In Pollina Corporate Real Estate's annual ranking of Top States for Business, South Dakota moved from sixth in 2004 to third in 2006, based largely on its No. 1 ranking in the area of "labor, taxes and other factors."
 

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   Developing research infrastructure at the six state universities is one of the "other factors" that Gov. Mike Rounds made part of his 2010 Initiative to grow the state's economy. One concrete consequence: The 2006 Legislature approved and provided $14 million for the acquisition of 260 acres (105 hectares) of land and construction of a Board of Regents education and research campus in Sioux Falls. That eastern South Dakota city is home of the University of Sioux Falls and the Southeast Technical Institute/ USDSU, a joint campus of the University of South Dakota (based in Vermillion, near the Nebraska and Iowa state lines), South Dakota State University (based in Brookings, up I- 29) and Dakota State University (based in Madison). A graduate education and research facility in bioscience is the first building to be constructed.
   Meanwhile, five research centers in such areas as infectious diseases, cell growth and light- activated materials have been established on the campuses of South Dakota State University (SDSU) and USD. And the Black Hills Business Development Center opened in May 2006 on the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology campus in Rapid City to the far west.
   Among the bioscience denizens of Sioux Falls is Hematech, which uses genetically altered cows to produce human antibodies. The company was acquired by Kirin Brewery in mid- 2006, after investing $15 million in a headquarters and R&D center in Sioux Falls in 2003.
   Up in Brookings, the 125- acre (51- hectare) Innovation Campus at SDSU is just getting under way, having broken ground in September and hired Teresa McKnight from a similar role at Utah State University in northern Utah's Cache Valley.
   The project is backed by the SDSU Growth Partnership, which includes representatives from the City of Brookings, Brookings County, the state legislature, the SDSU Foundation, and the Brookings Economic Development Corp. The new campus, which leaders hope will generate $200 million in private investment, will start with an incubator, then add a second facility dedicated to research into seed technology.