SSTI Digest

The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development appointed Benjamin Wu as the assistant secretary for the Capital Region and senior advisor for technology policy.

To develop and promote higher education research facilities and faculty in Virginia, Gov. Mark Warner proposed $218.8 million in his fiscal year 2006-08 biennial budget proposal for investment in university R&D. In response, state institutions of higher education have pledged to match the governor's proposal with a $299 million commitment.

The funding allows for the hiring of top researchers in the fields of biomedical science, biomaterials engineering, nanotechnology, and modeling and simulation, whose presence will attract more grant-funded research to the Commonwealth, according to the governor's office. In addition to having economic benefits, the initiative also invests in the search for cures for cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, the governor said.

Nearly 40,000 people in 120 countries have placed deposits with the British commercial space company for the opportunity to become tourists in space, according to Virgin Galactic. Last Tuesday, New Mexico's governor said he wants the state to spend $100 million over the next three years to help get them there.

Gov. Bill Richardson and Virgin Companies chairman Richard Branson announced the world's first spaceport designed for personal spaceflight will be built on 27-square miles of state land in southern New Mexico, at an estimated total cost of $225 million. The package includes development of Virgin Galactic's world headquarters, to be built underground, as well as the above-ground runway and support buildings.

Following months of debate that ended in a veto last month by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, an agreement was made last week on a $600 million tax relief package for businesses, which now awaits the governor's anticipated signature. Gov. Granholm signed into law the $1 billion Job Creation Fund last month, but rejected a package of tax cuts over a disagreement on two of the bills (see the Dec.5 issue of the Digest).

One of the most critical federal partners involved either directly or indirectly in determining the success of most state tech-based economic development strategies seeks input from the science and engineering (S&E) community in the development of its next five-year plan.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is one of the federal government's most important resources for encouraging scientific inquiry, technological advancement, innovation and discovery, providing approximately 20 percent of all federal support for basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities. The independent agency also has been responsible for the design and development of programs integral to most state and local tech-based economic development efforts, programs such as EPSCoR, SBIR/STTR, Partnerships for Innovation, and the Engineering Research Centers, to note a few.

On paper, the Jan. 4 FedEx Rose Bowl, which pits the Universities of Texas and Southern California against each other, will decide college football's national champion. On the same playing field therein will be teams from two states trying to tackle something of a slightly different nature - the need for a talented, educated and diverse workforce to support regional economies built on high-paying jobs.

Los Angeles Receives Plan for Building Tech Talent, Businesses

The City of Los Angeles must do more to bridge the gap between its high-tech, research-oriented assets and its low-skilled immigrant workforce if its economy is to grow into the global powerhouse city leaders envision, one recent study finds.

While women are making strides in entrepreneurship, they still have a ways to go, particularly in science and technology (S&T) fields. This was the theme during the session, Encouraging Women Entrepreneurship, conducted during SSTI's 9th Annual Conference on Oct. 19-21, 2005.

Maggie Kenefake, manager of women's entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation, said there are encouraging signs that women are stepping up to the plate, so to speak, when it comes to owning their own businesses. For example, the rate of increase for starting new firms among women is three times the rate for men, and women-owned businesses currently account for 40 percent of all start-ups.

Most of the media coverage for the MoneyTree™ Survey of venture capital investments, prepared quarterly through collaboration of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association, focuses on the amount of money invested in a particular state or region during the given period and its change relative to another given time period.

Most tech-based economic developers, indices and TBED policy-influencing decisionmakers also use VC dollars as an indicator of the health of their region. This may be unfortunate. Should TBED organizations worry if the dollar figures reported for their state or community in one quarter are lower than the previous quarter while another state's remained equal or increased?

With the upcoming two Monday holidays for Christmas and New Year's Day, the next issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest will be published on Jan. 9, 2006. The Funding Supplement will reconvene publication the week of Jan. 9 as well.

If you are not a staff member of one of SSTI's state sponsors, affiliates or supporters, this week's issue of the Funding Supplement will be the last SSTI sends to you. The current list of SSTI members is available at http://www.ssti.org/sponsors.htm. More information, including benefits and a link to a secure registration form, are available at http://www.ssti.org/benefits.htm.

We wish everyone an enjoyable holiday season.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. released last week his fiscal year 2007 budget request, providing a substantial boost in funding for the Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) Initiative. In FY 2005, the legislature appropriated $4 million to fund the initial phase of the initiative. This year, the governor is recommending $62 million for infrastructure and programs.

Under the governor's request, $50 million in one-time funding would be used for building new research laboratories at the University of Utah (U of U) and Utah State University (USU). Program funding includes $11 million of additional ongoing money for a total of $15 million to continue attracting research teams to the state and $1 million of ongoing money for commercialization of research and the creation of Innovation Centers.

Over the last 15 years, few states have been as focused on investing in higher education to encourage sustainable economic prosperity as Georgia. At SSTI's 9th Annual Conference on Oct. 19-21, 2005, presenters made the case that the southern state is a national leader in American higher education.

Higher Ed as the Basis for Economic Growth: The Georgia Story featured Mike Cassidy, president and chief executive officer of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA). Joining Cassidy were Michael Gerber, president of the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education (ARCHE), Joy Hymel, executive director of the Intellectual Capital Partnership Program (ICAPP), and David Lee, director of strategic research and analysis of the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC).

An increasing number of states are realizing the potential role renewable energy can play in their tech-based economic development strategies (TBED) and future growth. While nearly all provide some financial support to encourage the use of renewable sources of energy (see, for example, the Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy), several are looking at the R&D side of the equation for future technological breakthroughs. Funding and attention for the next wave is often driven toward universities, utility companies and large players in the energy market.

A less exploited element of renewable energy is the role currently available technologies from several energy streams can play for businesses in rural locations -- reducing costs, identifying alternate profit streams and giving them a competitive edge over their urban counterparts.