SSTI Digest

Jack Pfunder is the new executive director of the Manufacturers Resource Center in Bethlehem, Pa.

Pat Snider, the first CEO for BioGenerator in St. Louis, announced her departure from the two-year-old organization by the end of the year.

The new director of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship at Purdue University will be Jerry Woodall.

President Bush is nominating John Young Jr. to serve as director of Defense Research & Engineering. Young is currently Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition.

SSTI is pleased to give regular Digest readers the first peek at a PDF version of the brochure for SSTI's 9th annual conference, Investing in a Brighter Future: Building Tech-based Economies, to be held in Atlanta on October 19-21, 2005. A quick glance at the 28-page brochure reveals why the event is the premier professional development experience of the year for the tech-based economic development (TBED) community. The brochure includes: The full conference agenda with two keynote addresses and plenary sessions on national innovation policy; 20 breakout sessions covering the most important issues for today's TBED practitioner, drawing  session presenters, panelists and participants from the country's top organizations in at least 19 states; Descriptions of our four optional but intensive, day-long pre-conference workshops; A glimpse into why Georgia offers the perfect setting for the nation's leading TBED conference; Brief introductions to our conference hosts and national sponsors - among the leading thinkers and practitioners for building regional tech-based economies;…

Expressing concern over the nation's ability to sustain its scientific and technological superiority throughout the 21st Century, 15 leading business organizations have released an action plan that aims to double the number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates by 2015. The report, Tapping America's Potential: The Education for Innovation Initiative, identifies several troubling indicators that the U.S. is losing its innovative edge. For example, the percentage of students planning to pursue engineering degrees declined by one-third between 1992-2002, and funding for basic research in the physical sciences as a percentage of the gross domestic product has declined by half since 1970. Other indicators reveal measurable declines in patents and scientific articles in the U.S. However, one key statistic - the finding that more than 50 percent of engineering doctoral degrees awarded by U.S. engineering colleges are to foreign nationals - draws particular attention. Recommendations for reversing this trend and boosting the number of graduates in…

Following defeat at the polls two years ago, Ohio's state legislature has agreed nearly unanimously to again have voters decide on whether or not the state can issue bonds in support of the final component of Gov. Bob Taft's tech-based economic development strategy -- Ohio's Third Frontier Initiative. This time around, legislators are hoping to gain support by packaging the constitutional amendment into a three-part, $2 billion bond package that includes $500 million for Third Frontier, alongside a $1.35 billion bond issue for roads, bridges, and water projects (see the May 2 issue of the Digest). In addition, $150 million is included for infrastructure obligations, including “Job-Ready Sites” that will prepare sites for industrial and business expansion to meet environmental and other requirements. The larger and broader constitutional amendment is currently being referred to as the Jobs for Ohio Initiative by several lawmakers, according to an article in the Columbus Dispatch. H.J.R. 2 is available from the Ohio Legislature at: http://www.…

The year-long battle between Lafayette Utilities System (LUS) and competitors BellSouth Louisiana and Cox Communications over the utility company's proposed Fiber for the Future project came to an end last month when voters approved the $125 million fiber optics plan by a vote of 62 percent to 38 percent. The LUS Initiative, called Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH), proposes to bring fiber optics to every home and business in Lafayette in order to deliver cable TV, telephone, and Internet services at a cost of 20 percent less than current providers. A special election was called last month to decide whether the city could issue $125 million worth of bonds to fund the project, according to The Advocate. Under the LUS plan, the 25-year bonds could be paid off within 15 years, with LUS capturing 50 percent of the phone and cable markets. About 70 percent of consumers and 80 percent of businesses are interested in the fiber optics service, LUS surveys show. BellSouth and Cox Communications, the local telephone and cable companies who are strongly opposed to the…

Increasing and modernizing university research capacity is a priority for many states. Contrary to programmatic or operational appropriations being required annually, funding for such construction projects can be phased over decades as part of a state's larger capital budget/bond programs. Recent research from the National Science Foundation (NSF) documents the results of the increased importance placed in university research building programs. During fiscal years 2001-03, research-performing colleges and universities increased their research space by 11 percent, a substantially higher rate than any previous two-year period since 1988, a new NSF InfoBrief states. NSF obtained data from a census of 465 science and engineering degree-granting universities that expended at least $1 million in R&D funds during FY 2002. The survey collected information on traditional bricks and mortar research space in addition to computing and networking infrastructure, which is playing an increasingly important role in the conduct of scientific research, the InfoBrief states.…

While local workforce boards are using substantial funds for worker training under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), little is known on a national level about the outcomes of those trained, says a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). In 1998, Congress passed the WIA to create a system connecting employment, education and training services to better match job seekers to labor market needs, according to the report. Since its creation, however, questions have been raised regarding how those funds are being used and how much is being spent on training. Also, according to the report, concern remains regarding the lack of accurate information on the extent to which WIA participants are enrolled in activities. The GAO report seeks to answer the following: The extent to which WIA funds are used for training; How local workforce boards manage the use of individual training accounts (ITA) and what challenges they encountered; and, What is known at the national level about outcomes of those being trained. To answer these questions, GAO conducted a…

A partnership between U.S. universities, research centers, private sector corporations, and Indian institutions recently was formed to improve engineering education in India and offer U.S. faculty the opportunity to collaborate with Indian researchers. Universities UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and Case Western Reserve University are joining with Indian institutions led by AMRITA University, along with the government of India and the country's Department of Science and Technology. Private sector partners QUALCOMM Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Cadence Systems, Inc. are funding the program. To improve engineering education, AMRITA is developing world-class undergraduate and graduate engineering courses to be transmitted via Edusat, a satellite launched by the Indian Space Research Organization, to multiple educational institutions throughout India. Representatives from all the parties involved signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding last month, according to a news release…

Partisan politics take a back seat when the nation's governors talk about the need for stronger national innovation policies. Ample proof of this is offered policy position statements approved at the two most recent meetings of the Western Governors' Association and the National Governors Association. Both resolutions call for increased federal support of basic research. The Western Governors' Association, representing 18 states, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, also called for Congress to make the federal R&D tax credit permanent, to provide more funding for science and math education, and to help level international tax policies to encourage domestic investment. During its recent annual meeting, the larger National Governors Association adopted the first major revisions of its National Research, Development And Technology Policy Position statement since 2003. The statement addresses six issues, including improved technology transfer from federal laboratories and sustained federal funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the Advanced Technology Program, and aeronautical…