SSTI Digest

Forty-four research universities in 28 states and the District of Columbia will receive $80 million from Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to help address the challenges of the rapidly changing and increasingly interdisciplinary nature of undergraduate biology education. The grants will support programs that encourage graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to hone their teaching skills in undergraduate courses. Other programs will bring emerging scientific disciplines such as genomics and computational biology into the undergraduate curriculum and encourage minorities to pursue careers in science. The four-year grants range in size from $1.2 million to $2.2 million each. A panel of scientists and educators reviewed proposals from 189 institutions. The new grants support programs that can become models for bringing undergraduate teaching and research closer together, as well as exposing undergraduates to emerging fields in biology and to the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of the life sciences. They also support efforts to attract minorities to science and to…

A study released by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston is one of the more recent efforts to examine all aspects of U.S. states and their economies. Entitled State Competitiveness Report 2001, the study defines competitiveness as the ability to ensure and sustain a high level of per capita income and its continued growth. The BHI report combines more than three dozen variables into nine subindexes: government and fiscal policy, institutions, infrastructure, human resources, technology, finance, openness, domestic competition and environmental policy. Using the nine subindexes, each of which represents an element of competitiveness, the authors made an overall index and ranked the states according to their overall competitiveness. Among the study's key findings are: Competitiveness helps explain the more than 25 percent of variation in living standards among states. For overall competitiveness, Delaware ranks 1st, and Mississippi ranks 50th. Some states have a high ranking for overall competitiveness, despite adverse government policies.…

Because knowledge-based services can be supplied anywhere across the world due to increased international investment in IT infrastructure, future U.S. competitiveness hinges on diversification and broadening of the technology-based manufacturing sector, according to NIST Senior Economist George Tassey. Tassey's lastest report, R&D and Long-Term Competitiveness: Manufacturing's Central Role in a Knowledge-based Economy, lays out the critical role manufacturing and manufacturing R&D plays in the U.S. economy, presents the dire forecast for low-R&D intensive manufacturers, and presents a framework for analyzing federal R&D investment strategies consistent with a national innovation system. Tassey also argues that the zeal or enthusiasm for information technology that dominated policy discussion during the past few years and overshadowed and "induced and unbalanced perspective" on the appropriate strategies to secure economic competitiveness. Manufacturing accounts for 17 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP…

President Bush has nominated Elias Zerhouni, executive vice dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as the new director of the National Institutes of Health.

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) and the Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) recently presented the first part of a two-phase study by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies entitled The Genealogy of Maryland Entrepreneurs. Phillip Singerman, executive director of TEDCO, and David S. Iannucci, Maryland Secretary of DBED, provided the information Feb. 4 during the fifth annual State of Technology in Maryland Summit in Annapolis. Highlights of the first phase of the study reveal the following about the history of Maryland businesses: Maryland pillar companies and entrepreneurs have produced and financed successive generations of new companies. The state's business cycle has seen inventors and founders evolve to management teams with the infusion of new capital. Research institutions, including universities and federal labs, have resolved intellectual property issues to move commercialization forward. Immigrants have made significant contributions throughout the state's history. The…

The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) kicked off the new year with a new $330,000 program to support Maryland companies wishing to develop technology-based products and/or services in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Morgan State University (MSU) or federal laboratories in Maryland. The Maryland Technology Transfer Fund (MTTF) will award non-equity investments of up to $50,000 per project. The program supports company technology development projects that transfer technology from JHU, MSU or a federal laboratory in Maryland to the commercial sector and the development of technology-based products and/or services for future government uses. The Fund, made possible by a grant from the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), is also providing $100,000 to JHU and MSU to develop innovative ways to partner with industry. Program designers believe MTTF may serve as a feeder for other existing DBED programs, such as the Challenge Investment and Enterprise Fund programs, which provide up to $500,000 in equity. Applications will be…

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO), RESI (a regional economic studies institute at Towson University), and the Maryland Business Incubation Association (MBIA) presented on Thursday the results of the Maryland Incubator Impact Study — a first-of-its-kind study for the state by measuring the economic impact of Maryland's six public- and university-related high-tech business incubators on the state's economy.  Maryland's incubators are a significant economic boon to the state of Maryland, the study shows, estimating that incubator tenants and graduates generate between $184 and $530 million in gross state product and between $31 and $96 million in taxes annually.  The study also reveals the following:  Using three different estimation procedures, RESI calculated the annual employment impact of business incubator tenants and graduates between 2,210 and 6,852 jobs.  Using the same estimation procedures, RESI calculated the gross state, product, personal income and fiscal return generated by these firms. Total…

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) has announced that James Thurston has joined the ITIC team as Director of Technology Policy. Mr. Thurston has worked for NIST's Manufacturing Extension Partnership for several years. 

The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is a nationwide network of not-for-profit Centers in over 400 locations nationwide, whose sole purpose is to provide the more than 361,000 small and medium-sized manufacturers in the country the help they need to succeed in a global economy. The Centers, serving all 50 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are linked together through the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology – making it possible for even the smallest firms to tap into the expertise of knowledgeable manufacturing and business specialists all over the U.S.  Since its founding, MEP has worked with more than 107,000 manufacturing firms, achieving impressive results for its clients: $996 million in increased revenues, $195 million in cost savings, and $360 million in modernization investment.  The centers help manufacturers with such issues as process improvement; quality management systems; business management systems; human resource development; market development; materials engineering; plant…

With the completion of the 2001 edition of the Maryland Innovation and Technology Index, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) is able to show state policymakers and tech community leaders graphically and statistically the state’s progress since the first Index was prepared two years ago.  Innovation indices or S&T report cards, as some states and communities refer to them, help identify areas of strength, weakness or underperformance. The first assessment undertaken, for Maryland in 1999, provides a benchmark for measuring future growth or progress. Subsequent indices can help tech-based economic development practitioners refine their efforts.  Comparing Maryland on 66 items to five other states – Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia – TEDCO concludes from the 2001 Index that “the report paints a picture of opportunities missed. Maryland is at best holding its own among competitor states, or worse, losing ground.”  While demonstrating Maryland’s overall improvement across most…

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) bridges the gap between the research lab and the marketplace, stimulating prosperity through innovation. Through partnerships with the private sector, ATP's early stage investment is accelerating the development of innovative technologies that promise significant commercial payoffs. ATP exhibits four primary strengths: Early Financial Support. ATP provides cost-share funding in the critical early stages of R&D, including a maximum of $2 million for up to three years in direct costs for a single company and up to half of the total project costs for a maximum of five years for joint ventures. Research Support. ATP encourages R&D partnerships and consortia and provides guidance in putting together a joint research venture. Recognition. ATP’s rigorous peer-review system provides an independent, objective, and confidential evaluation of the strength of your R&D and business plans. Many firms have reported that ATP support was an important factor in securing additional funding. Independence. Companies control…

Dennis J. Sysko is serving as interim president of the Anne Arundel County High Technology Council, following the resignation of president John G. Rice. Mr. Sysko, who is currently serving as the group's treasurer, will perform both roles until a replacement president is elected in January.