Two ambitious ideas were unveiled by Gov. Baldacci during his State of the State address Tuesday night.

Baldacci hopes to develop a medical research triangle with a focus on fighting five chronic conditions. He also hopes to expand cellular phone service and broadband Internet access to 90 percent of the state by 2010.

Both initiatives aim to put Maine at the technological forefront. Details of how the state can get there were necessarily absent from the broad-ranging speech Baldacci delivered. What was lacking in specifics, however, was made up for in optimism.

According to Baldacci, the new research triangle would focus on diabetes, cancer, heart disease, obesity and osteoporosis, which affect the state’s aging population and account for significant amounts of health-care spending. The plan includes a new graduate school in biomedical sciences at the University of Maine, a new College of Allied Health Professionals and a partnership involving Eastern Maine Health Care, The Jackson Laboratory and UMaine to create the Maine Institute for Human Genetics and Health in Brewer.

The goal is to create an environment for the creative application of health research and maintenance that would help people overcome chronic conditions and build a vibrant, new economic segment for the state’s economy.

It won’t be cheap. The governor, without mentioning a price tag, said his plan would be supported through his budget and bonding that he will propose later in this legislative session. Already, many Republicans are skeptical of new state borrowing, but the amazing potential of this idea should at least merit a good-faith discussion.

Expanding technology’s reach is long overdue. But, on this front, there’s only so much the state can do. We expect the governor to propose a telecommunications-friendly policy to entice cell phone and Internet providers to expand, but much of the progress will rest on the private sector, which must be convinced a profitable market exists before it will invest in the infrastructure necessary to reach some of the state’s more remote towns.

The governor’s speech was filled with plenty of acknowledgments, and he recited a list of accomplishments and good things happening around the state. He also proposed a range of policies that address education, prescription drugs, gay rights and the environment. All important, no doubt.

But it was the embrace of research and development, and of communications technology, that caught our imagination. Now, for the details.