SSTI Digest

The Department of Commerce's Technology Opportunities Program (TOP), an initiative that promotes the widespread availability and use of digital network technologies in the public and non-profit sectors, has approximately $12.4 million available in FY 2002. As part of the Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), TOP gives matching grants for model projects demonstrating innovative uses of network technologies. Applicants may request up to a total of $750,000 in funds from NTIA. TOP expects the federal amounts awarded to range from $200,000 to $750,000, with an average of approximately $500,000. NTIA will provide up to 50 percent of the total project cost, unless the applicant can document extraordinary circumstances warranting a grant of up to 75 percent. Eligible applicants include any nonprofit organization, education institution or state, local or tribal government agency. Individuals and for-profit entities are encouraged to participate as project partners. Supporting projects for distance learning, public safety, telemedicine,…

The Dynamics of Technology-based Economic Development: State Science and Technology Indicators has been published for the second straight year. Bruce Mehlman, Assistant Secretary for the Technology Administration's Office of Technology Policy (OTP), released the report at SSTI's annual conference earlier this week.  The second edition of the reference guide draws upon state-level data "that approximates the 'technology infrastructure' of the states, or, at the very least, compiles information about those factors that clearly affect states' capacity to generate new enterprises and high quality jobs, and sustain economic growth."  Each of 22 input measures fall into three main categories, Funding In-Flows, Human Resources, and Capital Investment and Business Assistance. Another 15 output measures, which focus on two main categories — High-technology Intensity of the State's Business Base and Other Outcome Measures, including patents, fast-growing companies, earnings, and work force employment — combine with the input measures for a total of 37…

State and local strategies to assist start-up business formation often focus on three elements to help nascent firms: securing much-needed funding or capital (either private or public), lowering the overall cost of doing business, or gaining the skill set or access to intellectual resources to succeed. These objectives of tech-based economic development are, perhaps, most important in a recession, particularly a downturn like the current experience which comes after such a sustained period of growth.  Because most successful nonprofit technology business incubators address all three elements, it isn't too surprising to find the newspapers around the country carrying several stories on new incubators opening or existing incubators expanding their operations. The latter phenomenon, with examples in Maryland, Idaho, Missouri, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, attests to the economic development benefits that can be achieved through properly executed incubator strategies.  The opening of an 11,000-square-foot technology incubator in Lanham, Maryland is the fourth…

Gaining a sense of how industries are likely to grow or contract over the next decade can be a vital tool for determining the priorities for tech-based economic development practitioners, public and private investing programs, and workforce developers. These figures are particularly relevant for geographic areas looking at cluster development strategies or targeted research/investment programs.  The November issue of the Monthly Labor Review, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, includes an article by Jay Berman projecting industry output and employment projections for the first decade of the 21st century.  Computer and data processing services (Standard Industrial Classification Code 737) continues to top the chart of fastest growing industries with an average annual rate of 6.4 percent growth for 2000-2010. Projected output for the field is expected to grow by an annual rate of 8 percent.  The national average growth for all non-farm wage and salary employment is projected to be 1.6 percent annually over…

Tthe five winners of the 2001 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's premier award for performance excellence and quality achievement, include, for the first time, three winners in the education category:  Chugach School District, Anchorage, Alaska (education). Chugach’s 214 students are scattered throughout 22,000 square miles of mostly isolated and remote areas of south central Alaska. A heavy reliance on technology and distance learning, education for Chugach students can occur 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Results on the California Achievement Tests improved in all content areas from 1995 to 1999. Average national percentile scores increased in reading from 28th to 71st, in language arts from 26th to 72nd, in math from 54th to 78th, and in spelling from 22nd to 65th. In addition, the percent of students in the top quartile increased in reading from 17 to 56, in language arts from 25 to 33, and in math from 42 to 79.  Pearl River School District, Pearl River, N.Y. (education). The percentage of students graduating with a Regents diploma, a…

The number of women who own the nation's privately-held businesses, presently at 28 percent of such businesses, is growing at twice the rate of all firms, according to a new report from Center for Women’s Business Research.  The center projects the number of majority-owned, privately-held women-owned firms will stand at 6.2 million by 2002, and that sales generated by these businesses will have grown 40 percent between 1997-2002. Employment in women-owned businesses also is growing at a rate 1.5 times the national average.  Sponsored by Wells Fargo, the Center’s two most recent reports, Women-Owned Businesses in 2002: Trends in the U.S. and 50 States and Women-Owned Businesses in 2002: Trends in the Top 50 Metropolitan Areas analyze both published and unpublished data provided by the U.S. Bureau of the Census and present the most up-to-date information currently available on the country's women-owned businesses.  The ten fastest growing states based on 1997 to 2002 growth in the number of firms, employment and sales…

To create new research centers in FY 2003, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is offering approximately $26 million through its Engineering Research Centers (ERC) Program.  At least two awards totaling up to $13 million each will be made. The awards, subject to 10 percent cost sharing, will be distributed as follows: $2.5 million (year 1), $3 million (year 2), $3.5 million (year 3), and $4 million (years 4 and 5).  Each new center will focus on the definition, fundamental understanding, development, and validation of the technologies needed to realize a well-defined class of engineered systems with the potential to spawn whole new industries or radically transform the product lines, processing technologies, or service delivery methodologies of current industries.  Only U.S. academic institutions with undergraduate and doctoral engineering programs may submit pre-proposals as the lead institution. If the ERC is a multi-university effort, the lead university will be joined by long-term core partner institutions…

Building Entrepreneurial Networks, a major report on how and why networks of entrepreneurs nurture economic growth in communities across the country, was released Wednesday by the National Commission on Entrepreneurship (NCOE).  To illustrate the importance of entrepreneurial networks, NCOE’s seventh report profiles five organizations in Idaho, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas that have succeeded in developing unique entrepreneurial networks.  The report notes that regions which have developed strong entrepreneurial economies tend to possess several key ingredients — well-organized local networks along with strong universities, access to equity capital, and an advanced public infrastructure. Similarly, regions with strong networks tend to have high rates of new start-ups and fast-growing companies.  The report also suggests local entrepreneurs and policymakers working to spur home-grown entrepreneurship should consider policies and initiatives to develop and support entrepreneurial networks. Case studies…

In an effort to help combat the present economic downturn, the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is looking to partner with groups across the U.S. to provide training to displaced workers interested in starting new businesses.  The Kauffman Center is offering its proven FastTrac NewVentureTM program materials at no cost to organizations that want to provide the course to downsized workers in their states or communities. Partner organizations locate attendees, handle logistics, and pay trainer expenses. Displaced workers participate in the program at no charge. The Center has 10 years of experience with the FastTrac program and is ready to work with partners to implement the program rapidly and effectively in their communities.  In FastTrac NewVentureTM, participants explore the feasibility of their business concept, develop mentor relationships, discover whether life as an entrepreneur is right for them, and lay the groundwork for their future business ventures. The program is currently being…

University of Buffalo Entrepreneurial Awards  An in-depth look at the one-year success of a student company to win last year's first Panasci Entrepreneurial Awards at the University of Buffalo recently was highlighted in the Buffalo News.  The three students who comprise Student Voice received $25,000 in seed capital as first prize in a competition administered by the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) in the School of Management. Student Voice, a market research firm specializing in data on college-age consumers, uses personal digital assistants and peer-to-peer, in-person interviews for data collection.  The students' award was provided through a $1 million endowment donated to the university by UB alumna Henry Panasci, a pharmacist/business executive turned venture capitalist. Second prize recipients received $15,000. Seventeen new student teams have entered this year's competition, a field which will be narrowed to five finalists for presentations in January.  To compete for the awards, UB…

A National Science Foundation (NSF) program to foster significant public/private partnerships and help better position local communities to accommodate new and enhanced research and development is continuing into a second year, NSF announced last month.  The $14 million in grants awarded last year under NSF's Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) have been supplemented with more than $7 million for 12 new grants in 2001 to cover projects in 11 states involving more than 150 partner organizations.  The twelve lead institutions receiving new PFI awards include: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland; the University of Alaska, Anchorage; the universities of Maine, Southern Mississippi, Southern California, Pennsylvania and South Dakota; Montana Tech; Michigan Technological University; and Montana State, Northwestern and Wichita State universities.  All are receiving an average of $600,000 over the next two to three years. The lead institutions are selected to act as catalysts in helping their surrounding communities…

A recent report released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), The Nation’s Report Card: Science 2000, shows the average scores of fourth- and eighth-graders were essentially unchanged from 1996, and the scores for 12th-graders declined by three points, a significant change.  Scale scores for the report, a survey conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), generally show what students know and can do in a given subject. The National Assessment Governing Board, the independent body that sets policy for NAEP, developed the three NAEP achievement levels used in the report: Basic, Proficient, and Advanced.  From 1996 to 2000, the percentage of 4th-graders attaining these levels showed no change. In 2000, only 29 percent of 4th-graders scored Proficient or better on the NAEP science assessment. A mere 32 percent of 8th-graders and 18 percent of 12th-graders fared the same.  At the state level, six states had the highest average scores for 4th-graders in 2000: Maine, Massachusetts…