Ohio Department of Development Director Bruce Johnson has been sworn in as the state's lieutenant governor. Johnson is expected to serve both positions for the balance of Gov. Bob Taft's term.

This past fall, Vermont released what may be the nation's first statewide effort to lay out an economic development strategy based on the creative economy theories advanced most prominently by George Mason professor Richard Florida.

Michael DeAloia has been named tech czar for the City of Cleveland.

There are less than 100 of our readers - now approaching a total of 100,000 - that may be able to look into their electronic mailboxes and even eight-year-old paper files to see that this issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest is our 400th. What began in March 1996 as a two-page weekly fax to key science and technology leaders in most states has evolved into the one of the most widely read e-news sources for the tech-based economic development community in the U.S.

The city of Montpelier, Vt., will soon join the ranks of other high-tech cities as it prepares to implement its first Wi-Fi “hotzone” in the central downtown area. With support from Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), city officials and local businesses, the Vermont Broadband Council recently launched MontpelierNet, a high-speed Internet network that will bring wireless broadband Internet access to the city.

Includes $24M for Biomedical Research, $50M for Wright Centers

Baiju Shah is the new president of the Cleveland's BioEnterprise Corp., succeeding Matt Jennings.

Robin Siss, Vermont's first commissioner for the Department of Information and Innovation, has announced her resignation. Siss began the position in August. Denise Fehr will serve as acting commissioner.

While federal law and our own moral ethics prevent us from putting her to work in the near future, SSTI is excited to welcome Madelynn Elizabeth Carr to the world as the newest member of the SSTI team. Ms. Carr was born to SSTI Executive Assistant Ruth Carr and her husband, Larry, on Wednesday, Nov. 17.

John Nauseef has been appointed CEO of Dayton Development Coalition, filling the position to be vacated by Ron White when he resigns at the end of the year.

Jesse Jones is the new CEO of Ohio's IT Alliance. Jones formerly was chief technology officer of the City of Columbus.

Case Western Reserve University is seeking an executive director of The Power Partnership for Ohio, one of the new Wright Centers of Innovation funded in part by a $18 million grant from the State of Ohio.

By a narrow margin, Ohio voters on Tuesday rejected a constitutional amendment that would have permitted the state to issue up to $500 million in bonds over 10 years to fund technology-based economic development projects. Defeated 51 percent to 49 percent, Issue 1 would have made up the final component of Gov. Bob Taft's proposed 10-year, $1.6 billion Third Frontier project. The remaining $1.1 billion is unaffected by Tuesday's vote.

Looking to launch a biotech initiative? Getting into commercializing university research? Are tight budgets leading to more rigorous program evaluation?

Julian Manly Earls is the new director of the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

Team Northeast Ohio has picked Texan Robert Farley for its first executive director.

Dan Lohymeyer has stepped down as president of Ohio's IT Alliance.

The new executive director of the Center for Regional Economic Issues is Edward Morrison.

SSTI is pleased to announce the creation of the Excellence in TBED Awards. This new program is designed to celebrate exceptional achievement in technology-based economic development (TBED), the approaches used to help foster a climate where innovative companies developing and adopting technology thrive.

Yes, it could happen. Bid packets are available. Your organization could host SSTI's 12th annual conference during the fall of 2008. More than 350 of the nation's greatest thinkers and practitioners for building tech-based economies could descend on YOUR city.

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).

 

The launch of a targeted small business development program designed to foster the success of new high growth, high-tech firms in Vermont was announced last month at a press conference by Sen. Patrick Leahy, Gov. James Douglas and University of Vermont (UVM) President Daniel Fogel.

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.

The University of Vermont announced that Janice St. Onge has joined the Vermont Business Center as the director of business education.