SSTI Receives EDA Award to Support Digest
The SSTI Weekly Digest has a new sponsor, making the publication free to any and all parties interested in tech-based economic development. The Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, selected SSTI as one of three awardees in a competitive solicitation for national information dissemination projects. SSTI proposed dramatically expanding the content and distribution of the Digest and establishing a web-based resource center.
SSTI Brought 1,400+ Funding Opportunities to Subscribers in 2007
So far this year, SSTI's Funding Supplement has made its subscribers aware of more than 1,400 different opportunities to secure funding. If you aren't a subscriber, your client companies, academic researchers, and state and local TBED efforts are at a significant disadvantage!
SSTI Job Corner
Complete descriptions of these opportunities and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.
North Carolina Launches $1M Green Business Fund
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.
SSTI Job Corner
A complete description of this opportunity and others is available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.
People & TBED Organizations
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.
People & TBED Organizations
The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has hired Yonnie Butler as business development director of its business and technology development unit.
Timeline Announced for 2008 Excellence in TBED Awards
The 2008 Excellence in TBED Awards call for applications is right around the corner, and this year, your organization could be recognized as a national leader in the TBED community.
As an award winner, you:
SSTI Co-sponsoring Two Conferences of Note
SSTI is partnering with other organizations to sponsor two conferences that will be of interest to the TBED community: the Regional Workforce Education & Training Best Practices Conference put on by the ASME Center for Engineering Entrepreneurship & Innovation and the Internationalization of Regional Innovation organized by the European-based Technopolicy Network.
North Carolina Lays Out $25M Plan for Biofuels Industry
Several U.S. states have introduced plans in attempts to take the early lead in the country's emerging biofuels industry. For example, in 2006, the Washington legislature approved the initial components of the state's Bioenergy Program. Tennessee Gov.
People
On April 1, Jerry McGuire becomes the first director of technology transfer for the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. McGuire currently is the director of technology transfer and licensing for the University of Buffalo.
NET Entertains National Business Plan Competition
To give environmental technology entrepreneurs the chance to have their business plans analyzed by experts and win money for it, the National Environmental Technology (NET) Incubator in Wilberforce, Ohio, is hosting the first annual National Business Plan Competition.
SSTI Publication Catalog Hits the Web
With more than 110 great titles to aid the policy, practice and study of tech-based economic development, the SSTI Publication Catalog, Resources for Building Tech-based Economies officially is online.
Resources Focus on Innovative Practices at Rural Community Colleges
Regional Technology Strategies, Inc. (RTS), a national nonprofit workforce and economic development group based in Carrboro, N.C., has published Cultivating Successful Rural Economies: Benchmark Practices at Community Colleges.
SSTI Moves Office
While visions of sugarplums will be dancing in the heads of most Americans, SSTI's staff will be boxing up its files and moving to new offices on Dec. 20-21.
Due to the move and because SSTI will be closed during the week of December 24-28, the next issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest and the funding supplement will be published January 4, 2002.
People
SSTI welcomes Anulet Jones to our team as a Research Assistant. Ms. Jones has an engineering degree from Georgia Tech and is working on her MBA at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.
People
SSTI welcomes Mark Kish to the staff as our new Writer/PR Assistant. Mark will assist with the SSTI Weekly Digest, updating and expanding our website, and planning for our September 19-21 annual conference.
SSTI Weekly Digest Takes Spring Break
The SSTI Weekly Digest will be taking a brief spring break and will resume publication on Friday, April 6.
For the “Oh, Yeah?” Department: More on Local Technology Incubators
Editor’s Note: For the skeptical Digest reader that viewed our assertion in last week’s issue that there is an average of at least one incubator-related article published somewhere in the country each day. Since we have several clippings on hand, it is easy to provide more examples of the continuing explosion of communities and states using non-profit incubators as tools for developing and expanding tech-based economies.
North Carolina to Start Statewide Micro Angel Fund
North Carolina does not, at first glance, seem to be a venture capital underperformer. In 2006, venture capitalists invested close to $510 million in North Carolina, almost $60 million of which was invested in seed and early-stage businesses, according to the Pricewaterhouse Coopers Moneytree Survey of VC investment. However, while the state ranks 12th in seed/early-stage investment, many in the state perceive the lack of seed funding to be a major obstacle to economic growth.
SSTI Board Approves New Mission Statement
The field of tech-based economic development has changed dramatically since the creation of SSTI in 1996 and continues to change almost daily. With these changes in mind, SSTI is releasing a new mission statement that better defines the organization's current direction.
SSTI's new mission is to lead, support, and strengthen efforts to improve state and regional economies through science, technology, and innovation.
People
Steve Gage announced he will retire as president of MAGNET, the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network, effective July 13. Fatima Weathers will serve as acting president for the manufacturing advocate in Northeast Ohio, beginning July 16.
Time to Apply for 2007 Excellence in TBED Awards
With the deadline less than two weeks away, we hope you are putting the finishing touches on your Excellence in TBED Award application.
Website Launched along with 2007 Report on the Future of the South
Building on past reports calling for higher levels of educational achievement in the South, the 2007 Southern Growth Polices Board Report outlines a three-pronged strategy to aid the southern region in attaining its goal of building a globally competitive workforce. The annual Report on the Future of the South, released earlier this month, labels its new approach "Convene-Connect-Commit," addressing the process in detail.
TBED People
John Griffin has been named acting director of the Ohio Department of Development's Technology Division.