Yesterday's edition of USA Today reported "the Commerce Department's Manufacturing Extension Program [sic], funded this year at $107 million...would be eliminated [in FY 2003] because the White House says they should be financed by the private sector."
With biotechnology taking center stage on several occasions during the past year, President Bush has appointed an 18-member Council of Bioethics to address some of the more controversial aspects of the field. Policy suggestions to emerge from the council are likely to impact the activities of the significant investments many states and localities are making for biotechnology research and seed capital.
The nation faces social and economic crisis unless America succeeds in promoting and taking advantage of racial and ethnic diversity, according to a report released last week by the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF).
This week, the SSTI Weekly Digest continues its series on governors' State of the State addresses, highlighting those portions concerning programs, policies and issues immediately affecting the tech-based economic development community.
Describing Maine as making "modest progress" in strengthening its capacity for innovation-driven economic growth, the Maine Science and Technology Foundation (MSTF) released on Tuesday The Maine Innovation Index 2002, a report on Maine's performance in the new economy.
Five Shoes Waiting to Drop on Arizona's Future, a 50-page report released by the Morrison Institute of Public Policy, details five key trends that could harm the state's future if they are not well managed.
Three Texas cities, Dallas, Houston and Austin, top the second annual Affordibility Index prepared by techies.com, a technology workforce placement company. The study tracks which cities offer the best combination of top salary and low cost of living for information technology professionals.
Salt Lake City, Atlanta, the DC/Baltimore corridor, Seattle and Phoenix round out the top eight metro areas.
AEA, formerly the American Electronics Association, in conjunciton with the Nasdaq stock market, has released CyberEducation 2002, a compendium and comparative analysis of several trends and educational statistics from across the country.
While 2002 marks the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, it also may be remembered as the first time an agency successfully finagled its way out of SBIR's requirement that 2.5 percent of extramural R&D be awarded to small technology companies.
Each year, SSTI looks at the various addresses given by the nation's governors at the beginning of the year. While the aftermath of September 11 weighs heavily in the content of this year's State of the State addresses, the important role tech-based economic development plays for strengthening state and local economies during a recession has not been overlooked by many governors.
Some of the biggest tourist destinations in the U.S. — Las Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City, Orlando and Honolulu — and the biggest cities — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — will suffer heavy job losses as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a new study from the Milken Institute.
Against a backdrop of futuristic vehicles at the Detroit Auto Show on Wednesday, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and executives of Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler announced a new cooperative automotive research partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Council for Automotive Research (USCAR).
A student’s opportunity to gain access to and afford a college education varies significantly from state to state, according to a report recently issued by Lumina Foundation for Education.
Two reports released lated in 2001 by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) highlight challenges presently faced by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced $14.4 million in Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) grants to 27 organizations in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Historically, TOP has been one of the most competitive tech-based economic development grant programs offered by the federal government, and 2004 was no exception – 494 applications were received, requesting $277.1 million.
According to Gov. Ernie Fletcher, Kentucky is on the wrong side of a widening digital divide as the Commonwealth ranks 44th in its proportion of high-tech companies, 45th in household computer use, and 43rd in citizen Internet use. To help improve these figures, the governor has called for a broadband deployment and adoption plan that will leverage state, federal and private investment to have full, statewide broadband deployment by 2007.
The biopharmaceutical industry is poised to become an important source of economic growth in regions that are successful in nurturing it, according to a recent report from the Milken Institute. With so many states and communities focusing significant financial resources toward developing bio-based economies, the industry analysis is likely to be welcome news.
Finland remains the most competitive economy in the world and tops the rankings for the second consecutive year in The Global Competitiveness Report 2004-2005, released earlier this month by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The U.S. is in second position, followed by Sweden, Taiwan, Denmark and Norway, respectively.
The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill received top honors as the most entrepreneurial campus in a Princeton Review survey of 357 schools and universities across the country. Moving UNC-Chapel Hill to the top of the list were such things as offering entrepreneurship as a major for its undergraduate business degree and several programs to help students launch their own careers as entrepreneurs.
While the presidential election has been dominating the news, voters across the country will be acting on an array of tech-based economic development issues on Election Day next week. The largest is an initiative in California that would provide up to $3 billion for embryonic stem cell research. If approved by California voters, Proposition 71 would have the potential of significantly changing the landscape of where stem cell research is carried out and have significant economic development implications.
Separate reports released in the past two weeks, one by a national outsourcing firm and the other by a Congressionally mandated commission, reveal efforts to create jobs faster than they are being eliminated remains a challenge for many sectors of the U.S. economy.
Science and math education funding recently took the equivalent of a roller coaster ride, winding up on the bottom end, according to the Dec. 28 issues of FYI: The Bulletin of Science Policy News of the American Institute of Physics (AIP).
The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) kicked off the new year with a new $330,000 program to support Maryland companies wishing to develop technology-based products and/or services in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Morgan State University (MSU) or federal laboratories in Maryland. The Maryland Technology Transfer Fund (MTTF) will award non-equity investments of up to $50,000 per project.
The Tri-Cities (Richland-Kennewick-Pasco) ranks near the top 10 percent nationwide in technology industry growth and offers significant quality-of-life advantages over comparable communities, according to a recent report on local technology business.
Several warnings have been issued in recent years about U.S. dominance in the world's scientific and technological communities slipping: the number of science and engineering (S&E) doctorates awarded per capita; the dearth of women and minorities entering technical fields; the facility in which knowledge, companies and people can be transferred globally; scores on standardized math and science tests; and indicators for global entrepreneurship, to name a few.