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On the SSTI Calendar of Events webpage, we present brief descriptions and contact links for more than 100 regional or national conferences, meetings, and workshops planned for the coming year. The list ranges from workshops on how to secure federal technology funding for programs such as the Advanced Technology Program to venture capital forums to annual meetings for most of the associations involved with tech-based economic development.

If the first full week of the 2004 state legislative season is any indicator of the year's tone and tempo for tech-based economic development initiatives (TBED), then we're in for quite a ride.

Last Thursday, Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed bills to aid Michigan’s tool and die industry and to promote new venture capital investment in the state’s high-tech industries.

North Dakota Governor John Hoeven dedicated the lion's share of his State of the State Address to promoting a vision of economic growth for the state based entirely on technology-based economic development. The proposals centered on more than a dozen new university-based Centers of Excellence and new tax credits.

New York Governor George Pataki, in his 10th State of the State Address last week, outlined a variety of initiatives designed to further promote tech-based economic development (TBED) in the state. From refining the state's Empire Zones program and strengthening the manufacturing sector to making New York a leader in renewable energy and academic research, the governor's agenda is not short on TBED items.

Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne dedicated a portion of Monday's State of the State and Budget Address to describing how tight the 2005 fiscal environment would be for his state. The temporary sales tax will lapse, costing the state $170 million in foregone revenue. The one-time $83 million in federal bailout funds are depleted. State employees will get a 27th biweekly paycheck this calendar year, resulting in an additional budgetary burden of approximately $20 million.

"If our children are to have the kind of jobs we want them to, this type of facility is one of the finest advantages we can give them for many generations," said South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds in his 2004 State of the State Address on Tuesday.

The governor is urging legislators to approve plans to help transform an exhausted 8,000-foot-deep gold mine into a one-of-a-kind national laboratory to study subatomic particles.

Commerce Secretary Don Evans is expected to release today the Bush Administration's plan for economic growth in the manufacturing sector. According to today's Washington Post, the report will "throw President Bush's support to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership... Evans said he will support the program but will demand that the centers coordinate with other programs so they are more efficient."

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.

Diffusion of effort can be a great thing in fostering local or regional economic development because there are so many fronts on which the battle must be fought: workforce; business retention and recruitment; entrepreneurship; infrastructure; investing; and, science and technology addressing the needs of different sectors such as manufacturing, retail, service, financial or information technology.

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