SSTI Digest

A quick scan of most state innovation indices and report cards will reveal Massachusetts is on the short list for comparison of what others states would like to achieve. But a leadership spot in the innovation economy is not being taken for granted in the Commonwealth. The dot-com crash and recession hit the state hard, leading Massachusetts Speaker Thomas M. Finneran last summer to recommend that Massachusetts invest more than $100 million toward several tech-based economic development (TBED) initiatives (see the July 11, 2003, issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest). Last September, Gov. Mitt Romney also seemed on board with making a significant TBED investment when he outlined his own $125 million jobs bill (see the Sept. 19, 2003, issue of the Digest). The governor's proposal spread the state's investment over three years. While the two proposals contained several similar elements, politics is a fickle business and two months can be a long time for a Republican governor and a Democratic speaker of the house. The legislature's economic stimulus package passed in…

The 2005 budget request submitted this week by Florida Governor Jeb Bush includes $20 million to establish two more Centers of Excellence at Florida universities. The new centers would join the three selected last year through a competitive process [see the May 16, 2003 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest.] Each center receives $10 million from the state and is designed to foster innovative, cutting-edge technology research at Florida’s colleges and universities, develop commercially viable applications for that research, and recruit high-tech industries and thinkers to the state. The initial legislation enabling the state's investment in the centers permitted creation of up to five. To help strengthen the academic research infrastructure, Gov. Bush also recommended the state commit $25 million to match private donations to state universities. To encourage the growth of alternative energy technologies, the governor's budget also includes $15 million in seed capital to share the cost of installation and demonstration of hydrogen fuel cells by Florida companies. Press materials accompanying the budget…

Nearly every region engaged in building a tech-based economy wants more access to seed and venture capital money. It's particularly useful when your largest employer announces it will lay off up to 23 percent of its workforce – as many as 5,000 people in your community and 15,000 across the globe – during the next three years. The generous but bittersweet offer came from Eastman Kodak Company last week as it announced the creation of a $15 million economic development fund designed to promote business development and job creation in the greater Rochester region. Kodak currently employs more than 20,000 people in Rochester, a third of its total employment of 64,000 worldwide in 2003. Kodak will commit $5 million per year for three years to the new Rochester Economic Development Fund, which is targeted at projects having the potential to generate and retain jobs in the Rochester area. The company will work with other businesses, community groups, universities and local government to expand the fund. Investments made by the fund will take a variety of forms, but will be targeted at…

Despite a sluggish national economy, North Carolina held its own over the last three years, according to a measure of 25 broad indicators of innovation, technology and economic growth released earlier this week. In all, Tracking Innovation: North Carolina Innovation Index 2003 considers more than 50 performance measures across five general categories, highlighting the state’s strengths and weaknesses. North Carolina’s performance on each measure is compared to that of the U.S. as a whole and that of six selected states — Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. The 76-page index, sponsored biennially by the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology (BST), argues that the state’s technology-intensive economy, fueled by high and increasing levels of inputs, is strong at its core. On a scale from 1-7, with 1 being best, North Carolina averages a 4.5 ranking across all measures. The state's highest average rank, 3.35, occurs in the area of economic structure, the index shows. Economic structure is defined as the intensity of the state's technology activity, the…

It's one thing to call your entrepreneurship education efforts the best, but it's another when more than 950 of your peers from around the country do. The entrepreneurship program at Harvard Business School (HBS) recently won the top award for MBA programs nationwide from the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), an organization devoted to entrepreneurship education and development. USASBE named Harvard Business School as its National Model MBA Program winner at the organization's annual conference in Dallas on Jan. 17-19. HBS has offered courses in entrepreneurship for more than half a century and counts among its 65,000 graduates some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs. Thirty-one faculty are enrolled in the Entrepreneurial Management unit and another 30 whose work is directly related to entrepreneurship are in other units. The program also requires its 900 first-year students to take the course "The Entrepreneurial Manager," and the school offers nearly 20 elective courses in entrepreneurship to second-year students. The school's Arthur Rock…

This is the third in a series of articles as SSTI continues its look at the prominence of tech-based economic development in the Inaugural, State of the State and Budget Addresses given by the nation's governors. Highlights from this week's speeches are provided below. Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, State of the State Address, Jan. 26, 2004 "Conservation, waste-to-energy programs and alternative energy initiatives can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and move our state to the forefront of progressive energy policies. To demonstrate the state's commitment and leadership role, I ask you today to pass our bill that mandates 20 percent of all electricity sold in the year 2020 come from renewable sources. "This ambitious goal would be mandated in steps through a balance of incentives and penalties. We are also proposing a bill to encourage the use of non-fossil fuels by exempting them from the Hawai`i state fuel tax... "We ask you to work with us in providing improved investment tools to encourage technology industries, as well as non-tech businesses, to locate…

Ohio’s IT Alliance (OITA) invites applications and nominations for the position of President and Chief Executive Officer. OITA's mission as a statewide public/private partnership is to drive the growth and improve the competitiveness of Ohio through the development and support of its information technology industry. The new President will enhance OITA’s role as the key public/private catalyst for industry growth and success. The successful candidate must: demonstrate a strong public presence with the ability to lead through influence; have compelling analytic and strategic problem solving and planning abilities; evidence successful leadership in an IT enterprise or function in both strategy and operating roles; demonstrate a successful track record in sales/marketing, business development, operations, and fund raising in technology based companies or related organization; and possess familiarity/experience with technology based economic development. A more complete description is available on SSTI's online Job Corner at: http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm Responses should be submitted to: Nicholas S. Brill, Brill Neumann…

In last week's Tech Talkin' Govs II article, we inadvertently listed Mark Warner as the Governor of South Carolina. Gov. Warner leads the Commonwealth of Virginia. Mark Sanford is Governor of South Carolina. SSTI regrets the error.

Following 41 straight months of job losses in the manufacturing sector, the Bush Administration released its long-awaited strategy to help revive manufacturing. Manufacturing in America: A Comprehensive Strategy to Address the Challenges to U.S. Manufacturers makes 31 recommendations designed to address challenges identified through 23 roundtable discussions that were held across the country. Included in the recommendations is support for "a newly coordinated Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)." While much of the press attention across the country has indicated that this is a major reversal on the Administration's part, the picture is not as simple as that. The Administration's fiscal year 2004 budget request of $12.6 million for MEP would have cut funding to all but two of the MEP centers. The budget approved by Congress on Thursday contains $39.6 million for MEP, down from the FY 2003 level of $106 million. Yet, in terms of funding, it is not clear from the report what "support" means. Commerce Secretary Evans has indicated in some press reports that MEP would receive "flat funding…

The satisfying flavor of success in tech-based economic development is whetting Oklahoma's appetite for more. Lots more. The past two weeks in the Sooner State have seen the release of the third annual impact report from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), Gov. Brad Henry's appointment of a science and technology advisor, and the culminating $1 billion action plan of the governor's Economic Development Generating Excellence (EDGE) task force. Interest in advancing Oklahoma's competitive position and economic livelihood through science and technology-based economic development may be at an all-time high. For example, the six-month process of developing the EDGE recommendations drew involvement from more than 2,500 people in the state. Twenty-nine regional forums were held last fall to facilitate the exchange of ideas among these participants. Meeting Challenges in the New Economy, OCAST's third installment in an ongoing study of the Oklahoma's progress on a number of indicators, found the state is making steady improvement for its economy…

A new report from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) finds the federal government’s expanding investment in Homeland Security-related research is already proving a major boon to the high tech economy in Massachusetts, but the state’s overall leadership in federally-funded research and development (R&D) is under intensifying pressure from states throughout the country. The MTC report tracks $3.3 billion in new federal funding for Homeland Security R&D to key industry clusters in Massachusetts and finds the most significant opportunities lie in the life sciences. Recent major grants (e.g. BU National Biocontainment Laboratory and the Harvard Medical School Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research) will strengthen the region’s existing assets in fields related to bio-terrorism defense and the detection, prevention and cure of infectious disease. That's some of the good news in The R&D Funding Scorecard: Federal Investments and the Massachusetts Innovation Economy. MTC's findings also flag a few challenging trends for the…

Three I's neatly sum up the 22 recommendations recently released by Maryland Governor Robert Erlich's Commission on Development of Advanced Technology Business — Investment, Innovation, and Image. The year-long study looked at the state's existing physical, financial and intellectual infrastructures to support the state's research and technology sectors, making specific recommendations in three groupings to foster continued growth. The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) figures prominently in many of the recommendations, and, in partnership with the Department of Business and Economic Development, the research universities and the state's regional technology councils could play an even more significant role in the state's technology strategy if the plan is fully implemented. Recognizing the need for a strong commitment in the governor's office and private-public leadership for the design and implementation of the state's tech-based economic development (TBED) investments, the plan addresses several key elements for successful TBED: I. Make Maryland More Competitive…