Search

Blatant SSTI Conference Plug

Michael Gallagher recently was nominated to lead the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Gallagher succeeds Nancy Victory as assistant secretary of Commerce for communications and information.

Michael Gallagher recently was nominated to lead the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Gallagher succeeds Nancy Victory as assistant secretary of Commerce for communications and information.

Jeff Morris has been named Director of the Northwest Energy Technology Collaborative.

John Tesoriero has left the New Jersey Commission on Science & Technology to become Associate Director of the Center for Advanced Information Processing at Rutgers University. David Eater is Acting Executive Director for the Commission as a search is conducted for a permanent replacement.

Perhaps most state and local technology-based economic development (TBED) professionals are not aware of a debate going on within academia, but some of the finger-pointing is directed toward you.

America’s institutions of higher education are undergoing a tremendous transition as the image of an independent and objective Ivory Tower morphs into a structure more closely resembling the modern corporate research facility.

Balancing the role of universities and colleges in economic development can be tricky, as Dr. Bok points out in his new book (see article above), but its important role in building stronger tech-based economies cannot be overstated. SSTI’s 7th annual conference, to be held in Seattle on October 21-22, presents the best opportunity of the year for developing a great understanding of the most effective ways for local and state economies to benefit from the academic research enterprise.

New university-based research efforts in biodesign, nanotechnology, embedded systems and virtual manufacturing show that Arizona has stepped forward to compete in the knowledge economy, according to a recent study by Morrison Institute for Public Policy, a unit of Arizona State University.

The Department of Commerce is accepting nominations for the 2004 National Medal of Technology awards, the nation’s highest honor awarded by the President to America's leading technological innovators.

Alaska, with 25.7 percent of its academic R&D expenditures coming from industrial sources, ranks first in the U.S. in the amount of industry-funded R&D at its academic institutions, according to new data released by the National Science Foundation (NSF). An NSF report, Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges, FY 2001, shows $28.4 million of Alaska's $110.2 million in academic R&D expenditures in 2001 were industry-supplied.

More workers in North Carolina will be trained for jobs in biotechnology, thanks to the Golden LEAF Foundation's recent $60 million commitment to the emerging industry. In all, $64.5 million is going toward a training initiative, with North Carolina's biotech industry expected to contribute $4.5 million.

Boston

The first three installments of SSTI's four-part look at how TBED will play in the 2006 legislative priorities of the governors can be found in the Digest archives at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm

Oklahoma

Contrary to popular belief, intellectual capital and university collaboration - not just lower costs - primarily attract companies to locate R&D activities in locations away from their home country, according to a new study sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Hard evidence of the increasing global research competence discussed in the Thursby's paper above was provided last week when the Singapore Ministry of Trade & Industry (MTI) announced plans last week to commit $7.5 billion ($4.6 billion US) over the next five years to sustain innovation-driven growth through economic-oriented R&D. All figures below are in U.S. dollars.

Stem cell research, an expanded tax zone redevelopment initiative and faculty/researcher recruitment are all beneficiaries in the fiscal year 2007 budget proposal submitted by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich last week. In addition, while overall funding for the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) is down 16 percent from the FY 2006 appropriation, the governor's request includes several new programs to assist technology entrepreneurship.

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell is using the midterm budget request as the vehicle to substantially overhaul how the state supports the entire economic development process. Connecticut Innovations, one of the nation's oldest state-created equity finance programs for tech businesses, would be consolidated with departments that cover focus areas ranging from health education and housing to traditional economic development financing.

Improving higher education is a top priority in almost every state, but fewer than half of states have set specific, measurable goals to track their progress in enrolling, retaining and graduating students, according to a new report from Jobs for the Future (JFF), By the Numbers: State Goals for Increasing Postsecondary Attainment.

Despite a decrease of $44.6 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding from fiscal year 2003,  Boston held the top spot in total NIH funding for FY 2004, maintaining its lead over New York. The two cities had $1.57 billion and $1.25 billion, respectively.

After months of analyzing data and hundreds of interviews, organizers of western North Carolina's Future Forward economic development strategy only await the study's approval by local governments. Future Forward is aimed at improving economic development conditions for 12 counties in the Western Piedmont and Mountains of North Carolina located in the 10th and 11th Congressional Districts — Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Iredell, Lincoln, Rutherford, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes and McDowell counties.

TOP Reauthorized and To Grow, Says Senate Commerce Committee

Climate change. Global warming. Foreign oil dependency. Natural gas prices. Ozone alerts. Brownouts. Increasingly, energy related items grab the headlines, copy space and news coverage across America.

Recently released information on per capita income by state reveals the dramatic impact the dot-com boom and bust, plus the economic slowdown has had on income levels. Analyzing per capita income from 1998 to 2002 indicates that during that time every state but Nevada saw their per capita income increase. However, almost half of the states (23) peaked in 2000 and their per capita income has declined since.

Two of the most critical issues in today's tech-based economic development (TBED) involve money — funding for companies and funding for TBED programs.

Large-Scale Biomedical Science: Exploring Strategies for Future Research

The Human Genome Project, considered by life scientists to be their first foray into "big science," has paved the way for future large-scale projects that promise to lead to faster improvements in human health. But no guidelines on how to organize and fund such initiatives in the biomedical sciences have been available — until now.