SSTI Digest

According to statistics released last week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), per capita personal income in the U.S. was $38,632 in 2007, a 22.6 percent increase since 2003. Over this same five-year period, 118 of the country’s 363 metropolitan statistical areas experienced an increase in per capita income greater than the U.S. rate of growth. SSTI has prepared a table for all 363 U.S. metro areas, showing the change in per capita income from 2003 to 2007. By the numbers, the New Orleans metro area saw the largest increase in per capita income, growing 57.8 percent from $29,274 in 2003 before Hurricane Katrina, to $46,188 in 2007. Rounding out the top 10 were the metro areas centered around: Midland, TX Naples-Marco Island, FL Gulfport-Biloxi, MS Sebastian-Vero Beach, FL Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA Pascagoula, MS Odessa, TX Jacksonville, NC Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX According to the BEA press release announcing the data, federal payments to rebuild residences destroyed or damaged by severe weather in the Gulf Coast region greatly increased personal income in those metro areas. Additionally, gains from the oil and gas extraction industry…

The following overview is a synopsis of select recent announcements from research parks across the world, including groundbreakings and development plans to support vibrant regional economies based on science, technology and innovation.    The Armenian government recently allocated 80 million drams (est. $266,000 USD) from this year’s state budget to build a technopark in Gyumri, reports the ArmInfo News Agency. Armenian Minister of Trade and Economic Development Nerses Yeritsyan said that all main higher education institutes of Gyumri, as well as several international organizations and donors, are involved in the project, which is slated for completion by the end of the year.   New York Gov. David Paterson announced plans earlier this year for the creation of the Central New York Biotechnology Research Center, as part of a redevelopment plan in downtown Syracuse. Officials estimate the research complex will cost $30 million to $40 million and will support biotechnology educational and research programs, with collaboration from SUNY Upstate Medical University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Preliminary plans…

Four leading members of the technology-based economic development community were elected to the State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI) board of trustees today, each bringing fresh perspective and unique insight on issues affecting SSTI’s nationwide network of policymakers and practitioners working to improve state and regional economies through science, technology and innovation.   The four will join SSTI’s existing nine trustees in providing strategic guidance and oversight for the organization’s 39 state sponsors and 148 affiliates and supporters. Representing government, higher education and industry sectors, the new appointees are: Rebecca Bagley, deputy secretary for the Technology Investment Office of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, which serves as a catalyst for growth and competitiveness for Pennsylvania companies and universities; Ernest “Ernie” Dianastasis, managing director of CAI’s Delaware Valley Operation, a global information technology consulting, integrating and outsourcing services organization and chairman of First State Innovation, a nonprofit initiative to…

The full-color, full-conference brochure will hit the streets next week but we wanted to give Digest readers the first peek at what promises to be a very special event for the technology-based economic development (TBED) community. SSTI’s 12th Annual Conference will be held Oct. 14-16, 2008, at the Intercontinental Hotel Cleveland. As you scan the conference schedule on the website, you’ll discover we’re putting together our most complete and complex conference yet. Everything at the event is designed to help state, regional and university-based TBED initiatives answer two central questions arising repeatedly across the country – questions needing answers for the field and for the entire national innovation system: How do we make the most significant difference or impact for our regional economy? Where do we go from here? This is the TBED community’s not-to-miss event of the year, as once again, more than 300 top TBED practitioners are expected to attend from across the entire U.S. We closed registration early last year because we ran out of space – don’t let it happen to you in Cleveland! Register your TBED…

Last month, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced legislative approval of two TBED priorities unveiled during her State of the State Address, a program supporting in-state entrepreneurs and continued investment in an initiative to train displaced workers.  Gov. Granholm announced last week the launch of Invest Michigan!, a statewide initiative that commits $300 million in pension funds to provide capital assistance to start-up and expanding companies. The money will be divided equally between a Growth Capital Fund targeting venture capital and expansion-stage companies and a Michigan Opportunities Fund targeting potential acquisitions and buyouts, according to the governor’s press office. Investments of $2 million to $7 million are anticipated for the Growth Capital Fund, while officials expect to make about 10 investments ranging from $25 million to $125 million in the Michigan Opportunities Fund, the Detroit Free Press reports. To grow the size of the fund, the state will encourage additional institutional investors, such as in-state foundations, universities and the business community.   Gov. Granholm unveiled a new component of the program…

Despite ongoing concern about the lack of venture-backed initial public offerings (IPOs), venture investment held steady at $7.4 billion in the second quarter of 2008, according to the Moneytree Report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) based on data provided by Thompson Reuters. Though venture investment dropped slightly from $7.5 billion to $7.4 billion from the first to the second quarter of the year, venture activity remain on track to hit the same level of investment as 2007 by year’s end. While the overall figures seem encouraging, a much higher percentage of investment is being targeted at late-stage, rather than early-stage, companies and to firms based in Silicon Valley and not the rest of the country. This trend could mean trouble for new capital-seeking companies outside of the Bay Area. Software companies continue to represent the leading sector for venture investment with $1.25 billion in 219 deals during the second quarter. While biotechnology companies received the second-highest number of deals, the industrial/energy sector took over the second place spot in venture dollars for the first…

How should states determine the focus and location of significant investments into academic research? The process can easily become politicized when more than one research institution, sizable metropolitan area or major industry exist in the state. On occasion, geographic and political influences trump more rational factors, resulting in the “peanut butter effect” of dollars and activities being spread evenly across a state or across institutions at the possible detriment to having a meaningful impact. Similarly, as appears to be the case recently in Florida, the investment recommendations of an independent scientific advisory board can be overruled by legislative action. In Florida's case, the legislature redirected $65 million of funding planned for seven new university-based Centers of Excellence to just two centers, only one of which was recommended by the advisory board in its report to Governor Charlie Crist earlier this year. Florida legislators recently approved $87 million for the State University System’s Centers of Excellence in FY 2009. Approximately $22 million will be distributed among nine, older centers created in earlier…

Armed with professional advice from mentors in scientific fields and free access to sophisticated design and engineering software, teachers and students from Hawaii, Kansas, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Vermont and Virginia will participate in a national competition to solve a real-world engineering challenge defined by the aviation industry.   The idea behind the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Real World Design Challenge is to create a pipeline of highly qualified workers by preparing high school students for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields based on issues facing high-tech and defense industries.   Ralph Coppola, director of Worldwide Education for Parametric Technology Corporation, said many aerospace and defense companies that work as contractors to national security agencies are concerned the U.S. is not producing enough qualified workers who must be able to work on both the defense and commercial side. A survey conducted with these companies in the Northeast found 54 percent of the workforce is 45 years or older and one-third are eligible for retirement today. At the same time, engineering…

Opportunities to secure jobs requiring specialized training and more educated workers - the same types of higher wage positions coveted by U.S. tech-based economic development practitioners - increasingly are appearing in other countries as companies look to enter new markets and reduce costs. As a result, offshoring and its effects on an ever-changing U.S. labor force are topics receiving a lot of play during this election cycle. Offshoring is not being discussed only by politicians, however. What follows is a synthesis of four recent research reports shedding light on different angles or perspectives of the offshoring debate. In their recent working paper, Runjuan Liu of the University of Alberta and Daniel Trefler of the University of Toronto explore certain cumulative effects of how the exchange of service jobs through China and India are impacting the U.S. labor market. In Much Ado about Nothing: American Jobs and the Rise of Service Outsourcing to China and India, the authors not only attempt to quantify the repercussions of outsourcing U.S. service jobs to these lower-wage countries from the years 1996 to 2005 but examine the service positions that are…

A complete description of this opportunity and others is available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm. High Tech Rochester (HTR), a nonprofit economic development organization focused on the Greater Rochester, N.Y., technology and high growth business sector, is seeking someone to serve as its president and CEO. This position will report to an active and engaged Board of Directors and be responsible for the overall performance of HTR and its programs, among other responsibilities. An undergraduate degree (technical degree preferred) and an MBA or other relevant graduate training or experience is required. Candidates also should have 10 years of business experience and managerial responsibility in a fast-paced entrepreneurial setting.

A consortium of Michigan’s 15 public universities recently announced a decade-long initiative to launch 200 new businesses in the state. The Michigan Initiative for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MIIE) plans to raise and distribute $75 million over the next seven years through grants for commercialization projects, university-industry partnerships and entrepreneurship education. Last week, the initiative made its first round of awards, which included 20 grants totaling $1.3 million. Another $2.2 million in matching funds is expected for this round of awardees from private businesses and universities. Funding for the round of grants was provided by the C.S. Mott Foundation, which also helped launch the initiative with a $2 million grant late last year. MIIE plans to raise future funds through partnerships and donations from other philanthropic foundations around the state. Two-thirds of the funds raised by the initiative will support awards through the Technology Commercialization Fund, which funds specific steps to move a technology to market through a new company or licensing. The remaining amount will support the Industry and Economic…

California California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill authorizing community service districts to provide high-speed Internet services in areas in which no private company has done so. The districts, which provide basic infrastructure such as water, sewer and police services, will help extend broadband access into rural areas of the state that remain underserved. The bill reflects the recommendations of the California Broadband Task Force, which was created in 2006 by Gov. Schwarzenegger and presented its findings in January (see the Dec. 4, 2006 issue of the Digest). This action comes on the heels of a new report from the Public Policy Institute of California and the California Emerging Technology Fund, which finds that the digital divide in the state is growing between key demographics. Rural residents are marginally less likely to have access to a high-speed connection than urban dwellers, but some groups in both urban and rural areas are less likely to have access. Less than half of Hispanics in the state have home computers and only about a third have access to a broadband connection. About two-thirds of white, black and Asian residents have at-…