the level of variation across the country and between state and national governmental sites, and how those sites respond to citizen requests for information.

Jim Petell is the first director of technology transfer and commercialization for the University of North Dakota.

The first two installments of SSTI's annual look at how TBED will play in the 2006 legislative priorities of the governors can be found in the Digest archives on our website: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm

Delaware

Addressing a joint session of Rhode Island's General Assembly, Gov. Don Carcieri unveiled last week a fiscal year 2005 budget that includes funding for several technology-based economic development (TBED) initiatives.

Securing the multi-year funding needed to properly ramp up technology-based economic development (TBED) initiatives can be difficult in states with annual budget cycles and tight revenue streams. Fortunately, there is one federal agency that provides financial assistance increasingly toward local and regional projects matching the interests of the nation's TBED community.

July has been a tech-friendly month for Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner. On July 14, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) named her "BIO Governor of the Year," recognizing her contributions toward growing the state's biotechnology industry, one of the strongest concentrations in the country. Further attesting to her grasp of biotech issues, Gov. Minner also serves as a co-chair of the National Governors Association Biotechnology Partnership.

Like many low-population states that cannot benefit from tax revenues from oil and gas exploitation such as Wyoming and Alaska, Rhode Island must leverage its existing university and industry research capabilities more fully and encourage more private investment activity, according to the five initial recommendations of the Rhode Island Science & Technology Advisory Council (STAC).

In an effort to increase the economic impact of the state's university-based research, Gov. John Hoeven has included $50 million in his 2005-07 budget request to create Centers of Excellence on each of the North Dakota 's college campuses.

The Delaware Economic Development Office recently announced the selection of two new Advanced Technology Centers (ATC). The Centers will focus on semiconductors and advanced optics.

The Centers are public/private partnerships designed to bolster Delaware's technology base and to create and retain quality high-tech jobs. The State of Delaware is investing $4 million over three years in these two Centers through grants from the 21st Century Fund.

Ohio Governor George V. Voinovich, began his term as the National Governors' Association (NGA) Chairman at the association's annual meeting in Las Vegas this week. He succeeded Nevada Governor Bill Miller.

Governor Tom Carper, a Democrat from Delaware, has been chosen as the Association's Vice-Chairman. Governor Carper will become Chairman of NGA next summer when Governor Voinovich's term expires.