SSTI Digest

The Department of Commerce is accepting nominations for the 2004 National Medal of Technology awards, the nation’s highest honor awarded by the President to America's leading technological innovators. The Medal was first awarded in 1985 following its creation in 1980 by Congress. It is given annually to individuals, teams, or companies for accomplishments in the innovation, development, commercialization, and management of technology, as evidenced by the establishment of new or significantly improved products, processes or services. Past awards have been made in five main areas: technology product and process; technology management and policy; technology concepts; technology and human resource development; and environmental technology. The deadline for submitting 2004 nominations is October 30, 2003, and nominations should be submitted by e-mail. Nomination forms and guidelines may be downloaded from the National Medal of Technology website at http://www.ta.doc.gov/medal.

Alaska, with 25.7 percent of its academic R&D expenditures coming from industrial sources, ranks first in the U.S. in the amount of industry-funded R&D at its academic institutions, according to new data released by the National Science Foundation (NSF). An NSF report, Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges, FY 2001, shows $28.4 million of Alaska's $110.2 million in academic R&D expenditures in 2001 were industry-supplied. The U.S. as a whole saw more than $32.2 billion go toward R&D activities in its research institutions, with almost $2.2 billion coming from industry, according to the report. Nineteen states ranked above the U.S. average of 6.82 percent. North Carolina finished runner-up to Alaska at 15 percent while Massachusetts, Georgia and Pennsylvania rounded out the top five, percentage-wise. SSTI has prepared a state-by-state table that depicts the share of total academic R&D expenditures stemming from industry sources. The table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/082203t.htm Survey of…

Boston The Mystic Valley Development Commission (MVDC) recently secured a $5.5 million loan from Citizens Bank of Massachusetts to finance the final land acquisitions for the first phase of TeleCom City, a 200-acre technology development project along the banks of the Malden River in the cities of Medford, Malden and Everett. MVDC was created by an act of the state legislature in 1996. With the loan from Citizens, the Commission will purchase the project's remaining three parcels of land, which total about eight acres in Medford. The project also has received more than $25 million in state support and $13 million in federal funding. Phase One, the construction of four 110,000-square-foot buildings on about 29 acres in Medford, is scheduled to begin in 2004. Jefferson Parish, LA Two sites in Jefferson Parish are among the frontrunners being considered by local economic development officials for a technology park, the Times-Picayune recently reported. Both sites could enable a campus of at least 25 acres to be built in the Avondale-Waggaman-Bridge City area and a less…

After months of analyzing data and hundreds of interviews, organizers of western North Carolina's Future Forward economic development strategy only await the study's approval by local governments. Future Forward is aimed at improving economic development conditions for 12 counties in the Western Piedmont and Mountains of North Carolina located in the 10th and 11th Congressional Districts — Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Iredell, Lincoln, Rutherford, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes and McDowell counties. Specifically requiring approval are the study's final recommendations, which fall into three broad categories: Education and Workforce Training. The study proposes that the western North Carolina region conduct a campaign to increase the value people place on education and increase the number of people with education beyond high school; establish a Learning and Innovation Network that provides programs and facilities to build technology-based economic development (TBED) across the region; and, promote development of a technology park associated with the Learning and Innovation Network…

TOP Reauthorized and To Grow, Says Senate Commerce Committee The Technology Opportunities Program (TOP), a highly-competitive, merit-based grant program for stimulating digital network technologies in the U.S., might survive after all. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation adopted S. 1478 on July 31, reauthorizing the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) for four years and effectively restoring funding for TOP. Under the reauthorization act, NTIA would receive $18.9 million in 2004 and $21.2 million annually by FY 2008. TOP, which was proposed for elimination by the Bush Administration, would receive $15.9 million in FY 2004, $16.3 million in FY 2005 and $17.9 million in FY 2008. TOP awards matching grants to public and nonprofit organizations to demonstrate practical applications of telecommunications and information technologies and is managed by NTIA. To date, TOP has awarded 555 grants totaling $204.9 million and leveraging $282 million in local matching funds. Illinois Loosens Grip on $11M Fund to Eliminate Digital…

Climate change. Global warming. Foreign oil dependency. Natural gas prices. Ozone alerts. Brownouts. Increasingly, energy related items grab the headlines, copy space and news coverage across America. Strategies for dealing with energy issues vary — and spark some of the most heated debates in federal public policy. More and more sides of the energy discussion see research, development and commercialization of renewable energy technologies, while historically receiving negligible federal funding relative to traditional energy R&D, as playing more prominent roles toward solutions to the country's energy issues. A recently released national study finds that, in the absence of this federal leadership, 19 states have acted to increase the nation's supply of wind, solar and other renewable energy resources. Plugging in Renewable Energy: Grading the States, released by the independent nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), assigns grades to all 50 states based on each state's commitment to renewable electricity (as determined by projecting the results of renewable electricity…

Recently released information on per capita income by state reveals the dramatic impact the dot-com boom and bust, plus the economic slowdown has had on income levels. Analyzing per capita income from 1998 to 2002 indicates that during that time every state but Nevada saw their per capita income increase. However, almost half of the states (23) peaked in 2000 and their per capita income has declined since. SSTI has prepared two tables comparing per capita income from 1998 to 2002 across states in constant 2002 dollars. The first table <http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/080803t.htm> shows the percentage increase in per capita income over the four years. The data show that for the country as a whole per capita income is up 3.96 percent since 1998, but it decreased during 2000-2002 close to 1 percent. Wyoming experienced the largest increase from 1998 to 2002 at 11.89 percent, and Washington D.C. and Vermont placed second and third, respectively. Nevada was the only state to experience a decrease in per capita income from 1998 to 2002 falling 2.54 percent. The second table <…

Two of the most critical issues in today's tech-based economic development (TBED) involve money — funding for companies and funding for TBED programs. That's why preceding SSTI's 7th Annual Conference, Building Tech-based Economies: From Policy to Practice, two intensive workshops will be held on October 20, 2003, that focus on financing: developing angel organizations to help increase the amount of capital available for entrepreneurial companies and exploring new strategies in financing TBED programs. Developing Angel Organizations: A Practical Guide Angel investors, often receiving little press, have provided significant financing of entrepreneurial companies. Experts estimate that, on a cumulative basis, angel investments have been double that of venture capital over the last 30 years. Angels also are financing start-up and early-stage businesses, filling a void left by venture capitalists. In short, angels recognize opportunity exists even in a risk-averse market and are putting up their money as proof, but can they be found or nurtured just anywhere? Presented by the Ewing…

Large-Scale Biomedical Science: Exploring Strategies for Future Research The Human Genome Project, considered by life scientists to be their first foray into "big science," has paved the way for future large-scale projects that promise to lead to faster improvements in human health. But no guidelines on how to organize and fund such initiatives in the biomedical sciences have been available — until now. A new report from the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies fills this gap by describing how the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies should select, fund, launch and evaluate large collaborative biomedical projects, and how their scientific staff should be trained and retained. "A large-scale approach is relatively new in the life sciences, so there are very few precedents to follow or learn from when planning and launching a new project of this magnitude," said Bruce Stillman, vice chair of the committee that wrote the report and director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. "With…

Rod Casto was recently appointed to the position of Associate Vice President for Economic Development in the University of South Florida's Office of Research. Mark Laurenzo also has been named the new Deputy Director of the Division of Patents and Licensing in the USF office. The nonprofit Challenger Learning Center of Alaska Board of Directors recently announced the hiring of Sharon Gherman as its new Executive Director. Gherman was the former K-12 program executive for the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation. Jacques Koppel, president of Minnesota Technology, Inc. since 1991, announced his resignation on July 28. Under Mr. Koppel's leadership, MTI worked with more than 5,600 manufacturing and technology companies around Minnesota, helping the state's economy realize gains of more than $700 million in the process. MTI's Board of Directors has appointed Frank Starke interim President to lead the organization during its transition from a quasi-state corporation to a private nonprofit corporation.

Rod Casto was recently appointed to the position of Associate Vice President for Economic Development in the University of South Florida's Office of Research. Mark Laurenzo also has been named the new Deputy Director of the Division of Patents and Licensing in the USF office.

The nonprofit Challenger Learning Center of Alaska Board of Directors recently announced the hiring of Sharon Gherman as its new Executive Director. Gherman was the former K-12 program executive for the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation.