SSTI Digest

According to the latest index from JointVenture Silicon Valley, 2007 looks like a pretty good year compared to 2006 when you look at many standard measures of economic performance. There were 28,000 new jobs created, a 1.5 percent increase in population, and 21 percent growth in solar and wind energy installations. Water use also dropped 6 percent, venture capital investments were up 11 percent, median household income rose, and city revenues were up 37 percent.

 

A closer look at some of the socio-economic indicators in the Silicon Valley Index, first published in 1995, suggests all is not good for the sustainability of the Valley’s economy, however. Foreclosure rates were four times higher than the previous year, high school graduation rates dropped, and reading proficiencies dropped.

 

The agricultural states that lie east of the Rocky Mountains are at the center of an escalating decline in population, far exceeding that of other regions of the country. Of particular concern is the effect of population loss among young, educated workers on the states’ economies, resulting in a brain drain that could leave the region lagging the rest of the nation for many years to come.

 

A number of areas cry “brain drain” whenever they see statistics for where graduates go after finishing college. Often, those arguments are made without looking at the more useful measure of net migration, the result of considering in-migration as well as out-migration.

 

In recent years, Iowa, like many midwestern states, has experienced a boom in ethanol production. Iowa's natural competitive advantage in growing and processing corn has helped it to move to the forefront of the emerging biofuels industry. The state provides numerous incentives and assistance programs through its Department of Natural Resources to help spur the creation of ethanol-related companies and jobs. A new report by Iowa State University economist David Swenson, however, argues that even if these programs are successful at building a strong ethanol industry, the overall economic impact of this success would be smaller than predicted.

 

The North Carolina Board of Science and Technology, for a long time serving mostly in an advisory capacity to Gov. Mike Easley, increasingly is more involved in the direct delivery of technology-based economic development programs. The latest addition to its growing portfolio of programs is a $1 million Green Business Fund to help small businesses commercialize promising green and alternative energy technologies.

 

Under the new program, the Board will provide grants of up to $100,000 to North Carolina-based small businesses with 100 or fewer employees. The award process will be competitive, with priority given to proposals that aid in the following:

New Mexico’s 2008 legislative session wrapped up last week, resulting in no final action on several TBED-related bills and leading Gov. Bill Richardson to call a special legislative session to address his health care reform agenda.

 

Gov. Richardson signed the General Appropriations Act of 2009 and the Junior Budget Bill with minimal vetoes but vetoed a Capital Outlay package, which included $2 million to the board of regents of Northern New Mexico for a proposed solar energy research park ($1 million less than requested) and $3.5 million for clean energy grants to public entities for innovative energy projects within the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. The legislature passed the capital bill again, giving the governor until March 5 to approve it with individual line-item vetoes, if he deems necessary.

 

Research-based companies draw much of their advantage in the market from their investment in technology development and the knowledge capital they have accumulated over time. Since this knowledge represents potential revenue, many companies jealously guard their intellectual property (IP) with non-compete clauses and other legal contracts with their employees. No company, however, can completely stop the outward flow of information. One of the most important means by which information can escape is through the movement of employees from one job to another. Reputations for Toughness in Patent Enforcement: Implications for Knowledge Spillovers via Inventor Mobility, a recent paper by Rajshree Agarwal, Martin Ganco and Rosemarie Ziedonis, states that a company’s reputation for intellectual property enforcement can significantly reduce the value lost through employee movement.