With diesel fuel prices climbing to $4 per gallon, there's now a loan program that can help Minnesota long-haul truckers save money, stay cool this summer, and reduce pollution on overnight rest stops.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency offers low, 4 percent loans to owner-operated long-haul truckers and small trucking companies to purchase idle-reduction devices. These auxiliary power units, or APUs, are either small, 15-horsepower diesel engines or battery pack systems that can run air conditioning, heaters and electricity to power laptops while the truck’s main engine is shut off.

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Governor Dayton has proclaimed November 2011 as Technology Innovation Month in Minnesota.

Technology has been a driving and innovative force in Minnesota’s economy. The state's deep and diverse technology base, which crosses many sectors and fuels Minnesota's economic engine, helps provide the tax base and economic support for Minnesota's high quality of life.

Minnesota is committed to promoting the success, sustainability, and global competitiveness of its technology industries. It has become a powerhouse of technological innovation, fostering groundbreaking collaborations across educational and industrial spheres.

The continued health of Minnesota’s technology sector is crucial to the future prosperity of our state.

To read the proclamation, click here.

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Today the Minnesota Department of Commerce announced that Governor Dayton appointed 15 members to the Governor's Task Force on Broadband, which will be charged with developing policies to promote the expansion of broadband access in Minnesota — including an action plan for identifying and correcting disparities in urban, rural, and suburban communities.

“For the short- and long-term success of our economy, every school, business, and consumer in Minnesota must have affordable, high-speed access to information and the online marketplace,” said Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman. “That is what the work of this Task Force is all about.”

Members of the Task Force represent a balance of broadband interests, including consumers, business and residential users, educational and health care institutions, traditional telephone and cable companies, wireless providers as well as metro and rural local units of government. The Task Force was established by Executive Order 11-27.

For a list of Task Force Members, click here.

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Today, Governor Mark Dayton attended the groundbreaking of a new Integrated Science and Engineering Laboratory Facility building on the St. Cloud State University campus.  The new building was funded as a part of the 2011 bonding bill.  Construction of a state of the art science and engineering building will create over 1400 jobs and its presence on campus will ensure that St. Cloud State students are well-prepared for the jobs of the future for decades to come.

   
The 100,000 square-foot research and teaching facility will house classrooms and labs which are slated to serve high-level science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medical technology, and radiology classes.  It is estimated that 11% of the new jobs created in Minnesota by 2019 will be in the science and technology sectors.  This new facility will help accommodate a 20% increase in enrollment in Science and Engineering majors at St. Cloud State.  Additionally, the research done in this new facility can be used to support Minnesota companies and spur further innovations. 
 
The new building is slated to open in the fall of 2013.

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The Governor’s Job Summit today also included Innovation Hall, which housed a series of booths that featured unique products, machines and technologies that showcased the inventiveness and creativity in Minnesota.

Walking through the Hall, experts, researchers and company leaders were on hand to describe and explain the exciting innovations on hand.

University of Minnesota researchers demonstrated how localized blasts of radiation via ultrasound would soon be able to treat tumors, cancerous tissue and more diseases in a completely noninvasive way.

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For patients suffering from atherosclerosis, a condition where arteries become blocked due to plaque buildup on artery walls, treatment options can be limited to drugs or an invasive angioplasty procedure. A new technology coming out of the University of Minnesota is hoping to give patients a new noninvasive treatment option.

The University’s Ultrasound Imaging and Signal Processing Lab (UISPL) recently developed a new high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) technology that performs noninvasive, real-time ultrasonic imaging and localized treatment. The University team was lead by Emad Ebinni, a professor at the University’s College of Science and Engineering, and was licensed to International Cardio Corporation (ICC), a Minnesota startup, in March.

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The Electric vehicle revolution is being pioneered right here in Minnesota. ReGo is a Minnesota-based company that is dedicated to making advances in plug-in conversion technology for existing hybrid vehicles. The company has a triple bottom-line business model that balances people, planet and profits.

To address the plug-in skeptics, ReGo has focused much of its initial efforts on increasing battery efficiency during Minnesota’s extra cold winters, as reported by WCCO. Garrett Ferderber of ReGo explains in this piece that his company has found a way to convert some of the energy gained while a car is plugged in to keep the battery cells warm even in the coldest temperatures. A converted Prius can be taken from 45 MPG to 75 MPG with ReGo’s state of the art lithium-ion battery.

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Rushford Hypersonic is transforming academic research into commercial applications for the world of tomorrow. Founded in 2007, Rushford Hypersonic is a cutting edge nanotechnology company that produces a commercial coating used in high tooling, friction and corrosion areas. Without this technology, new frontiers of mining and manufacturing would not be possible.

The Rushford-based company uses hypersonic plasma particle deposition (HPPD) coatings “to protect objects by improving hardness, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance. The coating is the hardest on the market.”  The company also hopes to use their coatings in medical devices such as prosthetic implants, according to the University of Minnesota. “They hope it will result in implants that will last a lifetime, eliminating the pain of replacement surgeries.

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Mcgyan Biodiesel created a new way to produce biodiesel that is changing how the industry produces this renewable fuel. The key to this new technology is a “highly efficient, heterogeneous metal oxide-based catalyst reactor that efficiently and economically converts feedstock plant oils and animal fats to biodiesel.”

There are several benefits to this revolutionary biodiesel process, including the reaction time and effectiveness.  The Mcgyan process takes only seconds while other biodiesel processes take hours. More importantly, current waste products such as grease / used cooking oil, animal tallow, and a variety of plant oils can all be used whereas other processes are limited in their materials.

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Twin Star Medical is a Minnesota medical technology company pioneering the use of microporous catheters to aspirate and to infuse fluids as a local therapeutic intervention for a number of unmet medical needs.  The first product to be introduced by Twin Star Medical has obtained FDA clearance and is being launched in the U.S. to treat complications from fractures.

The Department of Defense is funding clinical studies for additional FDA indications along with other product modifications for use in theater.  A second product resulting from Twin Star’s research is a traumatic brain injury (TBI) catheter, for which pivotal animal studies have been completed. It is poised for human studies next year.  Localized drug delivery is the next focus for the Twin Star Medical technology, with the initial clinical indications for direct delivery of cancer drugs to the tumor and surrounding tissue, across a range of tumor locations.

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