SSTI Digest

The source of eadership on specific state tech-based economic development activities greatly influences the design and effectiveness of the effort. It remains to be seen then how the recently launched Arkansas Nanotechnology Alliance evolves locally as its direction originates from the nation's capital. During a recent visit to the Arkansas Research & Technology Park, U.S. Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) announced ANA's formation. Pryor will chair the statewide consortium, bringing together "universities, federal agencies, and private sector partners to develop, launch and nurture nanotechnology initiatives." He said that, in building an Arkansas nanotechnology community, some of the possibilities include: Establishing an information base, serving as a nanotechnology "clearing house" for regular news, funding updates and user services; Developing inter-institutional and inter-departmental research proposals to enhance federal funding and establish Arkansas as a major nanotechnology research center; Linking industry to nanotechnology research performed in the state, thereby…

There are several factors that go into location decisions for biomedical firms. Proximity to strong university research capacity, other biotech businesses, and technically competent workers are all important considerations. With the financial investments many states and localities are making toward the life sciences, however, the field of prospective locations for successfully launching a biotech firm has grown considerably larger than the "usual suspects." That is a good thing, based on a recent study by the Boyd Company, a Princeton-based location consulting firm. As highly leveraged biotech start-ups increasingly are pressured by their venture capital backers to reduce operating costs, many smaller cities may present attractive alternatives for new biomedical industry investments, the study suggests. The Boyd Company compared the costs of operating a biomedical research and product development facilities within 50 North American and European cities. Two U.S. locations included in the study, San Jose, Calif., and Sioux Falls, S.D., respectively, were the most expensive and least expensive,…

Western Carolina University (WCU) Chancellor John Bardo recently unveiled plans for a comprehensive regional economic development strategy that would more than double the size of the campus and promote university-industry partnerships. The recent acquisition of 344 acres adjacent to the current campus would be used to develop a Millennium Campus at WCU, similar to traditional technology parks. The university likens the campus to a multi-use neighborhood that would encompass a mix of academic buildings, research facilities, business, industry, and housing. State-approved legislation in 2000 made it possible for University of North Carolina institutions to seek public-private partnerships and also authorized the Millennium Campus. According to the university, the Millennial Initiative is designed to engage public-private partnerships to enhance opportunities for students in high-tech programs, facilitate cutting-edge research, and promote economic development. Potential facilities to be located at WCU include a center for broadband development, a center for entrepreneurial development,…

What are the factors of commercial success? As they say in real estate: location, location, location. So what makes a good location for commercializing innovation? Innovative ideas clearly thrive where R&D spending flows and local patent activity exists. But, do R&D dollars and level of patents also indicate locations for tech transfer? Not necessarily. A recent working paper in applied economics finds a more complex web of relationships at work. Dr. Joshua Rosenbloom of University of Kansas seeks to identify the factors in common for the areas with greatest commercial innovation in The Geography of Innovation Commercialization in the United States During the 1990s. Dr. Rosenbloom analyzes three measures of commercialization: public grants (SBIR and STTR), venture capital investments, and initial public offerings (IPOs) within the 50 largest U.S. metro areas. He also uses econometric models to identify the factors that influence those measures of commercial innovation, or tech transfer. Controlling for variation due to population, Rosenbloom found that patent…

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently released its preliminary 2004 figures for per capita income, revealing average income received by persons grew by 4.7 percent between 2003 and 2004. The change in income was not evenly distributed across the country. The BEA explains financial activities were a particularly strong accelerating force in the Northeast (New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Delaware), construction in the West (Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada and Utah) and professional services more broadly across the country. Tech-based economic development practitioners and wise elected officials will note, as well, one-year change in per capita income is not a terribly useful measure for programs requiring longer time periods to yield results. The statistic is relatively volatile between single years, affected by major events such as the dot-com crash and the subsequent recession. SSTI has prepared a table presenting change in per capita income over the five-year period 1999-2004 and ranking the states using constant 1999 dollars.The result reveals only a 3.98 percent increase,…

The SSTI Weekly Digest will take its annual spring vacation next week. Publication of the Digest and Funding Supplement will resume with the April 18 issue.

Nearly every university and community seeks to cultivate a niche in new technologies ­ nurturing venture capital, technology transfer and knowledge networks. Many policies have focused on biotechnology as the kernel of future economic development. Meanwhile, budding nanotechnology has started to show its first blooms in the commercial sector. Will nanotech be the next technology revolution? How can a community tell whether its scientists are tilling nanotech for new materials? How can one create a fertile place for nanotechnology to germinate, thrive and bear commercial fruit? The authors of a working paper published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) attempt to answer these questions. In Socio-economic Impact of Nanoscale Science: Initial Results and NanoBank, Dr. Lynne Zucker and Dr. Michael Darby of University of California, Los Angeles contend, "We are witnessing a new technology revolution in nanotech with implications for both society and the economy." They note that nanotech ­ the use of novel properties and functions that occur at the nanoscale ­ shares breakthrough…

To encourage investment in high tech companies, the Hawaii Senate recently passed Senate Bill 1695, authorizing $120 million for the State Private Investment Fund (SPIF) and Senate Bill 1696 to allow fiduciaries to make equity investments. Under the SPIF program, the state could use transferable tax credits in order to guarantee commercial bank loans to professional venture capital (VC) firms. These firms, in turn, would use the loans to invest in local high-tech companies. SPIF was created by the Legislature in 2004, although no funds were directed to it at the time. The fund is designed to function as a financing tool to provide a consistent source of capital to meet the demands of Hawaii's high tech industries, according to the Senate Majority Caucus. Following the lead of other states, the House Economic Development & Business Concerns committee also passed SB 1696 to encourage institutional investors, such as the Employees' Retirement System, to invest a small portion of assets in local high tech companies. Under the bill, fiduciaries could invest up to 2.5 percent of their…

Arizona must begin viewing medical and educational institutions as a major economic driver of the state economy in order to become a leader in the biosciences industry, according to a new report from the Arizona Board of Regents. Instead of Arizona pouring millions of dollars into university research institutions as the only way to boost its bioscience sector, the report recommends the state first think differently about the "Meds and Eds" institutions and their impact on the economy. Arizona has held a narrow interpretation of these institutions in the past, and - rather than seeing them as separate entities - the state needs to view its institutions as collective assets that will help it advance, the author argues. The report, Meds and Eds: The Key to Arizona Leapfrogging Ahead in the 21st Century, probes the realities of Arizona becoming a leader in biosciences and calls upon the state to take action through five steps. Arizona faces two major challenges, the report observes. The state faces kinks in its Meds and Eds base, including talent shortages, research weakness and a lack of…

While some regional assessments attempt to benchmark economic indicators of smaller regions to those of notable accomplishment such as Silicon Valley or Research Triangle Park, a new study from the Center for Regional Strategies at Virginia Tech compares regions with similar economic and demographic characteristics, a potentially more useful model for other metro areas. Researchers at Virginia Tech's Center for Regional Strategies identified six regions similar to the New Century Region (NCR), which encompasses 12 counties and the cities of Roanoke, Covington, Radford and Salem, and tracked various economic indicators from 1990 to 2000. Benchmark regions for comparison included Colorado Springs and Ft. Collins, Colo.; Athens, Ga.; Asheville, N.C.; Knoxville, Tenn.; and Lexington, Ky. Eleven fundamental categories of regional life with which to compare to NCR were identified as employment, income, housing, education, health, environment, public safety, arts and culture, infrastructure, and social capital. According to the study, four of the most troubling gaps found in NCR are…

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering: Fall 2002, a collection of 54 statistical tables presenting the distribution of graduate students in science and engineering (S&E) across population segments, fields of science or engineering, and by college and state. Overall long-term trends for S&E graduate students from 1975 to 2002 and short-term trends from 1995 to 2002 by detailed fields are presented as well. Using this report and NSF data regarding 2002 federal R&D obligations to academic institutions, SSTI has prepared a table presenting the average federal R&D obligation by state standardized by S&E graduate student. While federal R&D obligations to colleges and universities are not a function of the number of students enrolled at the institutions, the measure of federal R&D obligations per student seems potentially more relevant for comparison among states than a measure of federal R&D obligations to academic institutions based on population or "per capita." A case could be argued that S…

Organizations The influential 5,600-member American Association for Higher Education announced last Thursday that it would close by the end of the year due to financial difficulties stemming in part from a sharp decline in membership. Two Southern Arizona tech councils, theInformation Technology Association of Southern Arizona and the Southern Arizona Industry and Aerospace Alliance, decided to merge to have the combined financial resources for a full-time executive director, according to the March 23 edition of the Tucson Citizen. To reduce administrative costs by up to $500,000 and to improve operational efficiencies, the Slater Fund Board of Directors has approved plans to consolidate Rhode Island's four Slater Centers into a single entity, the Slater Technology Fund, Inc. The fund will retain its four technology thrusts of biomedical technology, interactive technologies, design and manufacturing, and marine and environmental technologies. The Iowa Entrepreneurs Coalition has been formed to help advance an innovation- and entrepreneur-friendly agenda in the…