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The development and application of new information technologies across virtually every segment of the American economy has resulted in rapid, sustained growth in demand for highly skilled information technology (IT) workers. The Department of Labor estimates between 1983 and 1998 the number of high-skilled IT workers increased from 719,000 to 2,084,000 – an increase of 190 percent, more than six times the overall U.S. job growth rate during this period. 

The 2001 Farm Bill 

Declaring September “Nonprofits & Technology Month,” the Foundation Center has launched a website presenting myriad financial and technical assistance resources to support the acquisition and use of information technology in nonprofit organizations.

SSTI’s fifth annual conference, Creating Opportunity: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies, has been rescheduled for December 3-4. The agenda and location of the conference remain the same.

Location-based tax incentives to encourage the clustering of technology companies in distressed areas or around research universities has grown in popularity since Michigan's smart zones were created several years ago.

Securing the multi-year funding needed to properly ramp up technology-based economic development (TBED) initiatives can be difficult in states with annual budget cycles and tight revenue streams. Fortunately, there is one federal agency that provides financial assistance increasingly toward local and regional projects matching the interests of the nation's TBED community.

As part of a new initiative to address pressing ethical, legal and social questions raised by recent advances in genetic and genomic research, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has awarded approximately $20 million in grants to fund interdisciplinary centers within universities around the country over the next five years. NHGRI is one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The need for programs to encourage science, math and technology education (SMET) among most minority groups becomes evident when one consider the nation’s need for a high skilled workforce, the growing portion of the total population divided among minority groups, and the low percentage most minorities represent of science and engineering professionals.

Measured over a three-year period, minority women-owned businesses had similar survival rates and employment growth compared to all women-owned firms, according to a recent series of federal reports. However, when measured against other minority women-owned firms, African American women-owned businesses showed greater job loss and lower survival rates.

Real median household income remained unchanged between 2002 and 2003 at $43,318, according to a report released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau. The report, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2003, includes data collected from the 2004 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP), a nonprofit economic development organization based in Philadelphia, seeks someone to serve as director of its investment and entrepreneurial services. Established in 1982, BFTP exists to stimulate economic growth through innovation, entrepreneurship and the development and adoption of new technologies.

The discounts ending this week on registration and accommodations for SSTI's annual conference will pay for much, if not all, of your round trip airfare to Philadelphia, so we encourage you to act soon on both. Or you can use the savings toward having one of your colleagues attend as well!

If the corporate leaders, educators, scientists, and technology entrepreneurs who make up the Birmingham Area Technology Task Force have their way, Birmingham, Alabama in the 21st century will be a mecca for technology-based businesses and jobs.

State and land-grant universities provide major stimulus to their state and regional economies – generating jobs, attracting and helping create new high-tech businesses, and increasing state tax revenues in addition to providing a well-educated work-force, according to Shaping the Future – The Economic Impact of Public Universities. The study, prepared by National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), is based on a survey of its 212 member institutions.

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. 

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. 

With most of the 2005 budget a likely victim of Congressional inertia as the Oct. 1 fiscal year start date approaches, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget have set the 2006 process in motion by issuing a joint memorandum outlining the Administration's research priorities, should it be re-elected in November.

For many states, increasing industrial research and development (R&D) within the state's academic research institutions is a priority. Some state tech-based economic development agencies offer financial assistance, such as matching grants to foster greater university-industry research collaboration. Some offer tax credits to companies for research expenditures within the state higher education community.