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With the goal of supporting partnerships that unite the efforts of local school districts with science, mathematics, engineering and education faculties of colleges and universities, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has released the first request for proposals (RFP) for the $160 million Math & Science Partnerships (MSP) initiative. Involvement of additional stakeholders, especially states, is highly encouraged, according to the RFP.

The first-ever Mississippi Innovation Index was released Wednesday by the Mississippi Technology Alliance.



Targeting technology-based economic development in Mississippi, the Index groups baseline data into eight categories and establishes a data collection process for 24 science- and technology-related indicators. Initial analyses suggest:

Kansas, Inc., a nonpartisan public-private organization, recently released the findings and recommendations of its team of economic development consultants and more than 1,100 Kansans as a comprehensive update to Kansas' economic development strategic plan.

Again, "Tech-talkin Govs" highlights programs, policies and issues in tech-based economic development that were considered in the following governors' State of the State addresses.



Utah

Michael Leavitt, State of the State, January 28, 2002

http://www.utah.gov/governor/stateofstate.html

Rick Kovar, executive director of the Rhode Island Technology Council for the past two years, resigned from his position. The 242-member Council is beginning the search for a new director.

To give environmental technology entrepreneurs the chance to have their business plans analyzed by experts and win money for it, the National Environmental Technology (NET) Incubator in Wilberforce, Ohio, is hosting the first annual National Business Plan Competition.

With more than 110 great titles to aid the policy, practice and study of tech-based economic development, the SSTI Publication Catalog, Resources for Building Tech-based Economies officially is online.

Total R&D expenditures in the U.S. are expected to increase about 3.5 percent to $285.6 billion in 2002, according to the annual Battelle-R&D Magazine research and development forecast.

In his fourth State of the State Address, Governor Jeb Bush outlined a new $100 million university-based initiative focused on nanotechnology and biotechnology.

The following item was prepared by Bill Noxon of the National Science Foundation.

Yesterday's Providence Journal-Bulletin reports the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council (RIEPC) has reduced by merger the number of Slater Centers. With the goal of increasing the impact of the state's annual $3 million investment, the restructuring from six to four centers is intended to reduce overhead and administrative costs, allowing more of each resulting center's funding to flow into emerging businesses.

Tennessee's Sullivan County took a big step toward reducing the presence of a brain drain when it approved a scholarship program for its high school graduates.

The third part in a series, "Tech-talkin Govs" highlights programs, policies and issues in tech-based economic development that were considered in the following governors' State of the State and Budget addresses.



California

Gray Davis, 2002-2003 Budget proposal, January 2002

http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/Budget02-03/00_toc.htm

Last week, Texas Governor Rick Perry announced the formation of the Governor's Council on Science and Biotechnology Development. The Council will strive to create a seamless system of innovation from the laboratory to the marketplace in rapidly developing areas of biotechnology — such as biopharmaceutical development, bioinformatics, genomics and nanotechnology.

Lincoln, Nebraska

Two of SSTI's sponsoring organizations, the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp (KTEC) and Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology, are looking for strong candidates to fill two critical positions. A brief description of each opportunity is provided below. More detailed information is available on SSTI's website at: http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm

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.