SSTI Digest

A $295 million three-part bond referendum package passed by the Maine State Legislature last week includes a number of components central to the state’s TBED strategy, including funds to support continued development of the state’s research enterprise, expanded broadband access and increased rural/economic development financing.

 

The largest TBED item provides $50 million for the Maine Technology Fund to support research, development, and commercialization efforts of Maine-based public and private entities. The funds are limited to the state’s targeted fields of biotechnology, marine technology, composite materials, environmental technology, forestry and agriculture, information technology, and precision manufacturing.

 

Additionally, the package includes $48.5 million for improvements at the University of Maine and the state community college system and $2 million for revitalizing downtowns and expanding access to digital resources through the New Century Community Program.

 

Several revolving loan funds also will be replenished with a combined pool of $6.5 million, including the Maine Maritime Academy and School Revolving Loan Fund, the FAME Economic Development Revolving Loan and the Rural Development Fund, the Regional Development Loan Program, and the Agriculture Marketing Loan Fund.

 

The bond measures will be put to the voters as three separate items with the first $131.4 million offering focused primarily on transportation issues being considered in June. The $134 million November installment includes the TBED, education, cultural, and traditional economic development elements described above. The final measure will be on the June 2008 ballot and will address $29 million for more transportation projects.

Over the last 10 years, the State of Maine has invested more than $296 million into R&D – an impressive figure for a state with an average population over the decade of just over 1.3 million people. In approving a mid-decade injection of funds, the state’s legislature skeptically or wisely asked the executive branch to periodically conduct independent assessments of whether or not the investment is worthwhile.

Catherine Renault is the new director for the Maine Office of Innovation within the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development.

A new study of the Maine Technology Institute (MTI) reveals MTI's award programs have been effective in contributing to the success of its awardees and in increasing high-tech employment in the state. The MTI evaluation, conducted by the Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) at the University of Southern Maine, also found that the success rate of MTI's funded projects improved over the five-year history of the organization. Although the available indicators suggest that MTI is a profitable investment for the state, the CBER report recommends that MTI pursue new methods of tracking its role in high-tech economic development.

 

MTI is a state-supported nonprofit that serves as Maine’s primary vehicle to provide financial support for private sector R&D. Since its first year of activity in 2001, MTI has funded 791 technology development projects throughout the state and committed $32 million through its award programs. These programs include seed grants for early stage companies, development awards for later-stage projects, Accelerated Commercial Fund awards for previous recipients, Phase 0 SBIR awards, and a Cluster Enhancement program to boost targeted industries.

 

The CBER evaluation examines the economic impact of the institute by tracking data from the 440 companies funded by MTI that had completed their projects as of June 30, 2006. CBER found that:

Gov. John Baldacci has sworn in John Richardson as the new commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

Peggy Schaffer left Maine's Office of Innovation to become chief of staff of the Maine Senate Majority Office.

$190 million? $200 million? $250 million? Each of these figures has been advanced in Maine to support three different approaches toward tech-based economic development. The bottom line for the 2007 legislative session is Maine’s elected leaders - from the governor and the state assembly - believe a sizable injection of public funding is required to accelerate research and technology commercialization in the Pine Tree State.

 

On Monday, Gov. John Baldacci established a new council to develop an action plan to invest in R&D and the state’s most promising industrial clusters. The new group, dubbed the council on Jobs, Innovation, and the Economy, will immediately begin work designing a strategy to implement the recommendations of a recent Brookings Institution report on the needs of the Maine economy. That report provides a comprehensive set of investments in state communities and research intended to generate sustainable prosperity in tourism and high-tech business. The governor has commissioned the council, whose membership is composed of “active, younger members of the business community,” to collaborate with state officials and prepare related legislation for the next session.

 

One key component of the Brookings recommendations is a $200 million Innovation Jobs Fund that would promote cluster development and support statewide R&D. By devoting $180 million of this fund to research in forest bioproducts, biotechnology, information technology, organic farming and specialty foods, advanced materials, and precision manufacturing, the report argues that Maine can pursue continued growth in industries in which it currently holds a competitive advantage and begin moving into the fastest-growing fields across the country. This funding would increase the state’s investment in research to 3 percent of gross state product. Businesses in the fields targeted by the R&D program would receive additional support from a $20 million Maine Cluster Development Fund, which would support industry partnerships and organizations that promote job growth, entrepreneurial training and networking opportunities. The program would offer 5-7 competitive awards per year to business-led public, private and academic consortia with strategies to stimulate cluster activity.

 

The Brookings report also recommends the state create a $190 million Quality Places Fund to support community revitalization, and increase the state’s overall appeal to tourists and to skilled professionals who might consider making Maine their home. A $90 million recapitalization of the state’s Municipal Investment Trust Fund would support local initiatives to stimulate economic growth and create new jobs. The fund targets investments that leverage contributions from the private sector and local matching funds. The remaining $100 million would be split between programs to promote Maine’s natural tourism industry and to preserve its environmentally-sensitive areas.

 

Gov. Baldacci will meet with the council on Wednesday to begin discussing how the new programs can be implemented and how to obtain the necessary funding.

 

Legislative support for moving a major TBED initiative in the next session already has some momentum, as a bi-partisan committee meeting on Nov. 30 recommended putting a $250 million R&D bond issue on the ballot before voters in 2007. The measure would make $50 million available each year for five years to support research programs.

 

Read Charting Maine’s Future: An Action Plan for Promoting Sustainable Prosperity and Quality Places at: http://www.brookings.edu/metro/maine

 

Links to this paper and nearly 4,500 additional TBED-related research reports, strategic plans and other papers can be found at the Tech-based Economic Development (TBED) Resource Center, jointly developed by the Technology Administration and SSTI, at: http://www.tbedresourcecenter.org/.

The Maine Department of Economic and Community Development is seeking a qualified, energetic, collaborative person to serve as director of its Office of Innovation. The Office of Innovation seeks to advance Maine's economic well-being and to expand employment opportunities by encouraging and coordinating the state's R&D activities and fostering collaboration among its higher educational and nonprofit research institutions and the business community. A four-year degree; experience in science, engineering, technology and/or business; and experience in the management of organizations that innovate, commercialize and deploy technology are among this position's minimum requirements. More information on this opportunity is available through the SSTI Job Corner at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

Dr. Janet Yancey-Wrona left her post as director of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development's Office of Innovation to join a new University of New England biotech start-up.

It caught the attention of quite a few people when it was first proposed in early 2001, but Maine's investment in 2002 to provide every seventh and eighth grader with a new laptop - approximately 32,000 students and 4,000 teachers - continues to provide a useful example of the size and type of commitment and risk that elected leaders have to be willing to make to transform the outlook for a state or regional economy. It took strong leadership and determination from then-Gov. Angus King to make it happen then, but the move very quickly was recognized as a good investment for the state's future (see 2004 evaluation report).



This June, Maine renewed its commitment to the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, promising Apple iBook computers to the state's entire seventh and eighth grade population, both teachers and students at the state's 241 public schools, for the next four years. The $41 million price tag works out to roughly $289 per notebook computer and includes wireless networking capabilities.



Still considered one of the largest one-to-one educational technology programs in the world, Maine's laptop initiative has been emulated or attempted by many other states including Georgia Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, New Hampshire and North Dakota.



The Associated Press reports the original laptops will be refurbished through private fundraising efforts led by former Gov. King. The revitalized machines will be redeployed in other areas of the state's K-12 education system, resulting in more than 70,000 computers being in use by this fall.



More information on the Maine Learning Technology Initiative is available at: http://www.state.me.us/mlte/index.htm

Maine Gov. Mark Baldacci has unveiled a new handbook intended to help communities to capitalize upon their cultural resources to spur economic growth. Maine's Creative Economy Community Handbook: Maine State Government Resources for Communities offers advice for community leaders interested in building a creative and dynamic workforce. The guidelines it gives for designing a strategic plan could benefit communities across the country interested in similar initiatives.



The handbook is the result of two years of work by Maines Creative Economy Steering Committee following a 2004 conference on the future of the state economy. The study was requested after it was reported that the creative economy was generating $6.6 billion annually in cultural tourism dollars. The committee has drawn upon the work of Richard Florida, who has theorized that networks of educated and entrepreneurial citizens lead to dynamic local economies.



The state's Creative Economy Council estimates that 8.3 percent of Maine's workforce is made up of creative workers. These workers include artists, artisans, engineers, entrepreneurs and researchers. In Maine, this group has an average income 33 percent higher than the rest of the workforce. Florida and other theorists have described this creative class of workers as a decisive factor in determining regional success.



The University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of Public Policy has developed the handbook's most useful tool for communities in other states, a section entitled "Ten Building Blocks of the Creative Economy" that gives economic development groups a starting point to assess and cultivate their creative resources. These building blocks represent vital qualities of a growing creative economy. Each is accompanied by a series of questions, which can illuminate a regions creative strengths.



The Muskie School has assembled these blocks into a model of creativity-led sustainable growth. Two qualities, time and money, are "enhancers," elements that build on a community's pre-existing strengths. With time and money, regions can become more attractive to highly-skilled and creative workers by building upon pre-existing "assets." Creative people, centers of education, cultural/natural amenities, business engagement, and infrastructure are the foundations of the creative economy. They are linked by "connectors," such as leadership, networks and strategies, which determine the availability of enhancers and lead to the effective use of assets. Together, these building blocks can be used to design strategic assessments and plans based on attracting a creative workforce.



To read Maine's Creative Economy Community Handbook: Maine State Government Resources for Communities, visit: http://www.econdevmaine.com/resources/default.asp



Links to this report and more than 4,000 additional TBED-related research reports, strategic plans and other papers can be found at the Tech-based Economic Development (TBED) Resource Center, jointly developed by the Technology Administration and SSTI, at: http://www.tbedresourcecenter.org/.

SSTI continues this year's "Tech Talkin' Govs" series. The first installment of this 2006 review of governors' legislative priorities concerning tech-based economic development is available through the Digest online: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm