In the March 1, 2002 Issue:

Copyright State Science & Technology Institute 2003. 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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New Awards System in Ireland to Draw Top Researchers
Backed by a Technology Foresight Fund of more than $550 million annually, the Science Foundation Ireland has given the go-ahead to a new awards system designed to attract top researchers and support industry-university partnerships.

The new system includes SFI awards for world-class researchers who move to Ireland, for Irish and international researchers already based in Ireland, for the support of scientific conferences for scientists based in Ireland and for a requirement for collaboration among certain SFI-funded researchers and industry:

SFI also will work formally with Columbia University's International Innovation Initiative, a world leader in tech transfer, to ensure that laboratory work is carried into industry. For more information on SFI, visit: http://www.sfi.ie

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Landmark ARC Reauthorization Bill Sent to President for Approval
An historic, five-year reauthorization bill for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) awaits only the President's signature after being approved Tuesday by Congress.

President Bush is expected to sign the legislation into law, making the reauthorization of ARC the longest in its history and only the second congressional reauthorization of the agency since the Carter Administration.

The reauthorization bill contains several key provisions:

More information on ARC is available at http://arc.gov/.

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EDA Offers $335 Million for State & Local Economic Development
The Economic Development Administration (EDA) has $335 million available for grants to support state, regional and community efforts to create wealth and minimize poverty by promoting a favorable business environment to attract private capital investment and high skill, high wage jobs through world-class capacity building, infrastructure, business assistance, research grants and strategic initiatives.

EDA encourages only those investment proposals that will significantly benefit areas experiencing or threatened with substantial economic distress. Distress may exist in a variety of forms, including but not limited to: High levels of unemployment, low income levels, large concentrations of low-income families, significant declines in per capita income, substantial loss of population because of the lack of employment opportunities, large numbers (or high rates) of business failures, sudden major layoffs or plant closures, military base closures, natural or other major disasters, depletion of natural resources, and/or reduced tax bases.

Most of the funding ($250 million) is available under Public Works and Economic Development Assistance program. The remaining funds are distributed through Planning Assistance for Economic Development Districts, Indian Tribes, States, and Other Development Organizations; Technical Assistance-Local Technical Assistance, National Technical Assistance, and University Centers; Trade Adjustment Assistance; and, Economic Adjustment Assistance programs.

Potential applicants must submit a pre-application proposal to the appropriate EDA representative for the area or regional office. Based on review of the preproposal, the EDA representative may recommend submission of a full proposal.

Funding priority areas have been identified for potential projects, including:

A. Proposals that enhance regional competitiveness and support long-term development of the regional economy; for example:

1. Upgrade core business infrastructure

a. Transportation infrastructure
b. Communications infrastructure
c. Specialized training program infrastructure

2. Reflect and implement a regional strategy that involves all stakeholders

a. Support regional benchmarking initiatives;
b. Encourage a common vision and collaboration among firms, universities, and training centers to implement a regional strategy;
c. Reflect strong leadership committed to regional economic development; and
d. Encourage a formal organization structure and process for working on economic 
issues and maintaining consensus.

3. Encourage cluster development

a. Establish research and industrial parks that encourage innovation-based competition; and
b. Implement cluster-focused and innovation-focused business development efforts.

B. Proposals to help communities plan and implement economic adjustment strategies in response to sudden and severe economic dislocations (e.g., major lay-offs and/or plant closures, trade impacts, defense restructuring, or disasters).

C. Proposals that support technology-led economic development; for example, proposals that:

1. Reflect the important role of research and development capacity of universities in regional economic development; and
 2. Create and support technology transfers.

D. Proposals that advance community and faith-based social entrepreneurship in redevelopment strategies for areas of chronic economic distress.

More details and EDA regional contact information can be obtained in the March 1, 2002 Federal Register Online: 

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Tech-based ED RoundUp

Colorado
On Monday, Colorado Secretary of Technology Marc Holtzman announced a new $11 million partnership between the Public Employees’ Retirement Association of Colorado and ITU Ventures, LLC. The partnership was formed to invest in technology emerging from Colorado's research institutions. ITU will assist the commercial growth of technological innovation by working with researchers, administration and university tech transfer offices. More information is available at: http://www.oit.state.co.us/about/press_1.asp?prid=16

Iowa
Iowa boasts a new corporate group to promote and encourage tech-based economic development, according to the Associated Press. The AP reports the Iowa Coalition for Innovation and Growth is comprised of the top executives from the state's largest corporations and evolved out of the Iowa Business Council's review of the state's performance on several metrics. The Coalition will receive administrative support from the Iowa Chamber Alliance, an association of the state's 15 largest chambers of commerce.

Maryland
The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation, the University of Maryland School of Law, and the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development have joined forces to create the Maryland Intellectual Property Legal Resource Center. The Center, located at the Maryland Technology Development Center in Rockville, will provide low-cost intellectual property services and other legal assistance to startup technology companies as well as explore emerging ethical, legal, and policy issues in high technology and intellectual property. In the future, the Center will have three components: an academic program aimed at law students, researchers, and entrepreneurs; a clinical component where law students will assist individuals and companies and facilitate contact with legal service providers; and a public policy component to provide a forum for the discussion of ethical and public policy issues, such as privacy of genetic information, gene patenting and licensing, and the use of human tissue for research and human subject research. More information is available at: http://www.choosemaryland.org/pressroom/press_releases.asp

North Dakota
The University of North Dakota awarded its first entrepreneurship degree during winter commencement exercises in December. The program, which includes a full school year of hands-on learning experience in addition to classes in the business school, began three years ago with support from the Kauffman Foundation. The Grand Forks City Council has promised $45,000 over the next three years to support related internships. Currently, 55 people in the track and 12 students majoring in entrepreneurship are at UND. More information is available at: http://www.und.nodak.edu/org/ds/_issues/2002/01/29/news/entre.html

Rhode Island
Toward a goal of increasing the number of IT workers available in the state for its high-tech businesses, the Rhode Island Technology Council is expanding its Academies of Information Technology education program to include three more high schools around the state. The first four-year training academy was launched last fall at the Newport Area Career and Technical Center with the enrollment of 10 ninth-graders. In addition to computer programming and web design courses, students are placed in internships with tech firms for work experience. More information is available at: http://www.ritec.org

South Carolina
At least one tech-based ED group in the country has decided to cash in on the plethora of specialty license plates most states are issuing now as fund raisers for select causes. To raise awareness of the importance of science and technology and to help fund a new network of 15 regional technology councils around the state, the South Carolina Technology Alliance (SCTA) is encouraging Palmetto State drivers to purchase Technology Auto Tags for their cars. The plates, which feature a computer mouse pointer clicking on the state's logo and the SCTA web address, will sell for a one-time cost of $100. Seventy percent of the fee will go to create the state technology council network. More information is available at: http://www.sctech.org/News.asp

Virginia
Despite its record of providing tech training for 9,000 adults and 2,600 middle school students in less than five years and accolades from region's tech businesses about the quality of the graduates and the uniqueness of the program, the Northern Virginia Regional Partnership is slated to receive little or no funding by the state legislature, according to the Feb. 25 Washington Post. More information on the partnership's activities, which include a career center and Sallie Mae loan program, is available at: http://www.nvrp.org/

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Third Innovation Policy and the Economy Program Set
While some practitioners have centered themselves on running programs and shoring up budgets during the present fiscal crisis, other efforts are underway, including that of the Innovation Policy and the Economy (IPE) group of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

The IPE group is presenting five papers developed by leading academic researchers on April 16 at its annual forum in Washington, D.C. The papers, to be published in an annual series by NBER, will be open to discussion by policymakers and those interested in the interaction between public policy and innovation who typically attend the half-day event. The papers include:

Short-term America Revisited? Boom & Bust in the Venture Capital Industry and the Impact on Innovation by Paul Gompers and Joshua Lerner, Harvard University; Intellectual Property, Strategic Behavior and Economic Growth by Dennis Carlton and Rob Gertner, University of Chicago; Federal Support for R&D in the Antiterrorism Era by Roger Noll, Stanford University; Encouraging the Diffusion of Drugs into the Third World: Patents and other Incentives by Jenny Lanjouw, Yale University; and Technological Change and Economic Development by Jeff Sachs, Harvard University.

On a related note, Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume Two recently was released and contains several topical papers to the tech-based economic development field: Some Economic Aspects of Antitrust Analysis in Dynamically Competitive Industries by David S. Evans and Richard Schmalensee; 2) Intellectual Property: When Is It the Best Incentive System? by Nancy Gallini and Suzanne Scotchmer (see the 8/17/01 Digest for an article; 3) Government Support for Commercial R&D: Lessons from the Israeli Experience by Manual Trajtenberg; 4) Prospects for an Information-Technology-Led Productivity Surge by Timothy F. Bresnahan; and 5) Do We Have a "New" Macroeconomy? by J. Bradford DeLong.

Volume One, which covered the IPE group's inaugural 2000 forum, is one of the more popular titles in the SSTI catalog. Both volumes can be purchased from NBER or SSTI. Admission to this year's forum in D.C. is free, but advanced registration is required. Those interested in attending should contact Rob Shannon at rshannon@nber.org or (617) 868-3900.

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Incubators in the News
During the last eight weeks, communities across the U.S. have witnessed the rise or fall of small business incubators. Here are some of the developments:

Albany, N.Y. — A major expansion of the Albany College of Pharmacy will include incubator space for drug discovery enterprises related to research at the new Center for Medical Science to be built nearby. Plans for the incubator fall under the college's $10 million capital campaign launched in 2000 to increase faculty research, gain new space and offer scholarships to students.

Augusta, Ga. — The Georgia Medical Center Authority is partnering with the Medical College of Georgia to create an incubator designed to grow life sciences companies. The 15,000-square-foot Life Sciences Business Development Center will enable MCG to recruit investigators looking to develop their discoveries and secure patents.

Cheyenne, Wyo. — Among the $36 million being cut from Gov. Jim Geringer's 2003-04 budget 
recommendations is $5.6 million (all funding) for an incubator to be located at the University of Wyoming. The Joint Appropriations Interim Committee made the budget cuts in early February.

Greensboro, N.C. — Approximately $425,000 of the $2.3 million Action Greensboro intends to invest in small business growth and entrepreneurialism is being dedicated toward expanding the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship. Action Greensboro, a non-profit organization created in 2001 by several charitable foundations, is giving another $1 million for the Triad Entrepreneurial Initiative, which seeks to cultivate high-growth companies.

Mesa, Ariz. — The Arizona Technology Incubator no longer provides office space but continues to offer advice to start-up companies, having moved out of its 23,000-square-foot space in late January. Sources say ATI's supporters wanted to ensure that money provided by financial backers was going toward technical services to the companies, and not rent. Six of ATI's eight companies have graduated.

North Brunswick, N.J. — Thanks to a loan from the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust and a $4 million state grant, the new Commercialization Center at the Technology Centre of New Jersey will provide businesses with 20,000 sq. ft. for 17 small laboratories, shared offices and conference rooms. Annual rent for the space will total about $30 per square foot, and leases will be held for up to two years. Each lab is expected to house less than 10 employees.

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People

In January, Phil Bond, the Undersecretary for Technology in the U.S. Department of Commerce, took on the additional responsibilities as Chief of Staff.

James Hayward, CEO of a biotech materials supply company, has been named the first chairman of the Long Island Life Sciences Initiative. Joseph Scaduto is serving part-time as the new executive director for the group.

John Hightower, executive director of the Baton Rouge Technology Council for the past seven months, has resigned to resume a career in public relations and lobbying. The Council has started a search for his replacement.

Don Smith has been appointed Vice President for Economic Development at the new Mellon Pitt Carnegie Corporation. MPC, a joint venture of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, is intended to coordinate the economic development and tech commercialization activities of both schools.

Jack Sommer is the new executive director of the Rhode Island Technology Council. Sommer previously worked with Student Advantage in Boston.

The Indiana Technology Partnership named Jim Wheeler as its new president. A former partner with Andersen LLP, Wheeler takes the position vacated by Tom Miller last fall.

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