SSTI Digest

On Monday, President Obama signed an executive order concerning embryonic stem cell research in addition to signing a presidential memorandum that strengthens the influence of science-based decision making in the executive branch of the federal government.

The executive order consists of three main points. It revokes previous presidential executive orders limiting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, it supports the NIH conducting responsible and scientifically worthy research with human embryonic stem cells, and it requests the Secretary of Health and Human Services to review and issue new guidelines concerning human stem cell research within 120 days. Instead of restricting access for scientists who receive federal funds to 21 embryonic stem cell lines created before August 2001, researchers can now use federal support to access other stem cell lines.

Savannah's Creative Coast Alliance (TCCa) and the Savannah Economic Development Authority recently announced that they would provide up to one year of free rent for game designers to take up residence at the region's new Game Development and Digital Media Center. The offer is intended to promote the city's image as a center for game design and help provide local opportunities for graduates from the Savannah campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Savannah College of Art and Design's (SCAD) Interactive Design and Game Development Program. For the past five years, SCAD has sponsored the annual Game Developers eXchange, a national event for the industry that has drawn greater attention to the region. In the press release announcing the free rent offer, TCCa bills Savannah as an alternative for companies looking to establish an East Coast presence with a low cost-of-living, high quality-of-life and a rich talent pool.

The following overview is a synopsis of select recent announcements from research parks across the nation, including groundbreakings and development plans to support vibrant regional economies based on science, technology and innovation. 

The SBA's Office of Advocacy has produced its 2008 Small Business Profiles for every U.S. state, which assembles from a variety of sources the most recently available data across a number of topics.

For example, the quarterly impact of firm openings, expansions, contractions, and closings on the number of establishments and employment in 2007 is provided. Also for 2007, demographic information on each state's workforce, bankruptcies, bank branches, and value of business loans is available. Other features, such as the breakdown of the number of firms and level of employment across different industry categories in 2006, and the net job change by firm size from 2002 to 2005, comes from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The profiles, which are published in various forms back to 1995, are available at:

http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/profiles/

Lonnie Emard has been named interim director of the Consortium for Enterprise Systems Management, a recently formed collaboration of business, academic and economic development organizations intended to build information technology (IT) opportunities in South Carolina.

Boise State University has tapped Mary Givens as director of the newly formed Office of Technology Transfer within the university's Division of Research.  

G.P. "Bud" Peterson, chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder, was named the eleventh president of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

In a period of tightening budgets, it is important for stakeholders to know that the investments they are making in tech-based economic development are yielding positive economic results - and returning revenue to the state. Recent impact assessments to examine comprehensive TBED programs in three states show how smart these investments have been. More telling, different evaluation models were used in all three states and they each reached similar conclusions: strategic TBED investments can stimulate economic growth.

Today's Digest marks SSTI's 600th issue. The Digest's growth in circulation and coverage over the past 13 years parallels the explosive expansion of activities to strengthen regional economies through technology-based economic development. From its humble beginnings as a two-page fax sent out to 50 people on Friday March 1, 1996, to its current world-crossing circulation now in the thousands, the Digest remains committed to delivering timely information that will help state, local and university TBED practitioners succeed. For the history buffs among our readership, nearly every past issue of the Digest is archived on our website: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm.

As companies across the nation continue to announce massive layoffs during the economic recession, states, localities and private foundations are encouraging entrepreneurial training and providing support services to help create new jobs and assist struggling businesses.

Last month, the Kauffman Foundation announced an intensive effort to quickly train entrepreneurs and bolster the nation's economy. The $1 million FastTrac LaunchPad program is a combination of two existing initiatives - the FastTrac NewVenture and FastTrac GrowthVenture - offered in shorter lengths than the normal ten-week courses. The Kauffman Foundation points to U.S. Census Bureau Business Dynamic Statistics data, which indicates that while business startups decline slightly in most of the cyclical downturns, startups remain robust even in the most severe recession over the sample period (in the early 1980s).

On March 12 from 1:00-5:00 p.m. in San Francisco, SSTI is co-hosting a meeting with officials from the Technology Innovation Program (TIP) and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) that we would encourage you or one of your colleagues to attend. TIP and MEP are two of the most market-driven programs operated by the federal government. Both programs have launched new investments and innovative services in the last year.

Registration and additional information is available at: http://www.ssti.org/tipreg/tipreg.htm.

As instructed by the White House Office of Management and Budget on Feb. 17, at least 25 of the federal agencies that received funding through the Recovery Act have created recovery webpages to allow easier access for potential grantees to the funding opportunities available through the act. In addition, OMB believes the sites will help keep the distribution process as transparent and trackable as possible. OMB also is maintaining a master recovery site, http://www.recovery.gov/ to monitor overall progress of the stimulus bill.

Links to 25 agency recovery websites are available at: http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/agencies

Through exclusive interviews with Excellence in TBED Award recipients, find out first-hand how these award winning initiatives successfully responded to a critical need by applying innovative approaches to generate substantial economic gains for their region. Recently released podcasts include:

Mike Cassidy of the Georgia Research Alliance discusses their Eminent Scholars program. The podcast is available at: http://www.ssti.org/media/cassidy.html. Sheryl Bryan of the Virginia Council on Advanced Technology Skills (VCATS) provides details on replicating the program in other states and regions. The podcast is available at: http://www.ssti.org/media/bryan.html

State governments are poised to play a vital role in the economic recovery through their use of federally-appropriated funds and through their internal policy responses to the global crisis. Several states are focusing on innovation as a means of recovery. Massachusetts and Maine both recently released the latest editions of their annual innovation indices. These annual publications have long helped to clarify trends in the innovation economy and provided assessment of their performance relative to other states. This year these indices take on new significance as state governments search for potential paths out of the economic crisis.