University of Buffalo Entrepreneurial Awards
An in-depth look at the one-year success of a student company to win last year's first Panasci Entrepreneurial Awards at the University of Buffalo recently was highlighted in the Buffalo News.
A National Science Foundation (NSF) program to foster significant public/private partnerships and help better position local communities to accommodate new and enhanced research and development is continuing into a second year, NSF announced last month.
A recent report released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), The Nation’s Report Card: Science 2000, shows the average scores of fourth- and eighth-graders were essentially unchanged from 1996, and the scores for 12th-graders declined by three points, a significant change.
One of the key findings in the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress science assessment was the correlation between student performance and the use of computer technology in the classroom. For eighth-graders, the use of computer simulation and modeling corresponded with higher assessment scores.
Using the statistics provided in the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress science assessment, SSTI has prepared a table ranking states based on the percent of 8th grade students scoring at or above proficiency in 2000. Ties were broken by the states' average scores for the year.
2002 college graduates, particularly those with masters and doctoral degrees, can expect a tougher time finding employment after graduation next spring, according to the 31st annual Recruiting Trends survey conducted by the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University.
Senate Bill 1134, the reauthorization bill for the federal Economic Development Administration (EDA), only awaits the President's signature following Thursday's passage by the U.S. House of Representatives. SB 1134 was passed by the U.S. Senate just a day earlier.
Highlights of the Economic Development Reauthorization Act of 2003, as passed by Congress, include:
Ongoing economic struggles, along with rising health care and pension costs, have contributed to the bleak conditions of city budgets around the nation. The majority of America’s cities are still suffering from the recession and city financial officers are pessimistic on the financial outlook for the near future, according to an annual survey from the National League of Cities.
New data released by the Center for Public Integrity affirm the notion state representatives are often uniquely positioned to influence their personal financial fortunes or those of their employers while in office.
Southern states may have a justifiable reason to be proud of their progress in technology and innovation, but their leaders should be concerned with the lack of investment in venture capital and industrial research and development (R&D), suggests a report released last month by Southern Growth Policies Board and the Southern Technology Council (STC).
Prompted by confusion over the dual rulings in the University of Michigan affirmative action cases last year, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering have released a new report to clarify the legalities and offer options for implementing and sustaining diversity programs within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
More than 45 days into the new fiscal year, several budget bills have finally moved out of Congress. Representatives from nearly all of the programs highlighted below will be participating in SSTI's fifth annual conference, discussing their priorities, plans and funding cycles for FY 2002. An entire track of breakout sessions has been dedicated toward federal funding opportunities for tech-based economic development programs and their clients.
The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO), RESI (a regional economic studies institute at Towson University), and the Maryland Business Incubation Association (MBIA) presented on Thursday the results of the Maryland Incubator Impact Study — a first-of-its-kind study for the state by measuring the economic impact of Maryland's six public- and university-related high-tech business incubators on the state's economy.
Innovation indices or S&T report cards can be useful tools for assessing the health and direction of a region or state's economy. The results can be helpful for determining appropriate policies and programs to affect change and measuring progress. Evolving over the past five years, many states, localities and national organizations have prepared indices.
The President has nominated Sean O'Keefe to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. O'Keefe replaces Daniel Goldin, who resigned last month.
Fresno, California
PricewaterhouseCoopers has released the detailed data for the third quarter results of its Moneytree™ survey. The survey found a total of $6.5 billion was invested in 601 financing rounds — a 23 percent decline in dollars and a 16 percent decline in rounds compared to last quarter. SSTI has prepared a table presenting the state-by-state results.
While the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have voiced caution and funded efforts to understand the potential societal and environmental implications of nanotechnology deployment, both agencies announced much larger funding commitments - totaling $213 million - to expedite commercial applications for the explosive field.
Nanotech Solutions for Cancer
During the states' fiscal crisis, a number of TBED programs were eliminated, while others survived. SSTI staff spent a fair amount of time analyzing what the survivors had in common, and we boiled the results down to three items that successful TBED programs have in common. While it may seem simplistic, the three commonalities are:
In order to provide further incentives for crucial research and development (R&D) and to encourage more industries to carry out R&D in Scotland, Scottish Enterprise, the economic development agency for Scotland has launched a new funding scheme.
Thirty-six states received failing grades on a biennial report card that reveals the cost of attending college represents a higher portion of American families’ incomes today than it did a decade ago. A separate report from the Pell Institute supports those conclusions by showing students from the lower-income bracket are finding it more difficult than ever to keep pace with rising tuition costs.
The importance a well educated populace plays in a knowledge-based economy is a given for most tech-based economic development strategies. Ensuring that a larger percentage of the population pursues that education through and beyond high school is another matter -- often the responsibility of other state agencies, organizations and decision makers.
Democrats took the year’s only two races for governor, electing Jim McGreevey in New Jersey and Mark Warner in Virginia.
Voters in Maine passed a bond issue authorizing the state to borrow $5 million for biomedical and marine research and development by Maine-based nonprofit and state research institutions.