Don Gentry, vice provost for engagement at Purdue University, has announced his retirement.

Washington Gov. Gary Locke appointed Juli Wilkerson to serve as director of the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, replacing Martha Choe, who is now serving as state coordinator for the Boeing 7E7 project.

The Indiana General Assembly recently passed legislation that would make permanent a 10 percent research and development (R&D) tax credit, if signed by Gov. Joe Kernan.

Cynthia Helphingstine is the new vice president for business development for Inproteo (formerly the Indiana Proteomics Consortium).

A $100 million initiative announced last week by the Lilly Endowment Inc. will help Indiana's colleges and universities attract and retain more faculty and students. The Lilly Endowment, a private philanthropic foundation based in Indianapolis, supports community, educational and religious causes.

With the first round of state funding not expected until April 2008, private foundations have stepped in to provide a jumpstart for the Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF). Last week, six Washington-based research teams were awarded more than $4.5 million in private funding to support projects that improve health care quality and capitalize on economic development opportunities within the state.

 

The SSTI Weekly Digest and Funding Supplement will resume publicaton October 31 as the office will be closed to attend SSTI's 7th Annual Conference, Building Tech-based Economies: From Policies to Practice, on Oct. 20-22.

Yes, only 10 open seats remain for SSTI’s 7th Annual Conference, Building Tech-based Economies: From Policy to Practice. With nearly three weeks remaining before the October 21-22 event in Seattle, SSTI anticipates it will have to close registration in the coming days based on the phenomenal response to this year’s great slate of 24 breakout sessions, great plenary sessions and wonderful location. If you are planning to attend, we encourage you to register as soon as possible.

SSTI's 7th Annual Conference, to be held in Seattle on Oct. 21-22, is now less than one month away. If you are planning to join 300 of your colleagues from more than 40 states at Building Tech-based Economies: From Policy to Practice, here are a few tips to save your organization a little money:

Seats Available for Developing Angel Organizations, Financing TBED Workshops

SSTI extends its sympathies to the family of Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon. During his interrupted term in office, Gov. O'Bannon proved to be a strong friend of tech-based economic development efforts in the state.

Tight budgets are causing many state and local tech-based economic development (TBED) programs to delay new initiatives, even forcing some to scale back on the services already provided. But mottos like "getting more bang for the buck" and "doing more with less" are fast becoming tired, transparent clichés.

Manufacturers continue to shed thousands of American jobs — at a rate of 80,000 per month over the past three years, according to the New York Times. The realities of globalization are settling in as small and mid-sized manufacturers are hit hard with competition from around the world.

Blatant SSTI Conference Plug

Jeff Morris has been named Director of the Northwest Energy Technology Collaborative.

Balancing the role of universities and colleges in economic development can be tricky, as Dr. Bok points out in his new book (see article above), but its important role in building stronger tech-based economies cannot be overstated. SSTI’s 7th annual conference, to be held in Seattle on October 21-22, presents the best opportunity of the year for developing a great understanding of the most effective ways for local and state economies to benefit from the academic research enterprise.

Two of the most critical issues in today's tech-based economic development (TBED) involve money — funding for companies and funding for TBED programs.

The City of Spokane and a group of local organizations have penned a strategic plan designed to help the city and the Inland Northwest achieve an Innovation Economy.

Until now, the opportunities have been fairly limited for tech-based economic developers to learn from the lessons of fellow practitioners running successful entrepreneurship programs.

We recognize that SSTI's annual conference quickly has become the premier professional development event annually for the tech-based economic development field. It's quite an honor, but it is also quite an obligation. Our conference participants have come to expect a level of unsurpassed quality. At least, that's what they tell us in the evaluations.

A Visa analysis of innovation and creativity among the nation’s top 50 metro areas has Seattle ranked first in combined scoring, followed by Austin, Nashville, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. Visa’s Innovation Index measures entrepreneurialism, community support and creativity on a per capita basis throughout the major Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

Going into yesterday's elections, it was clear at least five states would have freshmen governors as three incumbents chose not to run for re-election and two incumbents lost their parties’ nominations to seek new terms. The five states were Missouri, Montana, Utah, Washington and West Virginia.

Effective Jan. 1, Donald Kuratko will be executive director for Indiana University's Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Kuratko is currently runs Ball State University's entrepreneurship program.

The Purdue Research Foundation has appointed Robert J. Wichlinski as executive director of the new Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana and Kathy DeGuilio-Fox as the center’s business development manager.

BioCrossroads, the Central Indiana life sciences network, announced Chuck Schalliol is the organization's new chief executive officer and president.