• Become an SSTI Member

    As the most comprehensive resource available for those involved in technology-based economic development, SSTI offers the services that are needed to help build tech-based economies.  Learn more about membership...

  • Subscribe to the SSTI Weekly Digest

    Each week, the SSTI Weekly Digest delivers the latest breaking news and expert analysis of critical issues affecting the tech-based economic development community. Subscribe today!

SSTI Digest

To IP or Not to IP?

Is the current concentration of effort toward the identification and licensing of intellectual property (IP) the best method to stimulate innovation? In a period seeing increased pressures on public research universities to identify alternate sources of funding, IP opponents may find economic considerations obfuscating the innovation argument: 

Conference Profile: Federal Laboratory Consortium

The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is the nationwide network of federal laboratories that provides the forum to develop strategies and opportunities for linking the laboratory mission technologies and expertise with the marketplace. More than 700 major federal laboratories and centers and their parent departments and agencies are FLC members. 



The approach of the FLC is to use a coordinated program that meets the technology transfer support needs of FLC member laboratories, agencies, and their potential partners in the transfer process. While its mission is to promote and facilitate the rapid movement of federal laboratory research results and technologies into the mainstream of the U.S. economy, the FLC develops and tests transfer methods, addresses barriers to the process, provides training, highlights grass-roots transfer efforts, and emphasizes national initiatives where technology transfer has a role. For the public and private sector, the FLC brings laboratories together with potential users of government-developed technologies. This is in part accomplished by the FLC Laboratory Locator Network and regional and national meetings. 



FLC News... 

As the new FLC Chair, Ann Rydalch outlines her goals and objectives in the Summer 2001 edition of FLC Insider, the Consortium's quarterly newsletter. Ms. Rydalch offers the following: 

Outlook for States' FY 02 Revenues Worsening

The general fiscal condition of state budgets is growing weaker, indicates a preliminary report released August 1 by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). State Budget & Tax Actions 2001 provides information on 46 states included in NCSL's annual survey. The remaining states – Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and Wisconsin – had budgets that were either not passed or awaiting the governor's approval. 



While the fiscal conditions of states were strong a year ago, they have since been replaced by anemic revenue growth and expanding budget gaps, NCSL reports. As many as 17 states had budget shortfalls during fiscal year (FY) 2001. Another 20 states took measures to reach balanced budgets for FY 2002 due to the slowing economy. States with budget surpluses, 22 in all, were able to make deposits to the rainy day fund or other reserves (12 states), offer greater funding for capital projects (eight states), reduce taxes (six states), and target funding for specific programs (six states). 



To eliminate budget shortfalls or enact balanced budgets, 37 states took such actions as: 

Is the Internet Becoming a Luxury?

The toll a lackluster economy is taking on Wall Street, manufacturing orders, and tech firm profits are well-known facts at this point. Tightening state and local tax revenues are also apparent. For households, less cash usually translates to changes in vacation travel plans and fewer purchases of luxury items, like bigger cars, expensive jewelry and – Internet access? 



Recent netScore Internet Traffic reports by comScore Networks, Inc. and Diameter reveal a five-percent decline in U.S. Internet usage over the past two months. While U.S. Internet traffic originating from colleges and universities is expected to drop off each summer, increases in household and business Internet use have historically more than made up for the decline. But not this year. In fact, household usage dropped in both June and July. 



Internationally, Internet traffic also declined, from a total of 299.7 million unique visitors in May to 296.4 million users in July – the lowest level since March. U.S. users now represent only 42 percent of the total world web market. 



The impact of the decline in usage on future e-business growth may be significant, leading to more market consolidation and dot-com failures. netScore executives suggest that “to be successful, many on-line marketers must including response to the challenge of generating sales in a medium that is no longer showing explosive growth.” 



As travel and entertainment-oriented sites largely dominate web traffic (and porn sites are excluded from the data set), encouraging other uses such as e-commerce, distance learning and telecommuting becomes more challenging. 



A recent UPI article analyzing the netScore data finds how the web is used may be increasing the economic chasm between less educated and more educated Americans. More educated Americans tend to use the web for professional development, economic gain and as part of their careers. Less educated web surfers tend to seek amusement or entertainment first. 



From a policy perspective, the findings seem to suggest the strategies of many state and local economic development organizations to address the Digital Divide through increasing Internet access and broadband availability need to be reoriented away from household audiences to specific needs for the business and industrial sectors. 



Fortunately, work-related use of the Internet is the one group still growing, according to the netScore reports. The work segment of U.S. Internet usage accounted for more than 52 million unique visitors in July, nearly 42 percent of all U.S. Internet traffic. For comparison, the work figure was only 47 million visitors in May. 



Some public efforts have begun focusing on the business community. With more than 70 centers across the country, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of the National Institute of Standards & Technology has developed an eBusiness initiative to assist manufacturers in understanding and capitalizing on the power of the Internet as a business tool. See http://www.mep.nist.gov/index2.html for more information. 



Public programs that help targeted populations to gain a better understanding of ways to use the Internet to improve their economic and professional position include the U.S. Department of Education’s network of Community Technology Centers. See http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/CTC/ 

Ohio Completes 2nd ECom Assessment

Ohio businesses experienced a 15 percent increase in overall Internet and website usage between 1999 and 2000, according to the 2001 report released by ECom-Ohio — a public-private collaborative project to increase Ohio's readiness for global electronic commerce. 



In Assessing Ohio's Readiness for Global Electronic Commerce, Ohio is said to have extensive connectivity infrastructure. Between May 2000 and June 2001, Ohio's network connectivity increased by more than 150 percent. Ohio's four "cybercities"– Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton – place it among the best connected states in the U.S., the report holds. Overall, Ohio cities saw the total bandwidth available increase by more than 400 gigabits per second since May of 2000. At least 20 cities witnessed more than 100 percent growth in capacity, with 12 new cities said to have network connectivity capacity of 45 megabits per second or more. 



On a per capita basis, the report positions Cincinnati as the nation's leader in broadband availability with 85 percent of the city's population having access to broadband services. Seventy-nine percent of all Ohioans live in areas where they can obtain broadband services. While increasing 25 percent over six months, broadband services continue to be found primarily in urban areas. By 2005, Ohio plans to have 90 percent of its population equipped with broadband access. 



Additional highlights in the ECom-Ohio report: 

Useful Stats I: 30 Years of Federal R&D Obligations by State

The National Science Foundation has published Federal Funds for Research and Development: Detailed Historical Tables: Fiscal Years 1951-2001. The five-volume report includes seven tables (55-61) that present the data by state for the period 1970-1999. Federal R&D obligations are characterized by industrial, university, nonprofit, FFRDC and intramural performers. Only available online, the report can be downloaded at http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf01334/pdfstart.htm 

Useful Stats II: Top 100 Cities for NIH R&D Support for FY 2000

The latest monthly update from http://www.econdata.net, an excellent portal for regional economic development related data on the web, included the following table prepared by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The table presents the top 100 cities based on the total value of NIH research and development grants, contracts and training awards made in FY 2000. The funding may have been provided to a number of different organizations, companies, academic institutions, government agencies, or individuals located within the cities. 



Boston led the list with $1,078,198,949. New York City was a distant second at $865,191,623. Number 100, with more than $21 million in NIH research funding was Athens, Georgia. Cities in approximately 40 states made the list. The complete table is available at: http://silk.nih.gov/public/cbz2zoz.@www.cities.top100 

Tech Fares Well in Wisconsin Biennial Budget

On July 16, both houses of Wisconsin’s state Legislature passed a state budget including numerous incentives for technological development. The budget covers state spending for a two-year period that began July 1. Gov. Scott McCallum has until August 30 to approve the budget; several of the tech-related items were in the Governor's first state of the state and executive budget addresses. See the February 23, 2001 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest for a related story: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2001/022301.htm

larta Assesses Southern California Bioscience Industry

Despite many indications that show strong potential for growth, Southern California's bioscience industry still faces challenges, according to a new report from the Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance (larta). Released July 19, Heart of Gold: The Bioscience Industry in Southern California highlights the strengths of the region's industry and honestly assesses the ways that the industry can overcome its weaknesses. The report was created to present a full 

and objective overview of the industry through analysis of data from numerous sources, interviews with leaders of the biosciences industry, and insights from bioscience publications.

Pittsburgh Mayor to Lead 'Tech City' Tour for SSTI Conference

Tom Murphy says when he first took office as Mayor of Pittsburgh in January 1994, the city was suffering from one of the worst inferiority complexes in its history. To be sure, Pittsburgh once was known first and foremost as being the capital of steelmaking in the U.S. By 1994, the devolution of U.S. steelmakers during the past 25 years had taken its toll on the steel city, physically, economically and psychologically.



Boy, have things changed in seven years! Rightfully proud of what has been accomplished and demonstrating the city's top-level commitment to being competitive in a tech-based economy, Mayor Murphy will lead SSTI's upcoming Policy In Practice tour of Pittsburgh's revitalization on September 19.



The foundation and unifying theme on which Pittsburgh's successful transformation is based – and true of any effective tech-based economic development effort – is an enduring commitment to public-private partnership at several different levels: state, local and regional governments, research institutions, community leaders, business and industry, foundations, education systems, and workers.



The commitment and integral involvement of strong organizations – such as the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, the Center for Economic Development at Carnegie Mellon University, the Heinz Endowments, Innovation Works, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Community & Economic Development, the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, the Pittsburgh Technology Council, and the University of Pittsburgh – made Pittsburgh's transformation possible. Having leaders with an enthusiastic understanding of what it takes to build a tech-based economy, as Pittsburgh has in Mayor Tom Murphy, made the transformation happen.



The results of Pittsburgh's cooperative efforts have paid off; the city boasts a new economic base today. New technology clusters – information technology, biomedical/ biotechnology, advanced manufacturing and robotics, advanced materials and environmental technology – account for the city's major industry. Indeed, Pittsburgh is home to more than 900 software firms and specializes in tissue engineering, specialty metal alloys, and engineered plastics and chemicals. In addition, schools such as Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University are either in or near the city, which is in a southwestern Pennsylvania region that includes 29 colleges and universities. Southwestern Pennsylvania is recognized for its lead in medical research and technology in the organ transplant surgery, diabetes, cardiology and cardiothoractic surgery.



Mayor Murphy's tour for SSTI will include projects symbolic of the region’s rebirth from heavy industry to innovative research and technology. The group will visit the Pittsburgh Technology Center, an impressive research park built on a brownfield site of a former steel mill. Mayor Murphy also will take participants to the McGowan Center for Artificial Organ Development, which performs world-class research and is spinning off businesses that are bringing its research to the marketplace.



Mayor Murphy understands that a strong tech-based economy take a vibrant quality of life to succeed. He has directed more than $4 billion in new investment in the city since 1994 – from office towers for two of the city's nationally ranked banks to new world-class facilities for the city's professional football and baseball teams to an expanded Downtown convention center. The tour will include quick visits to the two newest additions to the skyline — the beautiful, technologically sophisticated PNC Park and Steelers Stadium.



Mayor Murphy's Policy in Practice Tour event is one of three optional pre-conference activities preceding SSTI's fifth annual conference on September 20-21. More information is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Conf01/conf01.htm [expired]

Velazquez Amendment to STTR Threatens FAST

The House Small Business Committee approved H.R. 1860 this week, legislation that amends and reauthorizes the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. STTR funds cooperative research and development projects between small companies and research institutions such as universities or federally funded R&D laboratories. H.R. 1860, as amended, increases the percentage of R&D funds earmarked for this program from 0.15 percent to 0.3 percent beginning in 2004, thus doubling the support for small high-tech firms. The Senate version of the STTR reauthorization would increase the program set-aside to 0.3 percent beginning in 2004 and 0.5 percent for fiscal year 2007 and each fiscal year thereafter.

Useful Stats: USDA SBIR Phase I Results

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has posted its selections for the FY 2001 Phase I solicitation of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. Using information obtained from Ruth Lange of the USDA SBIR Program Office and the USDA website, SSTI has prepared the accompanying table presenting the state-by-state distribution of proposals, awards and total funding provided for the Phase I cycle. Phase II information will be available in September, once awards are finalized.



The FY 2002 solicitation for the USDA SBIR Phase I cycle is currently open. The deadline to submit proposals for consideration is August 30, 2001. SBIR Phase I grants are limited to $80,000 and a duration of six months. Proposals must address one of nine broad topic areas, which include Forests and Related Resources; Plant Production and Protection; Animal Production and Protection; Air, Water and Soils; Food Science and Nutrition; Rural and Community Development; Aquaculture; Industrial Applications; and Marketing and Trade. 



The Rural and Community Development topic may be of particular interest to Digest readers. The solicitation states: 

Pages