Accelerating Innovation

The States of “Well-Being.” Washington ranked in top ten.

What combination of factors impacts a life's fulfillment and well-being? Is it health, work, stress, marriage, friends, money, or does where you live make a difference? Some of the surprising answers are in the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index™ (WBI), the nation's largest and most comprehensive look at overall well-being. LINK: http://well-beingindex.com/

The state rankings listed below are a result of over 170,000 adult interviews, conducted in all 50 states (excluding the District of Columbia) between January - June 2010. The Well-Being Index score for each state is an average of six domains, which individually measure Americans' life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors and access to basic necessities. The Well-Being Index is calculated on a scale of 0-100 where a score of 100 represents ideal well-being.

 

Well-Being Index Scores, The Top Ten by State
		January-June 2010	Number of Interviews in 2010
NATION		67.0	176,193
Hawaii		72.3	494
Alaska		69.6	656
North Dakota		69.6	480
Nebraska		69.4	1,175
Colorado		68.6	3,451
Wyoming		68.5	490
Minnesota		68.4	3,612
Washington		68.4	4,838
Vermont		68.2	619
Maryland

Egils Milbergs testifies on the "World's Greatest Innovation Ecosystem" and economic growth strategy

Egils Milbergs testified December 6 before the Senate Economic Development, Trade and Innovation Committee on "Building the World's Greatest Innovation Ecosystem."  The presentation reviewed the mission of the Washington Economic Development Commission, its overall innovation framework for driving economic growth and job creation, emergent regional innovation clusters  and provided a preview of key policy priorities including:

• Collaborating across Regional Boundaries
• New Pathways for Learning
• Accelerating Innovation
• Financing Innovation Infrastructure
• Seizing Global Market Opportunities
• Branding "Decade of Innovation"

Link to full presentation here: Download Egils.Milbergs Testimony 12-6-2010

“Our Generation’s Sputnik Moment is Now”

As America fights to recover from the economic catastrophe that began almost three years ago, it's important to remember that America had already been falling behind, and that as we rebuild, we have to rebuild even better than we were before.  The President talked about his vision and his specific proposals at the Forsyth Technical Community College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina this afternoon:

"In 1957, just before this college opened, the Soviet Union beat us into space by launching a satellite known as Sputnik.  And that was a wake-up call that caused the United States to boost our investment in innovation and education -– particularly in math and science.  And as a result, once we put our minds to it, once we got focused, once we got unified, not only did we surpass the Soviets, we developed new American technologies, industries, and jobs. So 50 years later, our generation's Sputnik moment is back. This is our moment.  If the recession has taught us anything, it's that we cannot go back to an economy that's driven by too much spending, too much borrowing, running up credit cards, taking out a lot of home equity loans, paper profits that are built on financial speculation.  We've got to rebuild on a new and stronger foundation for economic growth. We need to do what America has always been known for:  building, innovating, educating, making things.  We don't want to be a nation that simply buys and consumes products from other countries.  We want to create and sell products all over the world that are stamped with three simple words:  "Made in America."  That's our goal." 

Silicon Valley secrets and where Seattle ranks as a tech hub

How did Silicon Valley become the center of the tech universe? And where does Seattle rank as a tech hub? University of Washington history professor Margaret O'Mara, author of the book Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley, sits down with with the UW's Hanson Hosein to talk about those issues and more in the latest episode of Media Space.

Watch this Episode

Margaret O'Mara is the author of Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley (Princeton, 2005), which explored how Silicon Valley came to be, why other U.S. regions did not become Silicon Valley, and what the Cold War had to do with it. Her current research includes a study of high-tech globalization and urban change in China, India, and the United States. An Assistant Professor of History at the UW, she previously taught at Stanford and the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her PhD in 2002. From 1993 to 1997 she was a staff member to President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, handling policy issues including urban economic development, health care, and welfare reform.

Paul Allen gives huge gift to WSU for global animal health

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen plans to give $26 million to Washington State University. He dropped out of the school more than 35 years ago. This gift is the largest in WSU history and will go to the university's School for Animal Health. "Paul Allen's vision is matched only by his tremendous generosity," said Elson S. Floyd, president of Washington State University, in a statement today. The School for Global Animal Health says its mission to provide "solutions to health challenges worldwide through detection of pathogens, control of disease transmission and vaccine development." Allen has pledged to give the majority of his money to charity following in the footsteps of the other Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. From www.techflash.com.

 

Washington state helps exports jump, generating jobs and tax revenues

Washington State reported near-record FY 2010 sales of $154 million from state export assistance, the Washington State Department of Agriculture and Department of Commerce announced. Both agencies are encouraging more businesses to consider export strategies. State programs at Commerce and WSDA provide small and medium-sized businesses with export training and counseling, facilitate international trade show participation, and assist with trading partner and market introductions. Export sales from these successful state-supported activities account for a small but strategic portion of Washington's total annual export sales of more than $50 billion on average in recent years.

 "Jobs are the way out of this recession and getting Washingtonians back to work is my number one priority," said Gov. Chris Gregoire. "One of our strengths is trade—already one in three Washington jobs is tied to trade. That's why I launched the Washington Export Initiative to increase our exports by 30% over the next five years. That will be in agricultural, aviation and aerospace, and software, but it will also be in emerging sectors like clean tech and global health-life sciences."

Washington was the first state to sign an agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce in support of President Obama's National Export Initiative to significantly increase foreign trade in the next five years. As a result, Commerce has already helped reorganize the Export Assistance Center of Washington to more aggressively focus on counseling outreach, helping small and medium companies take advantage of new export assistance finance products from the ExIm Bank and the private sector.

For more information about the Washington Export Initiative and state export assistance programs, visit www.choosewashington.com and www.agr.wa.gov .

President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)

Recent PCAST reports of interest to the Washington innovation economy.

Energy Technologies Report

On November 29, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a "Report to the President on Accelerating the Pace of Change in Energy Technologies Through an Integrated Federal Energy Policy."

• Press Release (pdf)
• Executive Summary (pdf)
• Report to the President on Accelerating the Pace of Change in Energy Technologies Through an Integrated Federal Energy Policy (pdf)
• Webcast of press conference

PCAST STEM Ed Report

On September 15, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a plan for improvements in K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education. To comment on the report, head over to OpenPCAST.

• Press Release (pdf)
• Executive Report (pdf)
• Prepare and Inspire: K-12 Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) for America's Future (pdf)
• Related Blog Post and Video: "Who Inspired You?"