SSTI Digest

New manufacturer training funds, enhanced enterprise zones, and new economic development infrastructure loans are among the incentives included in Missouri's Jobs Now legislation, signed into law by Gov. Bob Holden on July 8. Passage of key elements of the package was one of the governor's top priorities for the legislative session and was considered critical for securing the new 1,200-employee H&R Block headquarters in downtown Kansas City, according to local news reports. During the signing ceremony, Gov. Holden noted the new economic incentives will benefit both community colleges and businesses. Jobs Now provides $15 million to help retrain existing workers to keep up with advanced technology upgrades. To be eligible for the retraining assistance, companies must have maintained at least 100 employees during the two years prior to being in the program. They also must make a capital investment of at least $1 million in long-term assets at the project location, such as buildings or equipment. SB 1155 also calls for enhanced Enterprise Zones, areas marked by high unemployment and low personal…

The pace for new advances in science and technology has quickened significantly over the past 10 years -- so much so that companies are challenged to stay current with the latest innovations. Entire new fields such as nanotechnology are being created while products introduced this week may be obsolete before the year is out. If tech firms and research labs are having trouble keeping up with science and technology, how do we expect our K-12 science teachers to do so when they are always in front of a classroom? Is it an issue for inspiring new students into these fields when they enter college? In perhaps one of the first of its kind a new study testing Kentucky science teacher’s depth of knowledge and understanding of critical new technologies reveals the issue is quite real for the Commonwealth. The results most likely could be transferred to most school districts across the country, we suspect. Sponsored by the Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation, Kentucky Survey of Critical Technologies details a representative cross-section of middle- and high school teachers using an…

One of the recurring issues in many states for financing centers as part of their tech-based economic development portfolio is whether or not the organizations resulting from the multi-year, multimillion grants should become financially self sufficient at the end of the grant term. New York's approach of redesignating its Centers for Advanced Technology (CATs) provides a model similar to efforts employed in some states, but with broader applicability across many public-private initiatives to ensure long term, recurring public investments are yielding significant economic results. Mandatory re-competitions through sunset clauses or grant terms force all of the partners in a particular tech-based economic development initiative to re-evaluate the program's continued value and effectiveness. Administered through the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Advanced Research (NYSTAR), the CAT program supports university-industry collaborative research and technology transfer in commercially relevant technologies. The program was created 21 years ago in 1983 to facility the transfer of technology…

As state and local governments make tough funding choices with tight budgets, a new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report shows adequate and effective funding of education is the best way to achieve faster growth, more jobs, greater productivity, and more widely shared prosperity. Smart Money: Education and Economic Development draws on research to show how increased investment in preschool, primary and secondary education, and colleges provides concrete returns to economic development through increases in productivity, learned skills, technology and workers' average earnings. At a time when the knowledge-based economy demands increasingly higher skills to stay competitive, support for well resourced schooling and training is key, the report states. This strategy also is an important tool for advancing economic equality, it adds. Smart Money notes that many state and local governments have, for example, cut education and other services while investing in programs such as tax incentives to lure companies like Wal-Mart with expectations of an economic boom. The problem is that local…

The U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) recently released reports making recommendations to address the challenges faced by the manufacturing industry. One of the recommendations in the NAPA report suggests creating a strategic plan that articulates the "next generation" of the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). To gather public comment on the strategic plan and respond to both reports' recommendations, MEP will hold a series of regional roundtables and webcasts this summer: July 14, webcast July 19, Cleveland July 20, Detroit July 21, Minneapolis July 23, webcast July 26, Orlando July 27, Dallas July 28, Los Angeles August 2, Washington, D.C. August 3, webcast All of the above events run from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information or to register, visit http://www.mep.nist.gov/competition/intro.htm. The Commerce and NAPA reports, respectively, are available at: http://www.manufacturing.gov and http://www.napawash.org/Pubs/NIST6-2-04.pdf

Wanted: all managers in private-sector research and development (R&D) facilities. The Southern Growth Policies Board is conducting a nationwide survey to gain insight into drivers and policies of industrial R&D. The survey attempts to illuminate university-company relationships. If you are a manager and can spare 10 minutes of your time for the online survey, visit the survey at http://www.southern.org/survey.shtml. Questions may be directed to Scott Doron, director of the Southern Technology Council, at sdoron@southern.org.

Connecticut Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell was sworn in as the state’s 87th governor on July 1, taking over from former Gov. John Rowland, who resigned amid a federal corruption investigation and a threatened impeachment for allegedly accepting gifts from employees and state contractors. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin Sullivan was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor. Rell is a Republican, while Sullivan is a Democrat. Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan has named David Dorff as the state's first director for the new Office of Small Business Advocacy. Angie Dvorak, vice president of research and economic development for the University of Southern Mississippi, is becoming president of the university's research foundation. Frank Horrigan is leaving Innovation Works in Pittsburgh to become director of the Governors Action Team SW Regional Office. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco has appointed Michael Olivier to serve as Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development. Olivier was president and CEO of the Harrison County Development Commission in Gulfport, Miss., for 17 years. Jim Petell is the…

Connecticut Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell was sworn in as the state’s 87th governor on July 1, taking over from former Gov. John Rowland, who resigned amid a federal corruption investigation and a threatened impeachment for allegedly accepting gifts from employees and state contractors. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin Sullivan was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor. Rell is a Republican, while Sullivan is a Democrat.

Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan has named David Dorff as the state's first director for the new Office of Small Business Advocacy.

Angie Dvorak, vice president of research and economic development for the University of Southern Mississippi, is becoming president of the university's research foundation.

Frank Horrigan is leaving Innovation Works in Pittsburgh to become director of the Governors Action Team SW Regional Office.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco has appointed Michael Olivier to serve as Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development. Olivier was president and CEO of the Harrison County Development Commission in Gulfport, Miss., for 17 years.