Ronnie Bryant, president and chief operating officer for the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, is leaving to become president and CEO of the 16-county Charlotte Regional Partnership in North Carolina.

Building high-quality communities is the underpinning of long-term economic development, suggests new Southern Growth Policies Board research.

The Greensboro, N.C.-based Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship has a new president, Michael Hentschel.

Dan Lynch was named president of the Greensboro Economic Development Partnership.

The South represents 20 percent of the nation's economic activity but attracts only 9 percent of the total U.S. venture capital invested. In an effort to bring those numbers closer together, the Southern Growth Policies Board recently announced the creation of a multi-state task force dubbed VentureSouth. Virginia Gov.

As low-skill, labor intensive jobs are increasingly replaced by technology or outsourced in the emerging knowledge-based economy, a two-tiered labor market has emerged, thus presenting a challenge for workers to either work cheaper or work smarter, says a new report from the Southern Growth Policies Board. Only one of those options is appealing for those trying to improve your standard of living.

Diane Duff, former director of economic development and commerce for the National Governors Association, is the new executive director of the Southern Governors' Association.

Western Carolina University (WCU) Chancellor John Bardo recently unveiled plans for a comprehensive regional economic development strategy that would more than double the size of the campus and promote university-industry partnerships.

The rapid increase in federal spending for defense and homeland security has led a number of states to establish initiatives targeting potential economic development from these activities. North Carolina becomes the latest of those states, with its proposed Defense Technology Innovation Center.

Broadband access is considered by most to be a key ingredient for encouraging innovation and building a local tech-based economy. Access for many rural areas, however, remains geographically or financially out of reach. Earlier this month, the New Hampshire Rural Development Council (NHRDC) unveiled a plan to change that for the businesses, government and individuals in the northern portion of the Granite State.

RTI International, an independent, nonprofit research organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., is seeking someone for the position of economic development analyst.

Two years ago, Kannapolis, N.C., was reeling from the announcement that Pillowtex Corp, a major textile manufacturer, was filing for bankruptcy. Pillowtex's failure resulted in more than 4,500 jobs lost in just two North Carolina counties and thousands more in the Southeast U.S.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center selected John Chaffee and Randall Johnson as directors of the center's new eastern and southeastern regional offices.

With the passage of the state's biennial budget, North Carolina's small businesses are now eligible for follow-on support from the state for research projects funded under the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.

The North Carolina Board of Science and Technology, for a long time serving mostly in an advisory capacity to Gov. Mike Easley, increasingly is more involved in the direct delivery of technology-based economic development programs. The latest addition to its growing portfolio of programs is a $1 million Green Business Fund to help small businesses commercialize promising green and alternative energy technologies.

 

BioConnect of Greater Charlotte, a new networking group for Charlotte, N.C.-area workers in life-science-related fields, held its inaugural meeting earlier this month.