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Shortly after a General Assembly vote last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell announced the bipartisan approval of the remaining components to the state’s economic stimulus package. The governor's plan is intended to fuel major new investment in communities across the state.

Legislation to create investment tax credits and a technology commercialization grant and loan program was approved by the Wisconsin Assembly just before the close of the legislative session. Intended to encourage high-tech industry and entrepreneurship in the state, Senate Bill 261 is designed to create approximately $62 million in new funding for start-ups.

Increased financial support for start-up companies and the research sector has the attention of Canadian Minister of Finance Ralph Goodale. In the Minister's 2004 budget report, released last month, venture capital (VC) initiatives totaling $270 million (CAN) are targeted for investment. Combined with private sector investments, total VC funding is expected to amount to $1 billion.

Although Massachusetts' universities may be at the fore of nanotechnology research and development (R&D), they must continue to win on research for the state to stay competitive for federal funds, suggests a recent report by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) and the Nano Science and Technology Institute (NSTI).

A significant reduction in employment among southwestern Pennsylvania's technology industries in 2002 was not enough to offset signs of a turnaround, according to new data released by the Pittsburgh Technology Council (PTC). Over the second half of the year, a turnaround began to emerge and technology companies accounted for nearly 17.5 percent of the region’s workforce, PTC's annual State of the Industry Report shows.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announced last month a partnership with the Loudoun County, Va., school district to donate $1 million per year to establish a biotech magnet program for area high school students.

With the slowdown in the economy, there is widespread concern about the kind of painful belt-tightening which occurred in the states in the early 1990s. Because of this perception and the rapid change in so many states’ fiscal situations, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) released this week a new survey to update its January 4, 2001, State Fiscal Outlook for 2001.

On February 26, President Bush issued a memorandum to 21 departments, agencies and other executive offices to create an Interagency Working Group on Federalism. The group is to: 



a) Identify initiatives that promote principles of federalism, such as: 

The headlines of many tech and business publications scream of massive Internet incubator layoffs, closures, and restructuring. The rapid rise and fall of these organizations has left some local tech-based economic development practitioners wondering if encouraging the growth of incubator facilities is a worthwhile strategy to pursue.

The National Science Foundation has published online the latest edition of the annual series: Science & Engineering State Profiles: 1998-99. By presenting one-page statistical summaries for each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, Profiles provides rankings, state and US figures for easy reference across 30 science and engineering statistics as well as the distribution of federal R&D obligations by department and performer. 

With the 1994 School-to-Work Opportunities Act sunsetting this year and the increasing importance of developing a skilled workforce for a tech-based economy, many are asking if the initiatives launched or expanded by the Act have been successful.

Two new Governors, Bob Wise of West Virginia and Wisconsin's Scott McCallum, have put tech-based economic development in the forefront of their respective economic agendas.



West Virginia

The latest word in the national press regarding the FY 2002 budget President Bush will present to Congress next week suggests President Bush may propose significant cuts in investment in research and tech-based economic development. Many of the programs potentially under fire are instrumental to state and local efforts to promote stronger economic growth through science and technology.

Stressing partnerships and flexibility, seven regional and national organizations have drafted an action agenda for the federal government to use to strengthen local and regional economic development efforts. After a brief introduction to the New Economy and its implications for local economic development, Partnership for Prosperity: A Federal Economic Development Policy Agenda includes several specific recommendations of interest to Digest readers:

Oklahoma's Higher Education Day, when students and faculty are given the chance to discuss their concerns with the state legislature, recently provided a golden opportunity of sorts for Gov. Brad Henry. Held March 9 at the State House, the event enabled the governor to advocate support for a bond issue that would fund endowed chairs at Oklahoma's colleges and universities.

A new fund developed by the Maine Technology Institute (MTI) is expected to lead to greater commercialization of technologies in the northeast state. Created through a reserved proportion of MTI’s annual grantable funds, the Accelerated Commercialization Fund (ACF) will allow previously funded MTI companies the chance to achieve significant growth. To qualify for funding, companies must at a minimum demonstrate significant potential for financial and economic development returns.

Innovations in public and private institutions could be the key to aligning governance with opportunity, according to the Center for the Study of Rural America's latest annual report.

Looking to jumpstart the federal policy process regarding broadband Internet access, the Alliance for Public Technology (APT) has released A Nation of Laboratories, Broadband Experiments in The States, a report examining various broadband policies and programs nationwide.

For years, defining "high technology" and identifying industries that fit within that classification has been a difficult task loaded with political implications. AeA, for example, has used a definition of high tech in its publication Cyberstates that places heavy emphasis on information technology.

In what could be the largest private sector commitment yet to a single industry/university research center, Corning, Kodak ,and Xerox have combined to pledge a staggering $45 million toward establishing a Center of Excellence in Photonics and Optoelectronics in Rochester, N.Y. The three corporate giants also committed to help raise another $30 million from other private sector companies for the new partnership involving New York State, higher education, and private enterprise.

Even tech hot spots like San Diego are finding they are not immune from the Digital Divide. In fact, a new report from the San Diego Regional Technology Alliance (SDRTA) finds that the region suffers a wider Internet access divide between Caucasians and Hispanics than the nation as a whole. With Hispanics representing 25 percent of the area’s population, the issue will have future economic repercussions in tech-based entrepreneurship and increasing shortages of workers with tech skills.

Over the next three years, Minnesota Technology, Inc. (MTI) will invest $3 million to support the development of existing and emerging technology-focused industry clusters. The new program is designed to increase collaboration between groups of tech business and the state’s nonprofit research, federal lab, and academic research communities.