SSTI Digest

Earlier this week, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced awards estimated to total $65 million over five years to fund six major centers in nanoscale science and engineering. The awards are part of a series of NSF grants – totaling $150 million in fiscal year 2001 alone – for nano research in multiple disciplines. 



The six centers will be located at Columbia and Cornell Universities and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, Harvard University in Massachusetts, Northwestern University in Illinois, and Rice University in Texas. 



Nanoscale science, engineering and technology are focused on a scale ranging from the size of individual atoms to that of large molecules. The new Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers will develop new areas of research and help establish a nanotechnology workforce. The centers, intended to address challenges and opportunities that are too complex and multi-faceted for individual researchers or small teams to tackle in shorter periods of time, are expected to significantly advance the information, medical, manufacturing and environmental technologies. Other NSF grants will fund small, interdisciplinary research teams and individuals doing exploratory research in a wide range of areas. 



Working in partnerships with industry, national laboratories and other sectors, the centers will support education programs from the graduate to the pre-college level designed to develop a highly skilled workforce, advance pre-college training, and advance the public understanding of science and engineering. 



The six centers and their awards are: 

In an effort to create a high tech center, officials in Ohio's Butler County anticipate spending more than $100 million during the next five years to increase telecommunications, biomedical innovations, electronic commerce, and other research. Funding for the measure would come from as much as a half-penny sales tax hike, according to a story published August 1 by the Cincinnati Enquirer. 



Butler County already has approved $2.7 million for an 86-mile fiber-optic network, the article reports. Another $113 million in matching funds may come from the State of Ohio for related projects, including start-up help for high-tech entrepreneurs and the construction of highways to improve transportation. Technical assistance also is coming from the Milken Institute, a California-based company paid almost $300,000 in 2000 to develop a high-technology plan for the Butler County economy and to assist in its implementation. 



Similar to other areas in the U.S., Butler and the surrounding region have faced a brain drain. The Ohio county saw a 4.9 percent drop in 20-to-34 year olds between 1990 and 2000, despite being home to Miami University in Oxford and near the major metropolitan areas Cincinnati and Dayton. The tax hike has been endorsed by two of the three Butler County Commissioners. 



For more information, visit the commissioners' home page: http://www.butlercountyohio.org/commissioner/

Whether it's called clusters or localization economies, the aggregation of firms in the same or closely related industries has captured the attention of many state and local tech-based economic development efforts. Understanding the phenomenon and formulating effective public policy to encourage or support clustering presents challenges for practitioners and researchers alike. 



In addition to works on the topic previously covered in the Digest and available in SSTI’s Bookstore (such as Michael Porter’s On Competition or Ross DeVol’s Blueprint for a High-Tech Cluster), localization economies also have captured the research interests of international researchers. For example, the Canadian Innovations Systems Research Network (ISRN) is in the process of conducting a five-year $2.5 million (Canadian) study to examine the impact and importance of cluster-driven innovation in Canada. According to the ISRN website, Innovation Systems and Economic Development: The Role of Local and Regional Clusters in Canada will “investigate how local networks of firms and supporting infrastructure of institutions, businesses and people in communities across Canada interact to spark economic growth.” The dynamics of 20 different clusters across five regions and in both rural and urban economies will be examined through the project. 



For the project, ISRN is holding conferences and workshops to review and discuss localization research conducted across the world. Several of the working papers presented at the 2001 ISRN annual meeting may be of interest to Digest readers, including: 

The development and application of new information technologies across virtually every segment of the American economy has resulted in rapid, sustained growth in demand for highly skilled information technology (IT) workers. The Department of Labor estimates between 1983 and 1998 the number of high-skilled IT workers increased from 719,000 to 2,084,000 – an increase of 190 percent, more than six times the overall U.S. job growth rate during this period. 



Rapid growth is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. The Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) most recent ten-year employment projections indicate that the number of core IT workers – computer scientists, computer programmers, computer engineers, systems analysts, computer support specialists, and database administrators – will rise from 2.2 million in 1998 to 3.9 million in 2008. Another 300,000 will be needed to replace those leaving the field during this period. 



As part of a Congressionally mandated study on America’s competitiveness, the Technology Administration (TA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce invites public comment before November 9, 2001, on existing public and private high-tech workforce training programs in the United States. This study and report will focus on the education and training paths and programs through which Americans prepare for IT jobs and maintain the skills needed in an ever-changing information technology environment. 



A series of questions has been developed for the project to help elicit public response. The questionnaire is available as an Internet-based form that can be completed and submitted online: http://www.ta.doc.gov/ittraining/

The 2001 Farm Bill 

H.R. 2646, awaiting action by the full U.S. House of Representatives, includes authorization language to provide $50 million in funding for the Value-Added Grants Program to provide grants for start-up, farmer-owned, value-added processing facilities. The bill also would provide authorization for regionally planned rural development pilot programs and would continue the Research Initiative for Future Agricultural Systems at a program level of $145 million per year for fiscal years 2004 through 2011. The press release for the version of the bill approved by the House Agriculture Committee can be found at: http://agriculture.house.gov/press/pr010727.html 

Declaring September “Nonprofits & Technology Month,” the Foundation Center has launched a website presenting myriad financial and technical assistance resources to support the acquisition and use of information technology in nonprofit organizations. Included in the site are several categories including: Community Development Resources; Corporate Funders; Digital Divide Resources; Disability Resources; Federal Government Resources; Foundations; E-Philanthropy Resources; Other Funding Sources; Software/Hardware Resources; Technology Assistance and Training Resources; Technology News, Newsletters, and Online Forums; Telecommunications Resources; and Web Development Resources. The site is http://fdncenter.org/pnd/npotech/ 

SSTI’s fifth annual conference, Creating Opportunity: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies, has been rescheduled for December 3-4. The agenda and location of the conference remain the same. At this time, we have confirmed the availability of the vast majority of our speakers; those that have not been confirmed are listed as invited on the agenda web-page (see http://www.ssti.org/Conf01/agenda.htm [expired] for the updated information). 



While the riverboat cruise has been cancelled, we are planning a set of optional post-conference in-depth workshops for the afternoon of December 4. More information will be provided as soon as details are finalized. 



Since the event was sold out and because we've received only a few cancellations for the December 3-4 dates, we will not be printing any new, revised promotional materials. The website remains the best source of information for the event. 



Changing the date does provide us more space at the hotel, allowing us to accommodate approximately 30 more registrants. We anticipate the conference will again sell out soon as people become aware of the availability and the new dates. If you haven’t registered yet and would like to, please visit: https://www.ssti.org/registration01.htm [expired]

If the corporate leaders, educators, scientists, and technology entrepreneurs who make up the Birmingham Area Technology Task Force have their way, Birmingham, Alabama in the 21st century will be a mecca for technology-based businesses and jobs. A cooperative effort of the City of Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid and the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce, the “BATT Force” is charged with developing a strategic plan aimed at fostering the start-up, growth, attraction, and retention of technology industries to the Birmingham area. 



At its initial meeting in late August, the 150-member BATT Force divided into six Work Groups, each of which will spend roughly the next nine weeks studying a specific area related to technology-based business development. The Work Groups will issue reports on their findings, including up to 10 recommendations for action. The Work Group reports will be the basis of the Birmingham Area Strategic Plan for Technology Development, to be presented to the City and the Chamber of Commerce by mid-November. 



The areas to be studied by the BATT Force Work Groups are: 

State and land-grant universities provide major stimulus to their state and regional economies – generating jobs, attracting and helping create new high-tech businesses, and increasing state tax revenues in addition to providing a well-educated work-force, according to Shaping the Future – The Economic Impact of Public Universities. The study, prepared by National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), is based on a survey of its 212 member institutions. Fifty percent responded to the survey. 



Among the key findings are: 

The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is a nationwide network of not-for-profit Centers in over 400 locations nationwide, whose sole purpose is to provide the more than 361,000 small and medium-sized manufacturers in the country the help they need to succeed in a global economy. The Centers, serving all 50 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are linked together through the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology – making it possible for even the smallest firms to tap into the expertise of knowledgeable manufacturing and business specialists all over the U.S. 



Since its founding, MEP has worked with more than 107,000 manufacturing firms, achieving impressive results for its clients: $996 million in increased revenues, $195 million in cost savings, and $360 million in modernization investment. 



The centers help manufacturers with such issues as process improvement; quality management systems; business management systems; human resource development; market development; materials engineering; plant layout; product development; energy audits; environmental studies; financial planning; CAD/CAM/CAE; and electronic commerce/EDI. 



More information on the Manufacturing Extension Partnership — a gold sponsor hosting an exhibit at SSTI's annual conference Sept. 20-21, 2001 — may be obtained by visiting http://www.mep.nist.gov

With all its promise of connecting businesses and residents of even the remotest areas the country to the global economy, the Internet led most states and communities to invest resources toward the Digital Divide. Will these investments pay off? Will the Internet lead to an economic geographic revolution similar to that caused by past technological advances such as the automobile? 



Combining linguistic theory, economic theory and history, two UCLA faculty members, Edward Leamer and Michael Storper, provide their answer – probably not – in The Economic Geography of the Internet Age. They argue that the economy is increasingly dependent on relationships requiring understanding and trust, qualities developed through face-to-face contact rather than long distance conversations enabled by the Internet. 



Leamer and Storper also suggest that, while the Internet creates many forces for deagglomeration of production, it also provides “offsetting and possibly stronger tendencies toward agglomeration.” The result then will be two-fold, they argue. Geographic dispersion of low-wage jobs – increasing in number as a result of computers “dumbing down” or simplifying formerly skilled positions – will continue, modestly improving the standard of living of low-income areas. 



The Internet also allows the deagglomeration of high-skilled jobs that are standardized by the Internet and computer software applications. While manufacturing and textile jobs were relocated in earlier technological revolutions, skilled service positions now become vulnerable. An example cited in the paper is technical architectural and graphics design work can now be done in China for $3 an hour and quickly emailed back to the U.S. 



On the other hand, Leamer and Storper see clustering of related businesses continuing as well, even for information- and knowledge-based companies, creating greater economic disparities or inequities across regions. 



The authors recommend local and state economic development policies focus on maintaining an educated workforce, creating a supportive business climate, and helping their business community to “stay in the loop” of the global economy. 



The Economic Geography of the Internet Age, released last week as a working paper of the National Bureau of Economic Research, can be purchased from: http://www.nber.org 

Since its founding in 1991, the nonprofit Minnesota Technology Inc. (MTI) has been Minnesota lead technology-based economic development organization. Its mission, to help existing small and medium-sized companies apply, develop and commercialize technology, is achieved through three objectives: