SSTI Digest

The business incubation industry has grown dramatically since 1998, both in the number of programs in operation and the depth and breadth of services they offer, according to 2002 State of the Business Incubation Industry, a recent report by the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA). NBIA regularly surveys business incubators throughout North America to identify trends in the industry. The organization's 2002 report highlights survey data collected in 2001. “In 2001 alone, North American incubators assisted more than 35,000 start-up companies that provided full-time employment for nearly 82,000 workers and generated annual earnings of more than $7 billion,” JoAnn Rollins, NBIA director of membership, said in a press statement. The survey data show 950 business incubation programs were operating in North America in 2001, up from 587 in 1998. Nearly half of these programs were mixed-use incubators that accepted a variety of clients, while more than one-third focused on assisting technology companies. Academic institutions were the most common incubation program…

Corporate, community and independent foundations can be significant sources of funding for local and regional technology-based economic development initiatives. Unfortunately, the first look at growth and giving estimates for 2002 and 2003, suggests foundations may be less charitable than previous years to new and existing grantees. Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates: 2002 Preview, prepared by The Foundation Center, projects that giving by the country's nearly 62,000 grantmaking foundations in 2002 was $30.3 billion, down less than one percent from the $30.5 billion recorded in 2001. This relatively stable level of giving followed six consecutive years of double-digit percentage growth in foundation support. Three straight years of stock market declines and a yearlong recession were balanced out by factors that contributed to the overall stability of foundation giving in 2002, including: giving by newly active foundations established near the end of the recent economic boom; a continuing high level of new gifts and bequests from donors to existing foundations; and ongoing payment of…

A recent study released by the AeA reported a decline of 560,000 high-tech jobs in the U.S. over the period from January 2001 to December 2002. However, AeA’s Tech Employment Update may not show the true magnitude of the decrease in high-tech jobs, as the AeA definition of high-tech excludes many industrial sectors with significant R&D investments. Using a broader definition developed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reveals high tech employment fell by 602,000 jobs. The BLS definition was updated by Daniel Hecker in "High-Technology Employment: A Broader View" in the June 1999 issue of Monthly Labor Review. For some sectors the drop is quite severe. For example, employment in communications equipment fell by 29.7 percent over the 24 months. Fourteen SIC codes experienced double-digit declines while increases were posted in only four sectors — drugs; ordnance and accessories; research and testing services; and, management and public relations. SSTI has prepared a table presenting change in high-tech employment by sector for the period between January…

Two of SSTI's sister organizations for promoting technology-based economic development (TBED) had items of potential interest to the readers of the SSTI Weekly Digest in their e-newsletters this week. The highlights below include links for more information. Broadband The April 1 issue of the Southern Compass, the electronic newsletter of the Southern Growth Policies Board, alerted SSTI to A Broadband World: The Promise of Advanced Services. The paper, written by Matthew Benett of the Alliance for Public Technology (APT), provides case studies of the successful incorporation of broadband applications for local and regional public service delivery. The report is available at: http://apt.org/confer/broadband-world.pdf  Free email subscriptions to the Southern Compass and back issues can be obtained at: http://www.southern.org/compass/index.asp Entrepreneurship The March 31 issue of E-News, the bi-weekly newsletter from the National Commission on Entrepreneurship, included several brief items of note: Entrepreneur magazine's rankings of the top…

The Institute for Government Innovations has announced it is accepting applications for the 17th Annual Innovations in American Government Awards, ultimately to identify outstanding examples of creative problem solving in the public sector. Innovations in American Government encompasses all levels of American government, focusing on domestic programs. Innovations that arise within defense and international agencies are eligible if they have significant domestic policy content, such as job training, base conversion, procurement reform, energy conservation or environmental protection. Weapons systems will not be considered. The awards cycle consists of four rounds, which will result in 15 finalists. Five winners will be selected in May 2004 to receive $100,000 each. All units of government in the U.S. – federal, state, local, tribal and territorial – are eligible for recognition and awards under the following guidelines: Programs must be administered under the authority of one or more governmental entities. Program must receive at least half of their funding from one or…

The Ontario Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation has launched a two-phase, $30 million program intended to accelerate the development of Ontario's biotechnology cluster. The Biotechnology Cluster Innovation Program (BCIP) will support biotechnology infrastructure projects that will help create new companies. BCIP is expected to support projects such as commercialization centers, research parks and other regional initiatives that demonstrate entrepreneurship and innovation. The program also will fund projects that integrate biotechnology into knowledge-based and traditional industry sectors such as photonics, information technology, automotive, chemicals, agriculture, and forestry. "(The Ontario) government's biotechnology strategy will make Ontario one of the most competitive jurisdictions in North America," Minister of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation Jim Flaherty said in a press statement. "Merging biotechnology with traditional industry sectors could provide a significant contribution to the economic growth of the province." The first phase of BCIP is $2 million…

Most practitioners who have been in the tech-based economic development field long enough know the presence of a strong research university can make the job much easier. New innovations and technologies to commercialize through licensing and spinoff companies, research facilities and experts to partner with local companies, and a constant supply of fresh graduates for the workforce are just a few of the benefits a research institution can offer the local and regional economy. Imagine, then, the benefits – and challenges – of having a cluster of research universities conducting more than $1.5 billion worth of research annually in one area, approximately 97 percent of which is funded by federal and other non-local sources. The infusion of so much scientific and engineering activity should help any community weather the current economic crisis and be positioned for the next boom. The challenge for public policy makers and local tech-based economic development programs would be to minimize the export of so much opportunity. A new report reveals the eight largest academic research…

The National Center for Small Communities (NCSC) is offering a new toolkit to help small communities establish more competitive positions in the knowledge economy through aggressive information technology adoption strategies. Following in the footsteps of NCSC's first (1999) Internet guide, Getting Online 2.0: a small-town guide to creating 21st-century communities moves small communities further along the information-technology path by providing updated and more in-depth information and resources. The guide helps small community leaders to: promote public access to computers and the Internet; foster e-commerce among local businesses and non-profits; assess and aggregate demand for high-speed telecommunications services; collaborate with high-speed providers; acquire computer hardware and software; protect security and privacy; launch effective local government Web sites; and much more. Included in the 74-page book's appendices is a summary of the CSPP Readiness Guide, a self-assessment tool that helps communities determine their telecommunications…

Factors such as globalization, trade liberalization and consumer preferences have changed the way agricultural research is conducted, and advances in biotechnology and genomics, ecosystem science and social science have altered the overall agricultural landscape. However, the United States' leading agricultural research service is not quite ready to adapt to this changing environment with its traditional organizational structure, states a new report published by the National Academies. Frontiers in Agricultural Research, conducted for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is the result of the National Academies' efforts to review USDA's Research, Education, and Economics (REE) mission area and offer suggestions for the future of agriculture in the U.S. The report positions REE as the nation's principal driver of publicly funded agricultural research – one which oversees nearly $2 billion in federal research each year – that executes its mission through four member agencies. To continue the gains put forth by agriculture over the last century, a National Academies committee…

A technically-skilled workforce is one of the elements required for a tech-based economy, so the issue of stopping the brain drain is of critical importance to some regions and states.  The choice for some states, it has been observed, is to turn into retirement homes or to retain their college graduates; in short, to avoid losing their minds.  Maine, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are just a few of the states that have been looking at the issue. A recent study of Maine graduates in 1998, Where They Go and Why: Finding Maine’s Future Workforce, reveals that while half of the Maine's high school graduates leave the state to attend college, many transfer back to Maine colleges and universities to complete their degrees. Additionally, more than half of Maine's best and brightest college graduates in 1998 chose to stay in-state or return to Maine to earn their degree. The study defines the "best and brightest" as those students who earned A's or B's in high school and whose mothers have earned at least a bachelor's degree. Three out of every four of Maine's best and brightest students,…

A recent study by the Council for Education Policy, Research and Improvement finds that State University System Centers and Institutes (C&Is) in Florida are cost-effective and creative settings for scientific discovery, technological innovation, policy development, teaching and instruction and public outreach activities. Public Postsecondary Centers and Institutes, a 175-page comprehensive review of C&Is in the state of Florida, also finds that the economic benefits of C&Is extend broadly throughout Florida affecting job creation, gross regional product, personal income, state taxes, and other direct financial benefits. According to the report, approximately 50 percent of all time spent by C&Is in FY 2000-01 was spent on research activities, 30 percent on instructional activities and 20 percent was devoted to service to the community and professional organizations. By utilizing expenditure data and transforming this information into an input-output table, the council uses the REMI model to conduct an economic impact analysis of C&Is in the state of Florida. The REMI…

Correction: In last week's People column, Tom Walker's new title was incorrect. Mr Walker is executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center. Richard Greene, director of the Arlington Technology Incubator and former mayor of Arlington Texas, has been appointed regional administrator of the U.S. EPA. Doris Freedman has announced she is leaving the National Commission on Entrepreneurship effective March 31. Colorado Governor Bill Owens has appointed Paul Ray as the state's first director of biosciences. Peter Slate will preside as chief executive officer over the Arizona Technology Enterprises, the newly created limited liability company formed by spinning off Arizona State University's technology transfer office.