SSTI Digest

What can policymakers and practitioners do if the statistics and other metrics indicate a state, region or locality is not well positioned for the technology-based economy, but the elected leaders and economic development professionals are plodding along with traditional approaches to job creation and development? Or, on the other hand, what if there are several fragmented or isolated technology-related activities and success stories occuring that could benefit from a little political exposure and synergy? Jump-starting tech-based economic development often requires a shift in the mindset or thinking of the economic and political stakeholders for a state or community. Tools often used to encourage this change in outlook include innovation indices or S&T report cards that present the state or region's relative performance along several metrics. Creating state science and technology councils or drafting strategic plans for tech-based economic development are other often used approaches for trying to keep public investment in science and technology on the public agenda.…

Following on the Summit on Minnesota’s Economy, a 21-member group appointed by the president of the University of Minnesota has unveiled its recommendations to strengthen the state’s economy. The recommendations in Report to the People of Minnesota: Building a Knowledge Economy for Minnesota’s 21st Century are divided among five strategies: Recommendations in the new report are divided among five strategies: Developing a knowledge-driven industry cluster strategy to cultivate Minnesota's strengths within existing industries, and to develop emerging Minnesota industry clusters, starting with: health care -- particularly medical technology; biosciences -- especially applications in agriculture; and communications and information technology - particularly in storage technology and data communications. The Working Group recommends building workforce skills, research and innovation and fostering entrepreneurship in these significant industry clusters. Cultivating a competitive workforce for the 21st century through initiatives such as merit-based scholarships…

Western Virginia’s economy is stagnant due to a variety of factors and must get in line with the “New Economy” according to a report commissioned by the Center for Innovative Leadership in Roanoke. A second study by the Center revealed the area's residents appear willing to support activities designed to bring new business and employment to the region. The report concluded that despite a favorable quality of life in the “New Century Region," as Western Virginia calls itself, the area's economy has been concentrated heavily on declining manufacturing industries and must find ways to attract high technology business. The region is home to the fourth largest concentration of population in Virginia, but has suffered from cutbacks in defense spending, increases in global competition and corporate mergers. Employment in the region increased by only 0.2 percent in 1999 compared to 2.7 percent for the entire state. The lack of new businesses contributed to stagnant population growth of 0.3 percent in the 1990s versus 1.5 percent for all of Virginia.…

Despite small improvements, Northeast and Midwest regions lag behind the South and West in terms of dollars returned to states from taxes sent to Washington, according to a report issued by the Northeast-Midwest Institute. The Northeast-Midwest region’s return on every tax dollar was $0.88, while the South received an estimated $1.18 in federal spending for every dollar sent to Washington and the West had a return of $1.01, according to Flow of Federal Funds to the States: Fiscal 1999. Other highlights include: The Northeast-Midwest region made up 40.36 percent of the nation’s population but had 44.61 percent of the nation’s total tax burden, and received 39.20 percent of the 50-state federal spending total in fiscal 1999. In 1999, the South and West, with 59.64 percent of the population, paid 55.39 percent of federal taxes, and received back 60.80 percent of federal spending. The Northeast-Midwest region received $575.9 billion in federal funding, or $5,243 per capita, in fiscal 1999. This per-capita amount equals 97 percent of the 50-state per-…

The U.S. Department of Agrciulture and the National Institutes of Health released information on 24 inventions that are available for license. Descriptions and contact information for each invention/patent are presented on the accompanying SSTI webpage

A new comprehensive study of the state of higher education in the United States says that as a whole, the nation has made large improvements in the percentage of high school students taking upper-level math and science courses. However, taken individually, many states have a long way to go in order to adequately prepare students for college education, according to Measuring Up 2000, the first-of-its-kind report card by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, released November 30. The report rated each state in five categories: preparation, participation, affordability, completion, and benefits. The authors used the familiar A-B-C grading scale and compared state-by-state. According to a press release from the Center, as Measuring Up 2000 was being completed, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported that for the first time three countries—Norway, Britain, and the Netherlands—have surpassed the United States in the proportion of young people who graduate from college. “As the world leader in higher education in the 20th…

Solicitations totaling more than $101 million have been released by the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation (see the National Nanotechnology Initiative webpage at http://www.nano.gov for more details on each opportunity). The amount of funding available is one more indication of the importance that nanotechnology is expected to play in the future. The policy and programmatic implications for science, technology, and economic development programs will be significant as more applications are perfected and commercialized. Also known as molecular manufacturing, nanotechnology has been theory since 1959 when Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman identified the possibility of maneuvering things atom-by-atom. It has now gone well beyond theory and into practice, with the announcement last summer by Lucent Technologies that it had delivered the first optical switch which will enhance speed and reliability of Internet and data transmission as never imagined. The term nanotechnology comes from nanometer which is one-billionth of a meter long. That’s…

New legislation to help revitalize technology development in Washington, D.C. received unanimous approval from the Council of the District of Columbia and is expected to be signed by Mayor Anthony Williams. The "New E-Conomy Transformation Act of 2000," contains eleven incentives designed to help transform the D.C. economy. Councilmember David A. Catania and the New E-conomy Advisory Group comprised of seven business leaders, developed the incentives targeted at companies engaged in e-commerce, Internet-based businesses, information technology, and other sectors of the New Economy. The Advisory Group identified barriers to locating in the District such as workforce development and affordable facilities, then crafted incentives designed to help businesses overcome them. The incentives include several tax credits, cuts, exemptions, and abatements, and lease guarantees for qualified companies. Before the bill is enacted, perhaps by Spring of 2001, it must be approved by the D.C. Financial Control Board and Congress. Background on the legislation may be found on SSTI's website at http://…

All but one of the metro areas evaluated saw their high-tech industry employment grow during the last five years according to a 135-page report, Cybercities: A City By City Overview of the High-Technology Industry. The report, assessing the U.S. high-tech industry in 60 metropolitan areas nationwide, was released Dec. 5 by AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association) and The Nasdaq Stock Market. As with previous AeA reports, the definition of high technology is narrowly defined as high-tech electronics manufacturing, communications services, and software and computer-related services. The high-tech industry added 1.1 million new jobs nationally since 1993, or eight percent of the 13.8 million jobs created by the U.S. private sector in the same time span, the report said. The cities with the largest high-tech employment growth rates during the last five years were Colorado Springs (77 %) San Francisco (65 %), Houston (64 %), Denver (63 %) and Sacramento (57%). The nation’s top cybercities in terms of high-tech employment are San Jose (252,900), Boston (234,800), Chicago (…

An analysis of 122 audits of economic development programs in 44 states revealed many areas for improvement, according to Good Jobs First, a project of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Minding the Candy Store: State Audits of Economic Development, released online in September, issues harsh criticism of many public economic development efforts. The report's remarks are spread across the individual economic development programs, the state auditing agencies, and the state elected officials. Good Jobs First states properly designed performance audits or other external evaluations can be beneficial tools for policymakers to use in economic development program design, measurement, and refinement. Benefit analysis and evaluation of effectiveness were often lacking as goals or deliverables for most of the audits reviewed for the report. Among the report's other findings were: Only 17 states require agencies to conduct regular performance auditing. Of these 17 states, four appear to be behind schedule in completing legislatively mandated audits. No…

"High paying jobs in growth areas are critically needed to offset the decline in wealth and employment from Alaska's North Slope. These new jobs require technical innovation, capital, management, and trained workers." These two sentences summarize the findings of the first science and technology innovation index prepared by the Alaska Science & Technology Foundation (ASTF). The index provides a snapshot of the state's current position in science, technology and innovation. Using 31 measures distributed across four categories -- population and economic infrastructure, innovation, financial capacity, and infrastructure and human resources -- the 2000 Alaska S&T Innovation Index assessed those areas in which the state is doing well, average, or poorly compared with the national average and selected states. Other profiled states include California, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming. ASTF found that the number of Alaskans in technology-related jobs grew three times faster than total employment in the state between 1994-1999, yet still represented only 4…

Continuing to rest on past academic excellence and research achievement would be costly to Greater Philadelphia, according to a new report prepared by the Pennsylvania Economy League. The region's "knowledge industry" must compete with other regions and states to succeed in the New Economy. A comprehensive study benchmarking Greater Philadelphia's knowledge industry was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the area’s colleges and universities and how they contribute to the region’s economic competitiveness. Three main suggestions and potential strategies for becoming one of the nation’s leading knowledge regions were offered in the report's recommendations: Grow the Talent Base: Marketing Philadelphia as a center of higher education; Strategically expand existing institutions with the room and inclination to grow; Establish a new technical, research-based state institution; and, Develop youth-oriented amenities to attract knowledge workers; Grow the Idea Base: Create a research alliance of leading research institutions…