SSTI Digest

State and land-grant universities provide major stimulus to their state and regional economies – generating jobs, attracting and helping create new high-tech businesses, and increasing state tax revenues in addition to providing a well-educated work-force, according to Shaping the Future – The Economic Impact of Public Universities. The study, prepared by National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), is based on a survey of its 212 member institutions. Fifty percent responded to the survey. 



Among the key findings are: 

The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is a nationwide network of not-for-profit Centers in over 400 locations nationwide, whose sole purpose is to provide the more than 361,000 small and medium-sized manufacturers in the country the help they need to succeed in a global economy. The Centers, serving all 50 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are linked together through the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology – making it possible for even the smallest firms to tap into the expertise of knowledgeable manufacturing and business specialists all over the U.S. 



Since its founding, MEP has worked with more than 107,000 manufacturing firms, achieving impressive results for its clients: $996 million in increased revenues, $195 million in cost savings, and $360 million in modernization investment. 

With all its promise of connecting businesses and residents of even the remotest areas the country to the global economy, the Internet led most states and communities to invest resources toward the Digital Divide. Will these investments pay off? Will the Internet lead to an economic geographic revolution similar to that caused by past technological advances such as the automobile? 



Combining linguistic theory, economic theory and history, two UCLA faculty members, Edward Leamer and Michael Storper, provide their answer – probably not – in The Economic Geography of the Internet Age. They argue that the economy is increasingly dependent on relationships requiring understanding and trust, qualities developed through face-to-face contact rather than long distance conversations enabled by the Internet. 

Since its founding in 1991, the nonprofit Minnesota Technology Inc. (MTI) has been Minnesota lead technology-based economic development organization. Its mission, to help existing small and medium-sized companies apply, develop and commercialize technology, is achieved through three objectives: 

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) releases reports and testimonies nearly every day. On the accompanying webpage are summaries from seven recent reports, identified below, that are relevant to state and local tech-based economic development objectives. 

With 90 percent of Chicago’s economy in slow-growth sectors such as manufacturing, retail, financial services and real estate, leaders from business, academia, government and nonprofit groups have joined forces to develop and implement a strategy to establish the city as a key player in the New Economy. Mayor Richard Daley unveiled A New Economy Growth Strategy for Chicagoland earlier this month, accompanied by announcements of new initiatives and commitments by leaders of several entities central to the plan’s success. 



The plan calls for a unified effort toward two goals: 1) make Chicago a prime location for technology startups, and 2) create world-class leadership in priority New Economy sectors of biotechnology/biomedical, wireless software, software development, and emerging technology such as nanotechnology. 



To achieve the first goal, five areas are to receive attention: 

The Industries of the Future (IOF) strategy creates partnerships between industry, government, and supporting laboratories and institutions to accelerate technology research, development, and deployment. Led by the Department of Energy's Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT), the Industries of the Future strategy is being implemented in nine of the country's most energy- and waste-intensive industries: agriculture, aluminum, chemicals, forest products, glass, metal casting, mining, petroleum and steel. 



The effort is unique among federal programs because the IOF research agenda is almost entirely defined by the partnering industry sectors. Industry members of each cluster jointly prepare documents with the industry's vision for the future and a technology roadmap to identify the technologies that will be needed to reach that industry's goals. IOF then provides matching grants for research projects to carryout the roadmap. 

Blythewood, South Carolina 

With an estimated population of 450, the community of Blythewood is soon to be home to the largest technology development project undertaken by the South Carolina Department of Commerce, according to an August 9 article in The State. The agency has identified 1,400 acres of land for creation of a research and technology park. Planners anticipate the community's proximity to Columbia, the University of South Carolina, and several large tech businesses will help attract new tech jobs to the area. 



Camden, Arkansas 

The Associated Press reports grants to Camden, totaling $3 million, from the Economic Development Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency are being used to clear and decontaminate a brownfield site to make way for a new business incubator and light industrial park. The incubator facility will be financed by a local sales tax approved by Camden voters to support economic development efforts. 

VentureEconomics, a division of Thomas Financial is now providing online summary information for their quarterly survey of venture capital activity. Until now, findings from the surveys, which are conducted in partnership with the National Venture Capital Association, has only been available by purchase. 

Natural gas, oil, and coal-based power production has driven and will continue to be integral to America's technological and economic success. To make fossil fuel power production more efficient and environmentally benign, future power plants will incorporate a host of advanced technologies, many of which are researched and funded through the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). Located in Pittsburgh and Morgantown, NETL is a multi-purpose laboratory, owned and operated by the Department of Energy (DOE). NETL conducts and implements science and technology development programs for DOE in energy and energy-related environmental systems. 

Early registration for SSTI's 5th Annual Conference, Creating Opportunity: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies ends on Wednesday, September 5. To lock in the discounted rate, submit your registration by the end of September 5 by fax to 614.901.1696 or online at https://www.ssti.org/registration01.htm Those paying by check are encouraged to submit their registration form by fax or online as well and post the check by regular mail. 



Participation in the conference grows each year; for the 2001 event, we already have registrations for people from more than 40 states, 5 countries and 4 continents. Join us!  



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With the emphasis many state and local tech-based economic development organizations have placed on biotechnology over the past 12-18 months, few are far enough along in implementing their strategies to point to more than a handful of successes or new construction projects. The recent explosion in public investment of resources and policies toward developing local biotech capacity is largely based on the promise of anticipated economic gains in the near or not-so-near future. 



Independent analysis of the long-term impact of specific state and local tech-based economic development policies are rare. Some programs launched in the 1980s that have commissioned outside impact studies, such as the Edison Technology Centers, the Ben Franklin Technology Partnership and Utah’s Centers of Excellence, have discovered strong returns for the public’s investment. (See the 12/20/96, 10/22/99, and 1/28/00 issues of SSTI’s Weekly Digest in our web archives for these stories.)