SOUTH DAKOTA

By 1989, Diggs was looking for a quiet place to do some research and write. He stumbled onto Roslyn, initially thinking it would be his getaway. But he quickly made the town his home base and has never looked back.

"I came here and the people were so nice to me here, that I thought, ‘You know, it’s quiet here. Why do I have to go back to San Francisco?"’ he recalled.

The state is 49th in receiving federal research dollars and has one of the nation’s lowest percentages of people with advanced degrees.

The qualities of an entrepreneur include taking calculated risks and being willing to put skin in the game. By those measures of entrepreneurial spirit, South Dakota Rural Enterprise certainly earned its entrepreneurial stripes in 2009.

South Dakota has been at the bottom of wage lists for decades and, despite state initiatives, studies and investment, it remains unmoved.

Take the first step in fostering entrepreneurial change in your community by becoming a Dakota Rising Pilot Site!

South Dakota shows a $3 million TBED investment in strategic research areas can yield impressive results for a state strengthening its position in an innovation-based economy.

The downturn that began in December 2007 is notable for its depth and breadth. Every state has been hit.

"I believe Tanka Bars are destined to become the next great energy bar/snack food," Gourmet Retailer Editor James Mellgren wrote in the Jan. 1, 2008, edition.

South Dakotans find themselves once again in the popular game of "Where do we rank?"

Poet LLC http://www.poetenergy.com/ , the nation’s top ethanol producer, has opened the spigots on an $8 million pilot-scale biorefinery at its Scotland, S.D., research center that will produce 20,000 gallons of fuel each year from the corn cobs and fiber normally left behind in fields.