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.
The vast majority of the nation's four million science and engineering (S&E) occupations are held by individuals with a bachelor's degree education or higher; however, a surprising 22 percent - 1.036 million - are not, according to a National Science Foundation (NSF) InfoBrief released last week.
A recent study completed for Iowa calls for continued investment in the biosciences - a 10-year, $302 million plan - to grow the industry and to create new job opportunities for the state.
Conditions favorable for entrepreneurship in 2003 laid the foundation for job gains in 2004, according to a report issued last week U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) Office of Advocacy. Small Business Economic Indicators for 2003 notes that “the outlook for future small business expansion was positive at the end of 2003” due to the progress of some important economic indicators throughout the year.
Few of us would consider one piece of a jigsaw puzzle to be sufficient for comprehending the whole picture. Similarly, a state or regional strategy to develop a knowledge-based economy is not complete with just one element of a complete portfolio to nurture science, technology and entrepreneurship.
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.
Citing the input of participants in a series of public hearings among other reasons, U.S. Department of Commerce Under Secretary of Technology Phil Bond announced in a conference call today that a systemwide recompetition for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) would not be held “at this time.” Instead, MEP will use a re-application process that will be integrated into the current review process.
The steady upward trend in venture capital (VC) investments continued in the second quarter of 2004, with $5.6 billion going to 761 companies, according to the latest PricewaterhouseCoopers/Thomson Venture Economics/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree™ Survey. The Q2 2004 figure compares to $5 billion invested in the year's first quarter and $5.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2003..
With the President's signature on the fiscal year 2005 Defense Appropriations Bill last week, the Pentagon received nearly $70 billion for research and development spending, a $4.3 billion increase over that of last year.
Capturing students’ interest in science and mathematics during the middle school years is crucial to America’s future workforce and the nation’s security, according to U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham.
China is focusing on the newest and most promising areas of technology to expand economic growth through the development of high-tech industries, suggests a new report released by the nation's government. The report, 2004 Guidelines for Priority on Key Technology Areas, indicates China will channel investments to 134 key sectors and promote exports, according to an article in The Scientist.
Academic research and development expenditures grew 11 percent in fiscal year 2002, according to new data released by the National Science Foundation (NSF). An NSF report, Academic Research and Development Expenditures: Fiscal Year 2002, finds 625 institutions of higher education in the U.S. collectively spent $36.332 billion in FY 2002. The figure for FY 2001 was $32.723 billion.
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.
What impact do state taxes have on entrepreneurship?
As a national security laboratory operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by the Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, Sandia’s science and technology competencies are leveraged to support several missions that are synergistic to its primary mission — to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile in the absence of underground testing, indefinitely.
The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the National Business Incubation Association are sponsoring a conference Oct. 21–23 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to focus on the importance of business incubation to rural economic development and to share best practices by successful incubators across the nation.
As with last year's conference, registration has been brisk for SSTI's 5th annual conference, Creating Opportunity: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies. To make sure the event is the quality and caliber expected of an SSTI event, we anticipate once again the event will sell out — possibly before the September 5 deadline for early registration. SSTI encourages interested parties to complete the registration form on their brochure or on the website at their earliest convenience.