The latest word in the national press regarding the FY 2002 budget President Bush will present to Congress next week suggests President Bush may propose significant cuts in investment in research and tech-based economic development. Many of the programs potentially under fire are instrumental to state and local efforts to promote stronger economic growth through science and technology.
Stressing partnerships and flexibility, seven regional and national organizations have drafted an action agenda for the federal government to use to strengthen local and regional economic development efforts. After a brief introduction to the New Economy and its implications for local economic development, Partnership for Prosperity: A Federal Economic Development Policy Agenda includes several specific recommendations of interest to Digest readers:
Imagine President Bush using his entire State of the Union Address to present a $23 billion five-year strategy to encourage research, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the country. While it has not received much press in the United States, the equivalent happened when Australian Prime Minister John Howard gave his annual Federation Address on January 29.
The past decade’s economic boom has masked some serious cracks in the foundation of U.S. competitiveness– and it will take a strong policy of local and regional “innovation stimulus” to get the country back on track, says the Council on Competitiveness in U.S. Competitiveness 2001: Strengths, Vulnerabilities and Long-term Priorities.
President Bush is expected to release his first budget at the end of the month, and a published report indicates at least one tech program might be slated for significant cuts. The Wall Street Journal in a February 16 article ("Bush Aims to Reduce Digital Divide Funds") reported that their sources indicate the U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) may be slashed 65 percent from $42.5 million to $15 million.
In what could be the largest private sector commitment yet to a single industry/university research center, Corning, Kodak ,and Xerox have combined to pledge a staggering $45 million toward establishing a Center of Excellence in Photonics and Optoelectronics in Rochester, N.Y. The three corporate giants also committed to help raise another $30 million from other private sector companies for the new partnership involving New York State, higher education, and private enterprise.
Even tech hot spots like San Diego are finding they are not immune from the Digital Divide. In fact, a new report from the San Diego Regional Technology Alliance (SDRTA) finds that the region suffers a wider Internet access divide between Caucasians and Hispanics than the nation as a whole. With Hispanics representing 25 percent of the area’s population, the issue will have future economic repercussions in tech-based entrepreneurship and increasing shortages of workers with tech skills.
Over the next three years, Minnesota Technology, Inc. (MTI) will invest $3 million to support the development of existing and emerging technology-focused industry clusters. The new program is designed to increase collaboration between groups of tech business and the state’s nonprofit research, federal lab, and academic research communities.
Alan Balutis, director of the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), is leaving the agency at the end of the month to take over leadership of the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils.
Dr. Frederick Humphries, president of Florida A&M University and SSTI Board member, has announced he will retire this summer from the university.
Alan Balutis, director of the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), is leaving the agency at the end of the month to take over leadership of the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils
Dr. Frederick Humphries, president of Florida A&M University and SSTI Board member, has announced he will retire this summer from the university.
Rex Pelto has left the Advanced Technology Program to take the position of Director of Federal R&D & Business Development for Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology.
Stefanie Sanford has joined Texas Governor Perry's office as Policy Director for Technology & Telecommunications
Tom Unruh has announced he is leaving the National Governors' Association Center for Best Practices.
The 2005 budget request submitted this week by Florida Governor Jeb Bush includes $20 million to establish two more Centers of Excellence at Florida universities.
Despite a sluggish national economy, North Carolina held its own over the last three years, according to a measure of 25 broad indicators of innovation, technology and economic growth released earlier this week. In all, Tracking Innovation: North Carolina Innovation Index 2003 considers more than 50 performance measures across five general categories, highlighting the state’s strengths and weaknesses.
It's one thing to call your entrepreneurship education efforts the best, but it's another when more than 950 of your peers from around the country do. The entrepreneurship program at Harvard Business School (HBS) recently won the top award for MBA programs nationwide from the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), an organization devoted to entrepreneurship education and development.
This is the third in a series of articles as SSTI continues its look at the prominence of tech-based economic development in the Inaugural, State of the State and Budget Addresses given by the nation's governors. Highlights from this week's speeches are provided below.
In last week's Tech Talkin' Govs II article, we inadvertently listed Mark Warner as the Governor of South Carolina. Gov. Warner leads the Commonwealth of Virginia. Mark Sanford is Governor of South Carolina. SSTI regrets the error.
Pennsylvania has been a leader in tech-based economic development for more than two decades. With more than $208 million for tech-based economic development initiatives, the 2001-02 Budget Request submitted by Governor Tom Ridge this week shows why the state remains at the forefront of the field.
In a follow-up to Maine Governor Angus King’s call for every 7th grader to have a laptop computer that they would use in school and could take home, the Task Force on the Maine Learning Technology Endowment has recommended that every student and teacher in the 7th through 12th grades be provided with computers that would be wireless and portable. The computers could be used in the classroom and, pending school district permission, be taken home.
The Washington DC metro area is widely recognized as one of the country’s technology hubs. Unlike the country’s other major tech centers, however, which have been heavily focused on computer technology for several decades (see Annalee Saxenian’s Regional Advantage for a discussion of Silicon Valley and Route 128, for instance), the nation’s capital region went through a significant restructuring during the 1990s as a result of the New Economy and federal government downsizing.
Editor's Note: The sixth and final installment in our review of the Governors' inaugural addresses, state of the state addresses, and budget messages for 2001. Previous weeks' installments are available on our website http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2001/headlines01.htm
In light of major economic changes due to technological transformation, increased globalization, and changing demographics over recent years, and the resulting effects of rising workforce insecurity, the Office of Workforce Security in the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), will hold its first national research conference.
The Office of Technology in the Utah Department of Community and Economic Development seeks an Assistant Director for the Centers of Excellence Program. The position's responsibilities include promoting the development of new and established Centers that will assist the state economy to expand in focused technology areas. Deadline for application is February 23, 2001.