SSTI Digest

With the state's current fiscal year winding down and a $1 billion deficit looming for the next one, Ohio has re-emphasized its commitment to building a stronger economic future through research and technology with a series of multi-million grant announcement over the past three weeks. Part of Governor Bob Taft's Third Frontier Project, the state has competitively awarded nearly $20 million to each of the first three Wright Centers of Innovation. The centers program represents a $500 million, 10-year capital fund to support the construction and furbishing of an unspecified number of research and commercialization facilities associated with the state's academic research community. The first project designated a Wright Center for Innovation received a $9.1 million grant for research and development toward creation of an ultra-high field MRI scanner. Research partners include Ohio State University and Case Western Reserve University; commercial partners are two Cleveland-area companies. The state is investing an additional $8 million into the project through the Biomedical Research and…

The Washington Technology Center (WTC) has created a new program that will make obtaining access to early-stage seed capital easier for companies outside the Puget Sound. WTC is Washington's statewide science and technology organization. Under a $250,000 award from the federal Economic Development Administration that was matched by WTC, investors and companies in communities such as Yakima, Spokane, Tri-Cities, Bellingham, Port Angeles, Wenatchee and Vancouver will benefit from the two-year program. Two activities will be at the core of the program. Modeled on an approach developed by the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), WTC will work with local community development officials to create and connect area investor groups, thus maximizing and enhancing a deal flow across the state. WTC also will provide hands-on aid in developing business plans and preparing investor presentations to strengthen companies' chances for securing investment. Findings from WTC-led statewide focus groups and the organization's 2003 Index of Innovation and…

For Texas, the appropriate role for the state to serve in fostering economic development continues to evolve. With the passage of Senate Bill 275 earlier this month, the third organization in seven years will take the lead to encourage economic growth — this time with a strong focus on clusters and technology-based economic development. The act abolishes the Texas Department of Economic Development (TDED) and creates an Economic Development and Tourism Office within the Governor's Office. Accompanying the transfer of duties will be just over 100 of the 127 TDED employees. S.B. 275 requires the new office to identify and work to advance economic growth in key regional and statewide industry clusters. Advanced technology sectors identified for particular business development attention include semiconductors, information and computer technology, microelectromechanical systems, manufactured energy systems, nanotechnology, and biotechnology. The new office will be responsible for: developing a statewide economic development strategy; engaging in business retention,…

Citing inadequate information available to those who oversee technology incubators, yet emphasizing the incubators' significant and measurable impact on communities, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Administration has released a study that highlights 17 of the nation's top incubators. A National Benchmarking Analysis of Technology Business Incubator Performance and Practices details the role business incubators have in technology development strategies. Working with the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA), Commerce's Office of Technology Policy (OTP) sought to identify factors that contribute to business incubator performance. OTP collaborated with NBIA and the Southern Technology Application Center at the University of Florida to produce the study, ultimately to allow economic development officials to gauge their efforts and increase the return on investment in business incubation. To determine the 17 "best-in-class" incubators out of a field of 79, NBIA researchers gathered data on employment and sales revenue growth from incubator managers. The 17 are said to…

"The Federal Government has primary responsibility to lead the Nation in developing and implementing a coordinated, effective response to our long-term needs for science and engineering skills in the U.S. workforce in ways unlikely to be addressed by market mechanisms or interventions at the state and local levels," concludes the National Science Board (NSB) in the draft final report of its Task Force on National Workforce Policies for Science and Engineering. The NSB is the governing board for the National Science Foundation. Global competition for science and engineering talent is intensifying, the NSB finds, at the same time that the number of U.S. citizens entering the fields is likely to decline unless more is done to attract students in demographic groups traditionally underrepresented in science and engineering (S&E) disciplines. Five major policy recommendations are presented: The federal government must direct substantial new support to students and institutions in order to improve success in S&E study by American undergraduates from all demographic…

The National Science Foundation has released Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering: Fall 2001, a collection of 54 statistical tables present the distribution of graduate students in science and engineering (S&E) across population segments, fields of science or engineering and by college and state. Overall long-term trends for S&E graduate students from 1975 to 2001 and short-term trends from 1994 to 2001 by detailed fields are presented. Nationally, there were 426,342 graduate S&E students in 2001, up 2.8 percent from 2000. The tables report California, New York, Texas and Illinois had the most graduate S&E students in 2001; these same states represented the top four in the previous year as well. To standardize the data for comparison across states, SSTI has prepared the accompanying table <http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/062003t.htm> presenting the amount of academic R&D spending in each state per graduate S&E student. The results show Maryland, at $178,119, has the most R&D expenditures per student, followed closely by…

The Fourth of July might just be a paid holiday for New Jersey's tech-based economic development agency after all. Since Governor James McGreevey released his FY 2004 budget request six months ago, the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology has been living under a June 30 death sentence. Facing a deficit forecast in excess of $4 billion, the governor had called for the elimination of the $15 million program. The Commission, which has been the state's lead S&T organization since 1985, administers an array of programs that support academic research, technology incubators, business financing, SBIR proposal assistance, and the state's affiliate network for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The latest independent analysis, assessing the long-term impact of Commission activities as of 2002, revealed an economic impact of $120 million annually and job creation figures averaging approximately 750 each year. A June 18 article in the Bergen County Record reports the Democratic legislative leaders and the governor have reached a compromise restoring $8 million to the popular…

One of the greatest challenges for university technology transfer offices (TTOs) trying to maximize commercialization of university technologies is convincing faculty researchers to disclose their inventions, according to a new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Richard Jensen (Notre Dame), Jerry Thursby (Emory University) and Marie Thursby (Georgia Institute of Technology) – the authors of The Disclosure and Licensing of University Inventions – state the "higher quality" or "most productive" faculty are most often the least likely to be bothered with the distraction of pursuing commercialization. The paper presents, as one plausible explanation, the fact 71 percent of university inventions require further research and development in a more applied direction than the original scientist or engineer may wish to expend time and resources. The disclosure process itself is time-consuming and takes many researchers away from their work. As a result, many TTO directors believe the best technologies or hottest prospects remain on the floor or shelves of research…

Kenneth Alfred will become the first executive director for the new Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition. Diane Duff is the new director for the National Governors' Association economic development and commerce committee. Duff formerly was executive director of the Alliance for Rail Competition. Robin Schabes, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's special assistant for technology, has announced her resignation. Schabes staffed the Mayor's Council on Technology Advisors. Mass Ecomm has changed its name to the New England Business & Technology Association to better reflect its regional nature and broader mission.

Kenneth Alfred will become the first executive director for the new Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition.

Diane Duff is the new director for the National Governors' Association economic development and commerce committee. Duff formerly was executive director of the Alliance for Rail Competition.

Robin Schabes, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's special assistant for technology, has announced her resignation. Schabes staffed the Mayor's Council on Technology Advisors.