SSTI Digest

A new report assessing Maine's seven targeted technology sectors represents the first systematic attempt to analyze the growth of the state's industry clusters. The report, Assessing Maine's Technology Clusters, was prepared for the Maine Science and Technology Foundation (MSTF) by the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School. The MSTF report begins by defining clusters as more than geographic concentrations of firms in a similar industry. Clusters occur when a network of relationships between companies, suppliers, service providers and supporting institutions provide a competitive advantage to all related firms in the region, the report states. A cluster strategy, the report observes, can benefit both rural and heavily populated areas in Maine. By pursuing an economic development strategy of investing in the technology sectors — information technology, biotechnology, advanced materials and composites, precision manufacturing, forest products and agriculture, marine technology and aquaculture, and environmental technologies — the state has sought to spur technological innovation in…

Florida's High Tech Corridor and LaGrange, Georgia, have been named two of the world's top seven "intelligent" communities in a recent report by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), a project of the New York-based telecommunication group World Teleport Association. In The Top Seven Intelligent Communities of 2002, the Corridor is recognized for its work in developing the region's high-tech workforce and as an effective collaboration between academia, the private sector and local and state government. Other ranked communities include Bangladore, India; Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Seoul, South Korea; Singapore; and Sunderland, UK. The ICF's yearly award honors the seven top communities or regions it sees as pioneers or role models for the development of vibrant "Digital Age communities." To be chosen, the communities must meet at least one of the five Intelligent Community Indicators defined by ICF: Significant deployment of broadband communications to businesses, government facilities and residences, with government providing a catalyst through regulation, e-government…

California A $30 million tax break tentatively approved by the state Board of Equalization will benefit the software industry but hurt other groups, the San Jose Mercury News reported Tuesday. Software companies, which have lobbied for years with state tax officials on the tax code covering maintenance contacts, has wanted the tax on the contracts eliminated, the article states. Under existing law, entire contracts are taxed. Cleveland Plans are underway for the conversion of an 144,000-square-foot office building into the MidTown Technology Center, an urban campus that will house biomedical and information technology companies, according to the Plain Dealer. A $20 million project, the center will reserve more than 72,000 sq. ft. of office and lab space for situating up to 20 companies and 100 workers. Financing has not been arranged, but local officials anticipate the project will qualify for a $5 million federal Housing and Urban Development loan and a $1.25 million city grant. The entire MidTown campus is expected to cost an estimated $62 million. Iowa…

The state technology-based economic development community is losing one of its most dynamic and longest-serving leaders by the end of the year. Jamie Kenworthy, executive director of the Alaska Science & Technology Foundation (ASTF), has announced his retirement effective December 1. Prior to taking the ASTF directorship seven years ago, Jamie served on the organization's board from its founding in 1988. He also ran Michigan's tech-based economic development initiatives during the 1980s for the Blanchard Administration and has been an active contributor nationally on state-federal science and technology policy issues. With Jamie's departure pending, ASTF is seeking an executive director with experience in establishing working partnerships, market orientation and excellent communication skills. ASTF — a state agency that invests money to improve Alaska's economy and to increase the state's science and engineering capabilities — encourages candidates with a background in science and technology, public sector experience and familiarity with Alaska to apply. The salary is…

Enterprise Florida has named Darrell Kelley as its new president and chief executive officer effective August 5. Kelley currently is the president of the defense-related technology incubator, MILCOM Technologies. Two of North Carolina's state-created non-profit science and technology centers announced new leaders last week. David Rizzo is the new president and chief executive officer of MCNC. and Leslie Alexandre will serve in the same position for the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Matthew McClorey is the new president and chief executive officer of Kansas Innovation Corp. McClorey formerly served as vice president for business development & portfolio management at KTEC, a position now filled by Michael Peck.

Enterprise Florida has named Darrell Kelley as its new president and chief executive officer effective August 5. Kelley currently is the president of the defense-related technology incubator, MILCOM Technologies.

Two of North Carolina's state-created non-profit science and technology centers announced new leaders last week. David Rizzo is the new president and chief executive officer of MCNC. and Leslie Alexandre will serve in the same position for the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

Matthew McClorey is the new president and chief executive officer of Kansas Innovation Corp. McClorey formerly served as vice president for business development & portfolio management at KTEC, a position now filled by Michael Peck.

In honor of Independence Day, no SSTI Weekly Digest will be published July 5.

While tight state budgets have slowed the number of tech-based economic development programs being created by states, Kentucky and Oregon have both approved new laws designed to encourage the growth of technology companies. Kentucky Kentucky Governor Paul Patton has signed into law House Bill (HB) 525, economic development legislation, designed to attract high-tech, new economy companies to the state that provide high quality, high paying jobs. The legislation is designed to help Kentucky develop a business culture that promotes research and development and an entrepreneurial climate that allows new ideas to flourish. Specifically, HB 525 does the following: Creates a network of Innovation and Commercialization Centers that will provide business-building services geared to the needs peculiar to new economy firms. The Centers will link scientists and entrepreneurs with the innovation-related funding tools created two years ago under the Kentucky Innovation Act so that the new firms are "investment ready." More than 20 Centers will be located across the…

Publisher's Note: While more than 40 states are working to encourage the creation and growth of biotechnology companies, as we have said over the years, the U.S. is competing in a global economy. This is just as true in technology as in textiles. The fact that the recently concluded BIO annual conference was held in Toronto only underscores the point. Over the years, the SSTI Weekly Digest has featured selected international initiatives as a gentle reminder to policymakers that the U.S. is not alone in this effort. Below, we feature two European efforts focused on biotechnology. Biosaxony Biosaxony is a geographic region that is becoming a gateway for biotech development throughout Europe, the U.S. and Canada. The German state of Saxony invested more than $450 million over a period of five years to develop a high concentration of R&D companies who are partnering with academia to pioneer advances in biotechnology. Germany itself boasts 360 biotech and health technology companies, up from 279 just two years ago. The British owned DNA engineering company Gene Bridges…

A study released by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston is one of the more recent efforts to examine all aspects of U.S. states and their economies. Entitled State Competitiveness Report 2001, the study defines competitiveness as the ability to ensure and sustain a high level of per capita income and its continued growth. The BHI report combines more than three dozen variables into nine subindexes: government and fiscal policy, institutions, infrastructure, human resources, technology, finance, openness, domestic competition and environmental policy. Using the nine subindexes, each of which represents an element of competitiveness, the authors made an overall index and ranked the states according to their overall competitiveness. Among the study's key findings are: Competitiveness helps explain the more than 25 percent of variation in living standards among states. For overall competitiveness, Delaware ranks 1st, and Mississippi ranks 50th. Some states have a high ranking for overall competitiveness, despite adverse government policies.…