SSTI Digest

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

Describing Maine as making "modest progress" in strengthening its capacity for innovation-driven economic growth, the Maine Science and Technology Foundation (MSTF) released on Tuesday The Maine Innovation Index 2002, a report on Maine's performance in the new economy.

The Index measures 30 major indicators that, according to the report, are required for successful innovation-driven economic growth. Of the indicators, 13 showed improvement in the past five years, five showed no change, and three decreased. For nine indicators, five-year data is not yet available.

Among the report's key findings:

Five Shoes Waiting to Drop on Arizona's Future, a 50-page report released by the Morrison Institute of Public Policy, details five key trends that could harm the state's future if they are not well managed.

The "shoes waiting to drop," according to the report, are trends already at work in Arizona that are altering the state's social and economic make-up. The report says that Morrison Institute researchers believe it behooves Arizona to recognize the trends and respond to them as it plots a course in a time of transition.

The trends are encompassed by the following:

Three Texas cities, Dallas, Houston and Austin, top the second annual Affordibility Index prepared by techies.com, a technology workforce placement company. The study tracks which cities offer the best combination of top salary and low cost of living for information technology professionals.

Salt Lake City, Atlanta, the DC/Baltimore corridor, Seattle and Phoenix round out the top eight metro areas.

The Affordability Index compares average tech salaries in 38 major U.S. job markets and regions against ACCRA's Cost of Living Index <http://www.coli.org/>, giving recruiters and tech professionals an idea of the relative value of salaries in different job markets.

AEA, formerly the American Electronics Association, in conjunciton with the Nasdaq stock market, has released CyberEducation 2002, a compendium and comparative analysis of several trends and educational statistics from across the country.

Using off-the-shelf data from sources such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Education, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Test, and other standardized tests, AEA concludes that student performance in math education is improving, yet challenges remain. The report also provides performance profiles for each of the 50 states.

While 2002 marks the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, it also may be remembered as the first time an agency successfully finagled its way out of SBIR's requirement that 2.5 percent of extramural R&D be awarded to small technology companies.

SSTI sources report the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) managed to insert in the FY 2002 Defense Appropriations Act language rescinding 49.6 percent — $73.8 million — of the agency's SBIR obligation for FY 2002.

The SBIR program typically awards up to $750,000 directly to small firms for research and development leading to the commercialization of new technologies. BMDO is one of eight defense components required to participate in the small-business set-aside.