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SSTI Digest

People

The Florida Venture Forum named Robin Kovaleski as the first executive director for the organization.

People

Former U.S. Congresswoman Connie Morella has been sworn in as the US Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

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SSTI extends its sympathies to the family of Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon. During his interrupted term in office, Gov. O'Bannon proved to be a strong friend of tech-based economic development efforts in the state.

New Regional Centers for Biodefense Research Awards Total $350M

Approximately $350 million in grants recently awarded by one of the nation's leading biodefense research agencies are intended to lessen the effects of any future bioterror attack. Administered by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the funding will be spread over five years for establishing eight Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (RCEs). Each regional center, receiving between $40-50 million, consists of several partner institutions. The eight leads are Duke University, Harvard Medical School, the New York State Department of Health, the University of Chicago, the University of Maryland, the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, the University of Washington, and Washington University in St. Louis. In light of the terrorist attacks of 2001, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson said the RCEs will not only prepare the U.S. for a bioterrorism attack, but also enhance the nation's ability to deal with any public health crisis, such as SARS and West Nile virus…

Fed Looks at Biotech Policies, Payoffs for States

Specialization may be the key to successful economic development strategies based on the life sciences, suggests the September issue of the fedgazette, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. This month's entire e-zine focuses on two issues of importance to many state and local tech-based economic development professionals — biotechnology and clusters. Because the intellectual capital of the anticipated biotech revolution is highly mobile and the spillovers of bioscience research tend to be localized and concentrated geographically, the broad-brush approaches adopted by many states to build a biotech sector are not likely to have the desired payoff, fedgazette editor Ronald Wirtz writes in the cover article. “One possible strategy is to eschew efforts to catch up to already hot biotech sectors, like biopharma. Rather, economies that benefit from the bio-revolution likely will be those that identify new biotech opportunities and applications coming up the road that also mesh with regional strengths.” It follows then, not surprisingly, that Wirtz suggests the…

Recent VC Developments in the States…

The availability and use of equity capital for early-stage investments varies greatly across the country. Seen as an integral component of most tech-based economic development, access to venture capital (VC) is on the agendas of several states — but several different approaches are used to address the problem. Recent announcements in four states illustrate the point: Florida A small portion of Florida's pension fund will go toward venture capital investments, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Though not widely publicized, the state's pension fund managers have decided to invest up to $400 million in venture capital funds — barely one-half of 1 percent of Florida's pension, which is $90 billion-plus. The Sentinel reports the move should help Florida rebound from its "worsening" venture scenario. Florida has experienced a decline in the venture dollars its companies have received, from a 3 percent share of the U.S. total three years ago to 1 percent today. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack announced on Monday the creation of a $5 million venture capital fund to help Iowa's…

NYC Should Rethink its Economic Development Strategy, Study Says

A new study examining the post-Sept. 11 economy of New York argues the city's traditional approach to economic development, one which has banked on a few favored sectors such as financial and business services, is outdated and should be reconceived. Engine Failure, a report funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, states that many of New York's troubling trends predate the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Such trends – the FIRE (Finance, Insurance and Real Estate) sector losing jobs and market share to the surrounding region and other major cities, among them – were only accelerated by the after-effects of the Sept. 11 attacks and gains in telecommunications technology. Thus, New York's normally reliable industries are expected to produce minimal employment growth in the coming years. Some of Engine Failure's key findings include: New York's share of jobs in the nation's securities industry declined from 36 percent in 1987 to 23 percent in 2002. Since 1987, only 3 percent of all new jobs in the sector nationwide were created in New York State. During the last 12…

Joint Biomass Initiative Distributes $23 Million for R&D, Demonstrations

Nineteen projects figure to share in the $23 million awarded last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) for biomass research, development and demonstration activities. USDA and DOE selected the projects as part of a joint program to increase America’s energy independence through the development of additional renewable energy resources from the agricultural and agroforestry sectors. Biomass is defined as organic matter that is available on a renewable or recurring basis. “The conversion of biomass into biobased products, fuels and energy offers significant benefits to the nation through healthier rural economies, improved environmental quality and improved energy independence,” Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said. “These grants will help develop additional renewable energy resources and expand markets for agricultural products.” The 2002 Farm Bill allocated $75 million to USDA over six years to fund research, development and demonstration projects under the Biomass Research and Development Act of 2000. The legislation established…

NSF Commits $2M to Study Nanotech Implications

Two new grants, each greater than $1 million, have been awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the societal implications of nanotechnology — the emerging discipline that seeks to control and manipulate matter on a molecular scale. The grants are the largest awards the foundation has ever devoted exclusively to research in societal implications. Nanotech has been considered by many in the tech-based economic development community to be a "transformative" technology, one that could change the way we live and work as profoundly as did the microchip or the automobile. To speed the development along, NSF and 16 other federal agencies are supporting a nearly $1 billion-a-year National Nanotechnology Initiative. Davis Baird, a philosopher at the University of South Carolina and principal investigator on one of the two grants, is expected to set up an ongoing dialog on the various uses of nanotechnology. Just as researchers need to consider societal implications from the start, Baird states in a press release, "ethicists and other scholars need to understand what's…

Sneak Peek at SSTI’s Annual Conference: Better Tools Build Better Times

Tight budgets are causing many state and local tech-based economic development (TBED) programs to delay new initiatives, even forcing some to scale back on the services already provided. But mottos like "getting more bang for the buck" and "doing more with less" are fast becoming tired, transparent clichés. Given the economic restructuring underway (economists call it a jobless recovery), some states are beginning to rethink their whole economic development portfolio. During the past few weeks, alone, governors have created new commissions, committees or advisory councils to explore ways to foster better times. Everything is on the table. Elected stakeholders, policy makers, program practitioners and clients must feel the investments made toward building more prosperous economies are the right ones for their community — and that they are paying off. Given this fiscal and political climate, tremendous opportunity exists for tech-based economic development programs to shine. But to be fully engaged in future efforts to build more diverse state and local economies based on science and…

Corrected Links for Manufacturing Story in 9/5 Digest

Through an editorial glitch between browsers, the two external links were inoperable in the lead story in last week's issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest, "President Wants Point Person on Manufacturing." Corrected links are available below and on the Web version of last week's issue (http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2003/090503.htm). The article by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, "Has Structural Change Contributed to a Jobless Recovery?" is available at: http://www.newyorkfed.org/rmaghome/curr_iss/ci9-8.html The press release from the U.S. Department of Commerce is available at: http://www.commerce.gov/opa/press/2003_Releases/Sept/01_Manufacturing_position_announcement.htm We appreciate readers bringing these errors to our attention and apologize for the inconvenience.

President Wants Point Person on Manufacturing

President Bush announced on Monday that he has told Commerce Secretary Don Evans that he wants him to appoint an assistant secretary “to focus on the needs of manufacturers, to make sure our manufacturing job base is strong and vibrant.”  The President made the announcement saying, “I understand for a full recovery, to make sure people can find work, that manufacturing must do better...We’ve lost thousands of jobs in manufacturing, some of it because of productivity gains...but some of it because production moved overseas.” No additional details were provided on the responsibilities of the position, but according to a Commerce press release, the new Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing and Services "will help address the competitive challenges and opportunities facing the U.S. manufacturing sector." The announcement comes on the heels of severe job losses in manufacturing since early 2001. Of the 2.7 million jobs the U.S. economy has lost during that period, 2.4 million were in manufacturing with the downturn eliminating more than one in 10 of the…