IS IT TRUE that there are now 709 days remaining in the two years that the EPA had given the City of Evansville to present an acceptable solution to the Combined Sewer Overflow problem?…..that this plan is an expensive and complex endeavor that needs immediate attention to avoid the embarrassment and expense of another round of fines?

IS IT TRUE that the consolidation committee had another sparsely attended meeting at USI last night?….that there are no notes, minutes, or summaries of either meeting posted on the consolidation committee’s Facebook page?….that if the Arena has its own webpage to distribute information that the consolidation committee should do the same?….that consolidation is a bigger and more important decision than the Arena?…that the attitude of this committee thus far with respect to clear and timely news releases makes the ECVB look good?….that there were some discussions last night about why the County may be asked to pick up pension obligations incurred by the City of Evansville in the future?…that even yesterday there was no posting in the Civic Center advising of the meeting?

IS IT TRUE that there have been many ideas for uses for Roberts Stadium that do not involve demolition or little league ball fields?….that once upon a recent moon an interested private party expressed an interest in purchasing Roberts Stadium?…that a preliminary appraisal was conducted?….that there was no interest in selling by the City of Evansville?….that Democratic Candidate for Mayor Rick Davis is open to the possibility of having Roberts Stadium’s useful life extended if the right idea comes along?…that the ideas already put forward are a natatorium (swimming meets), an events center, a giant flea market, and a tier 2 concert center?….that maybe, just maybe Evansville can support a pristine Arena and Roberts Stadium when innovative minds are energized?

IS IT TRUE that the near future of Roberts Stadium may just be a campaign issue in the race for Mayor of Evansville?…that the “Walk to Victory” door knocking campaign that Mr. Davis is starting should spend a good amount of time in Evansville’s 3rd Ward that Roberts Stadium is in?…that a supportive neighborhood is the key to the success of whatever eventually materializes at Roberts Stadium?….that candidates walking in neighborhoods and listening to taxpayers will do Evansville more good than marching elephants down Main Street will ever do?

News Release

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Development Consultants Inc., a firm that provides guidance to startups, establishes networks and relationships with government entities for research organizations, and consults in advanced materials design and manufacturing, has opened an office in the Purdue Research Park.

The firm was founded in 2008 by Mark R. Pipes, who honed his skills at project management, small business development and marketing while working within an emerging business that provides medical training for the military. R. Byron Pipes, the John Leighton Bray Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Purdue University, is the firm’s technical adviser. He is an expert in the field of advanced materials. The company also has offices in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Fort Collins, Colo.

“All new organizations and startups have similar challenges,” Mark R. Pipes said. “We provide strategic business planning, marketing and networking to identify funding sources. We also connect the new organizations with synergistic partners to facilitate product and service evolution, and we introduce the innovations to government agencies with matching requirements.”

Development Consultants’ clients include startups, mature industries seeking new products, businesses that have been awarded small business innovation research grants, university-based research organizations, organizations requiring expert advice in advanced materials and manufacturing, and other organizations with product or organizational innovation needs.

“We currently serve businesses and research organizations in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Texas, and interface with federal agencies in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Florida, Alabama, Arizona, Maryland, Virginia and Colorado,” Pipes said. “Our materials consulting clients come in all sizes. For example, we completed a project that introduced carbon nanotubes in new products for an automobile supplier. National and international universities seek our advice in planning research programs and facility developments. We also provide expert witness advice in legal cases.”

Pipes said his company opened an office in the Purdue Research Park to provide small business development consulting and networking to emerging tech companies.

“Being in the Purdue Research Park offers a unique opportunity to network and connect with talented entrepreneurs,” he said. “It allows access to Purdue and the manufacturing hub of Indianapolis. The Kurz Purdue Technology Center is pleasant and staffed by customer-friendly, professional people. I am excited to be a part of this vibrant community.”

About Development Consultants Inc.

Development Consultants Inc. helps clients create strategic plans, find partners and technical experts, forge relationships with major universities, find new markets and achieve growth goals. DCI has unsurpassed technical consulting in advanced materials design and manufacturing.

About Purdue Research Park

The Purdue Research Park, with four locations across Indiana, has the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The parks are home to about 200 companies that employ 4,000 people and are located in West Lafayette, Merrillville, Indianapolis and New Albany.

Source: Purdue Research Park

This is a link to the most fantastic teaching video on the advance of civilization I have ever seen. Hans Rosling has an innovative way of presenting pure data in a captivating and memorable way. You could read many books and earn lots of college credit to get the understanding that this 4 minute video will embed the importance of keeping up with technology into your mind. The part on breaking China of today into its very different provinces is particularly important to understand.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/12/200_years_in_4_minutes.php

City to Kick Off Energy Efficiency and Infrastructure Improvements

(EVANSVILLE, IN) – December 2, 2010 – Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel announced today that the City of Evansville has selected Evansville-based Energy Systems Group (ESG), a specialized energy services and performance contracting company (ESCO), to complete comprehensive energy audits of City facilities in order to identify key energy efficiency and infrastructure improvements.

“Energy conservation is a key strategy in achieving the goals of the City of Evansville’s Sustainability Policy that I enacted in 2007; and is the most effective, most efficient way to reduce the City’s contribution to climate change and other environmental impacts,” stated Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel. “Energy conservation efforts will also have a positive impact on the City’s operating budget. Energy costs will continue to increase, so it’s sensible to do what we can to reduce our energy usage. The money we save on utility bills can be redirected toward fulfilling our other responsibilities to citizens, such as providing for public safety; maintaining parks, streets and sewers; and keeping Evansville a wonderful place to live.”

The selection of ESG is the result of a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) the City issued in September. The City will consult with ESG to determine which buildings are good candidates for energy audits. The audits will be funded with Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program funds the City received from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The City will decide which specific projects to undertake based on the recommendations detailed in the audit reports. The aim will be to identify energy conservation measures that will reduce energy usage by 10 – 30 percent from pre-project levels. Project implementation will be funded by the EECBG and energy performance contracts.

“This will give the City the opportunity to implement some long-needed repairs and upgrades without raising taxes or negatively impacting the City budget,” said Dona Bergman, director of the City of Evansville Department of Sustainability, Energy and Environmental Quality, who will oversee the project. “In fact, the energy savings the City expects to realize could actually have a positive impact on the City budget.”

“ESG commends the City of Evansville’s commitment to sustainability and carbon footprint reduction,” said Jim Adams, ESG president. “As a company headquartered in Evansville since 1994, we are especially looking forward to making such an impact throughout our home community.”

Energy Systems Group (ESG), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vectren Corporation (NYSE: VVC), is an award-winning energy services company that specializes in delivering sustainable energy solutions which allow building owners to maximize their energy efficiency and operational performance, while reducing their carbon footprint. Through its core business of performance contracting, ESG provides customers with innovative energy efficiency, technology, and long term financing solutions for modernization of their facilities and energy infrastructure. To learn more about ESG, visit www.energysystemsgroup.com.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Technology transfer (T2) agreements within the U.S. armed services can have significant benefits in the civilian sector, especially for small, entrepreneurial start-up companies that often are the backbone for innovation and economic growth.

That’s according to a new economic impact study done for the U.S. Department of the Navy by the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC) at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

The Navy’s Technology Transfer Program Office has 37 facilities in 14 states and the District of Columbia. From 2005 through 2009, there were more than 620 agreements with naval laboratories. They include 10 research sites in California, seven locations in Maryland, four sites in Virginia and three locations in Florida and the District of Columbia.

They also include the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, which is located 25 miles southwest of Bloomington and is home to about 4,000 researchers and technicians engaged in procuring and upgrading a wide variety of military munitions, weapons, communications and radar equipment.

Working with a subset of 103 agreements, the report found that these naval technology transfer deals were directly responsible for 670 well-paying civilian jobs at private firms, universities and non-profits nationally. When additional employment created through economic ripple effects is taken into account, naval technology transfer agreements are responsible for supporting more than 2,600 civilian jobs.

Compared to the U.S. average compensation per worker of $56,100, the direct T2 compensation per full-time job averaged $79,300 per year. Private companies accounted for 84 percent of all the agreements.

The federal, state and local taxes generated by this economic activity are estimated to total $60 million, averaging nearly $614,000 per agreement.

“This report not only shows the value of technology transfer for our military personnel in the field, such as better equipment and support, but also in the civilian environment as well,” said Timothy Slaper, director of economic analysis at the IBRC and author of the study. “These agreements often generate jobs that are linked to the lab where they have agreements.

“The product license agreements (PLAs) are for firms selling products that are based on technologies that were developed in military labs,” Slaper said, adding that some of the technology originally developed for the military also is used to benefit all Americans. “You and I are not going to hit an IED and suffer severe medical problems, but there obviously are civilian applications for medical products and procedures they the labs might develop.”

The study, “The Economic Contribution of the Department of the Navy Technology Transfer Program,” found that two-thirds of the agreement partners that participated in the survey were small, with fewer than 100 employees.

More than half of the small T2 partners reported that, on average, 12 jobs were created or retained as a result of their agreements, highlighting the effect that such deals can have on start-up companies.

“That’s really the story,” Slaper said. “Any one of these companies is not a ribbon-cutting ceremony like getting a Honda plant or having a Boeing relocate in your community, but one needs to consider that these smaller firms, which tend to be entrepreneurial and technologically cutting edge, tend to spur economic growth and generate more jobs overall.

“Cooperative research agreements between labs and partner organizations can help move technologies from early developmental stages to products that are ready for the market. These agreements can multiply the modest resources of small firms and will likely result in innovative products and processes later on down the road that will, in turn generate economy activity and jobs,” he said.

The estimated direct economic output associated with these 103 agreements totaled $200 million and the economic ripple effect of this output generated an estimated $345 million in additional economic activity. The total economic impact of the 103 T2 deals for the civilian economy totaled over a half billion dollars (in 2009 dollars).

Among other findings:

Of the 103 deals considered in the report, 64 percent were cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) and 30 percent were product license agreements (PLAs), with the balance consisting of limited purpose-CRADAs (LP-CRADAs). On average, a CRADA supported over eight jobs while a PLA, on average, supported 10 jobs.
Within the manufacturing sector, no one particular industry dominated. However, within the professional, scientific and technical services sector, nearly two-thirds of the partner firms are in the scientific research and development services industry. The majority of the partner firms in the scientific R&D services industry are located in California or Maryland, with their neighboring states in the West and Mideast also dominating the U.S. R&D landscape.
Medium-sized agreement partners took the shortest amount of time to develop their technology and also experienced the largest increase in the technology readiness levels.

Small deal partners had relatively minor increases in expenses associated with the agreements, yet more than half (55 percent) either expected or experienced increases in revenue averaging $2.9 million. Conversely, the expenses associated with agreements with large partners averaged $1.1 million, but they expected or experienced relatively modest increases in average annual gross revenue, little over a half million dollars.

The estimated economic impact presented in the report applies only to the agreement partners that participated in the study. The economic footprint of the 103 deals cannot be considered averages for all Department of Defense T2 agreements or agreement partners.

The Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information, contact:
Shannon Hurt 812/422-2111
November 30, 2010
PRESS RELEASE

THE ARTS COUNCIL OF SOUTHWESTERN INDIANA IS PREPARING FOR AN ART EXHIBITION OF THE WORK OF SIX KENTUCKY ARTISTS IN THE BOWER-SUHRHEINRICH FOUNDATION GALLERY.

“Six Painted Ladies,” aka: Iris Gentry, Susie Rideout, Marka Kroeger and Cathe Hedgespeth of Henderson, Sandy Barry of Clay and Jan Frazier of Owensboro have been painting together for quite some time. They meet regularly in their homes and studios to drink coffee, paint, and share what they know about art as well as comment on what they like and what they don’t like about one another’s work. Harrowing? Yes, but always productive and always a pleasure. They work in a variety of media but oil and watercolor dominates and their subject matter ranges from abstract, still life, landscapes and plein air paintings to an occasional portrait.

The result of these work sessions has been some interesting area art exhibits, such as the one, titled “Six Painted Ladies,” that opens Tuesday, December 7, from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. in the Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation Gallery in downtown Evansville.

Each artist will have several pieces in the exhibit at 318 Main Street, which will be on display through January 12, 2011. The Gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

I returned this week from the Indiana Trade Mission to Japan headed by Governor Mitch Daniels, where Governor Daniels and I met with key partner companies including Toyota, Aisin Seiki, Toyota Boshoku, and Toyota Industries. In addition to the above meetings, I was fortunate to participate with Governor Daniels in a private luncheon with Tomikazu Fukuda, Governor of Tochigi Prefecture – Indiana’s sister Japanese state.

During the meetings, Governor Daniels delivered a powerful message about how Indiana and Southwest Indiana are the perfect business locations. Demonstrating to Japanese business how Southwest Indiana works as one economic region opened their eyes to the investment possibilities.

Over the next three weeks, the Coalition will be engaged in discussions on some of the most important economic development projects we’ve worked on since our formation. The tenor of these discussions will tell us a great deal about which direction the economy is pointing. Our sincere hope is that an announcement or two will come from those talks. Stay tuned.