Legislative Commission on Science and Technology

Legislative Update


Speaker
Sheldon Silver
Chairwoman
Francine DelMonte
May 2, 2008

New York State Assembly

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Top News

Measuring the Effectiveness of State R&D Tax Credits  Two weeks ago, Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter vetoed legislation to repeal state R&D income tax credits for Idaho companies. Among his reasons for the veto, Gov. Otter claimed removing the credits would put Idaho at a competitive disadvantage because surrounding states over similar incentives. Was he right? It is true most states offer R&D tax credits to their corporate residents at this point. Little has been known about the credits' impacts or effectiveness on recruitment, however. Most of the academic research on the topic has focused on the federal R&D tax credits and competition among nations. On the state level, in theory at least, a rationally acting, research-intensive firm can be expected to select a location within a state that has an R&D tax credit over another state without one - all other things being equal.

Full Text Source: SSTI Weekly Digest

H.P. reports big advance in memory chip design  Hewlett-Packard scientists reported Wednesday in the science journal Nature that they have designed a simple circuit element that they believe will make it possible to build tiny powerful computers that could imitate biological functions. R. Stanley Williams, Hewlett-Packard's director of the quantum science research group, and his team designed a circuit element that may make it possible to build tiny powerful computers. The device, called a memristor, would be used to build extremely dense computer memory chips that use far less power than today's DRAM memory chips. Manufacturers of today's chips are rapidly reaching the limit on how much smaller chips can be.

Full Text Source: newyorktimes.com

Biotech Center for Kennedy Square  The vast and vacant Kennedy Square apartment complex will come down, possibly by this summer, to make way for a $30 million to $40 million biotechnical research center, classrooms and research space, state officials announced last Wednesday. SUNY Upstate Medical University is taking over ownership of the property. The research center will cover four of the site's 14 acres, and Upstate will seek proposals from private developers to create commercial projects and student residences on the other 10 acres, Upstate President Dr. David Smith said.

Full Text Source: syracuse.com

NIST and UAlbany NanoCollege sign partnership agreement  U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced a landmark agreement that will create the first-ever partnership between the federal government and University of Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) that will bring federal research expertise and resources to the nanoscale campus.

Full Text Source: nanowerk.com

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