SSTI Digest

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.

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:

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."

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.

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.

The steady decline of venture capital abated in the fourth quarter of 2002 with total investments of $4.2 billion, essentially flat from the prior quarter of $4.5 billion, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers/Venture Economics/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree Survey. A total of 692 companies received funding in the fourth quarter compared to 671 companies in the third quarter.

Venture capital investing has continued to decline since the run-up that peaked in 2000. For all of 2002, venture investing totaled $21.2 billion, approximately half of 2001's $41.3 billion. Investment levels in 2002 were similar to 1998, when $21.6 billion went to entrepreneurs.

W. Glenn Cornell has been named commissioner of the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has appointed Julie Curry as deputy chief of staff for economic development and labor.

Andrew Kim is the new policy director for Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen.

Dr. Donald Smith has been named interim chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse.

W. Glenn Cornell has been named commissioner of the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has appointed Julie Curry as deputy chief of staff for economic development and labor.

Andrew Kim is the new policy director for Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen.

Dr. Donald Smith has been named interim chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse.

Central California's Regional Technology Alliance has changed its name to the Inland Empire techSOURCE.