SSTI Digest

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.

Each year, SSTI looks at the various addresses given by the nation's governors at the beginning of the year. While the aftermath of September 11 weighs heavily in the content of this year's State of the State addresses, the important role tech-based economic development plays for strengthening state and local economies during a recession has not been overlooked by many governors.

Not all news is positive, however. As nearly every state confronts less-than-anticipated revenues and the resulting budget deficits, tech-based economic development initiatives face fiscal challenges.

Over the next few weeks, the SSTI Weekly Digest will highlight those portions of the speeches concerning programs, policies, and issues immediately affecting the tech-based economic development community. This week's addresses include:

Some of the biggest tourist destinations in the U.S. — Las Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City, Orlando and Honolulu — and the biggest cities — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — will suffer heavy job losses as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a new study from the Milken Institute.

Metropolitan Economies in the Wake of 9/11 includes a detailed analysis of those industries and metropolitan areas hardest hit by Sept. 11 and examines the overall U.S. economy in light of the attacks and recession.

Las Vegas, expected to have nearly 5 percent fewer jobs in 2002 than it would have had without the attacks, will suffer more than any other metro area, the study says. Myrtle Beach, S.C., and New York City are second and third, respectively, with projected declines of 3.6 percent and 3.42 percent.

Against a backdrop of futuristic vehicles at the Detroit Auto Show on Wednesday, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and executives of Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler announced a new cooperative automotive research partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Council for Automotive Research (USCAR).

Under the new program, Freedom CAR (Cooperative Automotive Research), the government and the private sector will fund research into advanced, efficient fuel cell technology, which uses hydrogen to power automobiles without creating pollution.

A student’s opportunity to gain access to and afford a college education varies significantly from state to state, according to a report recently issued by Lumina Foundation for Education.

Unequal Opportunity: Disparities in College Access Among the 50 States, a study of 2,887 degree-granting colleges, classifies each college by admissibility and affordability and examines differences in the patterns within and among states for different types of institutions and different groups of students.

Institutions are defined as admissible if they are open to college-qualified students with test scores and grades that place them in the 25th to 75th percentiles of college-bound high school graduates from their state.