SSTI Digest

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco appointed state bond commisssion director Sharon Perez to serve as undersecretary for the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, and Secretary Michael Olivier named Dane Revette director of the agency's energy cluster.

While the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have voiced caution and funded efforts to understand the potential societal and environmental implications of nanotechnology deployment, both agencies announced much larger funding commitments - totaling $213 million - to expedite commercial applications for the explosive field.

Nanotech Solutions for Cancer Carrying a federal five-year price tag of $144.3 million, the NIH's National Cancer Institute (NCI) is forming the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, a comprehensive, integrated initiative encompassing researchers, clinicians, and public and private organizations that have joined forces to develop and translate cancer-related nanotechnology research into clinical practice.

During the states' fiscal crisis, a number of TBED programs were eliminated, while others survived. SSTI staff spent a fair amount of time analyzing what the survivors had in common, and we boiled the results down to three items that successful TBED programs have in common. While it may seem simplistic, the three commonalities are:

In order to provide further incentives for crucial research and development (R&D) and to encourage more industries to carry out R&D in Scotland, Scottish Enterprise, the economic development agency for Scotland has launched a new funding scheme.

R&D PLUS offers a tax credit of up to 25 percent of eligible program costs for large companies meeting specific criteria. The companies must be able to demonstrate the economic rationale for assistance includes long-term capacity building and sustainability to improve a company’s competitiveness through R&D, according to the Scottish Enterprise. The Enterprise cited figures from the Scottish government, which reported that expenditure on R&D in Scotland increased by 62 percent in real terms between 1995-2001.

Thirty-six states received failing grades on a biennial report card that reveals the cost of attending college represents a higher portion of American families’ incomes today than it did a decade ago. A separate report from the Pell Institute supports those conclusions by showing students from the lower-income bracket are finding it more difficult than ever to keep pace with rising tuition costs.

Measuring Up 2004, issued by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, examines the nation as a whole and each state’s performance in providing higher education and training. The report's affordability measures indicate tuition has increased faster than the incomes of most American families, and generally, none of the increases in financial aid have kept pace with the tuition increases.

To determine affordability, states were measured on three levels, including:

The importance a well educated populace plays in a knowledge-based economy is a given for most tech-based economic development strategies. Ensuring that a larger percentage of the population pursues that education through and beyond high school is another matter -- often the responsibility of other state agencies, organizations and decision makers.

The reports highlighted in the article above and demographic trends such as the shrinking middle class and declining median income (in constant dollars) might suggest college access and affordability could become defining challenges for local and regional success in growing a tech-based economy.

The Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network recently selected Lisa Blakely, a former Bank of America executive, as its CEO.

Earlier this month, Gov. Ernie Fletcher announced Darrell Brock and Jim Host as new co-chairmen of ConnectKentucky. Brock, commissioner of the governor's Office for Local Development, and Commerce Cabinet Secretary Host joined existing chairman John Hall, retired chairman and CEO of Ashland Inc.

The Alaska MEP, a new nonprofit entity formed by the Alaska Native Arts Foundation and the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation, has named Robert Pope as the first Interim Director.

Earlier this month, Gov. Ernie Fletcher announced Darrell Brock and Jim Host as new co-chairmen of ConnectKentucky. Brock, commissioner of the governor's Office for Local Development, and Commerce Cabinet Secretary Host joined existing chairman John Hall, retired chairman and CEO of Ashland Inc.

The Alaska MEP, a new nonprofit entity formed by the Alaska Native Arts Foundation and the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation, has named Robert Pope as the first Interim Director.

The Metropolitan Development Association, of Syracuse and Central New York, also recently named a new chairman, John Zawadzki, of its Regional Development Alliance.

The Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network recently selected Lisa Blakely, a former Bank of America executive, as its CEO.

Both the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) would see budget increases in FY 2005 if the version of the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Bill that passed the Senate Appropriations Committee last week survives what is expected to be a contentious conference with the House on an mega-omnibus appropriations bill sometime after the election.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved $112 million for MEP, $6 million more than the House approved and nearly $73 million more than was requested by the Bush Administration. Opposition from the White House to at least the House figures is likely to be muted as President Bush's opponent, Sen. John Kerry, has made doubling the federal funds available to MEP part of his presidential campaign platform.