SSTI Digest

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, has called on the Senate’s top appropriators to help reverse budget elimination of two key programs designed to strengthen the technological competitiveness of small businesses.

Snowe and a bipartisan group of 14 other senators released a letter calling on Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Ranking Member Robert Byrd (D-WV) to help identify new sources of funding “to alleviate the severe impact” of FY 2003 cuts in the Federal and State Technical Partnership (FAST) and Rural Outreach Programs (ROP) administered by the Small Business Administration. Both federal programs provide matching grants to state initiatives to help small businesses with technology development and commercialization.

A bi-partisan group of Senators have cosponsored the "New Homestead Economic Opportunity Act" to help renew the promise of the original Homestead Act to attract new residents and businesses to rural areas suffering from high out-migration. Introduced by Senator Bryon Dorgan (D-ND) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) this week, the bill provides incentive tools including a $3 billion venture capital fund.

S. 602 calls for a federal injection of $200 million annually between 2004-2013 into the New Homestead Venture Capital Fund, after $100 million in investments have been made each year from private and nonfederal sources. The purpose of the fund would be to strengthen the economies of qualifying counties – those which have seen a net outmigration exceeding 10 percent over the past 20 years – by:

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has posted a preliminary list of the 10 U.S. universities receiving the most patents for inventions during calendar year 2002. The University of California tops the list for the ninth consecutive year. The table below also presents the school's 2001 ranking and total.