As part of the 2010-11 biennial budget unveiled last week, Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposed a package of tax incentives directed toward small, emerging businesses and companies that create green jobs and services. The governor's proposed Minnesota Jobs Recovery Act calls for a sizable investment over the next biennium with even greater costs beginning in 2012.

By streamlining what has been perceived as a lengthy review process for university technology licensing deals, Oregon Attorney General John Kroger hopes to eliminate barriers between Oregon universities and entrepreneurs, thereby accelerating private sector job creation.

Lonnie Emard has been named interim director of the Consortium for Enterprise Systems Management, a recently formed collaboration of business, academic and economic development organizations intended to build information technology (IT) opportunities in South Carolina.

Providing access to startup capital, promoting biotechnology, and investing in the green economy to create and grow jobs are among the priorities of Gov. Pat Quinn's Illinois Economic Recovery Plan presented during a speech in December. The governor's plan would establish an Angel Investment Tax Credit program to allow investors making an early-stage investment in a technology startup to receive a capped credit against their Illinois tax bill.

As one of several states working to recruit and retain companies that create green jobs, Minnesota lawmakers passed a measure to create a multiagency authority to promote, market and coordinate state agency collaboration on green enterprise and green economy projects. At the same time, legislators rejected Gov.

President Obama nominated Francis Collins, a physician and scientist who helped guide the Human Genome Project to completion, as the next director of the National Institutes of Health.

The legislature approved a budget agreement for the 2009-11 biennium last month, preserving partial funding for Oregon innovation efforts and passing legislation aimed at green job creation. A major component of Gov. Ted Kulongoski's climate change agenda did not survive the legislative session, however.

Gov. Pat Quinn recently signed into law a six-year, $31 billion Jobs Now plan and smaller capital bill supporting science and technology research and commercialization and broadband deployment. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) will administer several of the grants.

Mark Lytle has been named the University System of Georgia's new vice chancellor for economic development.

Frederick Cartwright has been appointed the executive director of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research.

W. Steven Burke is the new president of Biofuels Center of North Carolina.

The third installment of the Tech Talkin' Govs series includes highlights from state of the state, budget and inaugural addresses from governors in Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, and New Mexico.

Did your New Year's resolutions involve making a career change? If so and you've yet to fulfill that resolution, visit the SSTI Job Corner at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.



In addition to the new opportunities described below, the SSTI Job Corner has openings for these positions:

With rumors of recession building, several of the nation’s governors are announcing new TBED-focused initiatives in 2008 – many of which will be presented to lawmakers for funding in the coming months. In Illinois, Gov. Rod Blagojevich unveiled two new initiatives encouraging entrepreneurship to grow high-technology businesses throughout the state.

 

Complete descriptions of these opportunities and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

Lisa Porter was named the first director of the new Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. Porter, NASA's associate administrator of the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, said she will leave the agency in February.