SSTI Digest

This week, 30 states were named recipients of the first Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST) awards administered by the Small Business Association (SBA). The awards range from $100,000 to $150,000, totaling almost $3.5 million. FAST, included in December 2000 legislation reauthorizing the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, provides matching funds to enable states to augment or expand their tech business assistance and SBIR outreach efforts. FAST winners and their respective award amounts are below:    Alabama — Alabama Dept. of Economic & Community Affairs (ACEDA) — $100,000  Alaska — Alaska Small Business Development Center — $100,000  Colorado — University of Colorado's Business Advancement Center — $100,000  Delaware — Delaware Small Business Dev. Center Network — $100,000  Georgia — Univ. of Georgia Small Business Dev. Center — $125,000  Hawaii — High Technology Dev. Corp. — $125,000  Iowa — Iowa State University's Center for Advanced Technology Dev. — $100,000  Louisiana — Louisiana Business & Technology Center, Louisiana State Univ. — $150,000  Maine — Maine Technology…

They may be separated by more than 6,000 miles, but tech-based economic development initiatives in Hawaii and Connecticut have adopted similar strategies to encourage the commercialization of alternative energy technologies: they're buying them.  Using the purchasing power of the public sector to affect change has been an effective tool in the past for socio-political projects ranging from helping topple the apartheid regime in South Africa to addressing environmental goals such as providing a large enough market for recycled paper products to warrant the substantial private investment needed in pulp mill construction and refurbishment.  Combining public purse strings with the need to demonstrate commercially unproven-yet-promising technologies such as all-electric cars and fuel cells, however, is a less commonly applied strategy. Public transportation projects, such as buses run on natural gas, provide perhaps the most widely known application of the concept.  An advantage to technology demonstration projects using public…

In a bid to make the South a knowledge economy leader, the Southern Growth Policies Board has released Invented Here: Transforming the Southern Economy, a 10-year strategic plan to create an innovation-driven economy in the South.  Southern Growth describes Invented Here as the "first of its kind in that not only does it lay out goals and objectives for an entire region, but it provides a mechanism for tracking the region's progress toward those goals."  Invented Here is built around three goals:  Increasing the perceived value of education in the South;  Harnessing the full potential of innovation; and   Creating and sustaining a quality of life that is attractive to globally competitive businesses and employees.  Each of the goals is supported by objectives and benchmarks that will be used to measure the states' and the region's progress. In all, 13 objectives and 74 benchmarks are identified.  Southern Technology Council and Southern Growth Policies Board staff will…

The New Economy Transition Team (NETT) of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce has issued a 73-page plan that, if implemented successfully, could position Northern Kentucky as a center for life sciences and information technology, advanced manufacturing and financial services.  NETT, in coordination with Northern Kentucky Tri-County Economic Development Corp. (Tri-ED), Northern Kentucky University and Madison E-Zone (a technology incubator in Covington, Ky.), made the New Economy Plan public on August 2. The plan will be combined with others from Lexington, Louisville, and other regions of the state to become the New Economy Plan for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  The plan contains four focus areas, including a series of initiatives in each area: 1.) expanding business clusters in life sciences, advanced manufacturing and information technology, 2.) nurturing new businesses, 3.) enhancing the infrastructure, and 4.) building a workforce for the future. Among the initiatives are:  The Northern Kentucky Chamber, Northern…

Alaska  The Prince of Wales Tribal Enterprise Consortium (POWTEC) is a high-tech reality today, thanks to the collaborative efforts of two tribal governments and a Bellevue, Wash., company, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Established by the Craig Community Association, the Organized Village of Kasaan and n-Link, POWTEC is an information technology company which supplies computer services to the federal government. Plans for the company include using federal set-asides for small, disadvantaged and tribally owned firms and maintaining a computer training center linked to the University of Alaska Southeast and the Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, Wash. A $600,000 federal rural development grant is helping fund the center.  Maine  The Loring Applied Technology Center became the second of seven technology centers scheduled to open across the state, according to the Bangor Daily News. The center was made possible due to $500,000 from the Legislature and a $400,000 grant from the federal Community Development Block Grant program.…

Many areas of the country are lamenting the workforce challenges presented by the out-migration of technically skilled college graduates, a “brain drain” for short. Two studies released during the past few days, however, provide positive data to the contrary for Michigan and the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania metro region. Michigan The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan released a study showing the large majority of technically educated Michigan university students remain in the state after graduation. Tracking the patterns of approximately 30,000 high-tech sector graduates from 1997 through 2000, the researchers found Michigan retained 79 percent of graduates in the life sciences, information technology and engineering sectors who entered the workforce in high-tech positions. Even more positive for the state’s technology companies, 55 percent of students who moved to Michigan to attend a public university in these fields stayed in the state after graduation. The study…

Thirteen months ago, the General Accounting Office issued an unfavorable report on the licensing and royalty returns the National Institutes of Health (NIH) receive for commercialization of technologies resulting from federal funds (see: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2000/081800.htm). As the Administration and Congress look to increase the NIH budget significantly again in 2002, the issue surfaces again. What level of direct financial return can be expected from the federal investment in life sciences research? To address Congressional demands to demonstrate a return on investments in research, NIH issued A Plan to Ensure Taxpayers' Interests are Protected this summer, declaring "its stewardship of the federal resources that support biomedical research has protected the taxpayers' interests." The NIH plan calls for little or no modification to the Institutes' existing efforts to capture royalties on federally-funded research. NIH concludes: "Current practices in technology transfer have yielded a dramatic…

Alabama The State Legislature recently approved income tax relief for small businesses who locate in 23 economically distressed counties and in areas previously known as Enterprise Zones, according to The Associated Press. The counties are said to have "high employment, low incomes and no growth," and the bill gives breaks to companies investing $500,000 and hiring at least five employees. The state reportedly will rank the counties according to their population change, per capita income and employment and will revise the list annually. Arizona Chairmen of the Governor's Strategic Partnership for Economic Development (GSPED) recently launched the Arizona Technology Industry Development Association (ATIDA) — a non-profit organization formed to unite organizations interested in developing technology industries in Central and Northern Arizona. ATIDA's membership is comprised of representatives from GSPED's five technology clusters and foundations, economic development organizations, and university and community colleges. California…

A series of separate economic reports, revenue forecasts, and analyses of current trends released during the past week suggests the need for local, regional and state efforts to grow tech-based economies is increasing. As economic development practitioners and policymakers in science and technology prepare for the 2002 program, legislative, and budget cycles, they may want to consider: Last month’s official estimate of the federal budget surplus has been slashed by the Office of Management and Budget from $147 billion to approximately $50 billion. The Labor Department reports new unemployment claims rose by 58,000 last week, the highest level in over nine years. Orders for durable goods dropped for the third straight month, according to Commerce Department statistics released Thursday. State revenue collection, already slowing in a majority of states because of the economic environment, will experience another blow as the estate tax cut approved earlier this year by Congress and the President takes effect. National Governors Association estimates of the impact for all…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), through the Mathematics Education Trust, funds special projects that enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics at all levels. An organization valuing the use of instructional technology tools, NCTM currently has at least 10 grant opportunities supporting in-service programs, the improvement of professional competence and other related causes. Toyota's Investment In Mathematics Excellence (Toyota TIME) grant, for instance, annually awards teachers up to $10,000 for projects that enhance mathematics education within a school. Sponsored by Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., through its partnership with NCTM, the Toyota TIME grant is open to K-12 teachers with three years' experience teaching mathematics. The focus of the grant comes on individual students and classrooms rather than on district-wide projects. In 2002, as many as 35 two-year grants totaling up to $350,000, will be awarded to schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Proposals for the Toyota TIME grant are due January 10…

Earlier this week, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced awards estimated to total $65 million over five years to fund six major centers in nanoscale science and engineering. The awards are part of a series of NSF grants – totaling $150 million in fiscal year 2001 alone – for nano research in multiple disciplines.  The six centers will be located at Columbia and Cornell Universities and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, Harvard University in Massachusetts, Northwestern University in Illinois, and Rice University in Texas.  Nanoscale science, engineering and technology are focused on a scale ranging from the size of individual atoms to that of large molecules. The new Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers will develop new areas of research and help establish a nanotechnology workforce. The centers, intended to address challenges and opportunities that are too complex and multi-faceted for individual researchers or small teams to tackle in shorter periods of time, are expected to significantly advance the information…

In an effort to create a high tech center, officials in Ohio's Butler County anticipate spending more than $100 million during the next five years to increase telecommunications, biomedical innovations, electronic commerce, and other research. Funding for the measure would come from as much as a half-penny sales tax hike, according to a story published August 1 by the Cincinnati Enquirer.  Butler County already has approved $2.7 million for an 86-mile fiber-optic network, the article reports. Another $113 million in matching funds may come from the State of Ohio for related projects, including start-up help for high-tech entrepreneurs and the construction of highways to improve transportation. Technical assistance also is coming from the Milken Institute, a California-based company paid almost $300,000 in 2000 to develop a high-technology plan for the Butler County economy and to assist in its implementation.  Similar to other areas in the U.S., Butler and the surrounding region have faced a brain drain. The Ohio county saw a 4.9 percent drop in…