Georgia Tech announced that Dr. Jeffrey Skolnick will join its faculty this spring as the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Computational Systems Biology.

Only 13 days left to register early for SSTI's 9th Annual Conference!

Save $100 by Registering Before Sept. 20, 2005.

Many of the readers are new to the Digest since last year's conference, so we're getting questions about how SSTI's upcoming 9th annual conference, to be held in Atlanta on Oct. 19-21, differs from other events.

The easiest way to answer that is to let the conference speak for itself — through the comments we received from past participants:

When it comes to managing a portfolio of programs, do you know what really works to ensure they will have the most impact for building a tech-based economy? "Maximizing Impact: Evaluating Science and Technology Programs," one of four full-day pre-conference workshops to be held at SSTI's 9th Annual conference on Oct. 19-21, 2005, strives to answer the question.

SSTI is pleased to give regular Digest readers the first peek at a PDF version of the brochure for SSTI's 9th annual conference, Investing in a Brighter Future: Building Tech-based Economies, to be held in Atlanta on October 19-21, 2005.

The new chairman for the Georgia Medical Center Authority is former State Senator Randy Hall.

The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) is facilitating the expansion of VentureLab at the state’s research universities. Piloted at the Georgia Institute of Technology, VentureLab is a strategy for enhancing and accelerating the process of spinning new technology-based enterprises out of university research.

The FY 2004 budget passed by the Georgia Senate last week eliminates all $32 million the House approved for the OneGeorgia Authority, the state's loan and grant program targeting rural tech-based and traditional economic development. Created in 2000, the OneGeorgia Authority was anticipated to spend $1.6 billion over 25 years (one-third of the state's tobacco settlement funds) to assist the state's most economically challenged areas based on unemployment and poverty rates.

Correction: In last week's People column, Tom Walker's new title was incorrect. Mr Walker is executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center.

Tom Walker has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center.

C. Michael Cassidy, president of the Georgia Research Alliance, has been appointed to the governing board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

Blair Carnahan will be the first director of the new Columbus Regional Technology Center in Columbus, Ga. The new facility will house an incubator, the Columbus Georgia Tech regional office and the Columbus office of the Small Business Development Center.

The first three installments of SSTI's four-part look at how TBED will play in the 2006 legislative priorities of the governors can be found in the Digest archives at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm

Oklahoma

Sonya Buckner has resigned her position as director of the small business incubator for the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce to become vice president of special projects for the Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce. Douglas Jones will assume leadership of the Montgomery Incubator.

To expand on the state's Centers of Innovation strategy, Gov. Sonny Perdue announced in November the creation of the Middle Georgia Aerospace Innovation Center (MAIC). The center is comprised of numerous partners, including the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade & Tourism's Office of Science and Technology, the University System of Georgia, private institutions and companies, and the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center (ALC).

Albany, New York 

Atlanta, Georgia

The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported on June 20 that the 

With the establishment of a $1 million trust fund to serve as seed money, the new Oklahoma Institute of Technology intends to position the state as a national leader in information technology, engineering, and biotechnology. Governor Frank Keating signed Senate Bill 694 into law June 8, creating the public-private collaboration. Tulsa World news reports indicate supporters of the institute anticipate raising a $100 million endowment for the project and securing additional state support.

It only seems natural that SSTI celebrate a decade of convening the premiere professional development event for the nation's tech-based economic development community in a state that, for nearly 20 years, has been a pioneer for innovative approaches to transform regional economies — Oklahoma. SSTI's 10th annual conference and pre-conference intensive workshops will be held at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City on Oct. 31-Nov. 2.

Dr. R. Kelly Dawe was named the inaugural Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Distinguished Investigator, a new level of investment made by GRA.

Baton Rouge 

Meeting Challenges in the New Economy, recently released by the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), presents a comprehensive look at Oklahoma's position in science and technology. 

The 2001 Farm Bill 

Editor's Note: The third installment of SSTI's look at recent speeches and budget proposals to demonstrate the priority governors are placing on tech-based economic development and math & science education.



Georgia

Governor Roy Barnes, FY2002 Budget Address, January 11, 2001

– new and increased funding

The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) within the Georgia Institute of Technology announced its affiliated companies have received more than $1 billion in venture capital funding since 1999. Amassed from 160 separate deals, the amount represents 15 percent of the total venture capital in Georgia, about one out of its every five deals in the state.