SSTI Digest

With the goal of developing a common technology agenda among the region’s leaders, the Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance (larta) has compiled its first regional innovation index benchmarking the area’s strengths and weaknesses in S&T. The Southern California Technology Innovation Index compares the five-county Los Angeles consolidated metropolitan statistical area with the California Bay Area (San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose), Austin, Texas, and Massachusetts. The San Diego and Santa Barbara metro areas are not included in the definition of Southern California. The Index presents aggregated and standardized data for 20 indicators across three categories — economic vitality, innovation, and resources. Several areas of strength and others in need of improvement are identified in the process. For example: Southern California edges out Austin in total technology employment and greatly surpasses the other three regions in total number of technology firms. Per capita venture capital investments are only $147 in Southern California. The highest per capita investments were…

This year’s Global Competitiveness Report 2000, released in September by the World Economic Forum, marks a significant departure from earlier editions by its level of sophistication in addressing the increasingly global nature of the economies of the Forum’s 59 member nations. While past reports have relied on one index providing a snapshot of a country’s economic performance, two indices are used to measure productivity and advances in the standard of living over different time horizons. A third index is introduced this year to measure the role of technology and innovation in a country’s economy while a fourth index is added to reflect the environmental sustainability of nation’s economic growth. The United States replaced Singapore for top ranking among countries in a Growth Competitiveness Index developed by Jeffrey Sachs and Andrew Warner of Harvard University. The index is designed to capture the ability for a country to achieve rapid economic growth over a long-period. Countries scoring high on economic indicators shown empirically to be related to cross-country growth rates are deemed…

From a pool of more than 1200 applications, NASA has selected 111 projects across 30 states to receive funding through the Cross-Enterprise Technology Development (CETD) program. Designed to support one-to-three year research projects with high payoff technologies to revolutionize future space-flight systems, the $120 million CETD program is a primary method for identifying and developing revolutionary space technologies to stimulate new concepts for missions not yet conceived. Forty-nine percent of the awards were made to universities. The balance of projects will be conducted by industry, and private and government laboratories. The list of selected proposals is available on the Internet at http://www.aero-space.nasa.gov/programs/xenterprise.htm More information about the CETD program is available at: http://cetdp.jpl.nasa.gov/

More Americans than ever have Internet access and own computers, but disparities remain in many areas, according to two new reports by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Falling Through the Net: Toward Digital Inclusion, completed by NTIA staff, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities: An Assessment of Networking and Connectivity, which was conducted by the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, offer insights as well as outline work which still needs to be done to address the Digital Divide. Historically Black Colleges and Universities: An Assessment of Networking and Connectivity contains findings from a technology needs assessment conducted for the Technology Opportunities Program at NTIA. The study was sparked by the NTIA’s series Falling Through the Net as well as a Yahoo report of America’s top 100 most-wired campuses. None of the HBCUs were included in that 1998 top 100 list. The resulting study assesses the computing resources, networking, and connectivity of HBCUs and other institutions that provide educational…

As the digital economy matures and more regions around the country are prepared to offer the telecommunications infrastructure and skilled workforce required to compete for high-tech businesses, the implications for Silicon Valley were presented in a new report from Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network. Internet Cluster Analysis 2000, released last week, outlines several challenges facing the region. Unlike Joint Venture's first internet cluster analysis last year, which focused on Silicon Valley's position in the Internet economy as well as identifying other key Internet Cluster regions (Austin, Washington DC, Seattle), Internet Cluster Analysis 2000 characterizes the global nature of the Internet industry today and presents the results of interviews with more than 100 Internet executives around the country. The report urges local governments in the Valley to take a more proactive and innovative role to attract, retain, and nurture Internet firms. One reason is that in addition to the five key attributes identified in last year's report as essential to attracting high-tech businesses…

While the Development Report Card of the States, issued annually by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CfED) usually generates a news story in most local papers, a quick scan of several articles reveals the science and technology-related components of the report card get mixed play. This year’s report, funded by the Economic Development Administration, is available on-line in its entirety and has a customizing feature for ease of comparison. CfED uses more than 70 measures and data sets as indicators of the effectiveness of each state’s economic development policies in three broad categories: performance, business vitality and development capacity. Each category has a number of sub units, which in turn consist of several individual measures. S&T indicators and those more generally related to tech-based economic development are somewhat scattered throughout the report card. (Note that most of the individual sets of statistics have been discussed in earlier editions of the Digest. The uniqueness of the CfED report card is the selection and aggregation of the particular…

In an effort to improve the image of technology professionals and encourage teens to prepare for technical careers, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Technology Policy (OTP) has kicked off Get Tech, a national awareness campaign directed at America’s youth. The campaign is designed to inspire teens to prepare for the technology-driven jobs of tomorrow. A centerpiece of the campaign will be radio and television public service announcements (PSAs) urging teens to take advantage of the opportunities open to those proficient in math, science, and computers. In addition to PSAs, Get Tech has developed a web site, www.gettech.org, that provides students with information about the careers of the future along with other features. Joining OTP as founding sponsors of Get Tech are the National Association of Manufacturers and Women in Film. The sponsors are seeking other partners, including groups that will distribute information to students, parents and teachers; host local events and support local Get Tech activities; and, provide high visibility to the initiative. For more…

As mentioned in the last week's SSTI Weekly Digest, access to capital is a challenge for women-owned businesses. Springboard 2000, one nationwide initiative to overcome that obstacle, in less than one year, has assisted women entrepreneurs in science and technology businesses to raise more than $235 million in venture funding. The investments have been raised directly as a result of two forums held this year in Redwood City, California and Dulles, Virginia. The forums are co-hosted by the National Women’s Business Council, and other groups such as the Women’s Growth Capital Fund, the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, American Online, the Morino Institute, and the Oracle Corporation. Another forum will be held at Harvard Business School in New England this November. Approximately one month prior to the forum, selected entrepreneurs will participate in a boot camp which will help to prepare them for their upcoming presentations to venture capitalists. Springboard 2000 will continue its series of forums into 2001 with events to be held in Silicon Valley in February, New York City in March, and Chicago…

Last Friday, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded 19 grants through the NIH Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program to biomedical research institutions located in states that had not fully participated in NIH funding in the past. Created in 1993, the IDeA Program is designed to enhance biomedical research capacity building among academic institutions and research institutions within the eligible 23 states and Puerto Rico. States eligible to apply for IDeA grants are those that received less than $70 million in NIH funding from 1994 to 1998 or had an NIH grant award success rate of less than 20 percent over that period. In 1998, investigators from the 23 eligible IDeA states and Puerto Rico accounted for only eight percent of the total number of research grant applications received by NIH. Totaling approximately $165.5 million over five years, the new IDeA grants were made to: University of Arkansas, Fayetteville University of Delaware, Newark University of Idaho, Moscow University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc., Lawrence University of Kentucky…

During the past two weeks, the Milken Institute has issued two similar reports documenting the difficulties and successes minority- and women-owned business have accessing capital. The Minority Business Challenge: Democratizing Capital for Emerging Domestic Markets presents new findings and several specific recommendations to sustain minority businesses growth. The findings include: Three growth gaps exist in the United States: “the gap between the current growth rate and the rate necessary to sustain future long term economic growth; the gap between the labor force growth and labor force participation; and, the gap between the growth of emerging domestic markets and current investment rates in those markets.” Without increased capital infusions into the minority and immigrant business communities, economic growth in the U.S. cannot be sustained. Minority-owned firms are growing at a rate six times faster than the average growth rate for all firms – annual sales growth reported by minority firms of 34 percent is more than twice the rate of all firms. Minority firms…

The National Science Foundation’s Division of Educational System Reform is funding cooperative agreements with 13 urban school districts: Birmingham, Chattanooga, Chicago, Fresno, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, Newport News, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia to improve K-12 mathematics and technology education. The awards are aimed at districts that already have improvement programs in place. The funds will help them expand current programs in science, mathematics, and technology as well as initiate new activities so all students have access to the programs. The Urban School Program targets urban districts with a student population of at least 20,000. Districts must demonstrate that reform is significantly underway in the district and that it will have an impact on the full breadth of K-12 science and mathematics education. Districts must provide what NSF describes as compelling plans to scale up efforts to substantially increase student achievement in the fields of science, mathematics and technology. The plans must also show a high quality curriculum for science and…

State science and technology initiatives have been given higher profile in California as the state's lead economic development department changes its name to the Technology, Trade, and Commerce Agency. The new Division of Science, Technology and Innovation, led by Deputy Secretary Joe Raguso, will oversee the state's tech-based economic development efforts. In addition to assuming the responsibilities of the Office of Strategic Technology, the new division will also be responsible for science and technology-based strategic planning, developing funding programs to address the state's digital divide issues, and managing the state's Small Business Development Center program. Two new advisory councils, the California Research and Development Council and the Small Business Competitiveness Council will be created to advise and assist the new division. More information can be found at: http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_1101-1150/sb_1136_bill_20000930_chaptered.pdf and http://dsti.tech4ca.com/