SSTI Digest

NJCST Out, Cancer Research In Tight fiscal times are the norm for state and local governments across the country. While the federal government can ponder record-busting deficits for FY 2004, declining revenues are forcing state leaders to take scalpels, knives, axes and in some cases even chain saws to their budgets. Most budget proposals for 2004 include some sort of revenue enhancement measures – new taxes, eliminating loopholes and credits, increasing user and service fees – but none of the states are relying completely on increasing revenues to deal with their shortfalls. There are also spending reductions. Budget cuts also can provide a glimpse of a governor's core priorities and the political clout of particular constituencies. What stays in or is spared the deepest cuts can be revealing. The 2004 budget cycle in New Jersey, which got underway February 4 with Governor James McGreevey's budget address, provides an example. Facing a projected $5 billion deficit, Gov. McGreevey spent much of his address to the New Jersey legislature outlining a budget request that "contains cuts I…

Governor John Baldacci used his February 5 budget address to outline a proposal to float a $70 million economic development bond, the majority of which would be dedicated to research and development projects. Citing the successful results of several R&D bond packages approved by voters over the past five years – with last summer's $35 million bond being the most recent – Gov. Baldacci wants the state to take advantage of historically low interest rates and the state's good bond rating to commit an additional $43 million for R&D projects. The Governor says the funds will support the joint biomedical research efforts of the University of Maine System, Jackson Laboratory, and the other biomedical research organizations around the state. Other funds will continue research in natural resource based industries in the university system. In addition, Gov. Baldacci called for using a portion of the funding to establish a revolving loan fund to assist in equipping new business start-ups that have evolved from the natural resource industries research. The final tech-related…

Rural economic development policies must build upon the natural assets of rural America, advises the latest issue brief from the National Governors' Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices. Innovative State Policy Options to Promote Rural Economic Development suggests rural strengths include natural resources, local business networks, and an under-exploited entrepreneurial culture. Rural economic development presents distinct challenges as well, including poor links to markets, geographic isolation, a lack of infrastructure and tools for business development and growth, and the out-migration of human capital. The recent economic downturn in the U.S. also has hit rural areas harder than urban and suburban areas, intensifying the challenges for rural communities. The NGA issue brief suggests states can utilize economic development strategies that rely predominantly on growing a region's assets rather than relying on outside investment. Three strategies states can employ for rural economic development are highlighted, complete with current examples and explanations of how they have been…

To help formulate the best approach for the state to deploy to help build a stronger technology sector, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano has established a state advisory group of consisting entirely of high tech business leaders. Created by executive order, the Governor's Council on Innovation and Technology will recommend ideas for energizing the industry.  The Council will include committees on capital formation, technology transfer and infrastructure and supply chain development. The Council on Innovation and Technology will focus on implementing a statewide strategy for a smooth transfer of technology from universities to the private sector; attracting more venture capital to the state to assist growing and new tech-based businesses; and developing Arizona's infrastructure so it can support tech growth. Additionally, the Council will provide ongoing long-term policy input to the Governor. The Governor's press announcement is available at: http://www.governor.state.az.us/press/03_01_31.htm

The State of Maine's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Committee is seeking a Statewide EPSCoR Director to provide leadership and vision for the State's EPSCoR Committee, called the Research Capacity Committee (RCC), and the state's research enterprise. Working directly with the RCC, the Director participates in the development and implementation of the state's EPSCoR strategy. The Director also reports to the Chair of the RCC. For more information, visit http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm or access the full job description at http://www.mstf.org.

Certified economic development professionals have an extra reason to attend Building Tech-based Economies: From Policy to Practice, the nation's premier educational and networking experience for the TBED community. The 2003 SSTI Annual Conference will be recognized by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) as a professional development event that counts toward the recertification of Certified Economic Developers (CEcD). The IEDC CEcD program is designed to unite the economic development profession around a core level of professional competency in eight topic areas. To sit for the certification exam, prospective candidates must have 10 years of professional experience, or at least four consecutive years of paid experience, and a series of professional development training courses across at least six of the eight competency areas. An important goal of the CEcD program is to ensure that those who are certified continue their own professional development and continue to contribute to the profession. IEDC recognizes the attendance of select non-IEDC events as a way for a…

With more than 20 new governors and hundreds of newly elected state legislators, mayors and city council members across the country, many states and communities are seeing fresh faces in key positions that will influence the shape and direction of tech-based economic development policy, funding and program implementation. SSTI encourages its readership to get issues of the SSTI Weekly Digest in their hands to help bring your new partners into the larger tech-based ED community as soon as possible. If the Digest doesn't forward well, back issues, including this one, and the subscription form are available online for your convenience: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm

As more states settle into their 2003 legislative sessions, fewer Governors are giving Inaugural or State-of-the-State addresses. During the past 10 days, the Governors of Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont and Wisconsin offered outlines of their priorities for the coming year(s). The following excerpts are directly relevant to building a technology-based economy. Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, State of the State Remarks, January 27, 2003 "Knowledge is the new economic fuel, not physical labor. It is the essential ingredient for success in this information age. Providing all our citizens with the knowledge, skills and training they need to compete in the information economy is the best economic development plan we can have. Education and workforce training will prepare our people for the jobs. "We will continue to welcome outside companies relocating to Georgia. However, to achieve real leadership we have to grow our own companies and develop our own industries, based on our own innovations. I see our state developing homegrown industries with global…

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) has announced it is accepting nominations for the Excellence in Economic Development Awards 2003. The awards will be presented in Washington, D.C. at EDA's National Conference Engines of Economic Growth for the 21st Century May 7-9, 2003. Nominations for the awards will be accepted across seven categories: Excellence in Technology-led Economic Development – for supporting technology-led economic development and reflecting the important role of linking universities and industry and technology transfer. Excellence in Enhancing Regional Competitiveness – for enhancing regional competitiveness and supporting long-term development of the regional economy. Excellence in Urban or Suburban Economic Development – recognition for utilizing innovative, market-based strategies to improve urban or suburban economic development results. Excellence in Rural Economic Development – for utilizing innovative, market-based strategies to improve rural economic development results. Excellence in Economic Adjustment Strategies – for…

Public-private partnerships involving cooperative research and development activities among industry, universities and government laboratories can play a key role in speeding new technology from the concept stage to the marketplace, argues a new report conducted by the National Research Council (NRC). The Council's Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy analyzed two major innovation and award programs, the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and the Small Business and Innovation Research (SBIR) program, in preparing the NRC report. Government-Industry Partnerships for the Development of New Technologies considers how partnerships, representing a way to improve innovation output in the U.S., can lead to benefits such as new products, new processes and new knowledge. The report states, "Partnerships facilitate the transfer of scientific knowledge to real products... (They) help by bringing innovations to the point where private actors can introduce them to the market." Successful partnerships such as ATP and the SBIR program, NRC notes, are characterized by a variety of…

State and local governments are starting to develop entrepreneurship programs, but the past decade's progress could be threatened by the looming fiscal crisis facing the states, according to a new study released by the National Commission on Entrepreneurship (NCOE) and the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC). Understanding Entrepreneurship Promotion as an Economic Development Strategy: A Three-State Survey is part of preliminary research dedicated to understanding the growth of entrepreneurial development programs and the effect of these investments on new economic activity. Economic development leaders in Maine, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, surveyed for the study, were asked to detail the nature of their entrepreneurial development programs, as well as efforts to measure their impact. Several results emerged from these initial surveys, which will be used to help refine a larger study of entrepreneurship investments across the U.S. The results include: Entrepreneurial development programs receive more than half their funds from various state government…

During the past two years, efforts have been launched in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex to boost its capacity for building a technology-based economy. The efforts have been directed toward increasing public-private cooperation, especially across organizations and jurisdictions that traditionally have thought of themselves as competitors, and conducting a critical review of the area's strengths and weaknesses. Egos can get bruised in the critical assessment phase for any community or state, so outside experts may be used for an objective and independent review. For example, the Dallas Citizens Council (DCC) sponsored a study last year identifying the strengths and weaknesses of six public universities in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area. The goal: raise the universities to the level of the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M. At the same time, the BiotechnologyDallas Coalition released an update of its initial 1998 assessment of the region as a potential biotech center. The Dallas advocacy group set forth its study to stimulate economic development focusing on biotechnology and…