George Bald, Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development, has announced his resignation to become executive director of the Pease Development Authority.

Sherrie Priesche, the science and technology advisor to New Jersey Governor James McGreevey, has been appointed as the new executive director for the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology.

Chris Engle, former vice president of Angelou Economics, has joined New Economy Strategies as chief project officer and principal.

New Jersey is launching a new program to stimulate new investment, business growth and job creation in the biotechnology and life sciences industries through a special fund to be established through the Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP).

In a move to integrate technology and traditional learning, New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson introduced on Tuesday a four-year pilot program to bring laptop computers into classrooms. The program, Technology Promoting Student Excellence, is intended to provide wireless connectivity to all 7th-grade students and teachers from selected schools.

John Tesoriero has left the New Jersey Commission on Science & Technology to become Associate Director of the Center for Advanced Information Processing at Rutgers University. David Eater is Acting Executive Director for the Commission as a search is conducted for a permanent replacement.

With the sustained depth of the recession, the IT crash, the rapid growth in unemployment and the speculative office construction craze of the late 1990s, one would expect office vacancies to climb and property lease rates to edge down in many cities. Following this thought further might suggest, with cheaper office space available, the need for publicly supported low-rent technology incubator space would decrease.

Fred Kocher has been elected president of the New Hampshire High Technology Council, which advocates technology-based businesses in New Hampshire.

Location-based tax incentives to encourage the clustering of technology companies in distressed areas or around research universities has grown in popularity since Michigan's smart zones were created several years ago.

Reports suggest New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, resigning his office in mid-November, will be named the first director of the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey. Securing funding for the center has been a legislative priority for the Governor this year.

"We cannot be satisfied with simply passing stem cell research legislation."

The Fourth of July might just be a paid holiday for New Jersey's tech-based economic development agency after all. Since Governor James McGreevey released his FY 2004 budget request six months ago, the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology has been living under a June 30 death sentence. Facing a deficit forecast in excess of $4 billion, the governor had called for the elimination of the $15 million program.

NJCST Out, Cancer Research In

Gov. James McGreevey recently appointed Alfred Koeppe as the new Chairman of the Economic Development Authority of New Jersey.

To help make his state a leader in research, development and innovation, New Jersey Governor James McGreevey recently signed an executive order establishing the Commission on Jobs, Growth and Economic Development. Highlighting the state's strengths but calling for it to move forward, even with a $5 billion budget shortfall looming, the governor said the commission is needed to put New Jersey in position to be more competitive.

The New Hampshire High Technology Council has announced Paul Houle is the new president and chief executive officer and Mary Collins will serve as executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Sean O'Kane, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development, is resigning from the position at the end of his two-year term in March to return to the private sector.

Two separate news stories covering different New Jersey's technology-based economic development initiatives may give one of the first peeks at Governor James McGreevey's plans for science & technology in the Garden State.

Besides supporting life science research in universities, one of the other key areas states and communities are using to encourage the growth of a local biotech industry is by supporting an increase in the availability of wet lab and other biotech facilities. Biotech space, however, is extremely expensive compared to other traditional tech incubator facilities for a variety of reasons (design, HVAC, environmental, security, regulatory, etc.)

George Bald is returning to serve as Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development. Bald served in the position from 1998-2004.

After discovering that only 10 percent of the venture capital raised in New Jersey is invested in New Jersey companies, a new venture fund has been established combining private, state, and federal resources. The seed investment fund will be used to assist New Jersey start-up technology businesses get off the ground.

Democrats took the year’s only two races for governor, electing Jim McGreevey in New Jersey and Mark Warner in Virginia. 

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch announced he will nominate his deputy chief of staff and policy director, Michael Vlacich, to be the state's next director of economic development.