SSTI Digest

SSTI believes conference sponsors deserve to stand out to attendees so exhibits are placed prominently in a highly-visible location. Only our exhibit and host partners are provided with the opportunity to exhibit.

Sponsorship increases your credibility and relevance. Today's marketplace is about belonging and staying connected. No other event brings together the nation's top players in the TBED community. As an SSTI Conference Sponsor, you have the chance to showcase your organization with the decision makers responsible for crafting and implementing local and state-level policies and programs that directly contribute to the nation's competitiveness.

Last year's conference included more than 350 representatives from 48 states and four countries.

As a conference sponsor you gain:

The Montana Department of Commerce has announced that it will provide $2.5 million in grants to support bio-medical research. Montana-based, private nonprofit research institutions are eligible to apply for the funding, which may be used to expand, renovate and purchase equipment for biomedical research. The grants also may be used to expand infrastructure that will enhance scientific collaborations within the Montana University System. The program is part of a longer-term effort in Montana to improve its research infrastructure and promote the state as a recognized center for bio-medical research.

Funding for the grant program was set aside by the Montana legislature earlier this year through the state's biennial appropriations. Similar awards have been offered in the past through the Department of Commerce, but the $2.5 million now available is a significant increase for the program. In 2007, the entire $2 million that was available was awarded to the McLaughlin Research Institute to expand its facility and research team, and to provide new educational opportunities for high school and college students.

In 2008, the U.S. ranked 17th in R&D tax generosity out of the 21 OECD countries that offered some form of R&D tax credits to businesses, according to a recent brief put out by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF). In U.S. Continues to Tread Water in Global R&D Tax Incentives, authors Rob Atkinson and Scott Andes state even though the U.S. had the most generous R&D tax incentives in the world throughout the 1980s, its relative ranking has slid over the decades as other countries have strategically used tax policy as a tool to spur private sector R&D.

Their suggestion for improving the U.S. competitiveness regarding this topic: both expand and make permanent the existing R&D federal tax credit.

Outlining his Colorado Promise three years ago as a newly-elected governor, Gov. Bill Ritter envisioned an economy that supports high-wage jobs and offers an environment for businesses to expand and thrive. Educational programs would be synched with industry needs to produce a skilled workforce, workers would be trained in the high-demand fields relevant to each of the state's diverse regions, and enough businesses would be operating to employ them.

Two years later, Gov. Ritter convened the Jobs Cabinet, bringing together the state's economic development, education, and workforce communities to make recommendations for aligning jobs with industry needs. The cabinet presented to the governor last month a report and recommendations for achieving this goal in the report "Economic Competitiveness through Collaboration, Talent Development, and Innovation."

The newly-created Clean Energy Leadership Council, convened by the Washington governor's office and a state-wide public-private clean energy alliance, held its first meeting. The council will deliver a clean energy strategy and recommendations by December 1, 2010.

Vicki Gaddy has been appointed director of workforce development for BioNJ.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear shuffled two top positions in his administration. Larry Hayes will be secretary of the state Economic Development Cabinet and budget director Mary Lassiter will replace Hayes as Executive Cabinet secretary. Hayes has been interim Economic Development Cabinet secretary since last September. Lassiter will keep her position as budget director.

Federal stimulus funds approved earlier this year by Congress are doing more than filling budget gaps in states across the nation. During a year in which it otherwise may be virtually impossible to direct much funding to starting initiatives aimed at growing the economy, many states are using federal stimulus funds to implement new programs.

In North Carolina, Gov. Bev Perdue recently announced that several green energy programs focusing on job creation and promoting greater use of renewable energy resources will be funded through a portion of the state's share of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds.

In June, Gov. Perdue announced the U.S. Energy Department's approval of $75.9 million in federal stimulus funds with authorization to spend $30.4 million immediately. The state will receive the remaining funds as it shows successful implementation of the plan, according to the governor's office. Two key components of the approved plan include:

SSTI is pleased to provide Digest subscribers with the first peek at the 28-page, full-color brochure for SSTI's 13th Annual Conference, Seize the Moment: Tech-based economic development for the next economy while it's still on the presses. The brochure will begin arriving in mailboxes soon, but is available now as a PDF by clicking either of the links below.

To establish Maryland as a global leader in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce and STEM-based R&D infrastructure, a task force convened last year by Gov. Martin O'Malley urges the state to adopt a set of initiatives to reach higher performance standards in teaching and learning in addition to greater productivity in transforming the state's high volume of R&D activity into economic growth and job creation.

Common wisdom says engineering is hard and a high proportion of engineering students, particularly female engineering students, changes majors during the course of their time in college. A recent study suggests just the opposite actually is true.

An analysis of 310,000 university students found undergraduates who begin their studies as engineers are more likely to remain within their major over time compared to students who begin their studies within other majors. Additionally, engineering students were comparable to students in other majors in terms of women remaining within their major, minorities remaining within major, and grade distribution.

The research appears in an article by Matthew Ohland, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, and his colleagues titled Persistence, Engagement, and Migration in Engineering Programs in the Journal of Engineering Education. The article received the 2009 William Elgin Wickenden Award for best paper by the American Society for Engineering Education.

SSTI is so excited about this year's conference that we're providing Digest subscribers the first peak at the 28-page, full-color brochure while its still on the presses. It will be arriving in mailboxes by the end of the week, but is available now as a PDF by clicking either of the links below or by email request.

http://www.ssti.org/Conf09/SSTI_Seize_The_Moment2009_full_brochure.pdf http://www.ssticonference.org/SSTI_Seize_The_Moment2009_full_brochure.pdf

In addition, speaker bios, conference updates, and more details are available at: http://www.ssticonference.org/.

The circumstances leading to SSTI's 13th Annual Conference make this year's event critical. We encourage you to join us in Overland Park, Kansas October 21 - 23, 2009 to Seize the Moment. As you scan the conference website, you'll discover we're putting together our most complete and complex conference yet.

This year's conference will bring together distinguished speakers like Josh Lerner of Harvard Business School and Rob Atkinson of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation who will challenge conventional thinking; experienced practitioners who will share best practices; and, leading individuals who are breaking new ground in their attempts to build tech-based economies. Plus, we'll have four stimulating roundtable discussions examining some of the thorniest issues we're facing - improving metrics that are being used, re-examining equity programs, and engaging universities.

Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle recently allowed a significant revision to the state's High-Technology Investment Tax Credits program become law without her signature. The program, which has provided a 100 percent credit on high-tech investments since 2001, now will cap its credits at 80 percent. Investors also will no longer be able to transfer their credits to other investors. The revisions will apply through December 2010, when the tax credit program is scheduled to expire.