As with every public policy or program to promote economic development, TBED initiatives can fall victim to critics’ concerns regarding the value of these approaches if performance measurement is not an integral component of your efforts. Fair assessment of impact, though, remains a thorny issue for many TBED strategies because of the early stage of investment (e.g. support for university research, entrepreneurship education or even seed capital).

 

Complete descriptions of these opportunities and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

For just over eight years, the SSTI Weekly Digest has come to you every Friday...first it was by fax, then by e-mail.  Starting with this issue, the Digest makes a change and will be distributed each Monday.  We believe this change will help you get your week started right...and will give the SSTI staff something to do on the weekend.

SSTI welcomes Rhiannon Mehring to its staff as a research associate.

James Roberson, president of the Research Triangle Foundation for the past 16 years, is retiring at the end of May.

The Wright Center for Innovation for Advanced Data Management and Analysis named Charles Walsh as its first president.

The Fund for Our Economic Future, a new collaboration of Northeast Ohio private, community and corporate foundations to support regional economic development, has secured more than $22 million in commitments and is expected to grow to $30 million. Launched last week, the fund is believed to be the largest and most comprehensive philanthropic collaboration of its kind in the U.S.

A new plan to grow North Carolina's biotech industry to 48,000 jobs by 2013 and 125,000 by 2023 was released earlier this month by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, a state-supported nonprofit organization. If implemented, the 108-page plan would cost up to $650 million over five years. That figure does not include the "to be determined" cost for 15 of the plan's 54 recommendations.

The 54 action steps span a variety of objectives:

Tony Brown, director of the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund at the U.S. Treasury Department, announced his resignation effective Feb. 27, to become chief executive officer of the Uptown Consortium in Cincinnati.

Ohio State University has appointed Vicki Butland to serve as interim president and chief executive officer for the Science and Technology Campus Corp.

Robert Geolas, director of the Centennial Campus at North Carolina State, is resigning to become director of the new International Center for Automotive Research at the Clemson University.

Despite a sluggish national economy, North Carolina held its own over the last three years, according to a measure of 25 broad indicators of innovation, technology and economic growth released earlier this week. In all, Tracking Innovation: North Carolina Innovation Index 2003 considers more than 50 performance measures across five general categories, highlighting the state’s strengths and weaknesses.

Ohio’s IT Alliance (OITA) invites applications and nominations for the position of President and Chief Executive Officer. OITA's mission as a statewide public/private partnership is to drive the growth and improve the competitiveness of Ohio through the development and support of its information technology industry. The new President will enhance OITA’s role as the key public/private catalyst for industry growth and success.

Dr. Catherine Renault is the new program manager for the Center for Technology Applications at RTI International, Inc.

In what may be the first gift of its kind, a $5 million cash donation has been made to a technology transfer office to endow the commercialization of new health technologies. The Cleveland Clinic announced receipt of the donation from John Ferchill, a Northeast Ohio real estate developer, in mid-December.

The SSTI Weekly Digest will resume publication on January 9. We hope all our readers have a safe, prosperous, and happy 2004.

North Carolina is a nationally-recognized center for basic research due to its sustained investment in higher education and TBED-related projects.

Federal stimulus funds approved earlier this year by Congress are doing more than filling budget gaps in states across the nation. During a year in which it otherwise may be virtually impossible to direct much funding to starting initiatives aimed at growing the economy, many states are using federal stimulus funds to implement new programs.