SSTI Digest

It caught the attention of quite a few people when it was first proposed in early 2001, but Maine's investment in 2002 to provide every seventh and eighth grader with a new laptop - approximately 32,000 students and 4,000 teachers - continues to provide a useful example of the size and type of commitment and risk that elected leaders have to be willing to make to transform the outlook for a state or regional economy. It took strong leadership and determination from then-Gov. Angus King to make it happen then, but the move very quickly was recognized as a good investment for the state's future (see 2004 evaluation report).

Maine Gov. Mark Baldacci has unveiled a new handbook intended to help communities to capitalize upon their cultural resources to spur economic growth. Maine's Creative Economy Community Handbook: Maine State Government Resources for Communities offers advice for community leaders interested in building a creative and dynamic workforce. The guidelines it gives for designing a strategic plan could benefit communities across the country interested in similar initiatives. The handbook is the result of two years of work by Maines Creative Economy Steering Committee following a 2004 conference on the future of the state economy. The study was requested after it was reported that the creative economy was generating $6.6 billion annually in cultural tourism dollars. The committee has drawn upon the work of Richard Florida, who has theorized that networks of educated and entrepreneurial citizens lead to dynamic local economies.

SSTI continues this year's "Tech Talkin' Govs" series. The first installment of this 2006 review of governors' legislative priorities concerning tech-based economic development is available through the Digest online: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm

Maine Gov. John Baldacci, State-of-the-State Address, Jan. 18, 2006

A plan to increase Maine's R&D activity to $1 billion by 2010 was revealed last week by the Department of Economic and Community Development's (DECD) Office of Innovation and the Maine Science and Technology Council (MSTAC). The level of R&D activity in Maine currently stands at $430 million.

The science and technology action plan creates a road map toward achieving the objective of higher per capita income, set forth in the State Planning Office's 30 and 1000 Plan, created in 1998.

Two initiatives aimed at closing the digital divide, particularly among low-income Americans, were announced earlier this month.

Maine Free Internet Angus King, former governor of Maine, provided the leadership to get several innovative programs for the state. As governor, King implemented a $37 million laptop program, the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) in 2000, which provides all seventh and eighth-graders with laptops to ensure they had the computer skills required of the global economy. According to an impact evaluation report by the Maine Education Policy Research Institute, teachers and students view the program an overall success (see the April 19 issue of the Digest).

If the success of its funded companies is revealing, the Maine Technology Institute (MTI) has done well to spur innovative activity in Maine, suggests an independent analysis recently released in the state.

An evaluation of MTI, a state-supported nonprofit, shows the organization's clientele saw employment grow by 11 percent over the last two years. This rate of growth, which surpassed that of Maine's cumulative 3 percent, resulted in nearly 600 jobs added to the economy. The University of Southern Maine's Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) conducted the evaluation, examining MTI-funded companies that completed their projects prior to June 30, 2004.

Betsy Biemann will be the new director of the Maine Technology Institute, pending legislative confirmation in January. Biemann currently serves as an associate director at The Rockefeller Foundation.

Laurie Lachance recently was named the next president of the Maine Development Foundation, Maine's economic development policy organization. Lachance is a former economist for the Maine State Planning Office.

Janet Yancey-Wrona, director of the Maine Technology Institute (MTI), has been named the Governor's Science and Technology Advisor and the first Director of Innovation for the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development. In her new position, Dr. Yancey-Wrona will oversee the state's research and TBED activities, including MTI, the business incubator program and Maine EPSCoR initiative.

Concerns for wheat and organic markets remain, however While state governments across the country are overwhelmingly in favor of health-related biotechnology, agricultural biotechnology has received a somewhat less enthusiastic reception. That may be changing - however slowly - according to new information released last week by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology.

The group finds state legislatures in 2003 considered significantly more legislation in support of ag biotech than in the entire 2001-2002 legislative session. This increase appears to mark a shift away from efforts to curb violent destruction of field crops and test sites – the topic that dominated the last legislative session.

When first proposed in 2000, the concept was radical, controversial and expensive. Simply give a wireless laptop to all seventh and eighth grade students and teachers in the entire state of Maine.

The problem of expense, initially estimated to be $50 million for 35,000 laptops, took on greater significance as the state's revenues began to decline. Former Governor Angus King persisted and, 16 months later, a scaled back $30 million program allowed seventh-graders to use the computers in class and sign them out for use at home. The following year, the program was expanded to include eighth-graders.

As those students, who have now used laptops for two years of instruction, Internet research and homework, move into ninth grade, the State Board of Education has unanimously endorsed a statement urging the state legislature to expand the computer program into the high schools.

A new fund developed by the Maine Technology Institute (MTI) is expected to lead to greater commercialization of technologies in the northeast state. Created through a reserved proportion of MTI’s annual grantable funds, the Accelerated Commercialization Fund (ACF) will allow previously funded MTI companies the chance to achieve significant growth. To qualify for funding, companies must at a minimum demonstrate significant potential for financial and economic development returns.

The financing gap that exists between some companies' research and development (R&D) and sales is the motivating force behind the Maine fund. MTI plans on the investments piggybacking on other investors' terms, generally in the form of equity, and either converting existing debt or providing additional capital to help advance new products toward the market.