SSTI Digest

Geography: Maryland

Maryland Budget Maintains State Investment in Biotech

Funding for several TBED-focused initiatives aimed at increasing the state’s biotech portfolio is prominent in Gov. Martin O’Malley’s fiscal year 2009 budget proposal. Under the recommendation, stem cell research, biotechnology and nanotechnology are targeted for investments to grow the state’s economy, building on the actions of the 2007 legislative session (see the April 16, 2007 issue of the Digest).

 

Gov. O’Malley unveiled his FY09 budget last week, recommending $23 million for the Stem Cell Research Fund. The fund – in its second year of existence – supports stem cell R&D at Maryland research universities and private sector research institutions and is administered by the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO). TEDCO is slated to receive $27.8 million in FY09 total funds – a slight decrease from the FY08 appropriation.

 

The governor’s recommendation for the Department of Business and Economic Development is $145.5 million, an increase of 17.7 percent above the FY08 appropriation. The recommendation includes $6 million to provide tax credits to encourage investment in biotechnology firms and $2.4 million for the Nanotech Biotechnology Initiative Fund. Established in FY07, the fund leverages its state support with private funds to provide research grants in the field of nano-biotechnology. Gov. O’Malley also recommends $5 million in the capital budget to continue development of the East Baltimore Biotechnology Park, which is slated for completion this year.

 

Higher education would receive a boost in FY09 under Gov. O’Malley’s proposal, with $54.9 million dedicated to the Higher Education Investment Fund (HEIF). Created during the 2007 special legislative session, the HEIF is a non-lapsing fund that invests in public higher education and workforce development, according to the governor’s office. Gov. O’Malley recommends $16.3 million from the fund to freeze tuition for in-state undergraduates for a third consecutive year and $18.5 million to help meet demands for graduates in critical workforce areas such as engineering, math and science. Specifically, the funds will be used to renovate laboratories, increase doctoral and research capacity, and support workforce initiatives.

 

The budget recommendation for the Maryland Higher Education Commission includes $3 million from the HEIF to support workforce initiatives at Maryland’s higher education institutes aimed at meeting the needs of Maryland’s Base Realignment and Closure.

 

The FY09 budget proposal also includes $4 million for investments in rural broadband: $2 million from the Division of Financing for the Rural Broadband Assistance Fund to continue to expand DSL broadband service to rural communities and $2 million from the capital budget to continue high speed broadband infrastructure in the state’s rural areas. The capital budget also includes $621,000 to construct ethanol fueling stations across the state.

 

Gov. O’Malley’s FY 2009 budget recommendation is available at: http://www.dbm.maryland.gov/portal/server.pt

People & TBED Organizations

The Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest hired Diane Durance as its new executive director, succeeding Art DeMonte, now a full-time business consultant. Durance formerly was president of the Ann Arbor IT Zone.

SSTI Presents Awards of Excellence to Six Organizations Improving the Nation's Competitiveness

As part of SSTI's 11th Annual Conference, recipients of the first annual SSTI Excellence in TBED Awards were honored for their participation in a national competition showcasing best practices in approaches to building tech-based economies.

 

Designed to celebrate exceptional achievement in addressing the elements that have been found in successful technology-based economies, the awards program recognizes efforts to improve state and regional economies through science, technology and innovation.

 

“Successful tech-based economies have strong research infrastructure, ability to commercialize research, access to capital, a skilled workforce, and an entrepreneurial culture,” said SSTI President and CEO Dan Berglund. “They also encourage existing industries to become more competitive. These initiatives demonstrate the successful approaches that are being taken across the country.”

 

The 2007 Excellence in TBED Award winners include:

No Walk-in Registration at SSTI's Annual Conference Next Week; Digest Resumes Publication Oct. 31

Thank you! Interest in SSTI's 11th annual conference has been extremely high since the agenda was released during the summer, and, as we expected and warned, SSTI will not be able to accommodate walk-in registrations on the day of the event. We apologize for the inconvenience and the missed opportunity this creates for a number of Digest readers.



The 375 TBED practitioners that will be in attendance next week are in for a great professional development experience. More than 240 different TBED-related organizations from across the continent are represented among the lucky participants - not unlike the six golden ticket winners for the tour of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory (the nice Willy Wonka from the 1970s, not the darker one in the more recent Tim Burton remake). The conference has its own cast of stars with more than 60 presenters, panelists and discussion leaders to lead the 19 breakout workshops and plenary sessions.



Among the stars presenting next week will be key staff representing the six recipients of the Inaugural winners for SSTI's Excellence in TBED Awards. All six categories of TBED strategies and programs identified by SSTI for the award program will be highlighted during two dedicated breakout sessions as the recipient organizations provide conference participants with insights into how they achieved their lofty status as inaugural winners. Participants will have the chance to schmooze with them, question them, challenge them, and, if sterile lab space is available nearby, even clone them.



For those of you wanting to see what else you'll be missing, visit www.ssticonference.org. Those of you wanting to be on a waiting list to replace last-minute cancellations should call SSTI at 614.901.1690. Snoozers are losers so act quickly. Call now. Operators aren't standing by but if we hear the phone ring, someone will try to pick up. Have your credit cards handy.



The Digest writing team is busy preparing for the conference and will be in Baltimore next week. The SSTI Weekly Digest and its companion Funding Supplement - distributed only to SSTI members - will resume publication the week of Oct. 29.

People & TBED Organizations

Michael Dailey was elected president of the Maryland Business Incubation Association.

Window Closing Soon to Attend SSTI's Annual Conference

Only a dozen seats remain available for new registrations to attend SSTI's 11th Annual Conference, which will be held Oct. 18-19 in Baltimore's fun-packed Inner Harbor. That's 12 seats, not a baker's dozen of 13. Given the two-week lead time before the event, SSTI strongly anticipates we will not be able to accommodate walk-in registrations the day of the conference. We encourage those of you making arrangements or planning to attend to register as soon as possible. Registrations can be taken over the phone (614.901.1690) or on our secure webpage: https://www.ssti.org/Conf07/registration.htm



We're called crazy when we do it, but SSTI firmly believes that it is in the best interest of our conference participants to limit the size of the audience. It stimulates better discussion during the 19 dialogue-intensive breakout sessions. It makes it much easier to start and continue conversations during the 30-minute networking breaks, breakfasts, lunch and two receptions. Overall, it is meant to convey SSTI's commitment to a quality event. Our attendees are participants in the TBED community's premier professional development event of the year, not merely registrant #s. 



We're closing the door at 375 this year, so 12 more of the nation's leading TBED policymakers and practitioners are welcome to join your peers in Baltimore, Oct. 18-19. As in years past, we will keep a waiting list for cancellations, should that be necessary.



It is up to you.



Conference information is available at www.ssticonference.org.

University of Maryland Offers $250K Fund for Socially Conscious Companies

Socially-responsible entrepreneurs at the University of Maryland now have a new financial resource available to help them get new businesses off the ground. The university's Impact Pre-Seed Fund program will offer grants to students with business plans that could offer potential benefits to global society. Students participating in the university's Hinman CEOs program and the Hillman Entrepreneurs program will be eligible for two kinds of grants: Seed Fund grants of $2,000 to $5,000 will be awarded to students with complete, well researched business plans, and Opportunity Assessment grants of $500 to $1,000 will be available to fund promising ideas that require additional research. Each grantee will be assigned a mentor to help guide the new business and to monitor the use of the award.



Warren Citrin, co-founder of the Solypsis Corporation (now Raytheon Solypsis), donated $250,000 to launch the fund. Citrin hopes it will provide students with the financial support they need to exert a positive influence on the world around them. "The weakest link for student entrepreneurs has always been the funding," says Citrin in a press release announcing the new program. Citrin's gift is part of a seven-year, $1 billion campaign at the University of Maryland to raise private funds to support student programs, university facilities and academics, and innovative research.



The fund will be administered by the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (MTECH), which oversees the university's entrepreneurial education programs and its partnerships with the private sector to create new businesses and bolster the state economy. MTECH is seeking applicants with ideas to address the environment, education, healthcare and other markets and communities that have been underserved by the private sector and the entrepreneurial community. Any plan, however, that promises a positive impact may apply.



The University of Maryland is the latest of several universities to offer business plan awards to social entrepreneurs. Since 2005, the University of Washington's Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition has offered financial awards to university students around the world with feasible and sustainable business plans to improve quality of life in Third World countries.  This year, the first and second place winners will receive at least $7,500 to implement their plan. The University of Florida's Howard J. Leonhardt Business Plan Competition added a new category this year for social ventures that aim to produce positive and sustainable societal change.

New SSTI Conference Hotel Information

Early registration is nearly over and the conference hotel is full, but you still have the opportunity to join representatives from 47 states and Canadian provinces at SSTI's 11th Annual Conference in Baltimore, Oct. 18-19, 2007 -- the nation's premier gathering for the tech-based economic development field.



SSTI conference registrants can book rooms at the Hampton Inn & Suites Baltimore Inner Harbor Hotel. This hotel is located just 1.5 blocks from the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel, the site of this year's conference. Spacious rooms with large windows and 9-foot ceilings, complimented with rich Mahogany furniture, are available.



To get the contract rate of $199 plus tax, please call the Hampton Inn & Suites at 410-539-7888 and mention you are part of the State Science and Tech Institute Block. The deadline is the end of day Thursday, Sept. 27.



A Google map to the hotel is available by clicking here. The hotel can be reached at:



Hampton Inn & Suites Baltimore Inner Harbor

131 East Redwood Street

Baltimore, MD 21202

Phone: 1-410-539-7888

http://www.baltimorehamptoninn.com/



As a reminder, SSTI's annual conference will be held on the fifth floor of the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. Visit www.ssticonference.org or call SSTI directly at 614.901.1690 for more information and to register.

Baltimore: Shifting from an Industrial Region to a Creative Region

What factors will enable regions with a historical strong industrial heritage to become attractive to creative individuals? According to Richard Florida in his 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class, creative people are most drawn to places that have an abundance of existing creative talent, a tolerance for diversity, and the ability to produce technology. Florida uses various measures to quantify a region’s talent, tolerance and technology - also known as the 3Ts - and combines them to produce a creativity index that allows comparison between locations.

 

Using this framework, Zoltan Acs from George Mason University and Monika Megyesi from the University of Baltimore compare the metro Baltimore region to seven other similar regions with a strong industrial heritage. In Creativity and Industrial Cities: A Case Study of Baltimore, the authors rank the Baltimore metropolitan statistical area first among Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and St. Louis in an overall creativity index. Of all metropolitan areas in the U.S. with populations greater than one million, Baltimore placed 17th with its creative index score, and the authors claim Baltimore is “the first industrial city to begin a turnaround.”

 

Further comparing these industrial peer regions, Baltimore was found to have the highest value on an index measuring the talent or the perceived creative component of the workforce. This was calculated by using data on demographic, educational, and occupational characteristics. Baltimore was found to be second highest among these peers, behind Chicago, in a tolerance index based on measures of a region’s openness to diversity and the extent a region stimulates the development of artists, musicians and other performers. Finally, Baltimore was ranked fifth among the eight regions in an index based on technology development.

 

Each of the component “Ts” that feed into their creativity index is integral to attracting people, none of which the authors claim are sufficient to produce economic growth by itself. They contend the interdependence of these factors explain why other places in the country are not growing despite having a skilled workforce and world-class universities. If a region is not tolerant enough, they will not be able to attract and retain creative talent.

 

While Baltimore performs well using these indices when compared to the selected peer regions, its strength and potential may come from its proximity to Washington, D.C. Using larger geographical boundaries to represent mega-regions, the authors find the combined Washington-Baltimore area outranks the New York-New Jersey-Long Island, the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, and the Chicago-Gary-Kenosha areas (the country’s three most populous) in their overall creativity index.

 

Creativity and Industrial Cities: A Case Study of Baltimore is available at:

http://ideas.repec.org/p/jrp/jrpwrp/2007-024.html

 

Baltimore will be the site of SSTI’s upcoming annual conference, Transforming Regional Economies, set to take place in the Inner Harbor Oct. 18-19. Filled with charming neighborhoods and exciting things to experience, Baltimore is Maryland’s largest city and its cultural capital. Maryland is home to the nationally ranked research universities, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, the nation’s highest cluster of federal R&D laboratories, and a thriving private technology sector of both IT and bioscience companies.

 

Maryland also is home to a complex network of successful state, academic and regional TBED organizations, many of which will be profiled during SSTI’s annual conference. More information is available at: http://www.ssticonference.org/



Early Bird Rates for SSTI's 11th Annual Conference Expire in 13 Days!

Register today to be sure you receive this special rate. On Wednesday, Sept. 26, registration fees will increase by $100. Hosted by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation, and the University System of Maryland, the 2007 SSTI Annual Conference will be held at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel Oct. 18-19.



In a word, the SSTI Annual conference promises quality. With more than 20 carefully planned sessions, conference participants are ensured access to the latest thinking and best practices in tech-based economic development. Limited attendance further affords one the opportunity to engage in open, creative dialogue, and registration fees are kept reasonable so you can send your entire leadership team. All added up, SSTI's annual conference is the field's most stimulating and rewarding professional development investment of the year.



For many, the networking breaks are what the conference is all about. It's where the latest TBED thinking and technology come alive. You won't want to miss being a part of the this year's most dynamic and influential gathering of tech-based economic development professionals. As an attendee, you have the chance to meet personally with the decisionmakers responsible for crafting and implementing local and state-level policies and programs that directly contribute to the nation’s competitiveness.



More information, including the conference's 32-page brochure and an online registration form, is available at: http://www.ssticonference.org/



Location! Location! Location! Baltimore's Inner Harbor Adds Excitement to Conference

It isn't every conference you consider attending that offers so much content in such a dynamic and fun location - so much that this one warrants extending your stay in Baltimore to play over the weekend. Our conference site is strategically located at the center of the Baltimore's exciting Inner Harbor. The active waterfront is beautiful, offering dozens of options to satisfy all of your cravings — dining, tourist attractions, arts, nightlife, shopping and convenient walking tours. The Inner Harbor is just one of the reasons Baltimore is a perennial destination city. Don't just take our word for it, though. Check it out here:  http://www.ssticonference.org/Conf07/amenities.htm

Opening Night Reception to Showcase Generosity, Spirit of Our Maryland Sponsors

A fun-filled evening of music, drinks and scrumptious hor d'oeurves awaits participants of SSTI's conference with the opening reception at the Marine Mammal Pavilion of the world-famous National Aquarium in Baltimore. This festive event is possible due to the generosity of Team Maryland, a group of 21 Maryland organizations supporting technology-based economic development in their state and region:

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