Over the past few months, Congress has been at work on a package of measures to address the competitiveness of the U.S. economy. Two similar, yet distinct, competitiveness bills are currently being reconciled in conference between the House and the Senate. President Bush has voiced several objections to both the Senate and House bills and may even be prepared to veto the legislation if a compromise cannot be reached.

As July 1 approaches, the beginning of the 2008 fiscal year for most states, several state legislatures are still working to wrap up their appropriation bills. Maine and Tennessee are two of the most recent to close their books on next year’s budgets, and each has included increased funds to support TBED initiatives. Highlights for both states are provided below.
 
Maine

State Also Begins Work on $150M Stem Cell Research Center An agreement between Gov. Jon Corzine and state legislative leaders will result in a $450 million bond referendum being put before New Jersey voters this fall. If approved, the money will be used to augment support for the state’s stem cell research initiative over the next 10 years.

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.

The field of nanotechnology is progressing in terms of size and maturity. The federal investment, alone, as proposed by the Administration in the 2008 Budget under the National Nanotechnology Initiative, was $1.45 billion. As public and private sector investments are pumped into this field, distinct concentrations of nanotech activity are being created in regions across the country.

With a projected national shortage of more than 280,000 math and science teachers by 2015, key stakeholders must begin initiating strategies to recruit, retain and renew the nation’s teaching workforce, says a new report by The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF).

 

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has published its latest update on the real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of each state. The update includes advance estimates for 2006 data, as well as revisions to data from 2003-2005.

 

SSTI has prepared a table showing every state’s real GDP per capita from 2003 to 2006. Besides these values, the table also includes:

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.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced this week it will invest up to $375 million over five years in three new Bioenergy Research Centers to be located in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Madison, Wisc., and near Berkeley, Calif. The winning sites were selected through a competitive, peer-review process that began last year and included more than a dozen applicants from across the country.

 

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently named 13 more regions to receive grants through the third round of the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) program. As with the previous round of awards (see the Jan. 22, 2007 issue of the Digest), the recipients will each receive $5 million over the course of three years to integrate workforce training initiatives into a regional technology-based economic development strategy.

With less than two weeks to go before the new fiscal year, Arizona and New Jersey lawmakers approved funding for cutting-edge research at the close of their 2007 legislative sessions last week. Following is a synopsis of the TBED initiatives slated to receive funding under the respective budget agreements.

 

Arizona