SSTI Digest

The San Antonio Technology Accelerator Initiative (SATAI) announced that James Poage is SATAI's new president and CEO. Poage replaces Randy Goldsmith, who continues as a director.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle today unveiled the plan that will guide his Administration's legislative agenda for the next 12 months. Grow Wisconsin: The 2005 Agenda focuses on three areas: investing in business, investing in people, and fostering a competitive business climate. While the largest single funding element in the plan calls for changing the structure of the state's $500 million affordable housing program, tech-based economic development initiatives are prevalent. Highlights include: Deploying $30 million in Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) bonds to support creation of more business Incubators; Modifying legislation to make it easier for University of Wisconsin faculty to start their own businesses while serving in the university system; Providing $2 million for the Biomedical Technology Alliance in southeast Wisconsin, beginning with a $500,000 seed grant to promote research; Creating $170 million in tax credits statewide as incentives for businesses to locate high-wage jobs in distressed areas. In addition, Governor Doyle is calling…

Information, telecommunications and electricity provide the basic building blocks for all tech-based economic development - regardless of industry sector, research field or location. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the technology infrastructure for many of the state's emerging tech-firms has been dismantled. How do you restore efforts to build a tech-based economy when the fundamentals are destroyed overnight? Mississippi Technology Alliance (MTA), the leading tech-based economic development organization for the state, quickly responded to the Hurricane's wrath by launching a TechFix Mississippi Program to help small Mississippi companies rebuild. “Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the thousands of people devastated by this storm. We realize rebuilding our economy will be a costly and lengthy process. MTA is organizing a network of technical support providers to help storm-stricken small companies get the technology resources they need in order to resume operations as quickly and affordably as possible,” said MTA President & CEO, Andy Taggart. “These companies are…

One of the latest big-ticket investments targeting stem cell research came from Ann Arbor last week as the University of Michigan committed $10.5 million of its internal resources to establish an interdisciplinary center for stem cell research. The announcement is one of dozens from around the country since California voters approved Proposition 71 in 2004, borrowing $3 billion over 10 years for stem cell research. With total spending on medical research now approaching $100 billion annually, up 154 percent from what it was a decade ago according to the Alerion Institute, many states seem to be feeling a need to get ahead or just catch up with their peers as each new funding commitment is announced. To justify the public investment, the political rhetoric accompanying the calls for state funding in life science research generally, and stem cell research more specifically, is often colored by promises of economic growth and the development of new industries as well as new approaches to life-threatening ailments. California's independent, nonpartisan think tank on…

Between 1996 and 2004, an average 0.36 percent of the U.S. population created a new business each month, representing approximately 500,000 new businesses per month, according to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. Using matched data from the monthly Current Population Surveys, a national population survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Kauffman Foundation created a new measure to provide information on recent entrepreneurial trends at the national level. The Index looks at business creation at the individual owner level by gender, education, region, age, immigrant status, and major industries. Unlike previous studies that capture young businesses that are more than a year old, the Index captures all adults 20-64 who initially start a business, including those who own incorporated and unincorporated firms and who are employers and non-employers, said the Kauffman Foundation. Surprising, the report notes, is the relative constancy of the Index despite economic changes over the period measured. Entrepreneurship did…

Not too surprising. Put the premier professional development opportunity for the tech-based economic development community in a great city and you'll draw hundreds of participants from at least 45 states and several other countries. Offer conference attendees five-star accommodations at prices well below market and we've ended up with the largest room block yet for an SSTI annual conference. It's a formula guaranteeing an incredible experience for everyone joining SSTI in Atlanta on Oct. 19-21. SSTI is extremely grateful to the management of the InterContinental Hotel Buckhead-Atlanta for agreeing to expand the reserved block by 13-14 percent to allow as many of our participants as possible to savor the comfort of this luxurious property while they attend SSTI's 9th Annual Conference. With the InterContinental Hotel Buckhead-Atlanta sold out or near capacity for the three days of the conference, SSTI has identified several alternate hotels near the event to accommodate the continuing flow of registrants. The following five properties are within an easy walk of the hotel…

Limited Seating Remaining in Three Preconference Sessions The desire to establish sound metrics to evaluate performance and progress for science and technology investments has grown as S&T programs mature, state and federal funding tightens, and good managers simply want to know what's working and what isn't. As a result, SSTI's all-day intensive pre-conference on sound TBED evaluation models has sold out. Limited seating remains for the other three preconference workshops, described below. Individuals interested in attending any of the three are strongly encouraged to register on SSTI's website as soon as possible: http://www.ssti.org/conference05.htm Developing Successful Angel Organizations: A Practical Guide Access to capital sources is an essential element for building a tech-based economy and growing thriving businesses. Policymakers and practitioners in many regions worry about how their tech firms will finance growth. Just as the weather varies across the country, so, too, do the philosophy, the motivations, and the depth of the…

In 2003, academic institutions across the U.S. reported having a total of $23.76 billion in R&D expenditures for research related to the life sciences, according to the National Science Foundation's Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges, FY 2003. The $23.76 billion figure represents 59.3 percent of the total academic R&D expenditures. Among individual states, however, the prominence of life science research among total academic R&D portfolios varies from a high of 89.6 percent in Vermont to only 18.3 percent in Alaska. Only 20 states had life sciences concentrations higher than the national average. SSTI has prepared a table presenting state rankings and figures for academic R&D for life-science related research. The table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/092605t.htm

For more information on the positions below, visit SSTI's online Job Corner at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm. Georgia SBIR Assistance Program This new program of the Georgia Tech Advanced Technology Development Center, one of the leading university-based technology incubators in the nation, is seeking a Biosciences Project Manager. The ideal candidate will have a Life Sciences background and experience with the SBIR/STTR programs. This person will provide guidance and hands-on assistance to companies in preparing SBIR/STTR proposals. More information on this position opening is available through the SSTI Job Corner at: http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm. Georgia Tech is an EEO/AA employer. Washington Technology Center The Washington Technology Center (WTC), a state-chartered economic development organization, has openings for two positions: (1) Director, Research and Program Operations and (2) Director, Development. The Director, Research and Program Operations develops and delivers all WTC research and economic development programs. This position sets…

The TBED community owes a huge debt of gratitude to Thomas Friedman for his 2005 book, The World is Flat. Friedman has helped elevate the issue of innovation, competitiveness, and the U.S. standing therein to the New York Times bestseller list, the Sunday talk shows, and scads of press coverage. Friedman has helped convince pundits and policymakers that the world is flat and the challenges to the U.S. are more serious than ever and are only increasing. While the pundits talk about the issue, the most pressing issue is what we're going to do about it. To protect our future we need to increase entrepreneurship, expand access to capital, fully integrate our universities into our economic system, improve our workforce through improved education, and better involve underrepresented peoples and regions. Friedman offers a variety of policy prescriptions, but virtually all rely on federal action. But it is incumbent on every city, region, and state to take its own future into its own hands and act. As SSTI staff read and/or listened to Friedman's book, frankly, we grew depressed. The depression grew from a sense that…

The early bird registration and hotel room block for Investing in a Brighter Future: Building Tech-based Economies, SSTI's Ninth Annual Conference, ends on Tuesday, September 20.  To register for the conference, which is October 20 and 21, you can visit the conference website at http://www.ssti.org/conference05.htm and select the registration form. To book a room at the Intercontinental Buckhead-- Atlanta for the greatly reduced rate of $165 call the hotel today at 404.946.9000 and tell them you're part of the SSTI Conference. After Tuesday, we can't guarantee what the room rate will be at the hotel or room availability.

Two years ago, Kannapolis, N.C., was reeling from the announcement that Pillowtex Corp, a major textile manufacturer, was filing for bankruptcy. Pillowtex's failure resulted in more than 4,500 jobs lost in just two North Carolina counties and thousands more in the Southeast U.S. The mood had to have been better last week with an announcement by billionaire David Murdock, owner of Dole Food Company, and Molly Corbett Broad, president of the University of North Carolina system, of plans to create the North Carolina Research Campus on 250 acres at the former Cannon Mills plant and 100 acres of downtown Kannapolis. Press reports put the total investment in the complex at a billion dollars with more than one million square feet of office and laboratory space. Plans are to turn the campus into a home for more than 100 biotechnology companies with "the most state-of-the-art laboratory space in the nation," according to a press release. The initial 330,000 square foot building will house the Core Laboratory facility, a contract manufacturing biogenic facility, the Dole Research Institute,…