For the fifth consecutive quarter, venture capital (VC) investments in the U.S. hovered around the $4 billion range, showing a sign of stability, according to two independent reports. The reports affirm the industry's shift in focus away from information technology and toward the life sciences.
Can universities, foundations and funding agencies, local governments and nonprofits work together to mainstream research and evaluation while improving program operations?
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a statistical report on Science and Engineering Doctorate Awards: 2002. The data show trends in science and engineering (S&E) doctorate awards by S&E field and recipient characteristics, institutions awarding doctorates, and postgraduation plans of recipients.
An educated workforce is one of the elements required for a knowledge economy, but not all of the critical jobs require a Ph.D. or even a B.A. Few would dispute, though, the importance of successfully completing high school.
Seats Available for Developing Angel Organizations, Financing TBED Workshops
Approximately $350 million in grants recently awarded by one of the nation's leading biodefense research agencies are intended to lessen the effects of any future bioterror attack. Administered by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the funding will be spread over five years for establishing eight Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (RCEs).
The availability and use of equity capital for early-stage investments varies greatly across the country. Seen as an integral component of most tech-based economic development, access to venture capital (VC) is on the agendas of several states — but several different approaches are used to address the problem. Recent announcements in four states illustrate the point:
A new study examining the post-Sept. 11 economy of New York argues the city's traditional approach to economic development, one which has banked on a few favored sectors such as financial and business services, is outdated and should be reconceived.
Two new grants, each greater than $1 million, have been awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the societal implications of nanotechnology — the emerging discipline that seeks to control and manipulate matter on a molecular scale. The grants are the largest awards the foundation has ever devoted exclusively to research in societal implications.
President Bush announced on Monday that he has told Commerce Secretary Don Evans that he wants him to appoint an assistant secretary “to focus on the needs of manufacturers, to make sure our manufacturing job base is strong and vibrant.” The President made the announcement saying, “I understand for a full recovery, to make sure people can find work, that manufacturing must do better...We’ve lost thousands of jobs in manufacturing, some of it because of productivity gains...but some of i
On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $106.6 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) for FY 2004, according to the Modernization Forum. The Bush Administration had proposed funding MEP at $12.6 million, effectively eliminating the national program.
Manufacturers continue to shed thousands of American jobs — at a rate of 80,000 per month over the past three years, according to the New York Times. The realities of globalization are settling in as small and mid-sized manufacturers are hit hard with competition from around the world.
States cut aid to cities and towns by a total of $2.3 billion in the current fiscal year, according to a new report from the National League of Cities (NLC). Comparing 2004 to 2003 figures, the $2.3 billion in state cuts represents a 9.2 percent decline in state revenues for cities.
In a move to integrate technology and traditional learning, New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson introduced on Tuesday a four-year pilot program to bring laptop computers into classrooms. The program, Technology Promoting Student Excellence, is intended to provide wireless connectivity to all 7th-grade students and teachers from selected schools.
Citing the goals of expanding its impact and stabilizing funding, the member-based TechAlliance has given up its political independence to become a nonprofit agency under the auspices of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development.
During the course of each year, SSTI collects Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award and proposal data as it becomes publicly available. For FY 2002, SSTI has aggregated Phase I award, proposal and award-to-proposal conversion percentages for all 50 states and the District of Columbia for eight of the 10 participating agencies. (The Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency were unable to provide proposal statistics.)
North Carolina took another step toward improving technology-based economic opportunity for its citizens when Gov. Michael Easley signed into law House Bill 1194 earlier this month. The bill creates the e-NC Authority, which will continue the work of the existing Rural Internet Access Authority for three more years, beginning January 2004.
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has vowed to enlist her fellow governors in the fight to maintain the nation’s vital manufacturing industry. At a recent meeting of automotive industry executives and experts in Traverse City, Mich., Granholm used her keynote speech to call for actions that will stave off the loss of manufacturing jobs in the U.S.
California, with a 13.4 percent share of the U.S. total, led the nation in receiving federal obligations for science and engineering (S&E) to colleges and universities in FY 2001, according to a new National Science Foundation (NSF) report. More than $22 billion was provided to all institutions in FY 2001, with the Department of Health and Human Services leading the way at almost $13 billion and NSF second at $3.3 billion.
While rural regions strive to establish basic high-speed Internet connections, larger cities such as St. Louis, Oklahoma City and Roanoke, Va., are looking to establish free, wireless Internet access across several blocks to encourage economic development. Recent reports show efforts are underway to speed the technology's deployment in each of the metro areas.
Perhaps most state and local technology-based economic development (TBED) professionals are not aware of a debate going on within academia, but some of the finger-pointing is directed toward you.
America’s institutions of higher education are undergoing a tremendous transition as the image of an independent and objective Ivory Tower morphs into a structure more closely resembling the modern corporate research facility.
Alaska, with 25.7 percent of its academic R&D expenditures coming from industrial sources, ranks first in the U.S. in the amount of industry-funded R&D at its academic institutions, according to new data released by the National Science Foundation (NSF). An NSF report, Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges, FY 2001, shows $28.4 million of Alaska's $110.2 million in academic R&D expenditures in 2001 were industry-supplied.
After months of analyzing data and hundreds of interviews, organizers of western North Carolina's Future Forward economic development strategy only await the study's approval by local governments. Future Forward is aimed at improving economic development conditions for 12 counties in the Western Piedmont and Mountains of North Carolina located in the 10th and 11th Congressional Districts — Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Iredell, Lincoln, Rutherford, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes and McDowell counties.
Climate change. Global warming. Foreign oil dependency. Natural gas prices. Ozone alerts. Brownouts. Increasingly, energy related items grab the headlines, copy space and news coverage across America.
Recently released information on per capita income by state reveals the dramatic impact the dot-com boom and bust, plus the economic slowdown has had on income levels. Analyzing per capita income from 1998 to 2002 indicates that during that time every state but Nevada saw their per capita income increase. However, almost half of the states (23) peaked in 2000 and their per capita income has declined since.