SSTI Digest

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.