Maryland's new governor establishes technology commission
Friday, December 06, 2002
Here's another indication of the shifting economic development thinking going on.
As his first economic development initiative, Governor-elect Erhlich has established a Commission on Development of High Technology Business. The Commission will report in July with recommendations that the new governor hopes to present to the legislature in his second year.
The focus will be on improving technology transfer and commercialization in the state. Maryland leads the nation in the amount of government research money its universities attract, but it ranks significantly lower in commercial technology development.
Advocates for the Commission point out that other states invest more heavily on early stage business development. Each year, Maryland invests about $6 million on technology promotion and $8 million in tech startups.
By coontrast, Michigan plans to spend $1 billion in tobacco settlement money over the next 20 years to build a "life sciences corridor." Pennsylvania spends $30 million a year on its network of business incubators and invests another $60 million in venture capital to help some of those companies get off the ground. Go
posted by Ed Morrison |
links
Some Background on EDPro Weblog
The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it.
One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information.
If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site:
Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber:
Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development
As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking.
Background on Ed Morrison
Download some background information on me here.
Maryland's new governor establishes technology commission
