SSTI Digest

The SSTI Weekly Digest has a new sponsor, making the publication free to any and all parties interested in tech-based economic development. The Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, selected SSTI as one of three awardees in a competitive solicitation for national information dissemination projects. SSTI proposed dramatically expanding the content and distribution of the Digest and establishing a web-based resource center.

The new cooperative agreement, potentially renewable for two more years, permits SSTI to do several things to enhance the value of the Digest for tech-based economic development professionals, particularly those working at local, regional, and state levels. Beginning with this week's "telco hotels" story, look for expanded coverage of local and regional issues in science, technology, and R&D. Occasional special Digest issues will focus on specific themes and elements of tech-based economic development.

SSTI will be closed October 9 for observation of Columbus Day. We will reopen Tuesday, October 10.

SSTI wishes Shannon Burnett good luck as she leaves our team to take a position with the Ohio Air Quality Board.

Ten multi-state consortia have been selected to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Education through the FY 2000 competition of the Eisenhower Regional Mathematics and Science Education Consortia Program. Each consortia will receive $1.47 million in the first year and $1.475 million annually for years 2-5 of the award. 

The consortia program supports a regional and national technical assistance and dissemination system that focuses on mathematics and science education to help build the capacity of states and schools to implement their school reform initiatives. Grantees also help coordinate federal, state and local education plans and activities, and assist educators to adopt, adapt and implement promising and exemplary practices for improving teaching and learning. 

The awardees are: 

After a frustrating week for many, the SSTI web site is back on line. We apologize for the problems with the site and email while we transitioned to a new web host. We've updated the conference web center (see related below), calendar of events, job postings and Digest archives for you. Please let us know (skinner@ssti.org) if you experience any problems (images or pages missing, bad links, etc.) 

While many state legislatures are in recess, the federal fiscal year draws to a close (resulting in few new R&D funding opportunities to report), and SSTI staff focus more activities on our 4th Annual conference -- Beyond the Hype: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies, the SSTI Weekly Digest will go to a biweekly schedule during the month of August. As a result, the next two issues will be released on August 11 and August 25. We apologize for any inconvenience this may present. Weekly publication will resume in September.  More information on Beyond the Hype, including a registration form, can be found on our web site: http://www.ssti.org/Conf00/conf--00.htm 

Our Digest archives are back on-line! The Calendar of Events and S&T Resources have also been updated. We apologize for the problems many of you encountered trying to use the site during the past two weeks.

The Angel Capital Electronic Network (ACE-Net) will be privatized by September 1, 2000. The Internet-based listing service for growing companies and angel investors has been run by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy.

A privatization team representing ACE-Net regional partner organizations finalized plans in May for making the transition from the SBA. Job descriptions of future staff positions are being drafted. The privatized ACE-Net is expected to provide additional services to registered angel investors, such as educational tools, research, and training.

When launched in September 1995, ACE-Net was to be early entry into web-based investor-business matching for capital. Unfortunately, the effort was hampered by federal bureaucracy and regulations, according to ACE-Net supporters.

Collaboration and partnership among public, private, and non-profit entities have taken on a renewed urgency as states and localities seek quick and cost effective methods to cultivate the necessary environment to foster and support technology-based economies. SSTI’s latest publication focuses on two groups of technology-based economic development organizations that have grown in numbers alongside the New Economy: 1) regional technology councils, and 2) industry associations focused on information technology and life sciences, the industrial sectors most associated with the New Economy. As these groups have become larger and more numerous, their strength as allies in S&T policy has emerged.

We try hard to be objective in the SSTI Weekly Digest and to present information without editorializing. This is one of the rare instances that we will not even attempt to be objective. We have several items involving SSTI to report:

According to a new report by a public-private collaborative project called Ecom-Ohio, Ohio lags many others in the “Net” Economy. The group draws attention to the state’s digital divide among certain population groups and laments slow Internet adoption in small and medium-sized businesses and a lack of public incentives and investment to help correct the situation.

Anna Darin has been named the executive director of the Council of Development Finance Agencies (www.cdfa.org)