SSTI Digest

Late last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) calling for academic white papers that will focus on specific areas related to social science issues. This is the first step in the review process for colleges and universities that would like to be selected as a Homeland Security Center of Excellence (HS-Center). The Department anticipates selecting at least one HS-Center by end of November 2003 and up to nine more HS-Centers by end of 2004.

The university-based Homeland Security Centers of Excellence initiative was developed in response to language contained in the Homeland Security Act requesting the establishment of a coordinated, university-based system to enhance the nation's homeland security. The President's budget called for $10 million in funding for the university programs for FY 2004.

Congressional responses to the Administration's recent proposal to merge the Department of Commerce's technology and telecommunications operations into one coordinated agency ranged from a hearty endorsement to dead in the water, according to Capitol Hill-focused news media. House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier praised the legislation, the National Journal's Technology Daily recently reported, while Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, is quoted by the RCR Wireless News as saying, "I don't think there is support for that here."

With the sustained depth of the recession, the IT crash, the rapid growth in unemployment and the speculative office construction craze of the late 1990s, one would expect office vacancies to climb and property lease rates to edge down in many cities. Following this thought further might suggest, with cheaper office space available, the need for publicly supported low-rent technology incubator space would decrease.

SSTI sifts through hundreds of publications each week, monitoring issues of importance to the tech-based economic development community. If the above logic holds true, then after nearly three years of recession we should be reading accounts of incubators across the country closing their doors for lack of tenants, right?

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has published online the Science & Engineering State Profiles: 2000-2001, a set of 52 science and engineering (S&E) profiles summarizing state-specific data on personnel and finances. Rankings and totals are given for the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and the report includes a data source page. (For Puerto Rico, the data sources for some variables differ from those used to obtain state data; comparable data do not exist on total and industry R&D performance for Puerto Rico.)

The NSF databases used include doctoral scientists and engineers; S&E doctorates awarded, including by major S&E fields; S&E graduate students and postdoctorates; federal R&D obligations by agency and performer; total and industrial R&D expenditures; and academic R&D expenditures, including by major S&E fields.

Blair Carnahan will be the first director of the new Columbus Regional Technology Center in Columbus, Ga. The new facility will house an incubator, the Columbus Georgia Tech regional office and the Columbus office of the Small Business Development Center.

The Sacramento Regional Technology Alliance is losing its executive director as Clare Emerson has announced she is relocating to oversee AEA's Texas office.

John Kotek, formerly with Argonne National Laboratory-West, has been named deputy manager of the Department of Energy's Idaho Operations Office. The office oversees the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.

Blair Carnahan will be the first director of the new Columbus Regional Technology Center in Columbus, Ga. The new facility will house an incubator, the Columbus Georgia Tech regional office and the Columbus office of the Small Business Development Center.

The Sacramento Regional Technology Alliance is losing its executive director as Clare Emerson has announced she is relocating to oversee AEA's Texas office.

John Kotek, formerly with Argonne National Laboratory-West, has been named deputy manager of the Department of Energy's Idaho Operations Office. The office oversees the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.

Utah House Speaker Marty Stephens began his term as President of the National Conference of State Legislatures during its annual meeting last week.

With the next fiscal year underway or looming, budget data recently released by the National Governors Association (NGA) and National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) indicate that states continue to struggle with declining revenues amidst an uncertain economy. The latest Fiscal Survey of the States shows most states are unable to protect their highest priority programs from budget reductions.

Fiscal 2003, which ended June 30 for most states, was a grueling year for the majority of the nation's governors, the Fiscal Survey observes. Based on state budget data collected during spring 2003 by NASBO, most governors chose spending reductions coupled with revenue increases and drawing down their remaining reserve funds to balance budgets. Thirty-seven states were forced to reduce already enacted budgets by nearly $14.5 billion — the largest spending cut ever recorded by the 27-year-old survey.

State Partnership with Texas Instrument Yields $3B Investment From the outsider's perspective, it could be analogous to a world wrestling prize fight, except the punches and stakes are real. Two big, proud states wrestling for dominance in one lucrative industry — semiconductors.

For those keeping score, the venerable leader for a long time was Austin, Texas, with the university, Sematech, Dell Corp., and other industries. Austin boomed right along with the IT sector's explosion.

Technology Network (TechNet), a national network of more than 200 CEOs and senior executives in the high technology and biotechnology industries, yesterday unveiled its ranking for how consistent state policies to encourage next-generation broadband deployment are with the network's policies. A TechNet report, The State Broadband Index, shows Michigan's programs and policies as the most favorable for the industry. Florida, Missouri, Texas, Ohio, Washington, Kansas, Virginia, Colorado and Iowa round out the top 10. The report ranks the top 25 states based on the extent to which TechNet believes their public policies spur or impede broadband deployment and demand, and includes a Best Practices Guide to what TechNet considers the most innovative state broadband initiatives.