SSTI Digest

The St. Louis region lags behind a number of metropolitan areas including Austin, Portland, Atlanta, and Indianapolis in attracting 20- to 34-year olds to live and work in the region, according to a report released this month by the regional, nonprofit organization, FOCUS St. Louis.

Preparing St. Louis for Leadership in the 21st Century Economy is the result of a year-long effort by a citizen-based FOCUS St. Louis task force. The 27-member group concluded the St. Louis region must be more effective in attracting and retaining young knowledge workers in order for the region to thrive and compete in the 21st Century economy.

University partnerships lead to diversity in teaching and research, highlight the importance of university research and lead to the development of special expertise, concludes a policy brief by the Conseil Superieur De L’Education in Quebec.

Universities: Working In Partnership, prepared for the Minister of Education, examines the effects of partnerships with outside entities on elements of the university mission in Canada, particularly Quebec. The brief outlines the positive effects of partnerships, as well as the counterproductive and undefined effects.

The brief focuses on the university viewpoint of partnerships and identifies concerns and tensions by universities when engaging in these agreements. These concerns and tensions are parlayed into five key questions to be asked. From these questions, the Counsel outlines five guidelines for partnerships:

A review of recent grant announcements from across the country reveals the growing importance the Economic Development Administration (EDA) places on supporting technology-based economic development projects. EDA's emphasis on technology-led economic development is expected to be the focus of  a keynote address delivered by Dr. David Sampson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development and EDA head, at SSTI's Sixth Annual Conference this October 2-3.

EDA — which since 1965 has provided assistance to generate jobs, help retain existing jobs, and stimulate industrial and commercial growth in economically-distressed areas — has historically concentrated funding on traditional economic development projects focused on public works and infrastructure.

Governor Bill Owen has named Trip Carter as the state's first aerospace advocate, the state's latest effort to help the industry, which employs approximately 110,000 residents and has $4 billion in revenues. Only Florida, California and Texas have larger stakes in the aerospace industry. As a result, the state has undertaken several initiatives over the past two years to develop and promote the industry's health as it goes through a transition period.

The Aerospace Advocate appointment follows a Space Symposium held in Colorado Springs in April and the Colorado Space Strategy Initiative completed two years ago to study the importance of aerospace for Colorado's economy and outline specific recommendations for public-private initiatives to support the industry.

With several of the right elements already in place but scattered across a wide area, the two planning districts comprising the 13-county region surrounding Roanoke, Virginia, combined efforts to develop a strategic economic development strategy that focuses heavily on science and technology-based initiatives.

The Alliance Group and its Planning Leadership Group, a team of public, private and academic stakeholder organizations, have outlined six strategic themes that entail regional economic development activities for the larger region: visibility, connectivity, quality-of-life amenities, knowledge work force, innovation and entrepreneurship, and economic transformation. The next steps, the group asserts, are to communicate the goals of the Strategy throughout the region and manage the necessary resources for enacting the goals.

Two separate news stories covering different New Jersey's technology-based economic development initiatives may give one of the first peeks at Governor James McGreevey's plans for science & technology in the Garden State.

The online edition of the Small Times reports Gov. McGreevey committed $2 million from the state's FY 2003 budget to support the New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium, a new $12 million public-private research initiative based at donated Lucent research facilities. According to the article, $6 million of the additional funding is to come in the form of earmarks on the appropriations bills for the Department of Defense and National Science Foundation. The article is available at: http://www.smalltimes.com/print_doc.cfm?doc_id=4316

Already, more than 20 organizations are taking advantage of SSTI's new affiliate membership program. In addition to being able to tap into SSTI's resources, among the benefits available to SSTI affiliates are two perks that many are taking advantage of: discounted registration fees for Building Tech-based Economies: From Policy to Practice, SSTI's Sixth Annual Conference and a 10 percent discount on any purchases from SSTI's 150+ title bookstore and catalog.

Eligibility to become an SSTI affiliate is open to local and regional science and technology programs, universities, trade associations, tech councils, organizations supporting technology-based economic development, international organizations and agencies, non-profit organizations, and individuals.

SSTI welcomes our first affiliates:

In June, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce released the 2002 estimates for Gross State Product (GSP). GSP estimates can be useful for standardizing data across states for ease of comparison or interpretation. SSTI has prepared a table presenting the GSPs for all 50 states and the District of Columbus for the decade 1991-2000 in current 2000 dollars. The states are then ranked by percent change over the decade. The GSP data is available for viewing and downloading at: http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/regional/gsp/

SSTI's table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/080902t.htm

Jeanne B. Berdik has announced her retirement as Vice President of Workforce Education and Development at the Pittsburgh Technology Council and Catalyst Connection. See next article for job posting.

The Massachusetts Technology Council named Carol Meier as its new Executive Director, succeeding Katherine Raphaelson who is relocating to Washington D.C.

The Rhode Island Technology Council has appointed Katherine O'Dea as director of workforce development and JoAnn Johnson as manager of education partnerships.

Tom Schumpert, director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation for the past two years, is leaving to become executive director of the metro center of Roger Williams University in Providence. His responsibilities will include strengthening the university's relations with corporations and the community.

Jeanne B. Berdik has announced her retirement as Vice President of Workforce Education and Development at the Pittsburgh Technology Council and Catalyst Connection. See next article for job posting.

The Massachusetts Technology Council named Carol Meier as its new Executive Director, succeeding Katherine Raphaelson who is relocating to Washington D.C.

The Rhode Island Technology Council has appointed Katherine O'Dea as director of workforce development and JoAnn Johnson as manager of education partnerships.