SSTI Digest

While discussions of successful university technology transfer programs tend to revolve around a select set of high-achieving institutions, a number of less-recognized institutions are now being proposed as national models for their approaches to entrepreneurial support and regional outreach. A recent report from Innovation Associates highlights 10 colleges, universities and community colleges that are emerging as significant contributors to their regional economy through tech transfer activities. The list includes institutions that are maximizing the impact of their research investment and entrepreneurial programs despite their small size, geographic isolation, or limited R&D budget. Montana State University, Springfield Technical Community College and the University of Central Florida are listed among these emerging tech transfer centers. Drawing from the 10 case studies, the authors have assembled a set of recommendations for institutions that aspire to have a greater regional impact through tech transfer. The report advises university administrators to create greater connections between their institutions' entrepreneurial services and programs…

The U.S. venture and angel markets appear to have fully recovered from their slump earlier this decade. Pricewaterhouse Coopers' Moneytree Survey reports that as of the third quarter, 2007 is on track to become the most active year for venture investment since 2001. Three years after hitting a tech bust low of just under $20 billion in 2003, venture firms investment surpassed $26 billion last year. Venture fundraising has been even stronger, as funds recovered from a low of less than $5 billion in 2001 to more than $30 billion in 2006. Meanwhile, U.S. angel investment has posted some impressive gains, jumping from an estimated $15.7 billion in 2002 to $25.6 billion last year, according to the University of New Hampshire's Venture Research Center. Angel investment, which had been a distinctly secondary market in past years, has become as active a market as venture investment. With so much capital available for new and expanding businesses eager to pursue equity capital, why do many state and local leaders still report that capital gaps remain a serious impediment to economic growth? Despite the rapid expansion of investment overall, this new capital…

Southern Growth Policies Board recently announced the launch of two new, searchable web-based tools and the redesign of its website. The Southern.org website has been redesigned to provide users with improved navigational tools and greater access to Southern Growth's research, toolkits, best practices and publications. Southern Growth also added a scrolling regional calendar and two new, searchable online tools -- the Southern Compass News Portal and the Southern Growth Idea Bank. The Southern Compass News Portal at www.southerncompassnews.org includes a searchable archive of Southern Growth's weekly e-mail newsletter, Southern Compass, with additional tools. The portal offers users the opportunity to research articles, publications, press releases, announcements and trends in four broad areas - community & quality of life, globalization, technology & innovation, and workforce development - chronologically for up to a year's worth of Southern Compass issues. Users can search more than 900 articles by keywords, broad categories, chronologically or in combination. The Southern Compass News portal also offers links to a…

Complete descriptions of these opportunities and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm. The Missouri Small Business Technology Development Center, which focuses on strengthening the technological competitiveness of Missouri's businesses, is seeking someone for the position of technology commercialization specialist/counselor. This person will serve as a statewide specialist to provide leadership, expertise and training to university faculty and staff and private sector clients, as well as guidance for commercialization of products and development of companies. A master's degree in engineering, business, science or a related area with appropriate coursework, along with five or more years of relevant experience, is required. South Dakota State University (SDSU), the state's land-grant institution with more than 11,000 students, invites applications and nominations for the position of technology transfer coordinator in SDSU's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. The technology transfer coordinator is responsible for overseeing university activities of faculty, staff and students for technology…

As part of SSTI's 11th Annual Conference, recipients of the first annual SSTI Excellence in TBED Awards were honored for their participation in a national competition showcasing best practices in approaches to building tech-based economies.   Designed to celebrate exceptional achievement in addressing the elements that have been found in successful technology-based economies, the awards program recognizes efforts to improve state and regional economies through science, technology and innovation.   “Successful tech-based economies have strong research infrastructure, ability to commercialize research, access to capital, a skilled workforce, and an entrepreneurial culture,” said SSTI President and CEO Dan Berglund. “They also encourage existing industries to become more competitive. These initiatives demonstrate the successful approaches that are being taken across the country.”   The 2007 Excellence in TBED Award winners include: Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholars® - Expanding the Research Infrastructure Category. The purpose of the GRA Eminent Scholars program is to bring pre-eminent…

On the heels of our successful 2007 annual conference, held last week in Baltimore, SSTI is pleased to announce that Cleveland will be the location for our 12th annual conference. The nation’s premier event for sharing ideas on the best ways to encourage technology-based economic development and foster regional prosperity in a global economy will be held at the InterContinental Hotel in Cleveland, Oct. 14-16, 2008.    Cleveland was selected after a national competitive bid process. Key to winning the bid was the efforts of NorTech in demonstrating regional commitments to technology research, development, innovation, commercialization, and entrepreneurship to spur economic growth in Northeast Ohio. NorTech, Northeast Ohio’s leading technology-based economic development organization, worked in partnership with the Ohio Department of Development, regional businesses, foundations, research institutions, and nonprofit community. “We are thrilled that SSTI has selected Cleveland to host its next annual conference,” said Dorothy Baunach, president and chief executive officer of NorTech. “We look forward to sharing with attendees…

Thank you! Interest in SSTI's 11th annual conference has been extremely high since the agenda was released during the summer, and, as we expected and warned, SSTI will not be able to accommodate walk-in registrations on the day of the event. We apologize for the inconvenience and the missed opportunity this creates for a number of Digest readers. The 375 TBED practitioners that will be in attendance next week are in for a great professional development experience. More than 240 different TBED-related organizations from across the continent are represented among the lucky participants - not unlike the six golden ticket winners for the tour of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory (the nice Willy Wonka from the 1970s, not the darker one in the more recent Tim Burton remake). The conference has its own cast of stars with more than 60 presenters, panelists and discussion leaders to lead the 19 breakout workshops and plenary sessions. Among the stars presenting next week will be key staff representing the six recipients of the Inaugural winners for SSTI's Excellence in TBED Awards. All six categories of TBED strategies and programs…

Washington State is attempting to replicate the success of North Carolina’s Research Triangle in promoting regionalism and industry clusters through a new Innovation Partnership Zones initiative.   Gov. Christine Gregoire announced last week the designation of 11 Innovation Partnership Zones throughout the state -- five of which were also awarded state grants totaling $4.3 million allocated in the fiscal year 2007-09 capital budget (see the April 30, 2007 issue of the Digest).   To qualify for the designation, applicants must bring research, workforce training and a globally competitive company together in close geographic proximity for a cooperative, research-based effort that will lead to new commercially viable products and jobs, according to the governor’s press office. The idea is to form industry clusters around universities and research parks, utilizing resources from higher education institutions to grow companies in emerging fields. The five applicants awarded grants include: Bellingham Innovation Zone for low-wake, fast ferry vessel prototypes, hydroscience and engineering and design, wake wash energy…

The angel market may be showing the first signs of leveling off following four years of moderate sustained growth. Angel investment in U.S. companies fell 6 percent in the first two quarters of 2007, according to the University of New Hampshire's Center for Venture Research (CVR). The decline itself is modest but is also the first indication that the angel market, which is a valuable capital source for many early-stage companies, may not be able to continue its pattern of steady post-tech bust growth.   The CVR report also finds that the average deal size fell by 4 percent during the first half of the year, and the number of deals declined marginally at 2 percent. At the same time, however, the number of investors per deal increased by 10 percent, signaling the increasing importance of angel networks in the industry. The new numbers also reflect greater industry diversification in angel investments. The industrial distribution of angel capital is important because of the angel industry's role in creating the next wave of expanding companies and prospective future investments for venture capital funds. Last year, the top…

The National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices has selected seven states to participate in a year-long policy academy named State Strategies for Promoting Innovative Clusters and Regional Economies. Teams from the seven states – Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oregon and West Virginia – will collaborate with staff from the NGA to create action plans for improving each state’s competitiveness and economy through cluster development. Additionally, during the next year, the selected states will learn about research on clusters and best practices for cluster improvement, perform an analysis to gain insight on their existing state clusters, and plan strategies to orient state investments, workforce development, and education initiatives around potential clusters.   But what are the main factors that influence the growth of successful clusters within regions? Andreas Eisingerlich and Leslie Boehm peer into this question in a recent article in Business Insight, a series produced this year by the Wall Street Journal in cooperation with M.I.T. Sloan Management Review. After looking at different clusters on three continents,…

Announced last week, Ivy Tech Community College will receive a $3.18 million grant for training individuals from a 14-county region in North Central Indiana in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. The grant, a component of the $15 million Indiana Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, will establish the New Pathways to STEM-based Careers program. The New Pathways program will be concentrated into three distinct areas: Emerging workers – For individuals who have not yet entered the workforce, providing educational and site visit opportunities for pre-college and college students. Middle and high school students will be able to utilize dual credit opportunities for high school and college courses, respectively. Existing workers – Geared towards helping individuals change career paths and acquire skill advancement, especially in the manufacturing and industrial technology fields. Both the Lafayette and Kokomo regions with North Central Indiana will serve up to 1,000 people. New programs – Will create new academic programs for emerging and rapidly growing fields,…

Mark Allen was named the new senior vice provost for research and innovation at Georgia Tech. Allen replaces Charlie Liotta, who has returned to the school's faculty. Gov. Linda Lingle announced 18 appointments to the Hawaii Innovation Council, which will work with groups statewide to increase the economic impact of Hawaii's innovation resources. Co-chairmen include Mark Benioff, Ron Higgins and Jay Shidler. George Burrell resigned as president and CEO of Innovation Philadelphia. Kelly Lee, the organization's executive vice president, is running day-to-day operations until Burrell's successor is named. Jim Cookinham, founder of the Northeast Ohio Software Association and vice president of networks and education for COSE (Council for Smaller Enterprises), said he will retire at the end of 2007. Eric Cromwell is the new president of Tennessee Technology Development Corp., an organization designed to leverage state, federal and private sector investments in science and technology infrastructure for economic value. Michael Dailey was elected…