The North Carolina Innovation Fund has announced plans to support a new accelerator that would promote life science technology transfer from the state's universities. Published reports indicate that the accelerator would launch later this month and focus on companies developing biopharmaceutical therapeutics, diagnostics and medical devices. Participating startups could receive capital investment from the accelerator's associated funds.

SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series has returned for its 12th annual edition. The series highlights new and expanded TBED proposals from governors' State of the State, Budget and Inaugural addresses across the nation. The first installment includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Georgia, Iowa, New York, Kentucky, South Dakota, Vermont, and Virginia. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, State of the State Address, Jan. 10, 2012 "... I want to announce two ambitious goals.

Holli Baumunk, vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, has been named president and CEO of the Colorado BioScience Association.

North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue recently signed off on a package of economic incentives for small businesses, including tax credits for interactive digital media firms, particularly those that collaborate with the state's research universities or community colleges. Digital media companies, including video game studios, are eligible for a 15 percent income tax credit; 20 percent for higher education collaborations. The bill also provides a 35 percent tax credit for research performed within one of the state's Eco-Industrial Parks.

Several components of Gov. Bev Perdue's JobsNOW small business package related to tech-based economic development efforts in North Carolina were approved in the FY11 budget signed into law on June 30. A program to provide matching funds for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) will see its budget more than double in the second year of the biennium and life science programs will receive more than $22 million in recurring appropriations. The enacted budget also extends to Jan.

North Carolina's Golden LEAF Foundation is seeking proposals for a special $4 million initiative to improve STEM education for 4th-to-9th graders in rural, economically-distressed and/or tobacco-dependent regions of the state. Applicants must be a governmental entity or 501(c)3 organization, and are eligible to receive up to $750,000 in funding. The program is seeking projects that have a regional focus and connect educational outcomes to the needs of local industry sectors. Letters of intent are due September 7, 2010.

Specialized and high-tech incubators provide crucial services and resources to promote and enhance Commercialization & Entrepreneurship, one of the six thematic tracks of this year's annual conference. Three sessions tied to this theme will be explored during SSTI's annual conference, focusing on direct lessons from successful and proven TBED programs, regional innovation clustering, and more. They include:

• Distributed, Non-University Models for Commercializing New Technologies

Ray Gilley resigned as chief executive of the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission after nine years on the job. Gilley was responsible for helping lure the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute to Central Florida.

Peter Ginsberg joined the North Carolina Biotechnology Center as vice president of Business & Technology Development.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the selection of 10 regional economic development and job creation efforts through a new pilot program, Innovative Economies, that supports small business participation in regional economic clusters. SBA's funding is designed to expand the opportunities and the role small businesses play in these regional collaborations. The awardees were selected from among 173 applicants. Awards went to organizations in: Alabama, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina.

Southerners voiced that focusing on innovation and technology-based business operations, supporting entrepreneurship, identifying community asset, developing skilled workforce and increasing community involvement in economic development strategies are vital for the South to recover from the current economic downtown according to a recent report — The Road to Recovery is Named Main Street — from the Southern Growth Policies Board. The report was assembled using comments of over 2,300 citizens from communities across the south.

The Iowa Innovation Council, a 29-member state advisory board, released a strategic plan focused on entrepreneurship and targeted industries (e.g., advanced manufacturing, biosciences and information technology) to grow the state's innovation economy. The council believes this plan will create high-skilled, high-wage jobs through several new initiatives including:

• A private seed capital investment fund;
• New strategies to accelerate technology transfer and commercialization; and,

Deep cuts to higher education and reorganizing economic development efforts are common themes in executive budget proposals across most of the country as governors seek to both reduce spending and create jobs. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad recently introduced legislation to replace the state's existing economic development agency with a public-private partnership. Meanwhile, his budget eliminates the Iowa Power Fund, established by the legislature in 2007 to invest in private sector renewable and alternative energy industries. In Massachusetts, Gov.

The sixth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Connecticut, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey and North Carolina. The first five installments are available in the Jan. 5, Jan. 12, Jan. 19, Jan.

Caren Franzini, the CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, stepped down after leading the agency for 21 years. Michele Brown, Gov. Chris Christie's appointments counsel, will take over as CEO.

The Department of Commerce announced the winners of the Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) Challenge, the Economic Development Administration-led competition seeking to help cities and regions develop a comprehensive economic development strategy. Greensboro, North Carolina, Hartford, Connecticut, and Las Vegas, Nevada each were awarded $1 million to assist in the refinement and implementation of their respective plans.

On November 6, in addition to the presidential election, eleven state and two territorial gubernatorial contests will be decided. Seven of these races (Delaware, Missouri, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia) include a sitting governor running for re-election, while the remaining six (American Samoa, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Washington) are open races.

Andre Pettigrew, the director of the Denver Office of Economic Development, will become the first executive director of Climate Prosperity Inc., a Washington, D.C., climate-change think tank. LaCharles Keesee, the city's deputy chief financial officer, will assume an interim role as head of the city's economic development department until a final replacement is named.

North Carolina State Treasurer Janet Cowell has announced credit services group Credit Suisse will serve as manager of the state's new $230 million innovation fund. The fund, drawn from public pension dollars, will invest in North Carolina-based technology businesses over the next five years. Though full investment guidelines have not yet been developed, investments will be aimed towards high-growth industries, including life sciences, clean energy and other high-tech industries.

Gov. Chet Culver last week signed legislation creating the Iowa Innovation Council to advise the state's Department of Economic Development on policies that enhance innovation and entrepreneurship in high-growth industries such as advanced manufacturing, bioscience, and information technology. The council will be led by a group of volunteer private business leaders with expertise in the targeted industry sectors and charged with creating a strategic plan for implementing specific policies and coordinating state government applications for federal funds related to R&D.

Lawmakers in Idaho, Iowa and South Dakota recently passed budgets for the upcoming fiscal year providing funds to help stabilize higher education funding, support research projects related to renewable energy R&D, and provide temporary operational support for an underground deep science laboratory.

Idaho

Gov. Bev Perdue last week announced a number of proposals designed to grow the state's economy and create jobs by focusing on the small business sector. The JobsNOW Small Business Assistance Package involves three areas of assistance, including tax incentives, statewide support for small businesses, and expanding the N.C. business preference to help small businesses compete for state contracts.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad announced the first major initiative of the Governor's STEM Advisory Council, a public-private partnership of six regional STEM network hubs to promote STEM education and economic development. Each of the hubs will be housed at one of the state's universities or community colleges, and will coordinate local programs with businesses, nonprofits and other institutions in their regions.

The sixth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in New Hampshire and North Carolina. Our first five installments were in the Jan. 9, Jan. 16, Jan. 23, Jan.

Commissioned by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, a study found North Carolina's biotech industry employees almost 58,000 residents at an average annual wage of $78,000. From 2001 to 2010, employment in the state's biotech industry grew by 23.5 percent (approximately 12,000 new jobs) — 3.5 times faster than the national biotech workforce. In comparison, North Carolina's private-sector workforce declined by 2.8 percent in the same period.

Amid a national economic recovery, city officials report a recent and persistent skills gap that may signal structural challenges and present serious barriers to sustained growth for metros. Nearly nine in 10 city officials (88 percent) note that workforce alignment has not improved over the past year, according to a recent survey on city fiscal conditions from the National League of Cities (NLC).