SSTI Digest

Gwyn Riddick recently was named director of the new Piedmont Triad office of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

Gary Schneider is the new chairman of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce (S.C.).

In signing his state's fiscal year 2003-04 budget on August 2, California Governor Gray Davis shaved General Fund expenditures by $7 billion in an effort to address a $38.2 billion budget shortfall. Among those cuts was funding for the California Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency (TTCA), the state's principal catalyst for innovation, investment and economic opportunity. Gov. Davis stated in a press release that "neither party would embrace" his original budget request, which included funding for TTCA. The approved $71.1 billion spending plan is minus $17 million to $18 million per year for the agency, to be phased out by January 1, 2004. Some of the work performed by TTCA will be carried on by the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, including management of the Small Business Loan Guarantee and Manufacturing Technology Programs. The elimination of TTCA means California will be without its lead technology-based economic development organization, the Division of Science, Technology and Innovation. Since 1999, TTCA has awarded 246 grants totaling more than $72 million through programs…

In its second attempt to distribute $225 million across the state to local economic development projects, after a lawsuit successfully challenged the initial selection process, the West Virginia Development office is poised to award nearly $47.5 million to directly benefit several technology-specific initiatives. A grant committee of the West Virginia Development Office announced the awards among the sum of those made — $225.86 million to 48 projects in 27 counties. Technology-related awards include: $14.75 million for expansion of the I-79 Technology Park (Marion County); $12.5 million for a biotechnology development center at Marshall University (Cabell County); $10 million for a medical research facility at West Virginia University's Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute and $2.3 million for biometric technology development (Monongalia County); $4.3 million for an electronic recycling center involving polymers (Wood County); $2 million for a technology center at Concord College (Mercer County); and, $1.5 million for the creation of a biotechnology…

North Carolina took another step toward improving technology-based economic opportunity for its citizens when Gov. Michael Easley signed into law House Bill 1194 earlier this month. The bill creates the e-NC Authority, which will continue the work of the existing Rural Internet Access Authority for three more years, beginning January 2004. Since 2001, the current authority has led efforts to connect North Carolina, especially rural areas, to the Internet. The Rural Internet Access Authority estimates 2002 – a year when the authority helped drive a 20 percent increase in computer ownership – marked the biggest deployment year the state has ever had. High-speed Internet access was available to 75 percent of North Carolina households by the end of 2002, the authority states. The e-NC Authority will be a unique hybrid organization that is funded through private and federal dollars and operated out of a private nonprofit. The newly created state authority will build off the existing authority's work, safeguard its financial and programmatic investments across the state, provide continued…

The Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC), the state's lead corporation to promote advanced technology economic development, has developed a new investment program to help early-stage technology companies get the capital boost they need. KTEC's Technology Commercialization Seed Fund (TCSF) is intended for companies that have developed technology products or processes and are preparing for a venture investment. Established July 1, the new fund emphasizes technology commercialization and complements KTEC’s existing Applied Research Matching Fund, which is intended for companies still in the product development phase. “TCSF allows us to help companies that are farther along than companies we’ve invested in in the past,” said Michael Peck, KTEC vice president of investments and portfolio management. “Companies that are eligible for a TCSF investment will have other investors ready to co-invest with KTEC.” By investing in early-stage Kansas technology companies in need of capital, KTEC helps to grow businesses that will contribute to the state’s tax base and create higher-…

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has vowed to enlist her fellow governors in the fight to maintain the nation’s vital manufacturing industry. At a recent meeting of automotive industry executives and experts in Traverse City, Mich., Granholm used her keynote speech to call for actions that will stave off the loss of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Granholm offered a three-step plan for elevating the national discourse on maintaining manufacturing jobs: Gather Michigan’s manufacturing industry leaders to explore issues and solutions in a state-level summit in the next several months; Encourage the governors of the nation’s other top manufacturing states to hold similar meetings in their states; and, Encourage those governors to gather in Washington, D.C. to discuss state and federal actions needed to sustain the nation’s manufacturing industry. While the governor began her address by reviewing the good news coming out of Michigan this year, she also cited grave statistics to reinforce the immediacy of manufacturing’s problems. After a decade of steady losses, U.S.…

Seven grants totaling nearly $4.76 million will help Southwest Virginia achieve greater high-speed bandwidth access by enabling deployment of fiber optic cable throughout much of the region. The Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission awarded the grants, including $2.03 million via five grants to Bristol Virginia Utilities (BVU). The balance of the funds was distributed between the Cumberland Plateau and Lenowisco planning district commissions. The 31-member Virginia Tobacco Commission was created by the 1999 General Assembly to make payments to farmers to compensate for the decline of tobacco quotas and to promote economic growth and development in tobacco-dependent communities. BVU, a communications services provider, and the two planning district commissions will use their grants to extend broadband further through Washington County, into Russell, Tazewell, Smyth and Wythe Counties, and eventually Grayson County. Broadband loops also will be extended or completed in Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Scott and Wise Counties, and the City of Norton. Officials are hopeful…

California, with a 13.4 percent share of the U.S. total, led the nation in receiving federal obligations for science and engineering (S&E) to colleges and universities in FY 2001, according to a new National Science Foundation (NSF) report. More than $22 billion was provided to all institutions in FY 2001, with the Department of Health and Human Services leading the way at almost $13 billion and NSF second at $3.3 billion. SSTI has prepared two state-by-state tables offering a breakdown of the above data found in NSF's report, Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions. The first table <http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/082903t.htm> presents the percent of each agency’s total obligations by state and the state's share of the total federal obligations. The second table <http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/082903t2.htm> presents the percent each federal agency represents of each state’s total R&D. The actual dollar amounts from which both tables are developed are contained in Table B-9 of the NSF report. The data presented in…

While rural regions strive to establish basic high-speed Internet connections, larger cities such as St. Louis, Oklahoma City and Roanoke, Va., are looking to establish free, wireless Internet access across several blocks to encourage economic development. Recent reports show efforts are underway to speed the technology's deployment in each of the metro areas. In St. Louis, O2Connect is looking to build possibly the largest, free, wireless Internet network in the nation. USA Today recently reported that the city and O2Connect have agreed to offer the service in a 42-square-block area. O2Connect provides wireless high-speed Internet access and data transport to corporate clients using 2.4/5.8 GHz and 900 MHz technologies to deliver 802.11 radio signals. For St. Louis, the small, 3-year-old company already has installed the first of six antennae to transmit the invisible signals and has donated $25,000 worth of equipment. The Oklahoma City-based 4D Networks, Inc. plans to install portable wireless systems, as well as fixed and mobile ones, throughout Oklahoma and abroad in the near future.…

Blatant SSTI Conference Plug Wanting to keep up with the latest trends in tech-based economic development? Want to know the implications and costs of who's doing what where? SSTI's 7th Annual Conference, to be held in Seattle on October 21-22, offers 24 packed sessions exploring where the field is headed. What works, what doesn't and what's next. Between the speakers and other registrants, you're sure to learn more than a few tricks to improve your local, regional or state efforts toward building a tech-based economy. More information is available at: http://www.ssti.org/conference03.htm [expired]

Michael Gallagher recently was nominated to lead the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Gallagher succeeds Nancy Victory as assistant secretary of Commerce for communications and information. Jeff Morris has been named Director of the Northwest Energy Technology Collaborative. John Tesoriero has left the New Jersey Commission on Science & Technology to become Associate Director of the Center for Advanced Information Processing at Rutgers University. David Eater is Acting Executive Director for the Commission as a search is conducted for a permanent replacement.