Congress isn't the only place looking at dramatic changes in January. With 11 governors and hundreds of state legislators taking office for the first time, tech-based economic developers across the country are presented with both opportunity and challenge. A change in state leadership often presents the opportunity for positive changes in direction of outdated economic development policies and programs.

A handy resource for bringing new staff, board members and legislators quickly up to speed on TBED, A Resource Guide for Technology-based Economic Development targets a primary audience of existing practitioners looking to implement new or update older programs. SSTI compiled the book's recommendations after conducting extensive interviews with dozens of the countries leading TBED experts.

Both the Bush Administration and incoming Congressional Democrat leadership plan to put higher education under the spotlight in 2007, stressing issues of accessibility and cost containment. While their approaches to the problems will be different, both sides agree universities will play even greater roles in maintaining U.S. economic leadership in the 21st century than they have in the past.

It is unfortunate the word entrepreneurship has become as overused a buzzword as innovation because developing vibrant climates to support tech entrepreneurs remains one of the most important elements of successful state and local TBED.



Not all entrepreneurship is created equal, however. The country's standard of living will decline if it were based entirely on low-wage retail and service businesses – even if every single one of them was created by budding entrepreneurs.

The public role in increasing access to capital is, perhaps, the most controversial element of TBED – if any of the public's role in the 21st century to strengthen competitiveness in a global knowledge economy is controversial.

A Resource Guide for Technology-based Economic Development is available from SSTI as a free, downloadable PDF at http://www.ssti.org/Publications/Onlinepubs/resource_guide.pdf or as an inexpensive 90-page bound book (a format still more likely to be perused by most legislators or gubernatorial staff than a pile of printouts). Single print copies are $15 plus shipping and handling.

So far this year, SSTI's Funding Supplement has made its subscribers aware of more than 1,450 different opportunities to secure funding. Another 40-50 new opportunities will be included in this week's issue. If you aren't a subscriber, your client companies, academic researchers, and state and local TBED efforts are at a significant disadvantage.

Complete descriptions of the position openings described below are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, a bipartisan group of academic, industry and government leaders, is calling for a massive overhaul of the U.S. education system. In its new report, Tough Choices, Tough Times, the panel of business leaders, scholars, education officials, and former governors and cabinet secretaries argue that the country’s current system of K-12 education is outdated and must be restructured to enable American students to thrive in the global economy.

 

State lottery would be leased to private company to finance fund, scholarships

Two initiatives recently proposed by Gov. Mitch Daniels would keep graduating college students in-state and lure world-class researchers to Indiana's public universities. However, a lottery lease plan that would, in part, finance the initiatives may be more the center of attention with Indiana legislators.