Infrastructure

Save the Date and Register for the 2013 Michigan Broadband Conference!

On Thursday, October 24th, 2013, Connect Michigan and the Library of Michigan will host the 2013 Michigan Broadband Conference to bring together community and economic development professionals, local government officials and staff, libraries, educators, technology providers, and many others to collaborate and share best practices for expanding broadband and technology access, adoption, and use in communities across the state. The conference will be held at the Kellogg Center on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan from 10AM to 5PM.

Rural infrastructure, technology use by small businesses, digital job creation, and entrepreneurship are a sampling of some of the topics that will be discussed and about which best practices will be shared.

The conference will feature state and nationally recognized economic development and technology speakers including Blair Levin of the Aspen Institute and chief architect of the National Broadband Plan, as well as Mike Finney, president and CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and many more.

Registration for the conference is now open and more information can be found here: http://www.connectmi.org/broadband-summit. A PDF Save the Date is attached that can be distributed to others who may be interested in attending. An Outlook calendar entry is also provided.

Join this event on Thursday, October 24th, 2013 to help propel Michigan to the forefront of the digital economy.

Higher Education

Tech library to become a patent/trademark center

The Daily Mining Gazette 

HOUGHTON - Michigan Technological University's Van Pelt and Opie Library will be offering a new resource this fall. After nearly a year of communication, the Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property has officially designated the library as a Patent and Trademark Resource Center.

"We've been working on it since November of last year. It's a little bit of a lengthy process that involves a lot of back and forth between the library and the US PTO (Patent and Trademark Office)," said Sarah Lucchesi, an instruction and learning librarian at Michigan Tech who played a main role in obtaining the designation. "The Patent office is actually very excited about us doing this - they've wanted one in the Upper Peninsula for a long time. They like to have one in every state and every one in Michigan is downstate, so this service hasn't been available here."

According to a press release, the motivation for seeking the PTRC designation was due to the dedication of Jim Baker, executive director of innovation and industry engagement, to instructing graduate students about patents. Christa Walck, associate provost, originally developed the program with extensive involvement by Baker and Nora Allred, copyright and scholarly communications librarian. more->

If you would like to receive more information regarding program and initiative updates from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Workforce Development Agency, and industry partners, you are encouraged to participate in monthly Talent Partner Webinars, hosted by the MEDC Talent Enhancement staff. These monthly webinars help update partners on MEDC and WDA programs, upcoming events, business solutions, and training opportunities. 

Held on the second Thursday of each month, the next Talent Partner Webinar will take place on Thursday, September 12 from 2-3 p.m.

If you would like to participate, please email Ryan Hundt at hundtr1@michigan.org. Partner updates may also be sent directly to Ryan to be included in the monthly webinars, and may also be featured in the bi-weekly Talent Network News e-newsletter upon request.

Higher Education

Michigan Tech Helps Develop Sustainable Bioenergy Across the Americas

Michigan Technological University's Sustainable Futures Institute (SFI) and a broad range of Pan American partners see biofuel as a good answer to society's growing need for alternative energy. But they want to make sure that it is produced in a sustainable way, benefiting rather than harming the societies and environments producing it.

The National Science Foundation is funding a Research Coordination Network(RCN)  to help researchers, policymakers, industry leaders and others investigate the effects of mass biofuel production on human communities and natural systems. The Sustainable Futures Institute (SFI) manages the RCN program at Michigan Tech.

Last year, RCN participants met in Merida, Mexico, to share information about their work.  This May, they met again in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to discuss their progress and plan future research.

"It's invaluable to get everyone together in one place," says Robert Handler, a research assistant professor and the operations manager at the SFI. "These meetings allow us to coordinate all of our separate activities and build a coherent body of knowledge on biofuel sustainability."

Impacts of Bioenergy Production

Partnerships for Research and Education (PIRE) is another NSF-funded project that grew out of RCN. PIRE,'s lead researcher is Kathleen Halvorsen, a professor of natural resource policy at Michigan Tech. The PIRE team is studying impacts from bioenergy production in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, the US and Argentina.

"We're working to fill the research gaps in bioenergy production so we can maximize the benefits and minimize the negative impacts," Halvorsen explains.  "Another thing we want to do is improve policy in these countries to support the research and development of bioenergy." more->

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