Dr. Russell Bessette has been appointed to the Federal Homeland Security Science and Technology Committee. Dr. Bessette currently is the executive director of the New York Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR).

Nearly every region engaged in building a tech-based economy wants more access to seed and venture capital money. It's particularly useful when your largest employer announces it will lay off up to 23 percent of its workforce – as many as 5,000 people in your community and 15,000 across the globe – during the next three years.

Last Thursday, Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed bills to aid Michigan’s tool and die industry and to promote new venture capital investment in the state’s high-tech industries.

One of the recurring issues in many states for financing centers as part of their tech-based economic development portfolio is whether or not the organizations resulting from the multi-year, multimillion grants should become financially self sufficient at the end of the grant term.

The city of Montpelier, Vt., will soon join the ranks of other high-tech cities as it prepares to implement its first Wi-Fi “hotzone” in the central downtown area. With support from Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), city officials and local businesses, the Vermont Broadband Council recently launched MontpelierNet, a high-speed Internet network that will bring wireless broadband Internet access to the city.

Michigan small businesses receiving state and federal grants for research and development will be able to put more of those funds into their work, with legislation unanimously passing the state Senate last week.

Roger Biagi was named to the newly created position of director of government relations at the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research.

Robin Siss, Vermont's first commissioner for the Department of Information and Innovation, has announced her resignation. Siss began the position in August. Denise Fehr will serve as acting commissioner.

The launch of a targeted small business development program designed to foster the success of new high growth, high-tech firms in Vermont was announced last month at a press conference by Sen. Patrick Leahy, Gov. James Douglas and University of Vermont (UVM) President Daniel Fogel.

One of the hottest political topics this year is the outsourcing of U.S. jobs to other countries. A Google search on "outsourcing" returns about 4.8 million pages. Reports from Gartner, Forrester Research, McKinsey & Company, AeA, and the Institute for International Economics, among others, have looked at the topic and fed the interest.

Although their courses of action may differ, competing proposals sponsored by the New York State Senate and Assembly would seem to have the same goal — create jobs, support small businesses, and transform the state's manufacturing sector.

Andrea Lohneiss, community development director for Riverhead, N.Y., is leaving to become Suffolk County's commissioner of economic development.

The University of Vermont announced that Janice St. Onge has joined the Vermont Business Center as the director of business education.

Prompted by confusion over the dual rulings in the University of Michigan affirmative action cases last year, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering have released a new report to clarify the legalities and offer options for implementing and sustaining diversity programs within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

The Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network recently selected Lisa Blakely, a former Bank of America executive, as its CEO.

During the recent past, heavy loss of manufacturing jobs has created considerable economic upheaval in several states, particularly the industrial heartland of the country where manufacturing represents more of a state's private payrolls than the national average. Michigan, alone, lost 18 percent of its manufacturing-related jobs from 2000 to 2003, a staggering 163,000 mostly high-wage jobs. Still, the manufacturing sector comprises 17 percent of the total jobs in the Great Lakes state.

ASME is seeking a Project Manager responsible for the research, planning, launch and growth of strategic initiatives in the areas of industry relations/corporate services and young engineers. The individual will play a key role in the project management of strategic initiatives to help meet the priority objectives of the ASME Board of Governors.

This past fall, Vermont released what may be the nation's first statewide effort to lay out an economic development strategy based on the creative economy theories advanced most prominently by George Mason professor Richard Florida.