SSTI Digest

Last week, NASDAQ saw the debut of the Illinois Tech Index (symbol: ILTI), currently recognized as the only technology index in the U.S. tracking publicly traded technology companies within an individual state. Based on 61 firms with their headquarters in Illinois, the Illinois Tech Index is derived from the aggregate value of the firms’ total shares outstanding. When the index officially started on Monday, May 19, the base value of the ILTI was 1000.00. As of Wednesday’s close of markets, the Index finished at 969.20.   The AeA and the Illinois Biotechnology Industry Organization (iBio) identified within certain industries the Illinois companies eligible for inclusion. The composition of the index will be updated on a semiannual basis. Besides highlighting the state’s leading tech companies, the mission of the Illinois Tech Index is to increase the state’s venture capital and technology investment activity, attract technology talent and jobs, and support entrepreneurial growth.  

Minnesota legislators established the Office of Science and Technology (OST) to develop a collaborative partnership between industry, academia and government that will coordinate federal funding procurement efforts in S&T with Minnesota. OST's efforts will focus on developing the partnership to help small help businesses access federal grants for technology development and promote contractual relationships between Minnesota small, medium and large businesses according to the governor's press office.    The Department of Employment and Economic Development will receive $400,000 for the effort in fiscal year 2009 to expand current SBIR and STTR efforts and develop a process for technology partnering and commercialization to enhance the S&T funding pipeline.   Legislators also approved:  $9 million for bioscience business development infrastructure;

Earlier this month, the governors of Oregon and New York both outlined changes to the structure of their states’ lead economic development organizations.   Before Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed Executive Order 08-11 to reorganize the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department (OECDD), it consisted of three components: The Business and Trade Development Division, which performs business recruitment and efforts to engage small business and provides international trade and regulatory assistance; The Innovation and Economic Strategies Division, which primarily develops and administers programs to promote innovation, sustainability, and clusters within the state; and, The Community Development Division, which assists public infrastructure projects, such as building portable water and wastewater systems, in addition to administering Oregon’s Community Development Block Grants.

Offering customized workspace such as wet laboratories and specialized research equipment is one of the many benefits provided by technology-focused incubators. Access to university research, business mentoring and administrative support services often accompany the reduced rent facilities with the goal of growing technology companies into successful, self-sustaining enterprises. Following are select announcements of recently launched incubators and partnerships from across the nation.    GateWay Community College recently received a recommendation from the Phoenix Parks, Education, Bioscience and Sustainability subcommittee of the Phoenix City Council to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the college to build a bioscience incubator laboratory with wet lab space, the Arizona Republic reports. The wet lab would be a minimum of 5,000 sq. ft. and located near the Phoenix Biomedical Campus.  

Last week, Congress approved the $300 billion "farm bill" with large bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate (318-to-106 and 81-to-15, respectively). The wide margins belie that fact that the bill remains somewhat controversial outside of Congress for its lack of reform of farm and crop subsidies. President Bush vetoed the bill today, citing concerns about its continued support of large subsidies for agricultural producers despite record profits for the farming industry. With veto-proof majorities in both houses, however, the bill is likely to survive.   Despite being dubbed the farm bill, farm programs only account for 12 percent of spending in the bill. Many TBED-related programs are expected to receive funding increases if the bill becomes law.  

As readers know, the United Kingdom is no slouch in the world’s economy. A steady rise in productivity since 1997, the pound trading at nearly twice the dollar, and the home of some of the world’s top research universities and a global financial center for centuries all attest to the United Kingdom’s strong economic position.   How it is preparing to sustain and expand its competitive position through strategies like those enumerated in the April release of Innovation Nation stands in sharp contrast to U.S. policies and investments to support science and technology-based growth.   For evidence, one needs look no further than the unit of the British government that released the strategy – the UK Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). DIUS has no U.S. counterpart working to coordinate advanced research investments, workforce preparedness, and tech-based economic development initiatives. U.S. efforts in these areas are scattered across several agencies and have been perennial targets and often victims for budget.  

Several key proposals championed by Gov. Kathleen Seblius to prepare the state for an innovation-based economy were adopted by the legislature in the approved fiscal year 2009 budget signed into law by the governor earlier this month.   In February, Gov. Sebelius signed an executive order forming the Kansas Innovation Consortium announced during her State of the State Address (see the Jan. 23, 2008 issue of the Digest). The initiative brings together key industry clusters within the state, including animal, plant and life sciences, health, manufacturing, agriculture, logistics and energy, and is charged with attracting new investments in R&D and ensuring the state has a prepared workforce. Lawmakers did not, however, include the governor’s recommendation of $150,000 in the FY09 budget for related start-up costs.  

Legislative approval of several measures to support the state’s energy initiatives were accompanied with lawmakers’ rejection of Gov. Linda Lingle’s proposals to fund Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs and expand TBED initiatives at the conclusion of the 2008 legislative session earlier this month.   Lawmakers allocated $8.7 million ($2.8 million above the governor’s recommendation) in fiscal year 2008-09 for the Hawaii Renewable Hydrogen Program, a key component of the governor’s Energy for Tomorrow package. The legislation stipulates that the Hawaii Strategic Development Corporation submit a report before the 2009 legislative session convenes on the measures of effectiveness of the program, details of expenditures, and a master plan for the renewable hydrogen program detailing planned expenditures.   The legislature also adopted Gov. Lingle’s proposal to expedite permitting of renewable energy facilities and created an energy facilitator position to assist with the permitting process in support the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative.  

During the 1990s, especially the mid- to late-part of the decade, many countries experienced booms in their high-tech and venture capital industries. Few, however, grew at the same pace as Israel.   Israeli entrepreneurs created eight times as many high-tech companies during the 1990s than in the previous decade and equity investment in Israeli start-ups grew from $50 million to $6.65 billion. The number of venture capital companies in the country jumped from two in 1990 to about 100 in 2000.   In "From Direct Support of Business Sector R&D/Innovation to Targeting Venture Capital/Private Equity: A Catching-Up Innovation and Technology Policy Life Cycle Perspective," Gil Avnimelech and Morris Teubal explore this phenomenal growth and how the Israeli government effectively intervened and bolstered the venture capital economy.  

The network of community colleges throughout the U.S. has an integral and increasing role in preparing the nation’s workforce for career and technical training. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 6.2 million full-time and part-time students attended public two-year colleges in 2005 – about 41 percent of the nation’s total undergraduate population. Two reports released earlier this month provide a deeper look into U.S. community colleges, one highlighting metrics for community colleges within each state and another exploring community colleges’ relationships with one-stop centers for workforce needs.   In The States and Their Community Colleges, David Shaffer of The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government finds great differences in the enrollment and affordability of community colleges between states. The report illustrates a variety of measures to compare states, including:

Excitement for SSTI's 12th annual conference is growing. Sponsorship opportunities are available to help build awareness of your TBED program and build beneficial relationships with the nation's top state and regional TBED decision makers at this year's event. Last year’s conference included more than 350 representatives from 48 states and four countries.

Your organization can join with our current sponsors to take advantage of this powerful networking and outreach opportunity by contacting Noelle Sheets, SSTI director of membership services, at sheets [at] ssti [dot] org or 614.901.1690. Please contact SSTI as soon as possible to request the 2008 sponsorship benefit information, as all national sponsorship opportunities are on a first-come, first-served basis.

Encouraging Regional Innovation will be held Oct. 14-16 in Cleveland. More information is available at http://www.ssticonference.org/.

SSTI would like to thank our current 2008 Conference National Sponsors:

Dr. Michel Bitritto was named director of the new business incubator being run by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.

Dr. Peter Reczek was appointed executive director of the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology.

Don Siegel, president of the Technology Transfer Society, will be dean of the School of Business at the University of Albany, SUNY, beginning in fall 2008.

Michael Skaggs, former president and CEO of Next Generation Economy Inc., was named executive director of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development.

Paul Wetenhall stepped down as executive director of High Tech Rochester (HTR) to become president of the Ben Craig Center in Charlotte. David Hessler, an HTR entrepreneur-in-residence, was appointed interim president in Wetenhall's stead.