The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is a nationwide network of not-for-profit Centers in over 400 locations nationwide, whose sole purpose is to provide the more than 361,000 small and medium-sized manufacturers in the country the help they need to succeed in a global economy.
With all its promise of connecting businesses and residents of even the remotest areas the country to the global economy, the Internet led most states and communities to invest resources toward the Digital Divide. Will these investments pay off? Will the Internet lead to an economic geographic revolution similar to that caused by past technological advances such as the automobile?
Since its founding in 1991, the nonprofit Minnesota Technology Inc. (MTI) has been Minnesota lead technology-based economic development organization. Its mission, to help existing small and medium-sized companies apply, develop and commercialize technology, is achieved through three objectives:
The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) releases reports and testimonies nearly every day. On the accompanying webpage are summaries from seven recent reports, identified below, that are relevant to state and local tech-based economic development objectives.
It seems discussion on Capital Hill of the burgeoning federal deficit is loudest when the House, Senate or Administration considers the VA, HUD and Independent Agencies appropriations bill. Perhaps the bill always serves as the fall guy because alphabetically it is the last of the 13 appropriations bills Congress considers, then ignores and then hurriedly mushes together with the other unpassed funding bills several months into the new fiscal year.
In an appropriations bill where cuts are viewed as good news -- compared to the President's request for program termination, that is -- the small Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund could consider itself very lucky after Friday's full House Appropriations Committee mark-up of the VA-HUD and Independent Agencies bill.
July has been a tech-friendly month for Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner. On July 14, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) named her "BIO Governor of the Year," recognizing her contributions toward growing the state's biotechnology industry, one of the strongest concentrations in the country. Further attesting to her grasp of biotech issues, Gov. Minner also serves as a co-chair of the National Governors Association Biotechnology Partnership.
Earlier this month, a Science Committee bill that would reauthorize the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program and create a more robust manufacturing sector cleared the U.S. House of Representatives.
Gov. Mike Rounds announced last week the creation of four new specialized research centers at the state's public universities. The $2.8 million in awards mark South Dakota's first foray into using university-based research investments as a tool to grow the state's economy, the governor said.
The four 2010 Research Centers are:
Encouraging entrepreneurship has been a predominant focus since the recession and jobless recover, but a recent report from one of the country's leading colleges for entrepreneurial education cautions the current wave of new business starts will not cure many job woes.
With 90 percent of Chicago’s economy in slow-growth sectors such as manufacturing, retail, financial services and real estate, leaders from business, academia, government and nonprofit groups have joined forces to develop and implement a strategy to establish the city as a key player in the New Economy.
The Industries of the Future (IOF) strategy creates partnerships between industry, government, and supporting laboratories and institutions to accelerate technology research, development, and deployment.
Blythewood, South Carolina
Natural gas, oil, and coal-based power production has driven and will continue to be integral to America's technological and economic success. To make fossil fuel power production more efficient and environmentally benign, future power plants will incorporate a host of advanced technologies, many of which are researched and funded through the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).
Early registration for SSTI's 5th Annual Conference, Creating Opportunity: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies ends on Wednesday, September 5. To lock in the discounted rate, submit your registration by the end of September 5 by fax to 614.901.1696 or online at https://www.ssti.org/registration01.htm Those paying by check are encouraged to submit their registration form by fax or online as well and post the check by regular mail.
There are less than 100 of our readers - now approaching a total of 100,000 - that may be able to look into their electronic mailboxes and even eight-year-old paper files to see that this issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest is our 400th. What began in March 1996 as a two-page weekly fax to key science and technology leaders in most states has evolved into the one of the most widely read e-news sources for the tech-based economic development community in the U.S.
If you consider North America's public investment to encourage economic growth through science and technology at the state or provincial government level, Ontario should be in your top 10. And the recent injection of $63 million for technology commercialization might have bumped the province of 12 million residents up a place or two.
Science Spending to Rise £1B Over Next 3 Years Alone
"..because we want Britain to be the most attractive location in the world for science and innovation, we are setting a new and ambitious target of increasing UK R&D investment as a proportion of national income from its current level of 1.9 percent to 2.5 percent by 2014 over the next decade."
One Goal would see Science Share of GDP Surpassing US before 2010.
Innovation policy approaches need to address specific challenges, problems and opportunities found in different types of regions, according to a new research paper from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. The paper, One Size Fits All? Towards a Differentiated Policy Approach With Respect to Regional Innovation Systems, was presented at the recent German Institute of Economic Research conference.
With the emphasis many state and local tech-based economic development organizations have placed on biotechnology over the past 12-18 months, few are far enough along in implementing their strategies to point to more than a handful of successes or new construction projects. The recent explosion in public investment of resources and policies toward developing local biotech capacity is largely based on the promise of anticipated economic gains in the near or not-so-near future.
While technological advancements occur every day, truly revolutionary technologies over the past three hundred years — those that promise so many diverse applications that they result in disruption and restructuring of several different industries — can be counted on one hand. The field of nanotechnology, with major implications for nearly every industrial sector, appears to be one of those once-in-a-lifetime breakthroughs.
The President has nominated Arden Bement, Jr. to be Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology at the Department of Commerce. Bement has been at Purdue University since 1993, where he is the head of the School of Nuclear Engineering. Bement is Chairman of the Advanced Technology Program's Advisory Committee, has served on the National Science Board, and was active with the Cleveland Advanced Manufacturing Program (CAMP), an Edison Technology Center.
With the completion of the 2001 edition of the Maryland Innovation and Technology Index, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) is able to show state policymakers and tech community leaders graphically and statistically the state’s progress since the first Index was prepared two years ago.
The Air Force Dual Use Science & Technology (AF DUS&T) Program is part of a congressionally mandated, tri-service program to cost-share research projects with industry for the development of a technology that has both military utility and sufficient commercial potential to support a viable industrial base.