SSTI Digest

Two of the most critical issues in today's tech-based economic development (TBED) involve money — funding for companies and funding for TBED programs. That's why preceding SSTI's 7th Annual Conference, Building Tech-based Economies: From Policy to Practice, two intensive workshops will be held on October 20, 2003, that focus on financing: developing angel organizations to help increase the amount of capital available for entrepreneurial companies and exploring new strategies in financing TBED programs.

Large-Scale Biomedical Science: Exploring Strategies for Future Research The Human Genome Project, considered by life scientists to be their first foray into "big science," has paved the way for future large-scale projects that promise to lead to faster improvements in human health. But no guidelines on how to organize and fund such initiatives in the biomedical sciences have been available — until now.

A new report from the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies fills this gap by describing how the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies should select, fund, launch and evaluate large collaborative biomedical projects, and how their scientific staff should be trained and retained.

Rod Casto was recently appointed to the position of Associate Vice President for Economic Development in the University of South Florida's Office of Research. Mark Laurenzo also has been named the new Deputy Director of the Division of Patents and Licensing in the USF office.

The nonprofit Challenger Learning Center of Alaska Board of Directors recently announced the hiring of Sharon Gherman as its new Executive Director. Gherman was the former K-12 program executive for the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation.

Rod Casto was recently appointed to the position of Associate Vice President for Economic Development in the University of South Florida's Office of Research. Mark Laurenzo also has been named the new Deputy Director of the Division of Patents and Licensing in the USF office.

The nonprofit Challenger Learning Center of Alaska Board of Directors recently announced the hiring of Sharon Gherman as its new Executive Director. Gherman was the former K-12 program executive for the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation.

Jacques Koppel, president of Minnesota Technology, Inc. since 1991, announced his resignation on July 28. Under Mr. Koppel's leadership, MTI worked with more than 5,600 manufacturing and technology companies around Minnesota, helping the state's economy realize gains of more than $700 million in the process. MTI's Board of Directors has appointed Frank Starke interim President to lead the organization during its transition from a quasi-state corporation to a private nonprofit corporation.

The SSTI Weekly Digest will be taking a brief summer break and will resume publication on Friday, August 22.

Before ending its 2003 session, the Rhode Island legislature signed off on nearly all of the technology-based economic development (TBED) initiatives at the core of Gov. Donald Carcieri's strategy to help the state rebound from the down economy. First outlined in his Feb. 4 State of the State Address (see the Feb. 14 Digest), the governor's multi-faceted approach includes many key pieces to building a stronger tech-based economy: business-university partnerships to advance and commercialize technology, entrepreneurial assistance for tech firms, increased investments in academic R&D capacity, incentives to encourage tech commercialization, access to early-stage capital, and the tech-skill competence of the workforce.

Specifically approved by the state legislature were:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced earlier this week the availability of $6 million in USDA Rural Development grant funds to support rural economic and community development efforts.

USDA's Rural Community Development Initiative provides funds to help nonprofit, community-based development organizations, federally recognized Indian tribes and low-income communities improve their ability to develop rural housing and community facilities and to improve economic growth. Rural Development provides equity and technical assistance to finance and foster growth in homeownership, business development, and critical community and technology infrastructure. Recipients are required to obtain matching funds from non-federal sources.

The unsettled nature of the venture capital industry is well depicted in two differing reports released Tuesday. Both detail venture capital investments for the second quarter of 2003, but offer a conflicting picture of U.S. investing activity.

Data found in the PricewaterhouseCoopers/Thomson Venture Economics/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree™ Survey suggest two straight years of quarter-to-quarter declines in venture capital investing ended with Q2 03. The newest data from Growthink, however, reveals the downward trend continued from the preceding quarters, showing a 1.2 percent decline over the first quarter of 2003.

The City of Spokane and a group of local organizations have penned a strategic plan designed to help the city and the Inland Northwest achieve an Innovation Economy. Sponsored by the Spokane Economic Development Council, SIRTI and INTEC, Developing an Innovation Economy highlights numerous specific actions believed to have the greatest potential to deliver measurable results for the local economy.

Nearly 60 percent of the new jobs in the knowledge-based economy of the early 21st century will require skills that are held by just 20 percent of the present workforce, states a new report released by the National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM). The Case for Enhancing American Workforce Skills examines a growing skills gap in the nation's manufacturing sector and the problems employers have in finding skilled workers able to deal with technological changes in the workplace.

The skills gap is deepening at a time when manufacturing workers are increasingly being laid off — since 1999, more than two million have lost their jobs. Industry and government need to join forces to make substantial improvements in workforce education and training programs and to incentivize American workers to keep pace with technological change by continually improving their skills, NACFAM concludes.