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Small firms, as much as large ones, may be key to the nation's ability to innovate, particularly in emerging fields, according to data published by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). A report released earlier this year by SBA's Office of Advocacy shows that large firms in the biotechnology, medical electronics, semiconductor, and telecommunications industries are citing patents by small firms in higher-than-expected numbers.

The National Science Foundation has released a new statistical report entitled Federal Funds for Research and Development: Fiscal Years 2001, 2002, and 2003. Included among the 112 tables are 10 presenting the 2001 data by geographic distribution, performer and federal agency.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), in partnership with several public and private organizations, has outlined a plan to address telecommunications infrastructure needs across the state.



LinkMichigan, released last week, addresses several telecommunications infrastructure issues or concerns that were increasingly facing the public and private sector, including:

With so much attention given to increasing private seed and venture capital activity as a means of growing tech-based economies, one might expect that encouraging and attracting community development venture capital (CDVC) – that is, equity investments and entrepreneurial assistance to meet both profit targets and community development goals – would be a common element of a state or local community’s portfolio of economic development tools.

San Jose, Austin, and San Francisco received top honors in the 3rd Annual Forbes-Milken Institute Best Places Ranking. San Jose and San Francisco raced to the top of the list from 29th and 42th place respectively in 1999. Completing the top ten metro areas in 2000 are: Boulder, CO; Dallas, TX; Santa Rosa, CA; Boise City, ID; San Diego, CA; Phoenix-Mesa, AZ; and Oakland, CA. The top metro area east of the Mississippi River, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, came in 13th.

Colorado

With an overall positive review, the Office of the Inspector General within the National Science Foundation (NSF) has made several recommendations for improving the performance of NSF's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). EPSCoR plays an important and strategic role in many states’ efforts to build a stronger research enterprise and tech-based economy. In FY 2000, the NSF EPSCoR program distributed $51.7 million to 19 states and Puerto Rico.

Ever wonder how many SSTI Weekly Digest articles have covered tax credits? (Answer is 47) strategic plans? (35), biotechnology? (80), workforce issues?(92), indicators? (14), telecommunications? (77), math & science? (50), capital, both seed and venture? (150)



To help make your research efforts easier, SSTI has restored the search feature for our website: http://ssti.org.master.com  Feedback from users would be appreciated.

A minimum $500 million 10-year investment to encourage biotech and entrepreneurship may soon become a reality for Kansas. With Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' approval of the Kansas Economic Growth Act, Kansas will set in motion a variety of new programs to encourage research, innovation and technology commercialization.

SSTI looks at paper on research parks

With its economy already outpacing the average growth for the member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for the past five years, the Czech Republic is injecting 348 million euros ($417.6 million US) into several tech-based economic development (TBED) initiatives.

When first proposed in 2000, the concept was radical, controversial and expensive. Simply give a wireless laptop to all seventh and eighth grade students and teachers in the entire state of Maine.

Plagued by job loss and fierce global competition over recent years, several new reports indicate the manufacturing sector is beginning to see a revival as the industry continues to undergo long-term restructuring. Brief summaries of each report are provided below:

With an eye toward helping to make Kansas City a leading center for biomedical research, James Stower Jr., founder of American Century mutual funds, and his wife are donating $1.114 billion to the Stowers Institute of Medical Research. The donation is considered one of the five largest philanthropic gifts in history.

Calling for the program to more than triple in size by 2007, Senator John F Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and several other Senators introduced legislation last week to reauthorize and expand the Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR).

In today's edition of the Federal Register, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has issued the draft revised policy directive for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The public is invited to comment on the proposed directive, which provides guidance to the ten federal agencies participating in the program. SBIR annually awards more than $1 billion to small businesses across the country for research and development.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has published the detailed statistics for the Moneytree™ survey of venture capital (VC) activity for the first quarter of 2001. As promised in the May 4, 2001 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest when the summary results were announced, SSTI has prepared the accompanying table presenting the distribution of VC by state.

The following is a sampling of the more than 60 events included in the SSTI Calendar of Events webpage: http://www.ssti.org/calendar.htm

President Bush intends to nominate P.H. Johnson to be Federal Co-chairperson of the Delta Regional Authority. He currently practices law with the firm of Johnson Bobo in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

President Bush intends to nominate P.H. Johnson to be Federal Co-chairperson of the Delta Regional Authority. He currently practices law with the firm of Johnson Bobo in Clarksdale, Mississippi.