The California Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency (TTCA) has released A County Level Analysis of California's R&D Activity 1993-1999, which, for the first time, offers California state and regional policymakers a county-by-county, instead of statewide or national, analysis of research and development trends.
The AEA's sixth annual survey of employment in the electronics and information technology sectors revealed 20 states experienced more IT job losses than creations in 2001. Texas led the way with more than 3,000 job losses while South Dakota experienced the greatest percentage loss of its IT workforce at 14 percent.
Nationally, only 80,000 jobs were added in the year, compared with 440,000 in 2000.
Of Arizona's 664,454 businesses, 98 percent qualify as small businesses with fewer than 100 employees, according to a study released by the Arizona Department of Commerce and the Arizona State University's Center for the Advancement of Small Business. The study was conducted by the Masters Consulting Group (MCG), an MBA student organization at ASU's College of Business.
Virginia is one of the most connected states in the country with 5.19 million access lines, 2.76 million wireless telephone subscribers and 218,808 high-speed lines, according to a report issued by Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (CIT).
SSTI extends a friendly reminder there is still time for readers to complete the 2002 SSTI Weekly Digest survey. As mentioned in a separate e-mail earlier this week, the survey results help us determine the editorial direction and content of future Digest issues.
Nominations are being accepted currently for the 2002 Tibbetts Awards to recognize those small firms, projects, organizations and individuals judged to exemplify the very best in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) achievement.
Named for Roland Tibbetts – acknowledged as the father of the SBIR program – the Tibbetts Award Program is administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA).
Governor Dirk Kempthorne has announced the creation of TechConnect East, a regional science and technology office to be located at the Idaho State University Incubation Center in Pocatello, Idaho.
While the topic of embryonic stem cell research has been at the forefront of S&T policy since 2001, attention has shifted to the states in the last six months. Last fall, California voters overwhelmingly approved a $3 billion bond issue to support embryonic stem cell research over the next decade.
Recognizing the economic benefits of engaging young people in science and technology, Ontario's McGuinty government recently launched the Youth Science and Technology Outreach Program. The new program links high school students with researchers to support in-depth mentorship experience and postsecondary career advice.
The Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently released Research Activities of the Department of Transportation: A Report to Congress, identifying DOT’s current and projected research, development and technology priorities.
Glenwood Springs, Colo., is the nation’s most entrepreneurial region, according to a study recently released by the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy and the Edward Lowe Foundation. The region's ranking is based on the Regional Entrepreneurship Index, a measure intended to standardize assessment of entrepreneurship within and across regions.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is anticipated to release its latest summary statistics for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards soon. Unfortunately, the data typically do not include proposal figures, a useful measure of the general effectiveness or need for SBIR technical assistance and outreach in any given state. For several years, the Useful Stats column of the SSTI Weekly Digest has attempted to rectify this omission and FY 2004 is no exception.
Venture capital investments in Montana may have become a little more attractive last Friday as the Montana House of Representatives passed the Montana Equity Capital Investment Act, moving the legislation to Gov. Brian Schweitzer for his consideration and expected signature.
Tech firms in New Mexico received happy tax news on April 4 as Gov. BIll Richardson signed several bills to encourage economic growth across New Mexico.
New York's Empire Zones Program dodged a veto from Gov. George Pataki as an agreement was met with the legislature to restructure the program. The state budget, signed into law last week, extends the program and allows for an additional 12 zones to be created throughout the state.
Legislation that would extend and expand the federal research tax credit was introduced in the U.S. Senate last month. Senate Bill 627 seeks to make permanent the research credit that was first enacted in 1981 and is set to expire Dec. 31, 2005. The bill, sponsored by Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), also would provide an alternative simplified credit for qualified research expenses and increase the rates of the alternative incremental credit.
Do tax credits pave the way for more investment in R&D and equity investments in new enterprises? Or, do they reward companies and venture capitalists for investments they would have made anyway?
Discussions on these questions can become quite heated and fueled by data supportive of both sides, as two new academic analyses demonstrate.
Gross State Product (GSP) is considered, at least in theory, to be an effective measure of the "value added" by a state's economy. That is, the figure represents the sum of all net industrial activity within the state, where net activity is defined as total outputs (sales or receipts and other operating income, commodity taxes, and inventory change) minus total inputs (consumption of goods and services purchased from other industries or imported).
The nation's metropolitan areas were responsible for "driving the economic performance of the nation as a whole last year," accounting for 98 percent of job growth and 86 percent of national economic growth, according to a new report prepared for the U.S. Conference of Mayors by DRI/WEFA.
The Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis at Florida State University has completed a New Economy index for Tallahassee, showing how the Florida capital compares with 66 MSAs and, in a second analysis, a comparison of 20 Florida MSAs. Tallahassee ranks 11th among all MSAs assessed, a finding the authors suggest confirms "the city's economy has a number of very strong advantages."
Today's online issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education reports Microsoft Corporation is contributing $750 million to China to support computer science education, basic research, software training, and business growth.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced 51 grant recipients will share $6.1 million for rural economic development. Funding for the projects comes from the USDA's Rural Business Opportunity Grants Rural Development and Rural Business Enterprise Grant programs.
A new report assessing Maine's seven targeted technology sectors represents the first systematic attempt to analyze the growth of the state's industry clusters. The report, Assessing Maine's Technology Clusters, was prepared for the Maine Science and Technology Foundation (MSTF) by the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School.
Florida's High Tech Corridor and LaGrange, Georgia, have been named two of the world's top seven "intelligent" communities in a recent report by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), a project of the New York-based telecommunication group World Teleport Association.