SSTI Digest

In his fourth State of the State Address, Governor Jeb Bush outlined a new $100 million university-based initiative focused on nanotechnology and biotechnology.



"I propose that we dedicate $100 million to create the Florida Technology Development Initiative. This initiative will build centers of excellence among our universities dedicated to the key research necessary for building our promising technology sectors. New facilities, laboratories, and endowed academic chairs will be the catalysts for entrepreneurial investment. If we build it, they will come. If we seize this opportunity, the best and the brightest academics, researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs will call Florida home. And they in turn will help build businesses that will fuel our economy for the next century," Gov. Bush said.



The Governor's written budget request provides more details on the proposal:

The following item was prepared by Bill Noxon of the National Science Foundation.



U.S. collegiate enrollments in graduate-level science and engineering (S&E) fields rose in Fall 2000 for the second year in a row following several years of declines, according to a new National Science Foundation Data Brief from the Division of Sciences Resources Statistics. However, the entire 2000 increase, and then some, was due to the largest-ever, single-year increase in foreign student enrollees who held temporary visas.



The 2000 graduate S&E enrollments rose a modest 0.8 percent over 1999, reaching 414,570 — the highest number since 1996. The all-time high was in 1993 when more than 435,700 enrolled as full-time graduate students. But the numbers declined for the next five years. In 1998, less than 405,000 students enrolled in S&E graduate programs U.S.-wide, representing the lowest total for the decade.

Yesterday's Providence Journal-Bulletin reports the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council (RIEPC) has reduced by merger the number of Slater Centers. With the goal of increasing the impact of the state's annual $3 million investment, the restructuring from six to four centers is intended to reduce overhead and administrative costs, allowing more of each resulting center's funding to flow into emerging businesses.



The Slater Centers foster industry-university collaborations, build and strengthen relationships among academic institutions, and develop industry clusters. The centers offer business development resources — in the form of investments of up to $100,000 — to nascent ventures while creating a culture of entrepreneurialism. The merger, according to RIEPC officials quoted in the article, also permits center staff to focus more time and energy in the portfolio companies.

Tennessee's Sullivan County took a big step toward reducing the presence of a brain drain when it approved a scholarship program for its high school graduates.



Officials in Sullivan County, a community of about 144,000 that neighbors Virginia, established the Educate and Grow scholarship program in May 2001. The program was approved first by the Kingsport (Tenn.) Board of Mayor and Aldermen and, with no dissenting votes, the Sullivan County Commissioners gave way to a $300,000-per-year plan for the program.



Under the program's terms, up to 168 students may receive full tuition assistance on a per-year basis to attend Northeast State Technical Community College, and every student in Sullivan County's six high schools and homeschoolers is eligible for the $1,600 in tuition money. Recipients must take at least 12 hours of classes a semester, maintain a C-average, enter college within 15 months of graduating high school, and complete a 60-hour degree at Northeast State within three calendar years.

The third part in a series, "Tech-talkin Govs" highlights programs, policies and issues in tech-based economic development that were considered in the following governors' State of the State and Budget addresses.



California

Gray Davis, 2002-2003 Budget proposal, January 2002

http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/Budget02-03/00_toc.htm

Last week, Texas Governor Rick Perry announced the formation of the Governor's Council on Science and Biotechnology Development. The Council will strive to create a seamless system of innovation from the laboratory to the marketplace in rapidly developing areas of biotechnology — such as biopharmaceutical development, bioinformatics, genomics and nanotechnology.



Governor Perry described the Council's mission as one that will ultimately bring more research dollars to Texas higher education institutions, encourage university researchers to get products that advance the quality of life to the market, and create biotechnology jobs — and growing companies — across Texas.



Among its responsibilities, the 36-member Council will work to identify ways institutions of higher learning can coordinate efforts to attract federal research funds. Currently, Texas ranks sixth in research funds received from the National Institute of Health and third overall in research expenditures.

Lincoln, Nebraska

Mayor Don Wesely's Technology Council has proposed to end the competition between Lincoln and Omaha for educational and economic resources, favoring a collaboration geared toward economic development, the Associated Press recently reported. The collaboration is expected to create new technology industries and help lessen the struggle for development in territory in and among the cities. Lincoln's strength, the presence of the University of  Nebraska-Lincoln, traditionally has been pitted against that of Omaha — venture capital and telecommunication infrastructure.



Pontiac, Michigan

Two of SSTI's sponsoring organizations, the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp (KTEC) and Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology, are looking for strong candidates to fill two critical positions. A brief description of each opportunity is provided below. More detailed information is available on SSTI's website at: http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm

Yesterday's edition of USA Today reported "the Commerce Department's Manufacturing Extension Program [sic], funded this year at $107 million...would be eliminated [in FY 2003] because the White House says they should be financed by the private sector."

The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a nationwide network of not-for-profit centers in over 400 locations nationwide, functions solely to assist small and medium-sized manufacturers. With centers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, MEP makes it possible for even the smallest firms to tap into the expertise of knowledgeable manufacturing and business specialists across the U.S. Since its founding, the program has worked with more than 107,000 manufacturing firms.

With biotechnology taking center stage on several occasions during the past year, President Bush has appointed an 18-member Council of Bioethics to address some of the more controversial aspects of the field. Policy suggestions to emerge from the council are likely to impact the activities of the significant investments many states and localities are making for biotechnology research and seed capital.

The Council will consider a range of bioethical matters connected with specific biomedical and technological activities, such as embryo and stem cell research, assisted reproduction, cloning, uses of knowledge and techniques derived from human genetics or the neurosciences, and end-of-life issues. The Council may also study broader ethical and social issues, such as the protection of human subjects in research and the appropriate uses of biomedical technologies.

The nation faces social and economic crisis unless America succeeds in promoting and taking advantage of racial and ethnic diversity, according to a report released last week by the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF).

In Investing in People: Developing All of America's Talent on Campus and in the Workplace, chief executive officers of leading corporations and presidents of prominent universities note that while the U.S. minority population is steadily increasing, members of most racial and ethnic groups are not making sufficient educational strides. As a result, the nation is headed for a crisis of workforce skills

and knowledge, the group contends.

This week, the SSTI Weekly Digest continues its series on governors' State of the State addresses, highlighting those portions concerning programs, policies and issues immediately affecting the tech-based economic development community.

Delaware

Ruth Ann Minner, State of the State, January 17, 2002

http://www.state.de.us/governor/speeches/2002/011702StOfState.htm