California

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick recently signed two bills to improve the commonwealth's standing as a leader in environmental protection and to support the growth of the clean technology industry.  Supporters of the Global Warming Solutions Act and the Green Jobs Act believe that the legislation will position Massachusetts as a recognized center for cleantech policy and business.

According to National Science Foundation (NSF) data released two weeks ago, companies spent in aggregate $247.7 billion on R&D expenditures performed in the U.S. in 2006. Leading the nation was California, with $58.4 billion in industrial R&D, followed by Michigan ($16.5 billion), Massachusetts ($15.6 billion), New Jersey ($14.6 billion), and Texas ($13.3 billion).
 

Technology-focused incubators are an important component to fostering entrepreneurial development in a region by nurturing businesses in the earliest stages of development and helping them grow into larger companies that employ high-wage workers and bring new technologies to the market. The following select announcements provide an overview of new incubators from across the nation, illustrating the vital role of entrepreneurial development in growing high-tech regional economies.

The demand for highly qualified talent in Massachusetts' bioscience industry will add more than 10,000 life sciences workers to the state's workforce by 2014, according to a recent report prepared by the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute.

As Massachusetts legislators are in the process of crafting a compromise bill for the statewide Life Sciences Initiative, one new issue to emerge would have the state taking an equity position in the life sciences companies in which the state provides financial support.

A little more than a year after unveiling a comprehensive proposal to provide crucial funding for R&D, commercialization and infrastructure to position Massachusetts as a global leader in life sciences, Gov. Deval Patrick signed an historic 10-year, $1 billion life sciences investment package, transforming the ambitious idea into reality.
 

Bob Crowley, president of the Massachusetts Technology Development Corp., will step down June 30. Crowley has held the position since 2002 and has been with the quasi-public agency since its beginning in 1978.

Mitch Adams, executive director of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative is resigning after leading the agency for nearly a decade.

Included below are recent development plans and groundbreaking news for research parks announced by officials in Connecticut, Colorado, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

TBED People
SSTI board members Rob Atkinson and Rebecca Bagley and SSTI member Stephen Tang were appointed to the U.S. Department of Commerce Innovation Advisory Board. The 15-member board will guide a study of U.S. economic competitiveness and innovation to help inform national policies.

Pamela Goldberg has been appointed as the executive director of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. Currently, Goldberg serves as director of entrepreneurial leadership at Tufts University.

From undertaking a joint regional initiative to improve two cities' competitiveness in advanced manufacturing to launching an effort for engaging venture capital companies and bringing in top university students to showcase area opportunities, mayors in Lexington and Louisville, Boston and Chicago recognize the value in promoting their cities as top destinations for growing tech-based economies. While each of the three recent announcements detailed below target different sectors of the innovation economy, they share the same mission of making their region more desirable for startups.

Recent legislative actions supporting technology-based economic development include level funding for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, funding to support programs of the Minnesota Science and Technology Authority and the expansion of two state programs in support of technology and life sciences companies in New Jersey.

The five-campus University of Massachusetts System is seeking a dynamic and entrepreneurial professional to become the associate vice president for economic development to help develop the university's role in generating innovation and talent to support the Innovation Economy of Massachusetts. The position will report to the vice president for economic development and be housed at the president's office in Boston, MA.

A newly established policy academy providing guidance and technical assistance will help seven states improve their environment for innovation and align state R&D investments, workforce development and education systems with current and future needs of advanced manufacturing industries. The policy academy will help each state develop a plan or overcome barriers for putting a plan into action through a highly interactive team-based process that includes input from NGA, MEP, EDA, SSTI, private sector consultants, and research organizations.