SSTI Digest

The 2000 session of the Connecticut legislature proved to be an active and favorable one for the state’s technology community and Connecticut Innovations, Inc. The Connecticut Technology Council summarized the session this way, “For the first time in recent memory, the debate at the Capitol was not over whether legislation affecting tech companies would pass, but which legislation affecting tech companies would pass.”

A shift in legislature focus to broader strategic policies rather than bills that incrementally modify programs gets much of the credit, according to the Council. “The 2000 session was marked by an increased level of understanding of technology issues by the General Assembly and to their importance in the state’s cluster-based economic development strategy, ” according to the Council's summary of the session.

Bills affecting science and technology approved by the legislature include:

A recent General Accounting Office (GAO) report on the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV), Cooperative Research: Results of US-Industry Partnership to Develop a New Generation of Vehicles (GAO/RCED-00-81), demonstrates some of the difficulties public-private research collaborations encounter when attempting to measure results or progress.

The report focuses on four areas: 

The Rural Policy Research Institute, a consortium of Iowa State University, the University of Missouri, and the University of Nebraska, has published a Directory of State Assisted Venture Capital Programs on-line. The 17-page directory includes five sections listing: 16 publicly funded and publicly managed venture capital funds; 31 state-assisted private venture capital funds and quasi-public venture capital funds; 22 state tax credits or incentives for individuals or businesses making venture capital investments; 58 state sponsored or assisted angel networks; and 27 state-sponsored or assisted venture capital fairs. Each list is organized by state and includes contact information. The Directory can be downloaded from: http://www.rupri.org/front.html

(Editor's Note: our thanks to NASVF for uncovering this story) Return to the top of this page

Two venture capital associations and the Southern Technology Council are offering free electronic newsletters to the general public that may be of interest to SSTI Weekly Digest readers. Occasionally stories offered in these publications overlap with Digest articles, however, each provides additional information and perspectives for the S&T community.

The Community Development Venture Capital Alliance (CDVCA) distributed the first issue of its periodic e-mail newsletter this week, which includes updates on the organization and a discussion of the status of the Clinton Administration’ New Markets initiative and the Republican’s Renewal Communities proposal.

The inventions listed below are available for licensing by the Department of Navy.

The Second Session of the 119th Maine Legislature proved to be another watershed event for the state's science and technology sector. More than 20 percent of Maine's appropriated surplus budget was dedicated to increased monies for existing science and technology programs as well as substantial investment in new initiatives. The programs that the Legislature voted to fund include:

Collaboration and partnership among public, private, and non-profit entities have taken on a renewed urgency as states and localities seek quick and cost effective methods to cultivate the necessary environment to foster and support technology-based economies. SSTI’s latest publication focuses on two groups of technology-based economic development organizations that have grown in numbers alongside the New Economy: 1) regional technology councils, and 2) industry associations focused on information technology and life sciences, the industrial sectors most associated with the New Economy. As these groups have become larger and more numerous, their strength as allies in S&T policy has emerged.

The National Governors’ Association has released the fourth, fifth, and sixth papers in its series on the New Economy. The latest two are touted as providing “a blueprint for replicating the economic successes of high tech meccas like California’s Silicon Valley [and] Route 128 in Massachusetts. All six papers can be downloaded from the NGA web site: http://www.nga.org. The three new papers are described briefly below.

Vice President Gore announced the release of Digital Economy 2000, the Commerce Department's third annual report on the information-technology (IT) revolution and its impact on the economy. The Department found while IT industries only represent 8.3 percent of the U.S. economy, they accounted for approximately 30 percent of the country's economic growth since 1995. Nearly one-third of all company-funded R&D investments in 1998 were made by IT industries. IT also accounts for at least half of the recent acceleration in U.S. productivity growth. IT employment doubled to 1.6 million during the six-year period of 1992 - 1998. The full report can be downloaded from: http://www.esa.doc.gov/de2000.pdf

The Air Force and the National Institutes of Health have published lists of 69 and 3 inventions, respectively, that are available for license. A list of the patents, invention titles, and, in the case of NIH, summary descriptions can be found on the SSTI Website: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/060900t.htm

We try hard to be objective in the SSTI Weekly Digest and to present information without editorializing. This is one of the rare instances that we will not even attempt to be objective. We have several items involving SSTI to report:

Using a new, proprietary methodology, the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC) has conducted a cluster assessment, determining KTEC should focus its commercialization efforts on those specific technology areas where opportunity is high and where the elements are in place to delivery those benefits to the state’s economy. The results, published in Kansas Strategic Technology Cluster Assessment and a Plan for the 21st Century, form a unique blend of cluster analysis, indicator assessment, and strategic planning.