SSTI Digest

The challenges of creating a cluster of companies in related technologies, both the processes and factors for influencing cluster development, are different than the requirements for maintaining the cluster, concludes "Old Economy" Inputs for "New Economy" Outcomes: Cluster Formation in the New Silicon Valleys. The paper contests cluster development is a combination of elements of both new economic theory focusing on increasing returns and old economic theory, which concentrated on comparative advantage. In preparing their study, the authors analyzed geographic clusters of information and communication technology (ICT) firms from different parts of the world and stressed the importance of studying clusters in-the-making, not only clusters that were already established. ICT clusters were located in Ireland, Cambridge UK, Israel, Scandinavia, India and Taiwan, present-day Northern Virginia and Silicon Valley in the 1960s. Additionally, several key factors in the formation of a successful cluster are outlined. First and foremost, entrepreneurs must move away from the established products and…

Several of the key economic development and science & technology positions have been filled by some of the nation's 24 new governors. Many of these individuals will be involved in setting the state's tech-based economic development agenda and determining budget cuts, reorganization plans or program eliminations to handle the money squeeze. In addition, a few other lead S&T agencies have announced top-level changes. Arizona Chris Cummiskey has been named director of the Government Information Technology Agency by Governor Janet Napolitano. Cummiskey served in the state senate since 1994 before running unsuccessfully for secretary of state last fall. Georgia Gov.-elect Sonny Perdue has named Annie Hunt Burriss as his policy and legislative advisor. Burriss is the vice chancellor for economic development for the University System of Georgia and a past president of the Georgia Economic Developers Association. Hawaii Nola Miyasaki, executive director of the High Technology Development Corporation, announced her resignation in December. She…

Placing a high priority on the biosciences as a measure for long-term economic development, the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board (BWIB) has released a strategic plan that aims to ensure growth, in part, by securing a highly motivated and well trained workforce for the city's bioscience sector. Conducted by two consulting firms, the Baltimore Bioscience Initiative finds that the city and surrounding region already have a sizable employment base of approximately 11,000 people. The majority of this workforce is housed at university medical schools and hospitals and National Institutes of Health (NIH) laboratories, the report states. Of the 78 companies (4,800 employees) that make up the bioscience sector, however, 12-15 percent of their workforce is comprised of low-skill workers, such as lab assistants, technicians, production technicians and clinical technicians. In preparing the plan, the consultants studied economic and demographic trend information in the Baltimore area and conducted interviews with human resources directors of major employers and directors of major education…

Sixty-nine percent of Kentucky businesses use computer technology to handle some of their business functions, but only 36 percent use the Internet and little more than 20 percent have a website, according to a report released by Governor Paul Patton's Office for the New Economy. Kentucky Prepares for the Networked World, which details computer, Internet and website use among the state's businesses, shows more than 50 percent see "no need" to use the Internet. The report is part of the governor's connectkentucky strategic plan that is designed to give Kentucky a sophisticated information network. It was commissioned by a steering committee to respond to the governor's request to assess the condition of the Kentucky's Internet highways, high-speed on-ramps to the highways and current use of the Internet by business, government and consumers. Overall, the state is on par with national averages in business use of computer technology and the Internet, yet significant regional differences remain, the report states. The survey results show more than 60 percent of Kentucky's city and county…

The patterns of research and development (R&D) activities vary considerably among those states with the most R&D expenditures, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) latest InfoBrief reports. In 2000, 87 percent of the nation's total R&D investment of $265 billion occurred in 20 states. Only 4 percent of the U.S. R&D total was accounted for by the 20 lowest ranking states. California led all states with more than $55 billion in expenditures, a 14.9 percent increase over its 1999 total; the 2000 total equals more than one-fifth of the U.S. total. Those states with $10 billion or more in R&D investments in 2000 include Michigan ($18.892B), New York ($13.556B), New Jersey ($13.133B), Massachusetts ($13.004B), Illinois ($12.767B), Texas ($11.552B) and Washington ($10.516B). Among these states, New Jersey showed the greatest growth with a 24.7 percent increase between 1999 and 2000. New York, Texas and Pennsylvania, which ranked ninth at $9.842 billion in R&D expenditures, all experienced declines. Most of Michigan's industry R&D is accounted for by manufacturing…

Ontario is performing from a base of strength in its transition to a knowledge-based economy, according to the Ontario Innovation Index recently released by the Ontario Science and Innovation Council (OSIC). Using 30 indicators, the report measures all aspects of the province's innovation system, from community awareness and support for science and technology (S&T) to levels of investment to support its infrastructure. It also looks at Ontario's incentives for commercialization and growth, innovative performance and innovation outcomes. "The purpose of the index is to provide us with an ongoing portrait of Ontario's innovation environment," Dr. Suzanne Fortier, chair of OSIC, said in a press statement. "This allows the province to compare itself to other jurisdictions that are also leaders in science and innovation. We hope this will be a useful tool for government, academia and the private sector to gauge Ontario's strengths and key areas for improvement." Ontario's base of strength – comprised of tax cuts, educational opportunities, investments in research and development (R…

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) has released a report describing its efforts to evaluate the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program created by Congress in 2000. The NMTC program, which has total equity of $15 billion, permits taxpayers to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making qualified equity investments in designated Community Development Entities (CDEs). Substantially all of the taxpayer's investment must in turn be used by the CDE to provide investments in low-income communities. Credit to the taxpayer totals 39 percent of the investment and is claimed over a seven-year credit period. The GAO report attempts to highlight the NMTC program's goals, design and progress and – as mandated by the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act that brought the program into existence – to review how the program may be evaluated for effectiveness and compliance. The GAO says the program's goals are not explicitly stated in the 2000 legislation but that program supporters contend the goals are "to direct new business capital to low-income communities, facilitate economic development in…

Security analysts and policy makers have been concerned with information published in the open scientific literature since WWII and the Cold War. Recently the focus has shifted towards information and research in the biosciences because of the dramatic advances and potential application of this information to bioterrorism. The likelihood of government-imposed restraints on the dissemination of scientific information is of great concern to the academic research community and has become a delicate subject between national security officials and the academic community. Some arguments for and against restricting publication of "sensitive" research were outlined at a recent conference hosted by the Monterey Institute’s Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Arguments for restricting publication include: scientific advances available in the open scientific literature could assist in the development of new types weapons used for bioterrorism. (A report on the Workshop on Guidelines for the Publication of Scientific Research Potentially Related to Biological and Toxin Warfare is available at…

A new report, Just Clusters: Economic Development Strategies that Reach More People and Places, from Regional Technology Strategies, Inc. (RTS) finds that while cluster-based economic development strategies have the potential to expand opportunities for disadvantaged populations and rural regions, most current cluster strategies do not pay attention to equity issues. The project was made possible through a grant from the Ford Foundation. Just Clusters stems from a question put to almost two dozen leading cluster experts: “Are clusters equitable and just tools for economic development or do they skew resources to those who are already better off?” Clusters refer to the competitive advantages that firms acquire when there are significant concentrations of other similar or related and interdependent businesses in a geographic region. The collaborative result of a two-day meeting of 23 practitioners, researchers and policy makers, the report looks at the implications of cluster strategies for low- and middle- income people, economically distressed urban and rural places, and small enterprises…

Participants of the Federal Biodefense Research FY 2003 Conference recently held in Washington D.C. were given the opportunity to see how the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will work. With its passage in November 2002 by congressional legislation, the Homeland Security Act that created DHS initiated the largest reorganization of the federal government since the 1950s. Now, several agencies and departments will be affected by DHS, and each figures to have an important role in the biodefense arena. Below are a few highlights of the conference, which was sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Research America, a nonprofit organization that promotes health and medical research, and The Scientist, an online news journal. S&T Role John Marburger, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, gave the keynote on the first day of the conference, stressing the important role that S&T will play in both DHS and biodefense. The structure of the newly created DHS…

Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon unveiled a plan earlier this week to "Energize Indiana" that relies heavily on tech-based economic development.  Gov. O'Bannon's Energize Indiana plan is a $1.25 billion, 10-year initiative that seeks to create high-skill, high-wage jobs in four industry sectors to which Indiana has a claim – advanced manufacturing, life sciences, information technology and 21st century logistics (high-tech distribution) – and to prepare the state's workforce to fill them.   Of the $1.25 billion, $610 million is directed toward supporting university research, university-industry partnerships, construction of university research facilities, and scholarships in targeted fields. Energize Indiana will tap several financial sources to accomplish its goals, but not state tax money. The plan calls for the sale of bonds to generate money for these measures, using as collateral some of the future payments from the settlement of the nationwide lawsuit against the tobacco industry. It would use part of the money already on deposit in a tobacco settlement trust fund, or $195…

Gov.-elect Robert Ehrlich has officially put forth his first economic development initiative for Maryland, according to recent press reports. His initiative, the creation of the Commission on Development of High Technology Business, is designed to encourage more technology business in the state. The reports state Gov.-elect Ehrlich hopes to receive recommendations from the panel by July 2002 "on whether the state can change regulations to cultivate technology jobs." By the second year of his term, he plans to use their feedback to present a complete technology agenda to the State Legislature. In a press statement, Gov.-elect Ehrlich said his "administration will strengthen investments in biotech incubators, streamline its technology funding programs, and help Maryland schools turn out the workers our hi-tech economy needs to thrive." Ehrlich chose George Pappas, a local attorney, to chair the commission. Future commission members are expected to represent area businesses, venture capital firms and higher education.