SSTI Digest

Due to the Christmas and New Year's Day holidays, the next issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest will be published during the week of Jan. 8, 2007. Publication of the Funding Supplement also will resume in January, following this week's issue (Dec. 18, due out by Thursday). Just a reminder, the Supplement is reserved for SSTI sponsors, affiliates and supporters. If you are not in one of these SSTI member groupings, but would like to be, sign up your organization today to begin your subscription to the Supplement. More information, including benefits and a link to a secure registration form, is available at http://www.ssti.org/benefits.htm.

A Resource Guide for Technology-based Economic Development is available from SSTI as a free, downloadable PDF at http://www.ssti.org/Publications/Onlinepubs/resource_guide.pdf or as an inexpensive 90-page bound book (a format still more likely to be perused by most legislators or gubernatorial staff than a pile of printouts). Single print copies are $15 plus shipping and handling. SSTI members receive a 10 percent discount on each order. The guide can be ordered by calling SSTI at 614.901.1690 or ordering it online at SSTI's bookstore: http://www.ssti.org/Bookstore/merchant.mvc

So far this year, SSTI's Funding Supplement has made its subscribers aware of more than 1,450 different opportunities to secure funding. Another 40-50 new opportunities will be included in this week's issue. If you aren't a subscriber, your client companies, academic researchers, and state and local TBED efforts are at a significant disadvantage. Finding alternate sources of cash to support the research and the commercialization goals of your client companies and academic researchers is a valuable service provided by the most successful state and regional TBED programs – those programs subscribing to the Funding Supplement. Competition for federal research funding is growing, particularly as program budgets have been relatively flat or declining in recent federal budget cycles. But your tech companies and faculty researchers are at the greatest disadvantage if they are not even aware of all the opportunities available to them.

As Ohio's General Assembly is poised to vote this week on whether or not to join a multi-state/province compact to govern use of Great Lake waters, the Brookings Institution is recommending a similar regional approach for coping with the area's economic future. The states within the Great Lakes region need to leverage their aggregate strengths and implement a number of policy innovations in order to adapt to the changing nature of the economy, according to a report released by the Metropolitan Policy Program of the Brookings Institution. The Vital Center: A Federal-State Compact to Renew the Great Lakes Region defines this region as the parts of 12 states that share a common geography, history, access to natural resources and economy - an economy that is struggling to change its perception from a rust belt area to one based on knowledge production.

Columbus State University (Ga.) appointed James Bowie as director of its Columbus Technology Incubator.

Ohio Gov.-elect Ted Strickland announced he will nominate Lieutenant Gov.-elect Lee Fisher to be the state's development director.

On Oct. 31, SSTI will offer four exciting options as pre-conference activities. Registration is separate from the full conference fee. Transforming a Regional Economy: Moving Forward Together How does a medium-sized city in a small state accomplish big things? How was a down-at-the-heels tract of urban landscape transformed into a 27-acre research park featuring a seven-building complex with 600,000 sq. ft. of Class A wet lab space and a 97 percent occupancy rate? How did the city convince its citizens to support one of the largest capital improvement projects in the country one that has already yielded more than $2.4 billion in public and private investment? This full-day session will provide answers and insights from the key players in the initiatives that have radically transformed the face of the community.

While politicians across the nation are worrying about where their paycheck will come from in January, TBED programs are determining the best investments elected officials should make for transforming regional economies to be more competitive in a knowledge economy. Join SSTI in Oklahoma City Nov. 1-2 to learn about some of the most successful TBED strategies around the country and trends that should influence future directions. More information is available at http://www.ssti.org/conference06.htm.

The Edison Materials Technology Center (EMTEC), a collaborative technology development organization based in Ohio, has position openings for a Small Business Development Center (SBDC) program lead center director/business counselor and two Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) program positions. The SBDC position is responsible for directing a nine-county SBDC program in the Dayton region. The two PTAC positions, respectively, are responsible for directing a 33-county PTAC program in the Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus regions and for providing counseling efforts to the PTAC office in the Columbus region. More information on these opportunities is available through the SSTI Job Corner at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

SSTI is pleased to give regular Digest readers the first peek at a PDF version http://www.ssti.org/Conf06/brochure.pdf of the brochure for SSTI's 10th Annual Conference, Transforming Regional Economies, to be held in Oklahoma City on October 31- November 2, 2006. A quick glance at the brochure reveals why the event is the premier professional development experience of the year for the tech-based economic development (TBED) community. The brochure includes: The full conference agenda with a keynote address focusing on the role of the media transforming regional economies; 23 breakout sessions covering the most important issues for today's TBED practitioner, drawing session presenters, panelists and participants from the country's top organizations;

SSTI is pleased to announce four new appointments to our board of trustees:

On the evening of Oct. 31, SSTI's conference participants will be treated to a fun-filled evening of dinner, drinks, art, culture and entertainment thanks to the overwhelming generosity of the conference's 22 local hosts.The event will be held at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, a stunning 100 percent non-publicly funded cultural art museum and research center. Whether you're unwinding after one of the intensive SSTI pre-conference workshops or just arriving in Oklahoma City, the Opening Reception affords a wonderful, relaxed environment to reconnect with colleagues and network with other conference attendees, speakers and our local hosts. Festivities will begin at 6:30 p.m. Shuttle transportation will be provided between the conference hotel and the museum beginning at 6:00 pm.