TBED People & Organizational Announcements
The Association of University Research Parks has recognized Sandia National Laboratories for the 2003 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award. Over the past five years, Sandia has participated in 183 new cooperative research and development agreements with industry partners to jointly develop technology that is incorporated into commercial products.
MEP Career Opportunity
The New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program is recruiting a technology transfer and commercialization project manager with a proven track record in related disciplines from the private and/or public sector.
Recent Entrepreneurship Items Of Note
A Letter from Bozeman, Montana
New Mexico Governor Proposes Education, Research and Energy Initiatives for 2007
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson recently announced a series of budget requests for the 2007 legislature intended to increase access to public universities and to support research and investment in emerging technologies. Together, the requests call for more than $120 million in state investment in higher education quality and affordability, supercomputing and stem cell research, and new energy initiatives.
Higher Education
People
Art Garcia has resigned as director of the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund to accept a job with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in his home state of New Mexico.
People
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has appointed Stephan Helgesen as director of the Office of Science and Technology at the state Economic Development Department.
New Mexico Gov. Wants $100M for Private Spaceport
Nearly 40,000 people in 120 countries have placed deposits with the British commercial space company for the opportunity to become tourists in space, according to Virgin Galactic. Last Tuesday, New Mexico's governor said he wants the state to spend $100 million over the next three years to help get them there.
People
Eric Griego was appointed assistant secretary of economic development for the New Mexico Economic Development Department.
People
Gov. Bill Richardson appointed William Enloe, CEO of Los Alamos National Bank, to serve as chairman of the New Mexico Economic Development Partnership.
Montana Legislature Passes $60 Million VC Act
Venture capital investments in Montana may have become a little more attractive last Friday as the Montana House of Representatives passed the Montana Equity Capital Investment Act, moving the legislation to Gov. Brian Schweitzer for his consideration and expected signature.
New Mexico Adds Tax Credit, Loan Program to TBED Portfolio
Tech firms in New Mexico received happy tax news on April 4 as Gov. BIll Richardson signed several bills to encourage economic growth across New Mexico.
Montana Gov. Wants More Than $20M Endowment for Economic Development
With a state legislature that only meets for 90 days every two years, opportunity for positive change in Montana's public-supported efforts to build a tech-based economy is limited. For the proposed $20 million Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund - one of new Gov. Brian Schweitzer's largest economic development initiatives - the 90th day, April 26, is fast approaching.
Montana Fund-of-Fund Launches after Two-year Delay
A long-delayed equity capital program in Montana is on its way to becoming a reality. Montana, which received no venture capital investment in 2006 according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers Moneytree survey, has struggled to attract the interest of venture capital firms. The Montana Equity Capital Investment Act, sponsored by State Sen. Jeff Mangan and signed by Gov. Brian Schweitzer in 2005, was intended to make the state more attractive to outside investors, but never seemed to get off the ground.
New Mexico Governor Signs Budget Bills, Vetoes Capital Package
New Mexico’s 2008 legislative session wrapped up last week, resulting in no final action on several TBED-related bills and leading Gov. Bill Richardson to call a special legislative session to address his health care reform agenda.
New Mexico Legislature: Tax Credits, Energy Initiatives among Successes of 2007 Regular Session
With the close of its 2007 regular session, the New Mexico State Legislature wrapped up "one of the most productive sessions in state history." Those were the words of Gov. Bill Richardson, following the legislature's adjournment last month. The governor had outlined a number of economic development and energy initiatives in his 2007 State of the State Address that he hoped would be brought to bear (see the Jan. 15, 2007 issue of the Digest).
People
Sigfried Hecker, the director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, announced that he is stepping aside in order to participate more closely in scientific collaboration between US and Russian researchers. Hecker has headed Los Alamos since 1986.
People
Thomas Bowles was named science advisor to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, succeeding a number of fellow Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists serving the governor.
Montana Legislature Approves $46 M Economic Development Package
After two years of partisan politics and court battles, the Montana legislature last week overwhelmingly passed HB 1, a $46 million, five-year appropriations package to fund several state science, technology, and economic development initiatives. The legislation brings to close a saga that began with a successful court challenge to the funding mechanism for S&T programs.
New Mexico Legislature Approves Technology Tax Credit Legislation
In the last days of a special legislative session, the New Mexico Legislature unanimously passed two technology tax credit bills. Entitled the “Technology Jobs Tax Credit Act” and the “Laboratory Partnership with Small Business Tax Credit Act,” these measures are intended to assist New Mexico’s technology-based businesses with the development of increased research investments and laboratory partnerships, especially in rural areas.
People
Durand Smith, the director of the New Mexico Department of Economic Development's Science and Technology Division, has returned to the private sector. Marsha Oldakowski is serving as acting director of the division.
Montana House OKs Use of Coal Taxes for R&D
The Montana House of Representatives narrowly approved a measure that, if passed by the Senate, will provide $9-$10 million a year for state research and development projects.
Montana House Bill 260 changes the way in which coal severance taxes are collected to allow a portion of the revenue to be designated for R&D spending.
Conference Profile: Sandia National Laboratories
As a national security laboratory operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by the Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, Sandia’s science and technology competencies are leveraged to support several missions that are synergistic to its primary mission — to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile in the absence of underground testing, indefinitely.
People
Maria Estela de Rios has been named chairwoman of the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership Board of Directors. She is executive vice president of Orion International Technologies, which is based in Albuquerque.
People
Roberto Salazar is leaving his post as the Director of the New Mexico Office of Science and Technology at the end of March to assume the position of State Director of the USDA's Rural Development Agency for New Mexico.