SSTI Digest

While visions of sugarplums will be dancing in the heads of most Americans, SSTI's staff will be boxing up its files and moving to new offices on Dec. 20-21. Due to the move and because SSTI will be closed during the week of December 24-28, the next issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest and the funding supplement will be published January 4, 2002. That said, we extend a special holiday wish to all readers, friends and supporters. SSTI especially thanks the Economic Development Administration, without whose generous support, the Digest would not be possible. Wishing you a more peaceful and successful 2002, Dan, Becky, Cathy, Ruth, Sue, Mark S. and Mark K. Note: SSTI's new address is provided in the masthead of this and future issues; please make the necessary change in your address books, PDAs, etc. Also, please note that SSTI's telephone and fax numbers will not change, as the move occurs within the same office park.

Creating and strengthening regional competitiveness and innovation is the key to the nation’s ability to succeed in the global marketplace and raise the standard of living for all Americans, according to a new report presented Thursday at a joint conference of the Council on Competitiveness and the National Governors' Association. Titled Clusters of Innovation: Regional Foundations of U.S. Competitiveness, the report is the result of a two-year study sponsored by the Council on Competitiveness that outlines an agenda for both the public and private sectors to strengthen regional economies and build clusters. Strong clusters at the regional level are fundamental to a region’s job growth, wage levels, rate of innovation and the formation of new businesses, the report says. Highlighting in-depth studies of five regions — San Diego, Wichita, Pittsburgh, the Research Triangle, and Atlanta — the report examines 15 clusters within the regions, such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. The report draws on a first-of-its-kind database on every U.S. regional economy and includes the…

President George W. Bush appointed on Wednesday 22 individuals to serve as members of the Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). They are: Charles Joel Arntzen of Ariz., Norman R. Augustine of Md., Carol Ann Bartz of Calif., M. Kathleen Behrens of Calif., Erich Bloch of D.C., Stephen B. Burke of Penn., Gerald Wayne Clough of Ga., Michael S. Dell of Texas, Raul Fernandez of Md., Marye Anne Fox of N.C., Martha Diane Winters Gilliland of Mo., Ralph E. Gomory of N.Y., Bernadine Patricia Healy of Ohio, Robert John Herbold of Wash., Barbara Kilberg of Va., Walter Eugene Massey of Ga., Gordon E. Moore of Calif., Kenneth Nwabueze of Calif., Steven Gerald Papermaster of Texas, Dr. Luis M. Proenza of Ohio, George Martin Scalise of Calif., and Charles M. Vest of Mass. As the highest level private sector advisory group for the President and the National Science and Technology Council, PCAST provides feedback about Federal programs and science and technology issues of national importance. PCAST's members are drawn from industry, education, and research…

A new report showing that Michigan is performing at the level of the national average in tech transfer recently was released by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan. An Assessment of Technology Transfer at Michigan’s Public Universities holds that Michigan is an improving top-tier commercialization state, using statistics and measurements to create benchmarks in the areas of tech transfer and entrepreneurial activity. The benchmarks are used to compare the performance of Michigan universities with other universities nationwide. As a state, Michigan fares well in the amount of sponsored research funding, with the University of Michigan ranking fourth nationally, according to the report. Overall, Michigan universities in 1999 were below average in new start-up companies created from university research, but preliminary data for 2000 shows improvement in the number of start-ups. In addition to the above findings, the report identifies four areas in university research where improvements could…

Community Science Workshops (CSW) are spreading nationwide, due to a second $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that will enable San Francisco State University (SFSU) and its partners to create CSWs across the U.S. CSWs, or informal drop-in science centers, were first given life four years ago when SFSU received its initial $3 million grant from NSF. Being self-supported through community partnerships, CSWs spread in 10 underserved California communities in Fresno, San Jose, Los Angeles, Watsonville and Oakland and led to satellite workshops in neighboring communities. Eight of 15 new sites will be launched in cities including Tucson, Miami, Houston, New Orleans, Detroit, Seattle, New York, and Washington, D.C., with at least one workshop located on or near a Native American reservation. These sites will serve as hubs for developing spinoff sites. As an informal science program, CSWs have enhanced formal science standards by offering onsite science programs to neighboring schools that generally lack the resources and expertise of their local CSW…

Carbondale, Illinois The latest issue of the Illinois Coalition's TechAlert reports Southern Illinois University at Carbondale has broken ground on the $40 million, 45-acre Southern Illinois University Research Park. Plans call for the park to include 12 buildings totaling nearly 236,000 sq. ft. When full, the park should house approximately 75 companies with 800-1,200 tech-skilled employees. Financing for the initial phase has come from an Illinois FIRST grant of $500,000, a $300,000 Congressional earmark, and approximately $700,000 in other federal funds. Verizon also has invested $800,000 in an on-site fiber optic switching center. The park is adjacent to the university's Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center, which houses the Southern Regional Center of the Illinois Manufacturing Center and the Business Incubator Program. Roanoke, Virginia Residents are beginning to question the rapid rise in Roanoke's debt load to finance many redevelopment projects aimed at making the city more attractive for technology businesses, according to a recent story in…

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…