In the midst of a national economic recession contributing to a record number of job losses in traditional industries, forward thinking states are exploring ideas and committing funds to help grow and diversify their economies and strengthen their renewable energy portfolios.

Last week, the Board of Trustees at the University of Toledo approved the creation of a School of Solar and Advanced Renewable Energy. The School will integrate faculty from multiple science, engineering, and business disciplines to offer its own degrees and perform collaborative research, often with industrial partners associated with the region's established solar energy and photovoltaics cluster.

The Ohio Department of Development invites bids for two Requests for Proposals (RFP) to provide evaluation services and other forms of technical assistance for the state's fiscal years 2010 and 2011.  Proposals for either opportunity are due by May 29. Specifically, Development is seeking contractors for the following:

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

The most recent annual report of Ohio's Third Frontier initiative announced $3.52 billion in non-state resources has been provided for affiliated projects and companies - a nine to one ratio of state dollars leveraged. Since the Third Frontier's creation in 2002, $893 million in state funds have been awarded, with $403 million of that amount expended to date.

SSTI is hosting an informal phone call on Wednesday, May 13 at 2:00 PM EDT to answer your questions about the 2009 Excellence in TBED Awards.

Who should join the call? 

Anyone considering submitting an application for the 2009 awards cycle or anyone who wants to learn more about the program will find the call useful.

The role of a technology incubator or accelerator for supporting nascent firms generally is regarded with the utmost importance by the tech-based economic development community. Tech incubators provide essential resources for startup companies to develop and commercialize new technologies, leading to the creation of high-quality jobs.

Not all of the news coming out of governors' offices is bad for TBED strategies. For example, just in the past week, governors in Missouri, Ohio and Texas proposed increases in state investments for job creation in emerging fields, higher education scholarships, and technology commercialization and research programs. The following overview provides highlights of their recommendations for TBED proposals in the upcoming fiscal year or biennium.

The fifth installment of the Tech Talkin' Govs series includes highlights from state of the state, budget and inaugural addresses from governors in Alabama, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Utah.

The complete description of this opportunity and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation has named Jim Carroll as director of its Center for Entrepreneurial Growth.

The complete description of this opportunity and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

Since the SSTI Funding Supplement became a members-only publication in 2006 more than 4,250 funding opportunities have been distributed. In 2008 only, there were more than 1,400 different opportunities for your client companies and university research faculties to secure funding -- if you were an SSTI member. Competition for federal research funding is growing, particularly as program budgets have been relatively flat or declining in recent federal budget cycles.

For several years governors across the country have announced life science and biotech initiatives that are as broad as they are large. The devil is in the details, and in most cases related to bio-based economic development, so are the opportunities.

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

Due to overwhelming interest, SSTI's first poster session, held at SSTI's 12th Annual Conference in Cleveland mid October, is now available online 24 hours a day - 7 days a week. You can view more than 35 posters celebrating why states, regions, universities and related organizations engage in technology-based economic development (TBED).

Carlos Romero, a University of New Mexico employee who previously oversaw the university's governmental affairs office, is now its associate vice president for research administration.