SSTI Digest

Increased cooperation among the private sector, federal and state governments, education, and the nonprofit community will be critical for sustaining our current economic boom, according to the National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM), in its recent white paper, Smart Prosperity: An Agenda for Enhancing Productivity Growth. The plan is the culmination of the 20-month Advanced Manufacturing Leadership Forum, organized by NACFAM to provide strategic guidance and direction for policy development efforts. 

After discussion of the role increases in manufacturing productivity has played in the strong economy, Smart Prosperity focuses on three key elements to continued growth: national research investment, workforce skills development and enhancing the small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprise supply chains. The paper outlines a six-point policy agenda: 

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) has released a new report on the growing importance of development venture capital funds in attracting more private capital investment into the Appalachian Region. Co-sponsored by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Housing Finance Board, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, the report outlines the need for development venture capital funds in rural and distressed communities, and presents several specific investment opportunities within Appalachia. 

Capitalizing on Rural Communities notes that during the past two and one-half years, more than $50 billion in venture capital has been invested in the United States, mostly in high technology firms. However, only a small percentage of these investments—about one percent—has flowed into new businesses in the 13-state Appalachian Region. 

The key for converting a community or region into the next high-tech hot-spot is an economic development strategy promoting the growth of fast-growing, high-risk companies and a strong networking culture, according to Building Companies, Building Communities, the latest report from the National Commission on Entrepreneurship. The brief report presents the findings of 18 focus groups held with more than 250 entrepreneurs across the country to discuss two topics: "what factors, other than their own business acumen, help them to succeed, and what factors make a community entrepreneurial?" 

The four issues identified through the process were: 

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has issued a special update to its 1997 study of the impacts of federal R&D on the New England states. The report is one of several AAAS has done examining the impacts of federal research investments on states and regions; others include the Midwest (Aug 96), the Pacific Northwest (Feb 97), the South Atlantic (Sep 97) and the Gulf States (April 1999). The latest includes state-level data on R&D, highlights of New England R&D, and several data tables. All eleven of the state and regional reports can be found at: http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rd/states.htm 

After a frustrating week for many, the SSTI web site is back on line. We apologize for the problems with the site and email while we transitioned to a new web host. We've updated the conference web center (see related below), calendar of events, job postings and Digest archives for you. Please let us know (skinner@ssti.org) if you experience any problems (images or pages missing, bad links, etc.) 

Reservations for Beyond the Hype: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies and limited-seating, pre-conference workshops started coming in only hours after we posted the date (October 3-4), price (extremely reasonable) and location (Chicago) on our web site. We’re glad to see so many of you are as excited about this year’s conference as we are. 

Sticking to this year’s theme, Beyond the Hype, we’ve identified great people from across the country to lead us in our exploration of 14 topics handpicked by SSTI’s state sponsors. The conference speakers will provide a good balance between discussion of the burning policy issues and practical techniques for tech-based economic development. The conference agenda and many of the speaker bios are now available on our conference web center at: http://www.ssti.org/Conf00/conf--00.htm 

The “New E-Conomy Transformation Act of 2000," legislation introduced in the District of Columbia (DC) Council, contains eleven incentives designed to help transform the DC 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, affordable facilities and then crafted incentives designed to help businesses overcome them. 

A brief summary of each incentive is listed below:  Workforce Development

Academic Indirect Cost Rates  Paying for University Research Facilities and Administration, a report released this week by the RAND Science & Technology Policy Institute, finds universities are already paying a significant share of the costs associated with their research partnership with the federal government. Pressures to increase that cost-sharing could lead to a slowdown in investment on research and research infrastructure and, potentially, to a decline in the partnership's contributions to health, education, defense, science and other vital research areas, according to the report's authors, Charles A. Goldman and T. Williams, with David M. Adamson and Kathy Rosenblatt. 

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Sensors Directorate, Electromagnetics Technology Division (AFRL/SNH) at Hanscom AFB is soliciting proposals for basic research to advance the state-of-the-art and scientific knowledge in electromagnetics technology. The Technical Areas are: (a) Antenna Technology, (b) Electromagnetic Scattering from Targets and Terrain, (c) Optronics Components and Algorithms, (d) Image Exploitation of Infrared Cameras; and (e) Intrusion Detection. Proposals may be submitted any time through September 30, 2001. For detailed descriptions of these areas, email: zachary.white@hanscom.af.mil  Additional research and business opportunities with the Electronic Systems Command can be found at: http://www.herbb.hanscom.af.mil/rfp.asp 

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and its sponsors have more than $1 million available through several programs to support and recognize science students and teachers. Applications are currently available for the following programs: 

Norman Y. Mineta has been confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as Secretary for the U.S. Department of Commerce. 

Gary Bachula has joined Internet2 as Vice President for External Relations where he will focus on strengthening and enhancing relationships with government and not-for-profit organizations working to advance Internet technology. 

Joel Bauman, Senior Policy Analyst with the Southern Technology Council, is leaving to attend the University of Texas - Austin. Joel has been a great resource for SSTI over the past few years and we wish him success in business school. 

Norman Y. Mineta has been confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as Secretary for the U.S. Department of Commerce.