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Jefferson County, Missouri 

The presentations from last week's conference, Knowledge Clusters and Entrepreneurship in Regional Economic Development, now available online, provide a good introduction to many of the topics and issues to be discussed at SSTI's annual conference, Building Tech-based Economies: Preparing for Tomorrow's Challenges, in Philadelphia, Oct. 13-15.

Both the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) would see budget increases in FY 2005 if the version of the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Bill that passed the Senate Appropriations Committee last week survives what is expected to be a contentious conference with the House on an mega-omnibus appropriations bill sometime after the election.

More than half since recession "officially" ended

There is little comforting news in a new statistical report for workers in the U.S. information and communication technologies (ICT) sector. Researchers from the University of Illinois-Chicago found the sector lost 403,300 jobs between March 2001 and April 2004.

While it appears that federal programs in the U.S. have succeeded in efforts to increase enrollment in higher education, the nation has fallen behind in retaining college graduates, according to a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

During the recent past, heavy loss of manufacturing jobs has created considerable economic upheaval in several states, particularly the industrial heartland of the country where manufacturing represents more of a state's private payrolls than the national average. Michigan, alone, lost 18 percent of its manufacturing-related jobs from 2000 to 2003, a staggering 163,000 mostly high-wage jobs. Still, the manufacturing sector comprises 17 percent of the total jobs in the Great Lakes state.

Seekers for evidence of the increasingly global nature of competition on the research and innovation levels need look no further than some recent announcements stemming from Malaysia.

The role community colleges play in building tech economies has grown substantially during the past decade beyond important, yet traditional, worker training programs. A new compendium from the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) provides several examples of efforts by its 14-member community colleges and technical schools to foster entrepreneurship. Highlighted programs include:

Public corporations headquartered in the U.S. almost doubled the growth rate of their investment in R&D in 2000, according to new data from the advance estimates of annual U.S. corporate R&D released this week by the Commerce Department’s Office of Technology Policy.

With the announcement of the first 30 grants under the Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST) less than two weeks old (see the October 5 issue of the Digest), the new federal program supporting state efforts to encourage small business technology development and commercialization is in danger of being cancelled.

"If technology is at the core of the Innovation Economy, then investment in research and development is one of the principal drivers in the creation of that technology."

After nearly ten years as the head of America's space program, NASA's longest-serving Administrator, Daniel S. Goldin, has announced his resignation, effective November 17, 2001. He also announced he has accepted an interim position as a Senior Fellow for the Council on Competitiveness in Washington D.C., as he transitions into the private sector.

If one were asked to identify localized examples of the economic spectacle that was the late 1990s, the metro region of Austin, Texas would be on most short lists. A recently completed economic development plan from the tech-soaked Austin suburb of Round Rock, however, reflects the fundamental upheaval or disruption that characterizes the economies of many regions of the country.

Richard Bendis, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC), has accepted an offer to lead the newly created Innovation Philadelphia Corporation. Mr. Bendis has been involved with KTEC since the organization was created in 1987. He was appointed to the KTEC board of directors by the Governor and served as the board’s first chairman. Mr. Bendis served as interim president in 1994 before being named president in 1995.

The Australian Government has enacted new rules to attract international private equity investment in the country’s venture capital community. The rules introduce tax concessions for international investors, including university endowment funds and venture capital fund-to-fund vehicles. The rules will treat these investors in the same way as pension funds, exempting them from capital gains tax on their Australian investments.

The National Science Foundation has launched the new, online Industrial Research and Development Information System (IRIS) to provide easy access to information on industrial R&D performance across a broad range of years and criteria.

Alabama

A Letter from Bozeman, Montana

The European Commission's 2001 European Innovation Scoreboard, characterizing the strengths and weaknesses in the capacity for innovation of the European Union (EU) and its member states, shows the EU continues to lag behind the U.S. and Japan. 

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) released State Government Initiatives in Biotechnology 2001, the results of the first comprehensive survey of state government efforts to attract and grow the biotechnology industry. The report, prepared by Battelle Memorial Institute and the State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI), contains information from 48 states and shows state governments becoming increasingly active in recruiting and supporting biotechnology companies. 

Nearly $43 million in grants were awarded October 1 to 74 non-profit organizations, including state and local governments, by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). 

As Congress and the Bush Administration look at national economic stimulus packages, debate is beginning in some states to enact similar measures to reverse the direction of their local economies. Various tax cuts for businesses invariably are included in the states’ discussions.

A Rhode Island Economic Strategy: 10 Ways to Succeed Without Losing Our Soul recently was released by the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council. The report outlines 10 economic development initiatives through four themes centered on places, people, clusters and connections. 

California 

SSTI's fifth annual conference, Creating Opportunity: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies, will take place December 3-4, 2001, at the Omni William Penn in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The conference agenda remains intact from the original mid-September dates with almost all speakers reconfirmed. (see the conference agenda on SSTI's webpage: http://www.ssti.org/Conf01/agenda.htm [expired] )