The FY 2007 budget request for NASA totals $16.8 billion, a 1 percent increase from FY 2006. Included in the FY07 request is $5.3 billion for the Science Mission Directorate, an increase of 1.5 percent from FY06. However, funding for Aeronautics Research decreased 18.1 percent, totaling $724.4 million for FY07.
The Administration’s FY07 NSF budget request of $6.02 billion reflects an increase of $439 million or 7.9 percent from the FY06 appropriation.
There are three federally established regional commissions and authorities that are dedicated to improving the economic opportunities within specific geographic regions. The Appalachian Regional Commission and the Delta Regional Authority are dependent on annual appropriations. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the oldest and largest of the three, generates its budget primarily through power generation revenues. TVA still requires the government to approve or set its annual spending level.
Over the last year, there has been increased public and government attention on issues involving tech-based economic development. For much of the year, Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat has dominated the New York Times bestseller list. A series of reports from the AeA, Council on Competitiveness, and the National Academy of Sciences call for increased action by the federal government.
During his 2006 State of the Union Address, President Bush outlined a decade-long $50 billion American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) for R&D, education and entrepreneurship. The FY 2007 downpayment on ACI is $5.9 billion, which is accomplished by shuffling priorities within a shrinking federal discretionary budget environment to find $1.3 billion in new funding and $4.6 billion in R&D tax incentives. Specifically, ACI calls for:
Perennially a favorite target for Congressional earmarks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) budget, at $92.8 billion, is nearly $3 billion below the FY 2006 level of anticipated expenditures. More than three-fourths of the USDA budget outlays for FY 2007 are dedicated to mandatory spending programs such as nutrition assistance, conservation, export promotion and farm commodity programs. The remaining balance of $21.5 billion, $1.7 billion or 7.3 percent less than the FY06 outlay level, is for discretionary programs.
The Administration's FY 2007 $6.138 billion discretionary budget request for the Department of Commerce reflects a 4.23 percent decrease from the FY06 appropriation of $6.410 billion.
The Administration's FY07 budget request for the Department of Defense (DoD) totals $439.3 billion, an increase of 7 percent from FY 2006. However, funding for DoD science and technology decreased 15.9 percent, to a total of $11.1 billion for FY07.
The Administration requests $624 million in FY 2007 funding for the Small Business Administration (SBA). Comparison with FY 2006 is challenging due to the disaster loans added to the SBA's authority in FY06. Tech Daily quotes an SBA official as saying the FY07 request "basically would be a straight-line" comparison to the FY 2006 appropriation.
Responding to a statewide economic downturn, Gov. Ted Strickland announced two major TBED initiatives, injecting more than $1 billion into job creation and offering a free year of tuition at Ohio public universities for high school seniors.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm unveiled her fiscal year 2009 budget last week, proposing to refinance a portion of the state’s general obligation and taxable tobacco bonds and reduce spending across nearly all state departments in order to finance new proposals without raising taxes.
The fifth installment of the Tech Talkin’ Gov’s series includes highlights from State of the State Addresses delivered in Alabama, Connecticut, Minnesota and Wyoming.
Alabama
Gov. Bob Riley, State of the State Address, Feb. 6, 2008
One of the continuing challenges for TBED organizations is successfully documenting how their investments and activities influence the economic landscape of their states and regions. SSTI has selected a few recent state reports as examples of impact assessment, each identifying and utilizing certain measurements to help them tell their story. Their approaches may be of interest to other TBED organizations looking to gauge and share their impact with others.
State venture capital programs are an integral part of many state’s technology-based economic development portfolio. These programs can strategically target state investments towards promising high-tech companies at the critical early stages of business development and in areas where private capital is scarce. Venture programs, however, are not always easy to implement. By definition, they require a large fund of investment capital and sufficient manpower to assist and monitor their portfolio companies.
Included within the NSF’s National Patterns of R&D Resources series is data detailing the amount of each state’s total R&D expenditures and gross state product (GSP). Total R&D is calculated by combining a state’s R&D expenditures from federal sources, colleges and universities, federally funded research and development centers, industry and other nonprofit institutions.
It only seems natural that SSTI celebrate the premiere professional development event for the nation's tech-based economic development community in 2009 in a state that, for 20 years, has pioneered innovative approaches to transform regional economies - Kansas. SSTI's 13th annual conference and pre-conference workshops will be held at the Sheraton Overland Park Hotel on Oct. 20-22, 2009.
Bill Badger announced he will resign as president and CEO of the Anne Arundel County Economic Development Corp. to take an executive position with M&T Bank.
Bill Badger announced he will resign as president and CEO of the Anne Arundel County Economic Development Corp. to take an executive position with M&T Bank.
Roger Biagi was named to the newly created position of director of government relations at the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research.
The North Carolina Solar Center promoted Steve Kalland to the position of executive director.
Thomas Persons Sr., president and CEO of the South Carolina Technology Alliance, was appointed to the newly created South Carolina Venture Capital Authority.
Toucan Capital announced the appointment of Dr. Phillip Singerman as a new Venture Partner.
Four years ago, President Bush launched a nationwide initiative to increase the availability of affordable, high-speed Internet access. The Administration's Broadband Initiative, which included efforts to expand the wireless spectrum available for commercial use and new funding to support broadband research, sought to eliminate the gaps in service that existed in many areas of the country and to improve U.S. competitiveness through its broadband infrastructure.
Gov. Charlie Crist outlined several new alternative and renewable energy initiatives aimed at diversifying the state’s economy and creating high-wage jobs in his fiscal year 2008-09 budget recommendation. Many of the new proposals would be financed by tapping into the state’s budget reserves and relying on casino and lottery revenues.
Gov. Brad Henry unveiled the details of his fiscal year 2009 budget recommendation earlier this week, providing a substantial increase in funding to the state’s lead TBED agency and proposing a permanent funding mechanism for cutting-edge research through the EDGE Endowment.