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On its final day of work, the 106th Congress passed two new programs to encourage community development and reinvestment: the New Markets Tax Credit and the New Markets Venture Capital Program.

Several years of record growth in tax revenues are apparently over for many states, according to Fiscal Survey of the States, released jointly by the National Governors’ Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers on Monday.

Colorado leaders want to encourage more college students to go into science and teaching and two recent proposals, coming from Governor Bill Owens and the state's Commission on Higher Education, are designed to do just that.

Funding totaling $18 million is available during FY2001 through the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assist in economic development projects in rural areas. The Rural Economic Development Grants program has $3 million available, while the Rural Economic Development Loans program has $15 million.

The Department of Education has announced its FY 2001 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program solicitation topics. The Phase I solicitation release date is Jan. 26, 2001 with a closing date of April 19, 2001. The agency also will be increasing Phase I award levels this year to $60,000.

The Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP), an information and communications technology (ICT) advocacy organization comprised of the industry's top chief executive officers, issued a report this week calling for a more activist federal government for encouraging innovation, entrepreneurship and education in the sciences and math.

In what may be the first gift of its kind, a $5 million cash donation has been made to a technology transfer office to endow the commercialization of new health technologies. The Cleveland Clinic announced receipt of the donation from John Ferchill, a Northeast Ohio real estate developer, in mid-December.

In 2003, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano charged the Governor's Council on Innovation and Technology with developing specific recommendations to help diversify the state's economy. With recommendations including new and expanded tax credits, public-private venture capital, angel capital funds, workforce development and internship programs, and lobbying Washington for more funding, the governor now must find a way to finance the plan in a tight fiscal environment.

The impacts of globalization and free trade can make the task of building a vibrant local economy daunting. Given the transformation of agriculture from family farms to mega-corps and factory animal facilities, the cards seem doubly stacked against America's smallest communities — those rural towns and counties with fewer than 10,000 residents.

After discovering that only 10 percent of the venture capital raised in New Jersey is invested in New Jersey companies, a new venture fund has been established combining private, state, and federal resources. The seed investment fund will be used to assist New Jersey start-up technology businesses get off the ground.

What can policymakers and practitioners do if the statistics and other metrics indicate a state, region or locality is not well positioned for the technology-based economy, but the elected leaders and economic development professionals are plodding along with traditional approaches to job creation and development?

Following on the Summit on Minnesota’s Economy, a 21-member group appointed by the president of the University of Minnesota has unveiled its recommendations to strengthen the state’s economy. The recommendations in Report to the People of Minnesota: Building a Knowledge Economy for Minnesota’s 21st Century are divided among five strategies:



Recommendations in the new report are divided among five strategies:

Western Virginia’s economy is stagnant due to a variety of factors and must get in line with the “New Economy” according to a report commissioned by the Center for Innovative Leadership in Roanoke. A second study by the Center revealed the area's residents appear willing to support activities designed to bring new business and employment to the region.

Despite small improvements, Northeast and Midwest regions lag behind the South and West in terms of dollars returned to states from taxes sent to Washington, according to a report issued by the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

The U.S. Department of Agrciulture and the National Institutes of Health released information on 24 inventions that are available for license. Descriptions and contact information for each invention/patent are presented on the accompanying SSTI webpage