SSTI Digest

After several months of debate regarding a number of economic development initiatives, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed into law a major economic stimulus bill. However, unhappy with portions of a separate tax break package for businesses, the governor vetoed two of the 10 bills.

Gov. Granholm signed into law a bill creating the 21st Century Jobs Fund, first introduced in her State-of-the-State Speech earlier this year (see the Feb . 21 issue of the Digest). The new initiative appropriates $400 million over fiscal years 2006-07 from tobacco settlement money to provide immediate funds for job creation and to increase Michigan's high-technology economy, according to the governor's press office. Funding for the initiative will be focused in three areas:

At the end of November, President Bush signed the fiscal year 2006 Appropriations Bill for the Department of Energy & Water, H.R. 2419. A summary of the Administration's budget request for DOE is available in the Feb. 14 issue of the Digest. Highlights of the bill include:

Department of Energy

The Office of Science is funded at $3.63 billion, an increase of $33 million from the FY05 appropriations and $170 million beyond the Administration's request. Within the Office of Science, $290.6 million is slated for fusion sciences research, the same as the Administration's request. Other Office of Science initiatives include:

Note: This is the first in a series of articles SSTI will be running over the next several weeks to provide synopses of selected breakout sessions from SSTI's 9th Annual Conference, held Oct. 19-21, 2005, in Atlanta. Ideas for 2006 conference sessions can be forwarded to skinner@ssti.org. Look for more news on SSTI's 10th annual conference beginning in late winter.

The Oct. 21 morning conference session, Sound Strategies for Encouraging Regional Entrepreneurship, was presented by two dynamic speakers who offered an array of valuable lessons learned garnered through years of experience promoting growth through strategic science and technology strategies.

In another wing of the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta, site of SSTI's 2005 conference, participants shared what their states and regions are doing in the area of encouraging the development and deployment of alternative energy. Lee Cheatham, executive director of the Washington Technology Center, and Karl Jessen, program director of industry support under the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust (RET), led the session.

Cheatham opened his presentation, highlighting the market potential for alternative energy. Worldwide energy use is estimated at 382 quadrillion British thermal units (BTU), Cheatham said. Between 1950 and 2004, energy use in the U.S. rose from 34.62 quadrillion BTU to 99.7 quadrillion BTU.

The rise in the late 1990s in the concept of a "new economy" was coupled with the rapid growth in research and innovation investment within the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. When the dot-com bubble burst, some state and local strategies were revamped to look for the next big thing, which in many places was biotechnology or nanotechnology.

The recent mega investments in R&D by big ICT companies should suggest the return to rosy times for America's info tech advocates, then, right? Probably not.

To help entrepreneurs start and manage businesses, the Kauffman Foundation recently launched Kauffman eVenturing™ ( www.eVenturing.org). Designed for growth-oriented entrepreneurs, the new website provides access to current information, organized around key subjects such as finance and accounting, people and human resources, sales and marketing, products and services, operations, and the entrepreneur. New collections of articles will be featured monthly, including original material and an aggregation of “the best of the best” existing articles. Fresh content also will be added through a link-blog to articles and tools on a variety of subjects. Visit the website at http://www.eVenturing.org.

The U.S. Census Bureau has recently released the 2003 Model-based Estimates of Income and Poverty for States from the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates Program (SAIPE). The estimates are created for states, counties and school districts for the purpose of federal programs and the allocation of federal funds to local jurisdictions.

On the heels of the release of two roadmaps calling for increased state support for advanced manufacturing and information technology (IT), Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack announced plans to spend $50 million "to attract leading scientists to Iowa and spark new research and product development," according to the Des Moines Register.

Gov. Vilsack, addressing those in attendance at a Nov. 17 economic development conference, said he would authorize $50 million to create chairs at the state's universities, the article states. The money would go toward attracting and retaining scientists and faculty and providing grants for businesses, entrepreneurs and others.

The available pool of equity capital grew substantially last Thursday as the board of trustees for the $31.7 billion Alaska Permanent Fund approved the placement of 8 percent of the fund's value into alternative assets, such as venture capital funds and hedge funds. The Associated Press reports the current value of all alternative investments held by the Permanent Fund totals $292 million. With the new authorization target, equity capital could comprise more than $2.5 billion at the fund's present value.

The change will happen gradually, however, as the board increased the mandate to Crestline, the fund’s current absolute return manager, from $250 million to $500 million. The board also increased the allocation for absolute return strategies from 1 percent to 4 percent. The target asset allocation to private equity also is at 4 percent.

While Indiana has demonstrated strong competitiveness in industry and university R&D and performed well in entrepreneurial programs, the state lags most of its regional competitors and many of the 50 states in terms of production of new innovation workers and educational attainment, says a new report from Techpoint and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

The report, Indiana Technology Profile, benchmarks the state's progress against five peer states and all 50 states using 23 metrics in four broad categories, which include education and workforce, dynamism, digital infrastructure, and research and creativity. Results indicate that despite good effort and thoughtful initiatives, Indiana's progress has been disappointing, and there are clear challenges ahead, the report states.

Last week, Congress passed HR 2862, the fiscal year 2006 appropriations bill for State, Science, Justice, and Commerce. SSTI covered the federal budget request in the Feb. 14 issue of the Digest. Overall, Congress proved more financially supportive of the programs and agencies most utilized by state and regional tech-based programs than the Administration's FY06 request. Following are highlights from the selected bill, which now goes to the president for his anticipated signature. Changes from FY05 appropriations are noted in parentheses.

The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) has released the 92-page summary report for its 14th annual survey of university licensing, revealing steady growth in the field. AUTM U.S. Licensing Survey: FY 2004 provides quantitative information about licensing activities at universities, hospitals and research institutions across North America.

With a 25 percent increase above 2003 figures in the number of starts-ups formed as a result of academic research, the 2004 survey reverses declines posted in each of the two previous surveys. Also, at least 635 new products were introduced to the market during the year, the survey found.