SSTI Digest

Florence Mendelson has resigned as president and CEO of Pittsburgh-based Innovation Works. She will remain in her position through the end of the year, helping to identify her successor and implement plans for fiscal year 2005.

The Purdue Research Foundation has appointed Robert J. Wichlinski as executive director of the new Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana and Kathy DeGuilio-Fox as the center’s business development manager.

One word sums up today's efforts to build tech-based economies: challenging. A restructuring manufacturing base, revolutionary scientific breakthroughs, China and Inda heralding a truly global economy, and tight budgets have left many states and communities simply reacting to change or waiting for better times. Building Tech-based Economies: Preparing for Tomorrow's Challenges, SSTI's 8th Annual Conference, is designed to help policymakers and practitioners meet these challenges head on. On October 14-15 and with pre-conference workshops on October 13, the nation's most widely respected forum for policymakers and practitioners to work and learn together will convene in Philadelphia. This year's conference promises to be even better than ever for the tech-based economic development (TBED) community. Here are a few examples of why: The 30 breakout session topics are timely because our state and local sponsor and affiliate organizations defined them. Practitioners like you with educational needs like yours. Couple the four pre-conference options and our largest slate of breakout sessions yet and…

In the coming weeks, many Digest readers will receive the 24-page full color brochure in the mail. If you can't wait until then or want to make sure you get a copy, a PDF version is available for download on our conference website: http://www.ssti.org/conference04.htm [expired] Feel free to pass the link, PDF or brochure along to all in your state, region or university, that you think may be interested in attending.

Slate of 30 breakout sessions SSTI's largest offering yet The agenda is packed. Packed with great breakout session topics and engaging presenters. With as many as 30 breakout sessions, this year's conference offers something for everyone. The session titles are provided below. Brief descriptions of each topic are presented in the brochure and will be available our conference website: New Developments in Angel Investing Using Federal Funding to Build a Tech Workforce Assessing State S&T Investment Best Practices to Encourage Tech-based Entrepreneurship: A Roundtable Discussion The Help We Got (and the Help We Needed) Foundations as TBED Catalysts Ideas that will Change Everything Defining Public ROI: A Roundtable Discussion From Regionalism to Workforce: Facing Tomorrow’s Challenges The Private Side of Commercializing University Research Creating an Upside from Downsizing Bringing University Research to the Marketplace: A Panel Discussion TBED Role in Strengthening Regional Innovation Best Practices to Expand and Exploit Academic R&D: A…

The larger conference structure allows us to experiment with some of the sessions, adding elements to improve the event's value for most participants. Ready to move up to the next skill level? Try our series of Advanced Sessions If you've been in the field a while and have attended SSTI's annual conferences in the past, you may be excited to see we've designed eight breakout sessions to address advanced subject matter within the given topics. The presentations and discussions of those topics identified as Advanced in the descriptions will be tailored specifically to participants already comfortable with the terms and issues that tend to arise. Please note all conference registrants are welcome to attend any of the 30 breakout sessions offered on Thursday and Friday. Roundtable for Women in TBED Juggling your travel schedule, the legislative session, your kid’s swim team practice and your aging parents? Have you ever wanted to talk about the challenges you face, but the details are too politically sensitive to share with your neighborhood friends? Do…

To get your experience at SSTI's annual conference off on the right foot, the City of Philadelphia proudly invites you to enjoy a private evening at its most beautiful and interesting new cultural center — the National Constitution Center. The evocative museum is the first devoted to one of the most important and innovative documents in world history — the U.S. Constitution. Whether you're unwinding after one of the four pre-conference options or just arriving in the City of Brotherly Love, the Opening Reception affords a wonderful, relaxed environment to reconnect with colleagues and network with other conference attendees, speakers, as well as Philadelphia's government, academic, and corporate leaders. The Opening Reception will be held on Oct. 13, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., providing a stimulating setting to open the premier event for the field. Shuttle transportation for conference participants will be available to and from the National Constitution Center and the conference site, the Loews Philadelphia Hotel.

On October 13, SSTI will offer four exciting options as pre-conference activities: three day-long sessions on topics that will help you prepare for tomorrow's challenges and a tour of one of the world's foremost science parks. The sessions are: Marketing Success: Telling the TBED Story Successful tech-based economic development organizations (TBED) have three things in common: they do good work, they know they're doing good work through program evaluation and impact assessments, and they make people aware of the good work they’re doing. This stimulating, day-long workshop goes in-depth into the best way to communicate your success. We’ll consider how to define your audiences, determine what your message is, and then tailor your message to clients, constituents and key decision makers. Sharing their experiences and offering advice on what to do and pitfalls to avoid, our panels of national leaders have expertise in all aspects of tech-based economic development marketing, including developing a tech image for your community, building support for investing in…

SSTI annual conferences don't come in a box. We don't publish proceedings or post conference materials. Each year's event is designed as an intensive learning experience; it's about the question and answer, the give and take, the push and pull, the dialogue as much as the individual presentations. You have to be present to win, if learning and growing is winning. We think it is. We're happy to say we know of multimillion-dollar state science & tech initiatives that have been launched as a direct result of the ideas, the enthusiasm, and the energy that past conferees took home after attending SSTI annual conferences. The key was the dynamic nature of the experience. Really want to make a difference for your tech-based economic development portfolio? Try to arrange for multiple people to attend from your organization, your board, and your legislative body. Having more than one person attend also means your organization gains better coverage of the entire event. Don't forget to bring the new folks along to get them well grounded for their jobs. Plan a strategic debriefing after the…

Need yet another reason why this conference fits your training needs? SSTI’s 8th Annual Conference is recognized by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) as a professional development event that counts toward the recertification of Certified Economic Developers (CEcDs). CEcDs greatly enhance their skills and marketability by attending the nation’s most comprehensive and intensive learning opportunity for building tech-based economies — SSTI's annual conference!

Seattle 2003 Sold Out. Register Early to Ensure a Seat in Philadelphia We heard from some of you last year about your disappointment and disbelief that you couldn't attend our annual conference in Seattle because it was sold out. It happens with SSTI conferences because our first concern is the quality of the event for our participants. We feel it's tough to have productive discussions continue and build from breakout session to session or to count on running into the same new friends when you are one of a 1,000 or even 500 registrants. So we limit attendance. Crowds have their places, like at a college football game, but not where you are trying to learn better ways to build a tech-based economy for your community. Take a minute and register now before it's too late: https://www.ssti.org/Conf04/registration.htm [expired]

It seems discussion on Capital Hill of the burgeoning federal deficit is loudest when the House, Senate or Administration considers the VA, HUD and Independent Agencies appropriations bill. Perhaps the bill always serves as the fall guy because alphabetically it is the last of the 13 appropriations bills Congress considers, then ignores and then hurriedly mushes together with the other unpassed funding bills several months into the new fiscal year. The long stumbling title alone is only a small clue to the hodgepodge of agencies, priorities and orphans huddled together to form the third-largest appropriations bill considered each year behind Defense and Labor/HHS/Education. Under the Independent Agencies portion of the title are two federal offices of considerable interest to most state and local tech-based economic development efforts: the National Science Foundation and NASA. These agencies would see cuts of $111 million and $229 million, respectively, if the version of the bill passed by the full House Appropriations Committee were to become law. NASA The NASA appropriation is $1.1…