Thomas Still has been selected at the new president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. Still, currently associate editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, will fill the vacancy created by Larry Kline's departure this past spring.

The Wisconsin Venture Network (WVN) in Milwaukee has folded into the Wisconsin Innovation Network (WIN) Foundation in Madison, and the combined WIN entity has become a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Technology Council.

After 30 years as leader of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, Robert Brennan is leaving to become a consultant to the new Office of Corporate Relations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Jennifer Alexander is the new president of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce.

Gov. Jim Doyle last week unveiled his plan to jumpstart the Wisconsin economy. The plan, "Grow Wisconsin," calls for a series of executive actions, private sector partnerships and legislative steps to create high-wage jobs and achieve other goals. Some of the tech-based economic development items outlined in "Grow Wisconsin" are:

The Southern Innovation Index, a strategic plan created with the governments of 13 Southern states and Puerto Rico to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth in the South, has been released by the Southern Growth Policies Board, a bipartisan public policy group based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

On July 16, both houses of Wisconsin’s state Legislature passed a state budget including numerous incentives for technological development. The budget covers state spending for a two-year period that began July 1. Gov. Scott McCallum has until August 30 to approve the budget; several of the tech-related items were in the Governor's first state of the state and executive budget addresses.

Larry Kline has resigned as president of the Wisconsin Technology Council to take a position as chief financial officer and vice president for business development with a biotech firm.

The six-month-old Information Technology Association of Wisconsin selected Jim Rice to serve as the organization's first president and CEO.

An historic, five-year reauthorization bill for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) awaits only the President's signature after being approved Tuesday by Congress.



President Bush is expected to sign the legislation into law, making the reauthorization of ARC the longest in its history and only the second congressional reauthorization of the agency since the Carter Administration.



The reauthorization bill contains several key provisions:

The Wisconsin Legislature presently faces two bills which could greatly boost venture capital funds in the state. 

In a bid to make the South a knowledge economy leader, the Southern Growth Policies Board has released Invented Here: Transforming the Southern Economy, a 10-year strategic plan to create an innovation-driven economy in the South. 

Two new Governors, Bob Wise of West Virginia and Wisconsin's Scott McCallum, have put tech-based economic development in the forefront of their respective economic agendas.



West Virginia

What can policymakers and practitioners do if the statistics and other metrics indicate a state, region or locality is not well positioned for the technology-based economy, but the elected leaders and economic development professionals are plodding along with traditional approaches to job creation and development?

Craig Heim was named licensing manager for start-up companies at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.