SSTI Digest

Alabama  To help rural Alabama communities work with existing industries toward job training and creation, Governor Don Sielgelman is creating a Center for Economic Growth within the Alabama Department Office. The new initiative is intended to help businesses in the rural communities cope with pressures to keep and retain qualified workers once the recently announced $1 billion Hyundai automotive plant begins hiring up to 2,000 employees. The center also will help the areas develop industrial recruitment strategies, according to the Associated Press.  Arlington, Texas 

Want to expand broadband in your state or community? Looking to launch a biotech initiative? Getting into commercializing university research? Are tight budgets leading to more rigorous program evaluation? Or do you simply want to help your community understand the importance of technology?  Any of these efforts should get easier with the 17 new titles added to Resources for Building Tech-based Economies, SSTI's publications catalog. A three-page PDF supplement of the new titles is available on the SSTI website as is the entire revised catalog, replete with more than 125 great resources to make your programs more effective and your job more rewarding.  As always, SSTI sponsors and affiliates receive a 10 percent discount on all purchases.  Both the new titles supplement and complete catalog are available at: http://www.ssti.org/Publications/publications.htm

On Wednesday, Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker officially launched Pennsylvania's Life Sciences Greenhouse, an historic initiative to be spread among three regions of the state — Southeast, Southwest and Central Pennsylvania. The Governor announced $100 million will seed the program, including $33.8 million for the Southeast region, $33.3 million for the Southwest region, and $32.8 million for Central Pennsylvania. The state's financial support, which will come from surplus tobacco settlement funds, is the largest single technology-related, economic development investment in Pennsylvania history, according to a press release issued by the Governor's office. Pennsylvania's Life Sciences Greenhouse is designed to build on the biotechnology research at Pennsylvania's top universities. The initiative is expected to create 4,400 new jobs, attract or create 100 new biotechnology companies, and leverage more than $150 million in private capital over the next five years.

[Note: SSTI defines a technology council as a regional entity that is membership-based and independently funded with science and technology-based economic development as one of its primary goals. National trade associations and government-created technology councils which serve in an advisory or policy role are excluded from this discussion.]

One of the biggest obstacles many communities and states face to building tech-based economies is convincing traditional businesses, institutions and the general population to embrace change, technological advance, and innovation. A common element of many strategic plans is at least one recommendation or even an entire report dedicated to changing perceptions of the community or state toward being a technology mecca — or at least getting people to think about and recognize the importance of science and technology investments. [See the 6/23/00 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest for an article on a related report from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science & Technology.]

More Funding Sought For Pell Grants An educated workforce is one of the most important elements of any tech-based economic development strategy. The Association of American Universities (AAU) has alerted its members to a Dear Colleague letter being circulated in the Senate to encourage the strengthening and improvement of the Pell Grant program. Cosigners are sought by Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) to urge Senate appropriators to support a $500 increase in the maximum Pell Grant award for FY 2003 to $4,500 and to eliminate the current year's budget shortfall in the Pell Grant program. Pell Grants, which help to offset the financial burden of college for students from low and middle income families, have lost 20 percent of their value since 1975, because the award size has not kept pace with inflation. The AAU reports cosigners already include: Susan Collins (R-ME), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Gordon Smith (R-OR). More information is available from Tim Grace, in Senator Feingold's office, at 202-224-0398.

Formerly the marketing manager for a local software firm, Mary Bergeron recently was named the new executive director of the Baton Rouge Technology Council. Virgil Carter has been named executive director of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers International, a not-for-profit organization actively supporting tech-based economic development across the country. ASME has more than 125,000 members worldwide. Carter, whose appointment is effective July 1, succeeds retiring David Belden. John Glerum, former president and CEO of Ore-Ida Foods, has been named science and technology coordinator for the Idaho Department of Commerce. Glerum also will serve as director of the new Technology and Entrepreneurial Center, to be built on the campus of Boise State University West.

Formerly the marketing manager for a local software firm, Mary Bergeron recently was named the new executive director of the Baton Rouge Technology Council.

Virgil Carter has been named executive director of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers International, a not-for-profit organization actively supporting tech-based economic development across the country. ASME has more than 125,000 members worldwide. Carter, whose appointment is effective July 1, succeeds retiring David Belden.

John Glerum, former president and CEO of Ore-Ida Foods, has been named science and technology coordinator for the Idaho Department of Commerce. Glerum also will serve as director of the new Technology and Entrepreneurial Center, to be built on the campus of Boise State University West.

The Institute for Government Innovation at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government recently announced open competition for its 2002 annual awards program. The Innovations in American Government Awards focuses on the quality and responsiveness of U.S. government at all levels and promotes innovative approaches to meeting challenges. Begun in 1986, the program has recognized 295 innovative programs that have received $17.9 million in grants. Of these programs, 150 have been named winners and received $100,000 grants while 145 have been named finalists and received $20,000 grants. Five initiatives were chosen among 15 finalists in the 2001 competition, including California’s Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program. MESA has built a network of support for disadvantaged students by teaming educators with corporate activists. The program's accomplishments are many:

A bipartisan coalition of more than 50 U.S. Senators support continued funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, according to the Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Modernization Forum. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Me) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT), co-chairs of the Senate Task Force on Manufacturing, spearheaded a letter to Senate appropriators requesting $110 million in FY 2003 funding for the program. The Administration's FY 2003 budget request reduced funding for MEP to $12.9 million, a cut of 88 percent. MEP is a national network of centers with 400 offices in all 50 states and Puerto Rico that provide technical assistance and business support services to small and medium-sized manufacturers. The Senators sent their joint letter to Senators Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), respectively, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary.