The source of eadership on specific state tech-based economic development activities greatly influences the design and effectiveness of the effort. It remains to be seen then how the recently launched Arkansas Nanotechnology Alliance evolves locally as its direction originates from the nation's capital.
There are several factors that go into location decisions for biomedical firms. Proximity to strong university research capacity, other biotech businesses, and technically competent workers are all important considerations. With the financial investments many states and localities are making toward the life sciences, however, the field of prospective locations for successfully launching a biotech firm has grown considerably larger than the "usual suspects."
Western Carolina University (WCU) Chancellor John Bardo recently unveiled plans for a comprehensive regional economic development strategy that would more than double the size of the campus and promote university-industry partnerships.
What are the factors of commercial success? As they say in real estate: location, location, location.
So what makes a good location for commercializing innovation? Innovative ideas clearly thrive where R&D spending flows and local patent activity exists. But, do R&D dollars and level of patents also indicate locations for tech transfer?
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently released its preliminary 2004 figures for per capita income, revealing average income received by persons grew by 4.7 percent between 2003 and 2004. The change in income was not evenly distributed across the country.
The SSTI Weekly Digest will take its annual spring vacation next week. Publication of the Digest and Funding Supplement will resume with the April 18 issue.
Nearly every university and community seeks to cultivate a niche in new technologies nurturing venture capital, technology transfer and knowledge networks. Many policies have focused on biotechnology as the kernel of future economic development. Meanwhile, budding nanotechnology has started to show its first blooms in the commercial sector.
To encourage investment in high tech companies, the Hawaii Senate recently passed Senate Bill 1695, authorizing $120 million for the State Private Investment Fund (SPIF) and Senate Bill 1696 to allow fiduciaries to make equity investments.
Arizona must begin viewing medical and educational institutions as a major economic driver of the state economy in order to become a leader in the biosciences industry, according to a new report from the Arizona Board of Regents.
While some regional assessments attempt to benchmark economic indicators of smaller regions to those of notable accomplishment such as Silicon Valley or Research Triangle Park, a new study from the Center for Regional Strategies at Virginia Tech compares regions with similar economic and demographic characteristics, a potentially more useful model for other metro areas.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering: Fall 2002, a collection of 54 statistical tables presenting the distribution of graduate students in science and engineering (S&E) across population segments, fields of science or engineering, and by college and state. Overall long-term trends for S&E graduate students from 1975 to 2002 and short-term trends from 1995 to 2002 by detailed fields are presented as well.
Organizations
The influential 5,600-member American Association for Higher Education announced last Thursday that it would close by the end of the year due to financial difficulties stemming in part from a sharp decline in membership.
Organizations The influential 5,600-member American Association for Higher Education announced last Thursday that it would close by the end of the year due to financial difficulties stemming in part from a sharp decline in membership.
Two Southern Arizona tech councils, theInformation Technology Association of Southern Arizona and the Southern Arizona Industry and Aerospace Alliance, decided to merge to have the combined financial resources for a full-time executive director, according to the March 23 edition of the Tucson Citizen.
To reduce administrative costs by up to $500,000 and to improve operational efficiencies, the Slater Fund Board of Directors has approved plans to consolidate Rhode Island's four Slater Centers into a single entity, the Slater Technology Fund, Inc. The fund will retain its four technology thrusts of biomedical technology, interactive technologies, design and manufacturing, and marine and environmental technologies.
The Iowa Entrepreneurs Coalition has been formed to help advance an innovation- and entrepreneur-friendly agenda in the Iowa legislature.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development announced William Boone is the first director for the new Agricultural Center of Innovation.
Dyan Brasington, former president of the Technology Council of Maryland, is the new director of economic and workforce development at Towson University.
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney promoted Renee Fry to serve as director of the Department of Business and Technology, the state agency tasked with retaining and attracting jobs and steering economic policy throughout the Commonwealth.
Sylvia Goldman has resigned as director of the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, effective at the end of March.
A national space agenda based on competition and national pride — the space race as it has been called — fits bygone times, according to the new National Space Policy statement released by the Obama administration on June 28. The new era outlined in the 14-page document calls for space-venturing nations to embrace shared principles of responsibility, peace, transparency, no claims of national sovereignty, and recognizing "purposeful interference" with another nation's space systems is an infringement of that nation's rights and grounds for self-defense or deterrence.
U.S. manufacturing competitiveness will continue to decline, according to the 2010 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index (GMCI). Index projections suggest, by 2015, Brazil will have overtaken the U.S. for fourth in the global rankings behind China, India and the Republic of Korea. The report concludes the increasing talent pools worldwide, coupled with higher U.S. wages, have placed U.S. manufacturing at a disadvantage in the global markets. However, the U.S.
In 2007, the federal government dedicated $111.4 billion to R&D, an amount roughly equal to 0.81 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), according to a recent report from the National Science Foundation (NSF). While research-intensive states, such as California, Maryland, Massachusetts and Virginia are the leading targets for federal R&D spending, several other states attracted a comparable amount of federal funding relative to their economies between 2002 and 2007.
On June 11, Gov. Donald L. Carcieri signed the Job Creation Guaranty Program. Sponsored by House Finance Chairman Steven M. Costantino and Senate Finance Chairman Daniel Da Ponte, the legislation establishes a $125 million dollar loan-guarantee program for the knowledge and technology-based sectors. Under this program, the state will not directly issue any loans. Instead, it will provide state backing to facilitate private loans. The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) will administer the program.
Based on change in Gross Metropolitan Product (GMP), four of the nation's top 100 metro areas are beginning to rebound sharply, moving from the worst impacted by the Great Recession to some of the fastest growing for the most recent quarter: Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA; Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH; Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, FL; and Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ. These upbeat conclusions, drawn from Brookings' latest quarterly MetroMonitor, are coupled with troubling signs for many metro areas across the country.