Carbondale, Illinois

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 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. 

Whether it's called clusters or localization economies, the aggregation of firms in the same or closely related industries has captured the attention of many state and local tech-based economic development efforts. Understanding the phenomenon and formulating effective public policy to encourage or support clustering presents challenges for practitioners and researchers alike. 

With 90 percent of Chicago’s economy in slow-growth sectors such as manufacturing, retail, financial services and real estate, leaders from business, academia, government and nonprofit groups have joined forces to develop and implement a strategy to establish the city as a key player in the New Economy.

A new biotech-opolis in Quebec soon may serve as one of the best organized business centers for biotech, biopharmaceutical, and biocomputer companies in the world, government leaders hope.

While it is safe to say that new medicines, electronics, educational tools and other inventions have improved the lives of countless people, a new project by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) describes more than 100 such breakthroughs that probably would not exist if not for the practice of technology transfer.

Innovation and tech entrepreneurship take money — different amounts at different stages with different strings. As a result, increasing access to capital is an objective of many state and local technology-based economic development programs.

With ten firms, Chicago leaders win bragging rights for being called home by the greatest number of Inc. magazine's "Inner City 100," the fastest growing urban businesses. In fact, six of the top 50 companies were from the Windy City.



Five businesses from Buffalo won inclusion in the magazine's list, earning the New York city the unofficial title as the second most popular home. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Oakland, CA each had four companies on the list.

To support innovation and technology with increased accessibility for small-and medium-sized firms, Canada's Minister of Industry, David Emerson, announced a new program that will replace Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC).

Sue Strommer has joined the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds as Chief Executive Officer (NASVF) as CEO. Charlie Spies, the former president and CEO, will remain as president of NASVF.

It is no coincidence that every article in this issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest touched on some aspect of higher education's role in promoting economic growth. Knowledge-based economies driven by innovation require strong and successful institutions of higher learning. Those same types of economies, particularly when applied on a global scale, present unique challenges to sustaining educational and research excellence with academia based on older models of financing and leadership.

The e-newsletter of the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds, NASVF Net News, reports Sallie Traxler has become the Executive Director for the Council of Development Finance Agencies. Also, the e-newsletter reports Dan Loague has been promoted to the position of NASVF Executive Director.