SSTI Digest

In a follow-up to Maine Governor Angus King’s call for every 7th grader to have a laptop computer that they would use in school and could take home, the Task Force on the Maine Learning Technology Endowment has recommended that every student and teacher in the 7th through 12th grades be provided with computers that would be wireless and portable. The computers could be used in the classroom and, pending school district permission, be taken home. 

Last year, Governor King proposed spending $50 million to purchase laptops for every 7th grader. In response, the Legislature created a $50 million endowment and created the Task Force to make recommendations for how learning technology could be better incorporated in the classroom. 

The Washington DC metro area is widely recognized as one of the country’s technology hubs. Unlike the country’s other major tech centers, however, which have been heavily focused on computer technology for several decades (see Annalee Saxenian’s Regional Advantage for a discussion of Silicon Valley and Route 128, for instance), the nation’s capital region went through a significant restructuring during the 1990s as a result of the New Economy and federal government downsizing.  The tech-based boom of the New Economy has not been shared evenly across the metro area, however. A recent study revealed that, during the seven years of 1993-2000, the region enjoyed a growth of 379,500 jobs – with more than 23 percent of those jobs being in the technology industry. The District of Columbia employment base, though, shrunk by nearly 47,000 jobs during the period. The city lost 79,200 government jobs over the seven years, more than two-thirds of them in the federal sector. 

Editor's Note: The sixth and final installment in our review of the Governors' inaugural addresses, state of the state addresses, and budget messages for 2001. Previous weeks' installments are available on our website http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2001/headlines01.htm 

Alabama  Governor Don Siegelman, State of the State Address, February 6, 2001  http://www.nga.org/governors/1,1169,C_SPEECH^D_684,00.html

In light of major economic changes due to technological transformation, increased globalization, and changing demographics over recent years, and the resulting effects of rising workforce insecurity, the Office of Workforce Security in the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), will hold its first national research conference.  The conference will focus on issues related to impacts, trends, and challenges of the macro-economy to workforce development, the significance of recent changes in workforce development, workforce competitiveness in global economy, workforce security in the New economy, and major policy options to promote economic opportunities for the workforce. 

The Office of Technology in the Utah Department of Community and Economic Development seeks an Assistant Director for the Centers of Excellence Program. The position's responsibilities include promoting the development of new and established Centers that will assist the state economy to expand in focused technology areas. Deadline for application is February 23, 2001. More information on this and additional career opportunities in tech-based economic development can be found at the S&T Job Corner: http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm 

Two new programs from the U.S. Small Business Administration are designed to infuse new capital into economically disadvantaged rural and inner city areas and strengthen existing businesses through technical expertise and mentoring. The New Markets Venture Capital program (NMVC) is anticipated to spur as much as $15 billion in economic development in distressed areas, while BusinessLINC (Learning, Investment, Networking and Collaboration) is designed to assist small firms by providing access to technical assistance, business advice, market knowledge and contracting opportunities that come from relationships with larger companies.

Editor's Note: The fifth installment in our review of the Governors' inaugural addresses, state of the state addresses, and budget messages for 2001. The first four articles in the series were over the past four weeks. Those issues of the SSTI Weekly Digest and all other previous editions are available on our website: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2001/headlines01.htm

Massachusetts Governor Argeo Paul Cellucci, Budget Recommendations, FY 2002, January 24, 2001 http://www.state.ma.us/bb/fy2002h1/default.htm

With President Bush announcing the creation of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, some analysts and practitioners are pondering the implications for economic local and state development efforts.

Do faith-based organizations have a role in ED?

One doesn’t have to look too far for evidence that some faith-based groups already are actively supporting the push for local tech-based ED. The National Congress for Community Economic Development’s 1998 national census of community development corporations (CDCs) shows 14 percent (about 500) of all CDCs across the country identified themselves as "faith-based organizations." The NCCED provides resources and support for faith-based economic development efforts. The website is http://www.ncced.org

There is so much happening in state and local tech-based economic development across the country that we’re adding a new Digest feature: the Regional Roundup. Our goal is to provide 1-2 sentence coverage of news stories, reports and resources demonstrating the variety of activities underway to build a stronger tech-based economy. Of course, whenever possible, we’ll include a link or contact for more information.

It is widely argued in the tech-based economic development community that New Economy businesses, specifically computers and information technology, account for the tremendous economic growth of the last half of the 1990s. But does the data support this?

Many tech-based economic development programs recognize the importance of having seed and venture capital accessible to their start up tech firms and entrepreneurs. Some practitioners, though, see a challenge in encouraging equity investment in more conservative, risk adverse regions and localities. The dot-com “correction” of last year probably did not help.

Accurate estimates of the average return on venture capital investment (VC) may help to open the purse strings of hesitant angel and seed funding sources. But what is a valid estimate of the return on individual venture capital investments?

Obtaining an answer to that question has not been easy in the past. In the new working paper, The Risk and Return of Venture Capital, John Cochrane, Professor of Finance with the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago, takes on the issue.

Addressing the Digital Divide, workforce development, and technology deployment in education are among the highest priorities of the nation’s mayors, according to Priorities for the New American City, the 2001 action agenda of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Released last week at the Mayors’ 69th Annual Winter Meeting by Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles, the plan outlines dozens of recommendations for the Bush Administration across ten issue areas ranging from drug control to the environment to transportation enhancements.  Many of the suggestions requiring federal funding encourage the use of block grants to maximize flexibility in program design and implementation across cities.

Key recommendations for tech-based economic development include: