SSTI Digest

With more than 30 sessions and keynote addresses by Michigan Governor John Engler and U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development David Sampson, SSTI's Sixth Annual Conference promises to be the year's best and most comprehensive conference on tech-based economic development. Building Tech-Based Economies: From Policy to Practice will be held October 2-3, 2002 in Dearborn, Michigan, with pre-conference activities on October 1.

Sessions focus on a variety of topics, including:

Earlier this week, New York Governor George E. Pataki and NY Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno unveiled a new funding program designed to recognize and support outstanding scientists and engineers who, early in their careers, show potential for leadership and scientific discovery in the field of biotechnology.

The James D. Watson Investigator initiative is part of the $225 million Gen*NY*sis program (Generating Employment through New York State Science), which was created to maximize the R&D potential of the life sciences research being conducted at New York State's public, not-for-profit and private academic research institutions.

Two Department of Energy national laboratories and two land-grant universities announced on July 17 that they will work together to form a new research institute for the production of energy and industrial products from biomass resources. The new Northwest Bioproducts Research Institute will combine the talents of DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, DOE's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Washington State University, and the University of Idaho.

On July 2, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the Emerging Venture Network (EVN) launched the MBDA Equity Capital Access (MECA) Program to increase minority entrepreneurs access to capital.

MBDA hopes the initiative will help address the fact that minority firms receive only two percent of all private equity.

The MECA program is one of the first to offer minority entrepreneurs equity capital training of this kind at a national level. The program’s first major project will be a business plan competition organized through the five MBDA regional offices. MBDA and EVN will identify up to 200 entrepreneurs to assess and give a scored evaluation with written comments on strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement.

“Failure to improve broadband performance could reduce U.S. productivity by 1 percent per year or more,” concludes Charles H. Ferguson in a recent Brookings Institution policy brief. The July brief addresses the pace of broadband deployment and development in the U.S. and makes several recommendations to further progress.

While Ferguson's focus is on national broadband policy, the objective is to increase access to the "last mile" services that enable, for example, videoconferencing, telecommuting, and wireless data services. Addressing last mile service capability is an area of concern for many state and local technology-based economic development initiatives, which hold future competitiveness for many regions will depend on accessibility to the nation's broadband infrastructure.

The National Center for Small Communities (NCSC) has two new free or low-cost resources for small town leaders and rural development practitioners. Based in Washington, D.C., NCSC conducts research, training and technical assistance to benefit the leaders of U.S. small communities.

Technology and Grit at the Grassroots

A 68-page guidebook, Technology and Grit at the Grassroots identifies and explores effective technology-based economic development strategies for distressed, rural communities. Concrete guidance on how to put computers, the Internet and advanced telecommunications to good use is distilled from practical research of 14 distressed rural communities and supplemented by recent articles and reports.

Columbus Tech Councils Merge

To establish more clout, eliminate confusion and duplication, and cut costs, the Columbus Technology Leadership Council and the Industry & Technology Council of Central Ohio are merging into a new entity, according to the Columbus Dispatch. The details for the new organization, including its new name, will be announced later this year.

Several recent reports and testimonies by the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) address issues of importance to many state and local technology-based economic development initiatives. Highlights of six are provided below. The full reports and testimonies can be found at http://www.gao.gov/.