SSTI Digest

U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans has awarded a $6.44 million grant, the largest-ever economic development grant given by the Bush Administration, to Advancing California’s Emerging Technologies (ACET) to expand the Oakland Alameda Bio Tech Incubator to a 40,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art laboratory. Once completed, the newly expanded building will be the largest of its kind west of the Mississippi, ACET director Sam Doctors said in a press statement. Housing nearly 40 high tech, biotechnology, environmental and energy start-up companies, the incubator will include fully equipped laboratory and office space, videoconferencing facilities, and other shared amenities. Since May 1998, ACET has helped seven companies create nearly 1,000 jobs and generate close to $150 million in venture capital. The new ACET facility is expected to graduate 12-15 companies per year, help create 6,000 jobs to the Bay Area and attract nearly $1 billion in investment by the fifth year of operation. Groundbreaking for the new building is expected in December 2002, with completion in 2004.

Manufacturing is a robust driver of California's economy according to a Manufacturing Matters: California's Performance and Prospects, a new report prepared by the Milken Institute. The analysis was prepared for the California Manufacturing and Technology Association. Milken found that the share of wages dependent upon manufacturing is above the national average. Average manufacturing wage and income was $54,600 in 2000 for California; the national average was only $43,400. Average California wages in computers and machinery is almost double the national average. Milken concludes these variances make California manufacturers targets for other state's industrial recruitment efforts. Each manufacturing job also directly effects other non-manufacturing employment at higher levels than most sectors. For example, using the Regional Input-Output Modeling System developed by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Milken found that direct effect employment multiplier for all types of manufacturing in California was 3.0. This means two other jobs are directly related or dependent on each…

Many efforts to encourage young Americans to pursue careers in science, engineering and manufacturing took advantage of students having the summer off from regular classes. Programs range from one-week science camps to season-long internships and cooperative workstudies. To help other communities begin planning for the end of the 2003 school year, SSTI highlights a few examples from this past summer in this article. The Manufacturing Pathway Initiative, an education and training program based in western Pennsylvania, prepares students to enter careers or to pursue post-secondary education in the manufacturing industry directly upon graduation from high school. Open to a broad student audience, the initiative is a partnership of employers, high schools, vocational-technical schools, post secondary institutions, community programs, parents and students that focuses on demanding industry-based classroom work supplemented by worksite learning through internships with local manufacturers. This summer, 80 students from 47 high schools in six southwestern Pennsylvania counties served…

In each of the past two years, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has published a list of the top 100 metro areas based on the total distribution of NIH funds. This year's table breaks down the total number of awards and dollar amounts by type of funding: research grants, training grants, fellowships, R&D contracts, and other awards. New York City joined Boston this year as the only two metro areas to surpass $1 billion in total NIH funding. San Diego, Philadelphia and Baltimore round out the top five. The NIH 2001 table is available at: http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/award/trends/citytop100fy01.htm SSTI has prepared a table presenting the 2000 and 2001 top 100 cities for total NIH funding, the total and percent change between years, and ranking for each column. At 40.34 percent, Ithaca, NY enjoyed the greatest positive change between 2000 and 2001. The only other four communities with a positive change in excess of 30 percent were: Waltham, MA; Omaha, NE; Tampa, FL; and Bar Harbor, ME.  SSTI's table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/090602t.htm

North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley was recently joined by Congressional, university, and local and business representatives last week in announcing a 180-acre expansion of Piedmont Triad Research Park in downtown Winston-Salem. The biotech park will include a new research campus for Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Richard H. Dean, M.D., president and CEO of Wake Forest University Health Sciences (WFUHS), described the multimillion-dollar initiative as "a major commitment to transform our economy from one driven by manufacturing to one led by technology." The park currently covers a five-block area and includes four multi-story buildings, more than 20 tenants, approximately 600 employees, and a total payroll approaching $25 million. The acreage of the proposed expansion is more than 10 times the size of the current park and would be in close proximity to both Winston-Salem State University and Salem College. The expanded research park will be available for a variety of uses, including additional research centers — both academic and privately operated — technology start-up companies…

The Southern Innovation Index, a strategic plan created with the governments of 13 Southern states and Puerto Rico to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth in the South, has been released by the Southern Growth Policies Board, a bipartisan public policy group based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The index identifies 56 benchmarks and 10-year targets for each of the Southern Growth member states — Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico — to track the progress of technology and innovation initiatives in the region. It includes state-by-state data and summaries relative to the publication's primary goals: Creating a culture of learning throughout the South, in which the acquisition, creation and application of knowledge is viewed as central to health, happiness and prosperity; and, Encouraging and supporting innovation and entrepreneurship. Several benchmarks and targets included in The Southern…

The amount of time a technology-based economic development (TBED) professional can spend out of the office for professional development is limited. So are travel funds. That's why SSTI packs so much into its annual conference — already the largest event in the country dedicated to improving state, local and regional TBED efforts. And the premier conference for the field keeps growing. Since the agenda was printed, one session and additional speakers have been added to the October 2-3 event in Dearborn, Michigan (see below). Building Tech-based Economies: From Policy to Practice is two full days with more than 30 breakout and plenary sessions specifically tailored to meet the professional development needs of those interested in TBED. The updated conference agenda and speaker bios are available on SSTI's website: http://www.ssti.org/conference02.htm [expired] How Did They Do It? Few new TBED initiatives have generated as much discussion and surprise across the country as New York's July announcement regarding the $400-million Sematech North (see the July 19 issue of the SSTI…

Enrollment in graduate-level computer science and computer engineering (CS&CE) programs continued to grow in 2000-01 as the number of new undergraduates majoring in CS&CE declined, according to a survey released earlier this year by the Computing Research Association (CRA). The annual CRA Taulbee Survey of Ph.D.-granting CS&CE departments in the U.S. and Canada discusses trends in enrollment, production, and employment of Ph.D. degrees in CS&CE and provides salary and demographic data for faculty in CS&CE. Except for faculty salary information, which is presented for the current year, data are given for the preceding academic year. The 31st Taulbee Survey reveals the number who entered Ph.D. programs in Fall 2001 increased from 2,062 to 2,702 (31 percent). Meanwhile, those who passed qualifiers increased from 1,119 to 1,244 (11 percent), and those who passed their thesis proposal exams increased from 788 to 917 (16 percent). Total Ph.D. enrollments increased from 7,857 to 8,810 (12 percent) in 2001. Newly declared CS&CE undergraduate majors experienced a…

The Chronicle of Higher Education has released online the 2002-3 Almanac of Higher Education, an annual collection of facts and figures about U.S. colleges and universities. Published annually at the end of August, the Almanac includes data on students, professors, administrators, institutions, and their resources, as well as state-by-state profiles of higher education in the U.S. Included in the Almanac's overview is a look at college enrollment trends, demographics, faculty pay, tuition and fees. The Almanac uses several tables to illustrate such statistical indicators as average tuition and fees, expenditures, state appropriations, state spending on student aid, research spending by universities, and federal funds for research at colleges and universities. The Almanac's faculty and staff section provides a search engine for researching average faculty salaries arranged by academic rank at more than 1,400 colleges, universities, and multicampus systems in 2001-2. Users may narrow their search by choosing a state and selecting the type of institution — doctoral, comprehensive,…

Jerald Coughter, industry director for biotechnology and medical applications for Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), has been named executive director of Governor Mark R. Warner’s Advisory Board for the Virginia Biotechnology Initiative. Ray Gilley, president of Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, has been appointed chairman of Workforce Florida. Caroline Young has been named executive director of the Tennessee Biotechnology Association and director of the Tennessee Technology Development Corporation's life science initiative.

Jerald Coughter, industry director for biotechnology and medical applications for Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), has been named executive director of Governor Mark R. Warner’s Advisory Board for the Virginia Biotechnology Initiative.

Ray Gilley, president of Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, has been appointed chairman of Workforce Florida.