In the opening ceremony of the 2005 FORTUNE Global Forum, held in Beijing on May 16, Chinese President Hu Jintao broadly outlined the course his country is taking to reach a goal of quadrupling its 2000 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the year 2020. Science, technology and innovation figure prominently in the strategy.

A ballot initiative designed to bolster the Ohio economy and create jobs by continuing the state’s public works infrastructure program and supporting the commercialization of science and technology-based research was announced last week by Gov. Bob Taft and other legislative leaders. The initiative, to appear on the Nov.

Recognizing the economic benefits of engaging young people in science and technology, Ontario's McGuinty government recently launched the Youth Science and Technology Outreach Program. The new program links high school students with researchers to support in-depth mentorship experience and postsecondary career advice.

Do tax credits pave the way for more investment in R&D and equity investments in new enterprises? Or, do they reward companies and venture capitalists for investments they would have made anyway?

Discussions on these questions can become quite heated and fueled by data supportive of both sides, as two new academic analyses demonstrate.

There are several factors that go into location decisions for biomedical firms. Proximity to strong university research capacity, other biotech businesses, and technically competent workers are all important considerations. With the financial investments many states and localities are making toward the life sciences, however, the field of prospective locations for successfully launching a biotech firm has grown considerably larger than the "usual suspects."

To support innovation and technology with increased accessibility for small-and medium-sized firms, Canada's Minister of Industry, David Emerson, announced a new program that will replace Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC).

For more information on the positions below, visit SSTI's online Job Corner at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

By creating Ontario’s Regional Innovation Networks (ORIN) three years ago, the provincial government experimented with how to establish customized systems-specific, but network-integrated approaches to strengthening and supporting regional innovation.

A complete description of this opportunity and others is available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Minister of Industry announced the establishment of 11 new Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECRs) to pursue multidisciplinary work in the areas of environmental science, natural resources and energy, health and life sciences, and information and communication technologies. This $163 million investment joins a $105 million investment last year that created seven other CECRs across Canada.

 

Transforming as many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as possible into globally competitive firms is a challenge, as most TBED practitioners know. The complexity of combining all of Europe into a single market makes the work even more daunting.

 

To simplify the process for SMEs in more than 40 countries, the European Commission recently launched a consolidated Enterprise Europe Network. The network consolidates the older Euro Info Centres and the Innovation Relay Centres.

 

Venture capitalists invested almost $2.5 billion in China in 2007, according to a new report from Dow Jones VentureSource. That figure is a 5 percent increase over the 2006, and the highest since 2001, despite a decrease in the number of deals. Though investment is not growing quite as quickly as it is in the U.S., where venture investment rose by 8 percent last year, China is becoming a key global market for venture investment.

 

The following overview is a synopsis of selected recent announcements from research parks across the nation, including new tenants, groundbreakings and tools for financing start-up companies.

                       

The 2008 Excellence in TBED Awards call for applications is right around the corner, and this year, your organization could be recognized as a national leader in the TBED community.

 

As an award winner, you:

Ten multi-state consortia have been selected to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Education through the FY 2000 competition of the Eisenhower Regional Mathematics and Science Education Consortia Program. Each consortia will receive $1.47 million in the first year and $1.475 million annually for years 2-5 of the award. 

After a frustrating week for many, the SSTI web site is back on line. We apologize for the problems with the site and email while we transitioned to a new web host. We've updated the conference web center (see related below), calendar of events, job postings and Digest archives for you. Please let us know (skinner@ssti.org) if you experience any problems (images or pages missing, bad links, etc.)