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Although their courses of action may differ, competing proposals sponsored by the New York State Senate and Assembly would seem to have the same goal — create jobs, support small businesses, and transform the state's manufacturing sector.

Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher joined National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) officials earlier this month to announce a partnership in support of the Moon-Mars initiative. The agreement pairs the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. (KSTC) with the nation's principal agency for space exploration.

States must develop a supportive environment for entrepreneurs to prosper in an increasingly competitive global economy, according to A Governor’s Guide to Strengthening State Entrepreneurship and Policy, a recent report from the National Governors Association’s (NGA) Center for Best Practices.

The latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, partially funded by the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, shows firm births, deaths, and the net change for 2001, at the national and state level. Often called business "churning," the figures reflect one measure of entrepreneurial activity within a state.

Although much collaborative work is underway in the United Kingdom, there is more to be done on the parts of universities, government and businesses, according to the Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration. The conclusions and recommendations of the report span the Atlantic, offering advice of potential value for American university-industry relations.

A new report released by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) suggests research and innovation will be key to the department’s success in fiscal year 2005.

The Technology Administration (TA) has released the fourth edition of its guide of state science and technology (S&T) indicators. The Dynamics of Technology-based Economic Development provides an updated collection of data on the technology infrastructure of states, such as high school and advanced degree graduation levels, R&D investment and the numbers of patents issued. All 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are included in the report.

On Feb. 12, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the first round of Phase I awards under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program competition. Administered by the Homeland Security Advanced Research Project Agency (HSARPA), the DHS SBIR 2004.1 solicitation selection process took only three months — quick by most SBIR standards. HSARPA selected 66 winning projects across 23 states from 368 proposals.

For just over eight years, the SSTI Weekly Digest has come to you every Friday...first it was by fax, then by e-mail.  Starting with this issue, the Digest makes a change and will be distributed each Monday.  We believe this change will help you get your week started right...and will give the SSTI staff something to do on the weekend.

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) is offering nearly $411 million in financial assistance for distressed areas. The agency has already begun accepting proposals and will continue to do so until the $410,972,866 allocated for FY 2001 is exhausted. EDA seeks proposals for projects that will significantly benefit areas experiencing or threatened with substantial economic distress, and targets assistance to communities with the highest economic distress.

While venture capital is harder to come by these days in most parts of the country due to the dot-com crash and stock market declines, investment capital may flow more easily in two southern states based on two initiatives.



Florida: $450 Million for CAPCOs Considered

During the first days of March, Michigan Governor John Engler announced the implementation of two programs through the Michigan Virtual University to integrate information technology into the state’s education system.



Laptops for Teachers

Does patenting encourage or speed the transfer of technology from universities? Does the prospect of receiving royalties and licensing fees increase motivation among university researchers to work with businesses to commercialize technology? A recent paper suggests the answers to both questions is "no," but that more empirical and statistical research is needed to determine whether or not increased emphasis on intellectual property rights is achieving the desired results.

Research and development activity in the nonprofit sector share of total U.S. R&D held steady at 3 percent from 1973 to 1997, according to a February 15 Data Brief prepared by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Data Brief reports on the first survey of nonprofit R&D activity since 1973.

The South Carolina Technology Alliance calls it the most significant victory for South Carolina's research universities and tech entrepreneurs in the last 50 years. An idle exaggeration? Probably not.

With the recent passage of much economic development legislation in South Dakota, Gov. Mike Rounds' 2010 Initiative would seem to be moving along as planned. The 2010 Initiative, an economic stimulus plan introduced last fall, outlines a series of goals for growth in South Dakota by the year 2010 (see the Oct. 31, 2003, issue of the Digest).

The Indiana General Assembly recently passed legislation that would make permanent a 10 percent research and development (R&D) tax credit, if signed by Gov. Joe Kernan.

The creation and subsidization of CAPCOs, certified capital corporations intended to encourage venture capital (VC) investment, is one of the more controversial policies some states have adopted to encourage the growth of tech-based economies. With substantial revisions to Colorado's short CAPCO experiment this month, questions are raised once again for other states that either have passed or are considering various approaches to increasing the availability of risk capital for new tech firms.

Legislators in Utah have passed a constitutional amendment that, with approval by voters, would allow the state's universities to take ownership in private businesses in exchange for intellectual property. The proposed amendment cleared the Utah State Legislature with relative ease, despite some concerns it will thwart the incentive of researchers wanting to commercialize their results.

With the goal of encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative research, the Research Business Models Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has issued a list of initiatives to improve management of academic research grants made by various agencies of the federal government. The recommendations are also expected to result in greater consistency across agencies in award policies and reporting requirements.

With contributions of nearly $64 billion annually to the gross state product, manufacturing remains the largest of all industry sectors in Pennsylvania, according to a new report sponsored by the Team Pennsylvania Foundation. Data released by the nonprofit public-private partnership documents the role of manufacturing in Pennsylvania and analyzes the forces shaping the future of the industry.

The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) announces the creation of the Innovation Systems Division and a unique economic development initiative, the John Adams Innovation Institute, a vehicle for the state to make strategic investments in its knowledge economy.

Growing and keeping an educated workforce, one ready to help build a technology-based economy, is one of the greatest challenges even the most high-tech areas. The problem can be quite severe. For example, a new statewide survey of Florida college students, conducted by Leadership Florida and Nova Southeastern University, revealed that only 48 percent of the students plan to remain in Florida after graduation.