In the December 7, 2001 Issue:

Copyright State Science & Technology Institute 2002. Information in this issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest was prepared under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration. Redistribution to all others interested in tech-based economic development is strongly encouraged — please cite the State Science & Technology Institute whenever portions are reproduced or redirected. Any opinions expressed in the Digest do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

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OTP Releases Second State Report Card 
The Dynamics of Technology-based Economic Development: State Science and Technology Indicators has been published for the second straight year. Bruce Mehlman, Assistant Secretary for the Technology Administration's Office of Technology Policy (OTP), released the report at SSTI's annual conference earlier this week. 

The second edition of the reference guide draws upon state-level data "that approximates the 'technology infrastructure' of the states, or, at the very least, compiles information about those factors that clearly affect states' capacity to generate new enterprises and high quality jobs, and sustain economic growth." 

Each of 22 input measures fall into three main categories, Funding In-Flows, Human Resources, and Capital Investment and Business Assistance. Another 15 output measures, which focus on two main categories — High-technology Intensity of the State's Business Base and Other Outcome Measures, including patents, fast-growing companies, earnings, and work force employment — combine with the input measures for a total of 37 measures. 

State profiles showing states' overall economic conditions, their science and technology organizations, and their ranking among each of the 37 measures also are provided in the report. 

Copies of The Dynamics of Technology-based Economic Development: State Science and Technology Indicators may be obtained by visiting: http://www.ta.doc.gov/Reports.htm 

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Incubators Offer Proven Tool for Tech Business Growth 
State and local strategies to assist start-up business formation often focus on three elements to help nascent firms: securing much-needed funding or capital (either private or public), lowering the overall cost of doing business, or gaining the skill set or access to intellectual resources to succeed. These objectives of tech-based economic development are, perhaps, most important in a recession, particularly a downturn like the current experience which comes after such a sustained period of growth. 

Because most successful nonprofit technology business incubators address all three elements, it isn't too surprising to find the newspapers around the country carrying several stories on new incubators opening or existing incubators expanding their operations. The latter phenomenon, with examples in Maryland, Idaho, Missouri, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, attests to the economic development benefits that can be achieved through properly executed incubator strategies. 

Other tech business incubator projects recently in the news include: 

More information and resources on the benefits and uses of technology incubators can be found through the National Business Incubation Association's at: http://www.nbia.org 

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Useful Stats: Industry Output & Employment Projections through 2010 
Gaining a sense of how industries are likely to grow or contract over the next decade can be a vital tool for determining the priorities for tech-based economic development practitioners, public and private investing programs, and workforce developers. These figures are particularly relevant for geographic areas looking at cluster development strategies or targeted research/investment programs. 

The November issue of the Monthly Labor Review, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, includes an article by Jay Berman projecting industry output and employment projections for the first decade of the 21st century. 

Computer and data processing services (Standard Industrial Classification Code 737) continues to top the chart of fastest growing industries with an average annual rate of 6.4 percent growth for 2000-2010. Projected output for the field is expected to grow by an annual rate of 8 percent. 

The national average growth for all non-farm wage and salary employment is projected to be 1.6 percent annually over the decade. Selected individual sector employment growth projections include: 

Annual output growth rates for key sectors are: 

Note: Developed with data collected prior to September 11, the projections do not take into account the dramatic shifts in economic priorities and spending as a result of the terrorist attacks and resulting war. The Bureau will be monitoring the economic and employment impact of the attacks to adjust the projections accordingly. 

The full 18-page article, including statistics for other SIC categories and subcodes, is available at: http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2001/11/art3full.pdf

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Baldrige Awardees Include First in Education Category 
Tthe five winners of the 2001 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's premier award for performance excellence and quality achievement, include, for the first time, three winners in the education category: 

Also receiving awards this year were Clarke American Checks, Inc. in San Antonio (manufacturing), and Pal's Sudden Service, Kingsport, Tenn. (a small business in the fast-food industry). 

Established in 1987, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is given to U.S organizations that have exemplary achievements in seven areas: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management, and business results. The program is managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the US Department of Commerce's Technology Administration, in conjunction with the private sector. 

More information on the program and this year's awardees is available at: http://www.quality.nist.gov/ and http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/g01-110.htm 

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Useful Stats II: Women Owned Businesses by State 
The number of women who own the nation's privately-held businesses, presently at 28 percent of such businesses, is growing at twice the rate of all firms, according to a new report from Center for Women’s Business Research. 

The center projects the number of majority-owned, privately-held women-owned firms will stand at 6.2 million by 2002, and that sales generated by these businesses will have grown 40 percent between 1997-2002. Employment in women-owned businesses also is growing at a rate 1.5 times the national average. 

Sponsored by Wells Fargo, the Center’s two most recent reports, Women-Owned Businesses in 2002: Trends in the U.S. and 50 States and Women-Owned Businesses in 2002: Trends in the Top 50 Metropolitan Areas analyze both published and unpublished data provided by the U.S. Bureau of the Census and present the most up-to-date information currently available on the country's women-owned businesses. 

The ten fastest growing states based on 1997 to 2002 growth in the number of firms, employment and sales are: 1) Idaho and Wyoming; 3) Utah; 4) Nevada; 5) Arizona; 6) South Dakota; 7) New Mexico; 8) Montana and Oregon; and 10) Alaska. The top 10 ranked states based on an average of number of firms, employment, and sales are: 1) California; 2) Texas; 3) Florida, Illinois, and New York; 6) Ohio; 7) Michigan and Pennsylvania; 9) North Carolina; and 10) New Jersey. 

The analysis shows that more than half of the number of firms, employment and sales of women-owned firms in the U.S. are located in the top 50 metropolitan areas. The far west sees the greatest concentrations of women-owned businesses: nearly 35 percent of all businesses in Portland, Ore., are women-owned, Seattle (32.5%), Oakland (32.5%), Sacramento (30.8%) and San Francisco (30.8%) The fastest growing metropolitan areas during the same period are: 1) Salt Lake City-Ogden, Utah; 2) Las Vegas, Nev.-Ariz.; 3) Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.; 4) Kansas City, Mo.-Kan. and St. Louis, Mo.-Ill.; 6) Portland-Vancouver, Ore.-Wash.; 7) Nashville, Tenn.; and 8) Austin-San Marcos, Dallas, Fort Worth-Arlington, Houston, and San Antonio, Texas (all tied). 

The full reports are available for purchase from the Center for Women's Business Research. PDF summaries for each state and the 50 largest metro areas are available to download from: http://www.nfwbo.org/StateMetroReports.html

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NSF Offering $26 million for Research Centers in FY 2003 
To create new research centers in FY 2003, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is offering approximately $26 million through its Engineering Research Centers (ERC) Program. 

At least two awards totaling up to $13 million each will be made. The awards, subject to 10 percent cost sharing, will be distributed as follows: $2.5 million (year 1), $3 million (year 2), $3.5 million (year 3), and $4 million (years 4 and 5). 

Each new center will focus on the definition, fundamental understanding, development, and validation of the technologies needed to realize a well-defined class of engineered systems with the potential to spawn whole new industries or radically transform the product lines, processing technologies, or service delivery methodologies of current industries. 

Only U.S. academic institutions with undergraduate and doctoral engineering programs may submit pre-proposals as the lead institution. If the ERC is a multi-university effort, the lead university will be joined by long-term core partner institutions that share the responsibility for the ERC. 

These core partner institutions must have undergraduate and graduate engineering programs. Whether a single or multi-university center, short-term outreach in research and education involving a limited number of faculty, other investigators, and teachers from other universities or colleges and pre-college institutions outside the lead and core partner institutions is required. 

The Center Director must be a tenure-track or tenured faculty member in an engineering department at an eligible institution. In the case of a multi-institution ERC, the director must be a tenure-track or tenured member of the faculty of the lead university. The director's doctoral degree must be in engineering or a field of science. 

Playing critical roles in research, education, diversity, outreach and industrial collaboration, ERC innovations in research and education are expected to impact curricula at all levels from pre-college to life-long learning, to employ and reach out to a population that reflects the diversity of the U.S., and to be disseminated to and beyond academic and industry partners. 

A required letter of intent is due by March 15, 2002. Full proposals are not due until December 3, 2002. More information on the ERC program is available through NSF at: http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf0224

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