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New
evaluation report gives Maine Technology Institute high marks
Maine Technology Institute
March 3, 2003
GARDINER, Maine - The results of a recently completed evaluation of the Maine
Technology Institute's award programs report that the organization is having
a significant impact on the state's economy and small businesses. SEE
STORY
Engineering
in Maine
Maine Science and Technology Foundation
March 1, 2003
National
Engineering Week ran through Feb. 22, but the Maine Engineering Promotion Council
has gone
one better – extending Maine's own E-Week through this
past weekend. You might say that's appropriate, because engineers – and
prospective engineers – in Maine have reason to celebrate. Engineers
and engineering technicians are much in demand here, and nationwide. Maine
now has 5,540 engineers in various disciplines, according to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics. This week Mainescience.org examines the engineering profession
in Maine – its opportunities, employment trends, educational programs
and specializations. We also hear directly from professionals in the field:
Fairchild Semiconductor engineer Julie Stultz and Woodward and Curran project
manager Bruce Hunt.
Spotlight on Jobs: Engineer
Engineering in Maine: A Quiet but Powerful Profession
Mainescience.org Interview with Fairchild Semiconductor engineer Julie Stultz
Imaging device stirs a wave of excitement
Portland Press Herald
February 28, 2003
EDGECOMB, Maine — It seems everyone likes Fluid Imaging Technologies'
instrument - everyone except the security guards at a recent trade show the
company attended. Fluid Imaging's FlowCAM was so popular that the company's
booth was packed as soon as the doors opened, and guards had to ask the staff
to leave so the show could close for the evening. The company is the first
spinoff of Bigelow Laboratory, which hopes to capitalize on the commercial
potential of its technology. SEE STORY
Biotech
bonus
Portland Press Herald
February 8, 2003
A new University
of Maine report says biotechnology is booming in the state, with the industry
generating nearly $432 million in sales and employing 3,690
people in 2002. The researchers, assistant professor Todd Gabe and associate
scientist Tom Allen, reported the industry's secondary economic impact
contributed $685 million and supported 7,135 additional jobs. SEE
STORY
Nonprofit
solves environmental problem with computer recycling program
Maine Science and Technology Foundation
February 4, 2003
STOCKTON
SPRINGS, Maine – Thinking about disposing of your old computer?
Think twice: with five to eight pounds of lead, cadmium, mercury, and
arsenic burdening a typical
computer and monitor, Maine's hazardous waste management regulations limit
your options. But your old system might qualify for reincarnation. The
Information
Technology Exchange in Stockton Springs, Maine, has developed a program not
only to recycle used computers but to promote computer literacy. SEE
STORY
Technology incubation and research center sets sights on growing
companies
UMaine Today
January/February 2003
Larry Thompson is a research engineer with Applied Thermal Sciences of Sanford,
but his office is more than 150 miles away at the Target Technology Center
near The University of Maine. There, he and his university colleagues work
with Maine's newest supercomputer, applying the latest computer modeling techniques
to engineering problems as diverse as missile defense and engine performance.
SEE STORY
MEP
helps company shape up and keep moving
Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership
January 27, 2003
SANFORD,
Maine – It
was mid 2000 and not a very good time for Shape Global Technology, a
Sanford-based manufacturer of custom plastics injection
molding and value-added packaging. The company had just been sold to a
Belgium group that was taking the main product line and getting ready to
jettison
production equipment and laying off the remaining 80 or so people left in
the company.
That's when Shape turned to the Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership
(Maine MEP) which put the company in touch with a financial and technical
assistance consultant. SEE STORY
From
social work to biotechnology
Kennebec Journal
January 18, 2003
Former
state Rep. Paul Tessier has assumed the helm of the International Northeast
Biotechnology Corridor. The organization of 11 Northeastern states
and Canadian
provinces hopes to lure biotechnology companies and researchers to the region
and promote existing companies worldwide. "The goal is to market the
Northeast as a biotech corridor," Tessier said. "So that when people
think of biotechnology they will automatically think of this region." SEE
STORY
Maine:
Competing with incentives, real estate costs
Plants,
Sites and Parks
January 2003
A leading national magazine on business
location strategies profiles Maine's attractiveness for high-tech companies
in its January 2003 edition. Plants, Sites and Parks Magazine states that "Maine
continues to draw many high-technology companies, large and small" and cites
last year's $20 million R&D bond as evidence of the state's commitment to
a high-tech economy. SEE STORY
Maine's
mussel farming industry maturing
Portland
Press Herald
January 6, 2003
Maine's mussel farming industry has
been around for a quarter century, but it's just now maturing to a point where
it can expand production and meet growing consumer demand. Anchored by Great
Eastern
Mussel Farms of Tenants Harbor, the country's largest mussel producer, the industrys
growth is being fueled by the adoption of new technology and raft aquaculture
cultivation. SEE STORY
Congress
funds New England group to expand defense supply base; aid small firms
Defense Daily
November
14, 2002
Tucked away in the defense bill signed by President Bush last month
is $6 million for an innovative supply chain initiative developed by a consortium
of New England Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEPs). The goal of the
MEP
consortium is to increase the number of small manufacturers in Maine and other
states capable of providing parts to the Defense Department. The initiative
consists
of two phases. In the first phase, the consortium will collect data on the production
capability and capacity of hundreds of small New England manufacturers. Simultaneously,
it will define the procurement needs of the Defense Department and its prime
contractors and then identify companies that could manufacture hard to find
parts. In the
second phase, it will help the companies become qualified DOD contractors, using
a creative process of teaming. Maine's congressional delegation championed the
initiative and has hailed the funding as a means of enlarging the pool of Maine
firms capable of winning DOD contracts. In a related Mainescience.org article,
a recent OMB report highlights the need for such a defense supply chain initiative,
while a third article focuses on the federal government's plan to broadly increase
small business contracting opportunities. SEE
STORY
Related
articles: OMB
report underscores need for supply chain initiative
National
Commission on Entrepreneurship
November 12, 2002 Government
forms plan to increase small business contract opportunities
Hoovers
November 6, 2002 Washington
County aquaculture incubator moves forward with new director
Maine Science and Technology Foundation
November 1, 2002
EASTPORT, Maine Maine's network of applied technology development
centers gained new land-and-sea expertise with the appointment of Scott Fraser
as director of the Aquaculture Technology Development Center (ATDC) site at
Washington
County Technical College. The three-site aquaculture incubator also includes
the Center for Cooperative Aquaculture and the Darling Marine Center, both managed
by the University of Maine. The combination of locations will offer unique water
circulation systems and conditions to accommodate diverse shellfish and finfish
clients along the Maine coast. The Eastport center is the latest addition to
the
state's strategic plan for a network of high-tech business incubators. SEE
STORY
UMaine:
Putting knowledge to work for industry
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
October 25, 2002
As a land grant
university instead of an ivory tower, the University of Maine's mission includes
a commitment to supporting the state's economic growth. Through a variety of
industry
outreach initiatives, the university develops academic courses to meet workforce
demands and provides Maine companies with technical and research services. With
Maine's academic R&D investments increasing faster than any other state in the
nation, UMaine is demonstrating how a university can put the D in R&D. SEE
STORY
Westbrook
firm senses success
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
October 4, 2002
In the competitive
world of R&D funding, there's not such thing as a sure bet. But if all goes according
to plan, a Westbrook firm may soon become the first company in Maine to receive
an ATP or Advance Technology Program grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The award would be a big deal, both for the company and for the state, because
the ATP only funds new technologies that have national significance. Think of
the program as the federal R&D equivalent of the Las Vegas World Championship
of Poker. The stakes are high, so the program only invests in "technologies that
have the potential for a big payoff for the nation's economy." BIODE thinks it
has a winning hand. The firm, which enjoys strong ties to the University of Maine,
has applied its expertise in sensors to develop an instrument to detect minute
quantities of 20 different bioterrorism agents, including anthrax. But developing
a product to enhance national security is only one of the many commercial applications
BIODE envisions. SEE STORY Precision
manufacturing: It's not just heavy metal anymore
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
September 24, 2002
RUMFORD,
Maine "I've always worked in one way or another with machinery and equipment,"
said Norm MacIntyre, the newly appointed director for the River Valley Technical
Center (RVTC). RVTC was founded to provide resources to Maine's precision manufacturing
industry, with a focus on metal parts producers, so MacIntyre's manufacturing
experience should serve him well when he begins his new job in Rumford on September
30, 2002. SEE STORY Maine
International Networking Service connects Maine with the world
University
of Maine
August 30, 2002
ORONO, Maine - State Representative Susan
Hawes, a legislator who represents Standish and Frye Island in Cumberland County
and part of Limington in York County, recently sat across a coffee table from
a University of Maine alumnus in a hotel lobby in Jakarta, Indonesia. Hawes was
on a political study tour sponsored by the American Council of Young Political
Leaders to the southeast Asian island nation. Her meeting with the 1997 Maine
Business School graduate had been arranged by a new service known as the Maine
International Networking Service, or MINS. SEE
STORY Is
this the farm of the future?
Around
Maine
August 2002
The float off Clapboard Island in Casco Bay
can hardly be seen when the tide is down. Its low visibility is symbolic of the
company, Aqua Farms, which uses it for harvesting rope-grown mussels. The company's
approach to mussel harvesting minimizes environmental impact, while helping Maine
catch up to the rest of the world in aquaculture. SEE
STORY A
more durable deck
Portland
Press Herald
August 7, 2002
BIDDEFORD, Maine As pressure-treated
decks age and maintenance mounts, a cry has gone out in the suburbs: Give us a
deck that doesn't warp and crack! That is the promise of a new generation of composite
decking materials, typically made from recycled sawdust and plastic. Correct Building
Products of Biddeford hopes to nail down a piece of that growth with its premier
product, CorrectDeck. SEE STORY Wood
works
Bangor
Daily News
July 27, 2002
For the first 80 years of the company's
existence, Hardwood Products of Guilford, Maine, was primarily known for its popsicle
sticks and coffee stirrers. But a technological innovation is transforming the
company and bringing it national recognition. In the last year, Hardwood Products
shared a national DuPont Award with Purdue-Frederick pharmaceuticals for the creation
of an iodine-containing self-saturating swab that is used on patients prior to
surgery. SEE STORY Gateway
to the biotech marketplace
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
July 24, 2002
Thirty-five Bradley
Drive in Westbrook, Maine, hardly sounds like the gateway to the international
biotechnology marketplace. But don't let the suburban Portland location fool you.
For 20 years, The Biotech Source, headquartered in Westbrook, has offered one-stop
biotech shopping. With more than 800 clients and suppliers, The Biotech Source
may be one of the best-kept secrets in Maine's biotech industry. Its customers
rely on the company to provide hard-to-find raw material and custom services.
It also provides sales support for many small companies that have specialized
technical capabilities but have little or no marketing presence. This allows The
Biotech Source to offer customers access to specialty products and services while
contributing to the development of small, cutting edge technology companies. SEE
STORY Maine
MEP helps Kenway Corporation obtain R&D funding
Maine
Manufacturing Extension Partnership
July 18, 2002
AUGUSTA, Maine
The Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Maine MEP) recently assisted
officials of the Kenway Corporation of Augusta in obtaining a $100,000 grant from
the Maine Technology Institute. "Without the MTI grant, there is no way we could
have conducted the research and development of this product with monies coming
from our bottom line," the company's CEO said. SEE
STORY Pineland
business campus ready for occupancy
Portland
Press Herald
July 16, 2002
The Libra Foundation announced that
its new Pineland business campus is ready for occupancy, after spending more than
$50 million renovating the 2,000-acre property. Developers say there is nothing
else in the country like the facility, which resembles a college campus with 16
buildings and 262,000 square feet of office space. Apple Computer, Christiansen
Capital Advisors and Downeast Pension Services will be the first three tenants,
as the Foundation looks to lure big, back-office financial services and call centers
that can take advantage of the prime telecommunications and electrical service.
SEE STORY Highlights
from the bio-innovation conference
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
July 15, 2002
SOUTH PORTLAND,
Maine "In the United States alone 32 percent of U.S. patents actually are plagiarized.
Not plagiarized very creatively either," asserted Dr. David Martin at a recent
conference sponsored by the Technology Law Center of the University of Maine School
of Law. Arguing that the U.S. patent system is "broken beyond immediate repair,"
Martin and other panelists debated the merits of alternatives such as compulsory
drug licenses. Their discussion was one of five provocative sessions featured
during the second day of the conference. In other sessions Dr. Greg Koski, the
nation's "ethics enforcer" at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
focused on human clinical trials, a crucial stage in winning drug approval. Prof.
James O'Reilly discussed strategies for winning drug approval from the FDA, while
Attorney Linda Horton discussed international efforts to harmonize clinical trials
and pharmaceutical standards between the FDA and foreign regulatory agencies.
SEE STORY The
bio-innovation conference: where biotechnology and intellectual property meet
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
June 27, 2002
SOUTH PORTLAND,
Maine New biotechnology products and advances including gene-based cancer
therapies, tests for cancer-causing genes, and machines that sequence DNA have
already affected how doctors treat patients and how the pharmaceutical industry
discovers new drugs. But with these developments come serious legal and ethical
questions: Who has the right to patent genes? Is it ethical and moral to clone
human embryos to cure disease? When should responsible researchers license discoveries
to companies that want to commercialize them? And how can concerned citizens sort
through policy debates about human therapeutic cloning and stem cell research?
These and other questions were discussed at the University of Maine School of
Law Technology Law Center's recent "Bio-Innovation Strategies for Success" conference.
This week mainescience.org summarizes the presentations from the first day of
the conference. Next week, we'll continue with the presentations from day two.
SEE STORY Biotechnology
center marks new direction for central Maine
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
June 21, 2002
A vision conceived
several years ago to create a biotechnology business incubator in central Maine
came to fruition in the grand opening of the Thomas M. Teague Biotechnology Center.
Giving the event more than ceremonial importance, officials from BioMed Developpement,
a private, nonprofit biomedical park in Sherbrooke, Canada, signed a cooperative
agreement with the Center, as officials from Quebec, New Hampshire and Maine looked
on. The Center will house the headquarters of the Northeast International Biotechnology
Corridor. SEE STORY Learning
to swim: Maine's marine aquaculture industry
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
June 14, 2002
THE MAINE COAST
Maine's marine aquaculture industry went commercial with a modest project, Abandoned
Farm, Inc., which became the first mussel farm in the U.S. in 1974. Now Maine
leads the nation in farmed salmon production. George Lapointe, commissioner of
Maine's Department of Marine Resources, said he expects to see "a continued evolution
of growth in the industry" as it adjusts to conditions and continues to diversify
into new species. But despite or perhaps because of Maine's position as a
pioneer, Maine aquaculture faces challenges that slow its growth even as the industry
works to establish itself as an innovative force for producing safe, sustainable
food sources and high-paying jobs that can supplement the state's traditional
commercial fishing industry. SEE STORY
Related articles:
Maine's first aquaculture company Congress
designates Maine for Cold Water Marine Research Center Supporting
aquaculture Sue
Inches promotes value-added seafood
Working
Waterfront
May 2002
As Director of Industry Development for the
Maine Department of Marine Resources, Sue Inches has logged thousands of miles
to stay in touch with the seafood processors, wharf owners and other seafood businesses
scattered along Maine's very long coastline. One of her top priorities: research
and development on value-added seafood processing. SEE
STORY Cisco
training a hit at Maine Quality Centers
Interface
Business News
May 2002
AUBURN, Maine Organizers of the Maine
Quality Centers have called this spring's Cisco Training Academy Program their
most recent success. The state-funded program, designed by the Maine Technical
College System, offers new and smaller businesses a cost effective way to train
employees. SEE STORY Entrepreneurial
road show highlights Maine's modernized 'fish and chips menu'
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
April 25, 2002
PORTLAND, Maine
Old-fashioned fish and sophisticated computer chips give Maine's business base
a new twist on a classic, said Governor Angus King during an Entrepreneurs! Tour
of America stop in Portland. Governor King told a live audience at the University
of Southern Maine and a much larger Internet audience what the state of Maine
is doing to support the evolution of the state's traditional natural resource-based
industries and the growth of new industries like biotechnology and information
technology. The occasion for the Governor's remarks was a visit to Maine by an
organization that showcases the nation's entrepreneurial success stories. Among
the initiatives that will support entrepreneurial growth in Maine is a planning
process that the King Administration is working on with assistance from the Kauffman
Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
SEE STORY Federal
grant supports development of energy technology in Maine
Maine
Energy and Environment Center
April 22, 2002
LINCOLN, Maine
Federal and state officials today attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Eastern
Paper's Lincoln facilities to celebrate the installation of the Bio-Lysis System,
a new energy technology invented by KADY International of Scarborough. SEE
STORY Target
Technology Center opens new supercomputing center, names director
Maine Science and Technology Foundation
April 3, 2002
The University of Maine has completed its new supercomputing
center at the Target Technology Center in Orono. Constructed in collaboration
with Applied Thermals Sciences of Sanford, the powerful supercomputer system will
permit scientists to conduct research on missile guidance systems for the U.S.
Department of Defense. The opening of the supercomputing center comes as the Target
Technology Center announces the selection of Deborah Neuman as director. SEE
STORY Mexican
market holds promise for Maine's high tech firms
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
March 29, 2002
Many of the participants
on the Governor's trade mission to Mexico returned to Maine persuaded that export
opportunities exist for Maine's high tech firms. At least one company already
is planning a follow-up trip next month to pursue a partnership to develop software
that would improve the productivity of a Mexican manufacturing plant. SEE
STORY Making
the world a better place: an interview with National Semiconductor scientist Xiaoman
Duan
Portland Press Herald
March 28, 2002
SEE
STORY Maine
Patent Program: Meeting the needs of Maine inventors
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
March 22, 2002
SEE
STORY QVC:
quality, value, convenience. . . plus exposure, exposure, exposure
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
March 14, 2002
SEE
STORY Don't
let the name fool you; MTI supports much more than just high-tech companies
InterfaceNOW
February
2002
SEE STORY Industries
of the Future
Maine Science and Technology
Foundation
February 13, 2002
SEE
STORY Composites
Technology Center opens its doors: "We have resources!"
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
January 24, 2002
SEE
STORY New
TSI president goes to market
Times
Record
January 17, 2002
SEE
STORY Made
in the USA
Inc. magazine
January 1, 2002
SEE STORY Maine
organizations provide critical support for Phylogix growth
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
December 20, 2001
SEE
STORY Entrepreneurs
seek FAST start
Kennebec
Journal
December 11, 2001
SEE
STORY Maine
tops nation in winning SBIR agriculture awards
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
November 29, 2001
SEE
STORY Business
heats up for Applied Thermal Sciences
Maine
Science and Technology Foundation
November 7, 2001
SEE
STORY Perry
Newman on international business, French technopoles and Maine's high-tech industry
Maine Science and Technology Foundation
November 5, 2001
SEE STORY Morpheus
Technologies: Positioned in the red-hot biometrics industry
SEE
STORY Products,
profits . . . and an SBIR award for ImmuCell
SEE
STORY
Maine companies receive $1.2 million Navy
research grant
I-many:
from 0 to 450 in 13 years
SEE
STORY Editorial:
Expanding opportunity
SEE
STORY Bringing
his 'mission' to market
SEE
STORY Incubator
Without Walls helps Maine startups grow
SEE
STORY USM
center promotes entrepreneurship statewide
SEE
STORY Kenway:
wiring pipes and decking bridges
SEE STORY KADY
International awarded grant for energy-saving technology for pulp and paper industry
SEE STORY Banking
on biotech - are we ready?
SEE
STORY Two
new Applied Technology Centers to be established
SEE
STORY Counting
lobsters . . . without feeling lost at sea
SEE
STORY Gabriel
Electronics: bringing broadband out of the trenches,
into the sky
SEE
STORY Maine's
future rides on R&D
SEE
STORY Fairchild's
Maine roots grow deeper
SEE
STORY DeLorme's
Eartha Systems aims for wireless Internet, GPS "sweet spot". SEE
STORY Barging
in for mussels
Great Eastern Mussel Farms' Mumbles harvester looks to help
create raft of new business
SEE
STORY |
