SSTI Digest

As states have wrestled with budget constraints in recent years, many have adopted or are contemplating spending-limit measures, such as Colorado's Taypayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR), or similar fiscal limitations that restrain growth of government spending. In the recent November elections, California voters rejected a spending-limit proposal and Colorado voters suspended their state's restrictive TABOR amendment, allowing the state to keep funds for the next five years.

Southern Growth Policies Board, a regional public policy think tank, is accepting nominations for its Innovator Awards. These awards are presented annually to recognize innovative southern initiatives that improve the quality of life in the organization's 13-state region - Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia - and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The 2006 Innovator Awards will be chosen in the context of the Southern Innovation Initiative, a year-long series of events that focuses on the importance of innovation to the South’s economy. Each nominated initiative must use technology as an integral component to accomplish goals; be truly unique; be something more than a new product, process or service; and provide a track record or other measures of success. Nominations are due Nov. 23, 2005.

A plan to increase Maine's R&D activity to $1 billion by 2010 was revealed last week by the Department of Economic and Community Development's (DECD) Office of Innovation and the Maine Science and Technology Council (MSTAC). The level of R&D activity in Maine currently stands at $430 million.

The science and technology action plan creates a road map toward achieving the objective of higher per capita income, set forth in the State Planning Office's 30 and 1000 Plan, created in 1998.

Four recently published papers from the Federal Reserve Banks of Philadelphia, San Francisco and Chicago center around TBED issues including the role of cities in the 21st Century, the biotechnology industry in the Midwest, state R&D tax credits, and R&D spending during recessions. Links to these papers and more than 1,000 additional TBED-related research reports, strategic plans and other papers can be found at the Tech-based Economic Development (TBED) Resource Center, jointly developed by the Technology Administration and SSTI, at http://www.tbedresourcecenter.org/.

Colorado The Rocky Mountain Technology Alliance (RMTA) is a recently formed regional development organization for applied research and technology development whose membership includes universities, government organizations and private businesses. The goal of RMTA is to assist its member organizations by pursuing collaborative programs that will produce intellectual property for new products and businesses. Its mission also includes creating manufacturing solutions to support successful commercial growth and national security. The alliance will cater to a cluster of high tech companies, educational institutions, and government facilities located in the Rocky Mountain Technology Corridor, which stretches from Northern Colorado to Southern New Mexico.

Wisconsin manufacturers must adapt to a fast-changing world in order to grow and succeed in the 21st century. That is the thrust of a recent study of the state’s industrial economy recently released by the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP).

In 2004, Wisconsin’s manufacturers generated more than $46 billion in gross product, employed 512,630 workers, produced $90,000 in gross product per employee, and exported $14 billion in manufactured goods, the Wisconsin Manufacturing Study shows. By 2008, the study projects the state's manufacturing gross product will be $54 billion.

There were recurring themes underlying the design and development of SSTI's 9th Annual Conference, Investing in a Brighter Future: Building Tech-based Economies, held Oct. 19-21 in Atlanta, Georgia: inevitability, irrelevance and inspiration.

Our two keynote addresses by Rob Atkinson and Duane Ackerman elucidated the inevitability of change and the opportunities presented by the challenges of globalization. Twenty spirited breakout sessions highlighted local and regional efforts to avoid economic irrelevance through strategic investments in science and technology. And, based on the feedback we've received, the discussions in the breakout sessions, and the spirited conversations overhead during the reception and networking breaks, SSTI believes many of the 354 conference participants came away inspired to improve their own efforts to strengthen their local, state or regional economy through technology-based economic development.

One comment we receive numerous times each year at SSTI's annual conference is that people wish more of the key decision makers and TBED practitioners in their regions had attended the event to make it easier to re invigorate their entire efforts to promote growth through science and technology. The easiest way to accomplish that is to host SSTI's 10th Annual Conference next fall!

SSTI has received many questions from local, regional and state organizations wanting to host the premier event for the tech-based economic development profession in 2006. Letters of intent from prospective nominees are due by Nov. 16, 2005. We will be accepting nominations of host organizations and locations for SSTI's 10th Annual Conference until Dec. 23, 2005.

To stimulate equity investment in America's small businesses and create jobs, the U.S. Senate introduced last week the Small Business Investment and Growth Act of 2005. The legislation creates a new venture capital program within the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA), according to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Examining the components that would most likely be attributed directly to Acting Gov. Richard Codey's proposed $380 million Stem Cell Research Initiative, a Rutgers University study finds that, potentially, the state stands to benefit from an estimated $1.4 billion in new economic activity, approximately 20,000 new jobs, and $71.9 million in new state revenue over the next 20 years.

The authors of the study identify six areas of economic benefits to the state, including the economic impact of public expenditures; savings in health care costs; work time and productivity savings; retention and expansion of the biotechnology industry; and royalty payments to the state. The analysis is dependent upon several variables and the largest uncertainty is whether the current promise of stem cell research will actually yield effective therapies, the authors note.

To improve the way students learn and teachers teach in the areas of science and mathematics, Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri's Blue Ribbon Panel on Mathematics and Science Education recommends 12 specific strategies in four key areas including governance and culture; teacher recruitment; teacher quality; and learning opportunities for students.

Gov. Carcieri launched the "Making the Grade" initiative in January with a panel composed of education and business leaders from around the state. The panel heard suggestions from students, teachers, parents, administrators, and business and community leaders.

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, in concert with the Pennsylvania State University, are presenting the inaugural Creating Pennsylvania’s Future: A Higher Education, Economic and Community Development Summit, aimed at energizing institutions of higher education, business leaders, economic development organizations, investors, workforce development agencies, government officials, and community leaders to work collaboratively to create a future for Pennsylvania that leverages the Commonwealth’s college and university assets.

The summit will take place at the Penn Stater Conference Center in University Park on Dec. 5 and 6, 2005.