SSTI Digest

George Burrell is the new president and CEO of Innovation Philadelphia.

Randy Goldsmith, is the new president and CEO of the Mississippi Technology Alliance. Goldsmith formerly was Assistant Vice President for Technology Transfer and Economic Development at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio.

Krista Paternostro is the new vice president of operations at the Pittsburgh Technology Council.

This week's Funding Supplement will be sent on Thursday, June 29. With the Fourth of July holiday, neither the SSTI Weekly Digest or Funding Supplement will be published next week.

The fifth installment to Walkin' the Tech Talkin' Gov Walk (see the April 17, May 8, June 5 and June 12 issues of the Digest) covers the outcome of the 2006 Massachusetts legislative sessions. Following is a synopsis of bills passed and budget appropriations relevant to tech-based economic development and the priorities outlined in respective gubernatorial addresses at the beginning of 2006. Massachusetts The legislature last week enacted Gov. Mitt Romney's economic stimulus bill. During his State-of-the-Commonwealth Address, Gov. Romney asked for legislative support for the bill he proposed a year ago (see the Jan. 23 issue of the Digest). The bill includes $80 million to spur activity in the life sciences and technology sectors, creates a $13 million cultural facilities fund, and invests $23 million in workforce development and training. It also establishes a new office to bring wireless or broadband Internet access to the entire state and provides scholarships for students who pursue math and science careers. A main focus of the economic stimulus legislation is to support and grow the…

Four short years ago, 37 states were in fiscal crisis, many making several rounds of deep spending cuts to cope with the most dramatic reduction in revenues in 20 years. In all, more than $15 billion were shaved from state budgets. Twenty-one states experienced negative revenue growth in FY 2003, forcing even deeper cuts. The fiscal winter of '02-'03 slowed many states' strategies for supporting growth in their knowledge-based economies. In contrast, the latest June 2006 Fiscal Survey of the States, prepared by the National Association of State Budget Officers and the National Governors Association, reveals only four states were forced to reduce enacted budgets during FY 2006 because of revenues falling short of projections when budgets were enacted. The four were Indiana, Louisiana (post-Katrina), New Jersey and Rhode Island. In fact, total state general fund spending was 7.6 percent higher in 2006 compared with 2005 - 18.75 percent higher than the 29-year historical average annual growth rate of 6.4 percent. State contributions to Medicare account for most of the growth, however. Federal contributions for Medicare…

A $1.46 million grant from the Economic Development Administration to the Sirti Foundation is making possible a $3 million loan fund to technology companies within a 10-county region of Eastern Washington. The program provides another example of the non-traditional use of EDA funds to support tech-based economic development strategies. In addition, the deal structure may serve as a model to help other public agencies encourage TBED activities typically outside the scope or possibility of many public entities. The Sirti Technology Growth Fund is designed to accelerate technology companies in a number of market sectors, including bio-products/health sciences, energy and the environment, value-added agriculture, and defense/homeland security that do not qualify for conventional bank financing. Sirti, an economic development agency of Washington State, identified a gap in funding sources for start-up, emerging and expanding technology-based companies in the Inland Northwest. Such companies typically have a marketable product but require financial and other resources to successfully "go the distance." Help with launching the company, products or services…

Despite industry claims to the contrary, the recovery of the U.S. information technology (IT) sector has not created enough new jobs for IT workers, according to a new report from the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers. Information Technology Labor Markets: Rebounding, but Slowly reveals that the recent increase in IT spending has not led to a full recovery in the labor market. The Alliance worked with the University of Illinois at Chicago's Center for Urban Economic Development (CUED) to prepare the report. CUED finds that only 76,300 IT jobs have been created in the U.S. since April 2003. This represents less than a quarter of the 383,100 jobs lost during the 2001-2003 recession. IT employment growth remains sluggish and well below pre-recession levels. The report cites the rise in global IT outsourcing as a factor in the protracted recovery. A growing number of processes and services associated with the industry "have been outsourced to providers in low-wage countries," leaving U.S. IT workers un- or under-employed. Offshore outsourcing is expected to increase over the next few years and, according to the CUED study…

The federal government distributed $26.7 billion to universities in the U.S. in fiscal year 2003 - a 9.4 percent increase from the FY 2002 total of $24.4 billion, a recently released National Science Foundation report reveals. Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions: Fiscal Year 2003 details federal science & engineering (S&E) activities to the nation's institutions of higher education. The NSF report divides federal S&E obligations to universities into six categories: R&D; R&D plant; facilities and equipment for S&E instruction; fellowships, traineeships and training grants; general support for S&E; and other S&E activities. Using NSF data, SSTI has prepared a table showing the state rankings for the percent change from 1999-2003 for total federal academic S&E obligations. Nationally, federal S&E obligations grew by 47.61 percent over the five years. South Dakota saw the largest increase with 112.25 percent, followed by Hawaii (89.24 percent), Kentucky (84.72 percent), Idaho (82.05 percent) and Vermont (80.39 percent).…

Southern Growth Policies Board, in partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has designed a survey to identify the needs of small and medium-sized manufacturers in the area of information technology. The 20-question survey takes only a few minutes to complete and the results will be used to develop new programs to help small and medium-sized manufacturers. To participate, visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=358482117916. For more information, contact Charity Pennock at cpennock@southern.org.

Phil Bond will become president and CEO of the Information Technology Association of America in August. Bond formerly was undersecretary for technology in the U.S. Department of Commerce. Joni Cobb is the first president of KTEC Pipeline, Kansas's new technology entrepreneurship fellowship program. John Hanson has joined the staff of the University of Connecticut Office of Technology Commercialization to serve as director for the new Tech-Knowledge Portal. Rob Jaffe, director of federal funding programs with Innovation Philadelphia, is resigning to become a senior underwriter for Institutional Lending at Commerce Bank. Brian Thompson, formerly a managing director of Wisconsin's TechStar, is now senior advisor for research and strategic initiatives at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Foundation.

Phil Bond will become president and CEO of the Information Technology Association of America in August. Bond formerly was undersecretary for technology in the U.S. Department of Commerce.