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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Three bills have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative Vernon Ehlers (R-Michigan) to help reform science, math, engineering, and technology education in grades K-12. These bills, known as the National Science Education Acts of 2000, are designed to re-focus interest and training for those in grades K-12 in all fields of science and technology.
According to a new report by a public-private collaborative project called Ecom-Ohio, Ohio lags many others in the “Net” Economy. The group draws attention to the state’s digital divide among certain population groups and laments slow Internet adoption in small and medium-sized businesses and a lack of public incentives and investment to help correct the situation.
Last week, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties released a report documenting the 1999 Gross Metropolitan Product (GMP) for the nation’s 319 largest metro areas. The 44-page report indicates that 95 percent of high tech job creation between 1992 and 1999 took place in metro areas.
Last week, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) announced the findings of Michigan: The High-Technology Automotive State, a new study that demonstrates that the state’s high-tech workforce is dramatically larger than previously reported by national rankings. The MEDC study shows that the American Electronics Association (AEA) uses a narrow definition of high-tech in their annual ranking, Cyberstates 4.0, which was released the next day.
Abstracts for the FY 2000 grant awards for the USDA Small Business Innovation Research Program have been posted on the agency’s website: http://www.reeusda.gov/sbir/ Chris Busch and Jill Kline reported statistics on the distribution of proposals and awards by state in last week’s Wyoming SBIR Initiative Newsletter.
The National Governors' Association has released its third paper in the New Economy Series. Nurturing Entrepreneurial Growth in the New Economy, written by Thom Rubel and Scott Palladino, outlines eleven different approaches states have implemented to encourage entrepreneurship:
The Department of the Navy has published a list of 104 inventions that are owned by the federal government and are available for exclusive or partially exclusive licenses. The list and contact information are available for review on the SSTI web site at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/052600t.htm
Sue Rhoades is leaving her role as State Coordinator with Ben Franklin Technology Partners in Pennsylvania to take a position in the private sector. As a result, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners are seeking candidates to fill her position. The posting, as well as several other S&T career opportunities, is available on the SSTI website at: http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm
Two quarterly surveys of venture capital investments were released during the past two weeks. Both report record levels of venture-backed investments for the first quarter of 2000, in spite of the jittery stock market. While the figures vary between the two surveys, both identify the same investment trends. For instance, both surveys found that among the states, Georgia, Illinois, and New York experienced the greatest growth in deals.
After two years of partisan politics and court battles, the Montana legislature last week overwhelmingly passed HB 1, a $46 million, five-year appropriations package to fund several state science, technology, and economic development initiatives. The legislation brings to close a saga that began with a successful court challenge to the funding mechanism for S&T programs.
The National Science Foundation has released two statistical reports that present several science and engineering statistics by state:
The McKnight Foundation has committed $44.5 million over ten years to support scientific research in neuroscience/memory and brain disorders.