Few private foundations across the country have made a comparable commitment in size or duration toward improving a single state's ability to participate in a knowledge-based economy as the Lilly Foundation has for Indiana. The latest round, reported in this week's online Chronicle of Higher Education, promises a total of $138 million to match donations received by Indiana's accredited colleges and universities.
The scenario: You are a state legislator and have learned high oil and gas prices will provide the state coffers with at least enough surplus revenue over the next five years to have approximately $1,000 per resident. What do you do with the money?
With a state legislature that only meets for 90 days every two years, opportunity for positive change in Montana's public-supported efforts to build a tech-based economy is limited. For the proposed $20 million Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund - one of new Gov. Brian Schweitzer's largest economic development initiatives - the 90th day, April 26, is fast approaching.
The perennial or biennial efforts to secure funding from state legislatures to support tech-based economic development (TBED) programs can create significant limitations on the design and execution of programs targeting research or early-stage, seed capital investments. Fixed endowments such as the one created by Wyoming and the Permanent Big Sky Economic Development Fund proposed in Montana (see both stories above) are ideal, but getting the initial payment approved by a legislature can be difficult.
For 20 years, small tech firms and researchers in Minnesota called on Minnesota Project Innovation (MPI) for assistance in developing competitive proposals for the federal Small Business Innovation Research or Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs. On Feb. 28, the MPI Board of Directors voted to officially transfer program operations to the state Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
Many communities around the country have established authorities to oversee the real estate, infrastructure and management issues of their technology parks. Few of those authorities, however, provide direct grants to support industry-university R&D or commercialization projects. This more proactive approach to growing future tenants is the thinking behind a pilot program created last year for the Leon County Research and Development Authority (LCRDA) in Tallahassee.
If the U.S. is to sustain its international competitiveness, national security and the quality of life for its citizens, then it must make significant improvements in the participation of all students in mathematics and science, says a new report from the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF).
The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently released a report detailing a full range of statistics yielded by its 2001 Survey of Industrial Research and Development. Data show 31 states experienced a 10 percent or greater increase in their industrial R&D performance over a four-year period, 1998 to 2001. Twelve states experienced declines during the same period.
The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has released its annual progress report on education, The Condition of Education 2002, presenting 44 indicators on the conditions and trends in elementary, secondary and postsecondary education. In one of two special analyses, the report focuses on the experience of nontraditional college students, who comprise the majority of college students today.
Besides supporting life science research in universities, one of the other key areas states and communities are using to encourage the growth of a local biotech industry is by supporting an increase in the availability of wet lab and other biotech facilities. Biotech space, however, is extremely expensive compared to other traditional tech incubator facilities for a variety of reasons (design, HVAC, environmental, security, regulatory, etc.)
Christmas or Hanukkah for state coffers usually comes in April as taxpayers rush to meet the deadline for filing personal tax returns. Unfortunately, according to the latest survey released by the National Conference of State Legislatures this week, State Fiscal Update-June 2002, states collected $8.6 billion less in individual tax collections this April than a year ago. Much of the drop — 21 percent overall — came in final income tax payments, which fell nearly 29 percent compared to last year.
Comprising a majority of the U.S. workforce, women make up only 8.5 percent of the nation's engineers. A number of programs have been launched over the past decade to recruit more women into the field, and while women now represent 20 percent of all engineering students, women remain more likely than men to switch out of the field, particularly in the first two years of college, concludes a recently released study.
Economic downturns have a way of encouraging states, universities and communities to assess, refine and re-invigorate their strategies to promote growth and prosperity. The current recession is no exception. With the widely recognized roles played by science and technology in economic success, the news of changes and additions to tech-based economic development strategies from across the country is not too surprising. Here are some recent highlights:
The National Science Foundation has released Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering: Fall 2000, a collection of 54 detailed statistical tables present the distribution of graduate students in science and engineering (S&E) across population segments, fields of science or engineering and by college and state.
Last week's Digest reported on three reports that have been issued recently raising concerns about America's standing in the world in encouraging innovation. Each of the reports suggested stronger action on the part of the public and the private sector to ensure the U.S. will remain competitive.
While Congress debates whether or not it should fund national programs to address the Digital Divide, many communities continue their efforts to ensure all local residents have the technology training and access needed to secure high-quality employment and attain skills through lifelong learning. The City of Seattle, through its Department of Information Technology, may offer one of the more sophisticated and successful models for approaching the issue.
Emphasis in the defense research agenda would continue to shift toward advanced technology development and defense-wide programs in Fiscal Year 2003, based on the House and Senate versions of the defense authorization bills that have cleared the respective armed services committees. [Note: authorization bills set the parameters for program spending levels; Congress must pass separate appropriation bills each year to allocate funds to specific programs or agencies.]
The Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity — the research arm of Ontario's Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress — has released a comprehensive view of Ontario's industry clusters, showing for the first time how they compare with similar clusters in other provinces and U.S. states.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) President Carl B. Feldbaum signed a memorandum of understanding this week to expand cooperation between NASA and the biotechnology industry.
A wake-up call. That's what the final report of the Lincoln Technology Council said the city received after learning one of its top employers was expanding its operations in a nearby city instead of Lincoln because of perceived weaknesses in Lincoln's telecommunications infrastructure.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has published the Science & Engineering State Profiles: 1999-2000, an online database. One-page statistical summaries are given for each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, permitting calculation of per capita statistics and rankings.
In the SBIR Phase I award/proposal table SSTI released with the May 10, 2002 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest, the figures reported under "Health" inadvertently included both Phase I and Phase II proposals for the National Institutes of Health. As a result of the adjustment, the award-to-proposal ratio also has been corrected. The revised table has been republished at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/050302t.htm
SSTI, like other organizations, found few S&T winners in the Administration's FY 2006 federal budget proposal (download SSTI's special budget issue at http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2005/FY06_Federal_Budget.pdf). Now, two organizations are sounding the alarm that the U.S.'s standing as the world leader in innovation is in danger of slipping, if it has not already begun.
An initiative aimed at creating 2,500 new jobs throughout New Hampshire will offer low-interest loans to companies who commit to creating new jobs or expanding their current employment base in the state.
Gov. Sonny Perdue recently announced the creation of the state's fourth Center of Innovation. Located in Augusta, the Life Sciences Innovation Center (LSIC) will assist with business incubation and securing matching grants for applied R&D with industry partners through the Georgia Research Alliance.