Brainpower key to Idaho tech dreams – Innovation: Changing priorities in Idaho – Idaho’s biotech firms need help

Idaho doesn’t need to compete against prestigious universities like Stanford or MIT to develop the kind of sustainable high- tech economy every state wants these days.

But it had better build and grow its engineering and research capabilities as fast or faster than neighbors like Utah and Oregon, said Seattle venture capitalist Len Jordan.

Jordan is a venture capitalist with strong ties to Boise and Idaho — he grew up here, and his grandfather was governor and a U.S. senator for Idaho.

***

Centers stress interdisciplinary cooperation

The Idaho Accelerator Center at Idaho State University has10 operating accelerators, which use electricity to send beams of particles along a track so they can hit a target and create a nuclear reaction. With eight scientists and six engineers on staff, the center does a wide variety of research in partnership with the Idaho National Laboratory and others.

The center has developed research partnerships with two companies. Positron Systems of Colorado Springs is seeking to commercialize material stress detection and analysis techniques developed by the center. The collaboration has allowed the center to expand. The second partnership is with PACECO, an international corporation based in Hayward, Calif., which is working with the center to create technologies that can detect weapons of mass destruction and illegal substances hidden inside shipping containers at coastal shipping centers.

Boise State University is planning an interdepartmental research center to bring together disciplines such as sciences and engineering to work on projects in the same building. The proposal announced in 2005 by BSU President Bob Kustra has few specifics yet but is aimed at tapping into the same kind of success Maki and others have achieved in Idaho. BSU hopes to first develop a proposal to build a new laboratory to house the center, which would come when funding is available.

***

Link to Idaho’s high-tech companies http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060111/NEWS0202/50111010/1029/NEWS02

Rocky Barker
The Idaho Statesman

Full Story: http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060112/NEWS0202/601120315/1029/NEWS02

***

Welcome to "TechIdaho 2006," The Idaho Statesman’s fourth annual report on the status of our state’s high-technology industry.

For the fourth year in a row, the Boise office of KPMG has helped us develop the state’s only comprehensive listing of Idaho high-tech firms. Thanks to their efforts, you can see where each firm ranks in sales, who’s hiring and who’s planning to increase spending in 2006.

The theme of this year’s report is innovation — the intellectual juice that creates new products that generate new businesses, which bring jobs and prosperity to Idaho. The 10 innovators profiled in this section are examples of this innovative spirit. Micron’s ongoing quest for new markets and new manufacturing processes — led by Mark Durcan, the company’s research boss — is another example.

Business editor Mike Maharry

Full Story: http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060111/NEWS0202/601120316/1031

***

Idaho’s biotech firms need help

An Idaho legislative committee has joined the chorus of voices calling for the state to grab a piece of the growing pie called biotechnology.

An Idaho Legislature interim committee studied the potential of biotechnology this summer and concluded the state should do more to attract and enhance biotech research in the state.

"We have to create a climate in Idaho in which we encourage businesses in the biotech centers nationwide to locate here," said Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, who chaired the committee.

Rocky Barker
The Idaho Statesman

Full Story: http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060112/NEWS0202/601120305/1032

***

AMI leader touts the value of technology in Pocatello

By Melissa McGrath
The Idaho Statesman

If Idaho leaders want to see how investing in research and development can pay off, look no further than Pocatello.

That’s where they will find the headquarters AMI Semiconductor, a company that makes computer chips for automotive and medical technologies.

Full Story: http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060112/FRONTPAGE/60112004