In the April 19, 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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NBIA Teams with LocalFund to Help Match Start-ups with Angels
To help business incubator managers match start-up businesses with private investors through an Internet-based network, the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) has partnered with LocalFund, Inc., a network service provider based in Billings, Mont.

The program allows incubator managers to establish their own entrepreneur-investor networks where potential investors can learn more about local start-up companies ready for investment. Entrepreneurs submit business plan summaries through a secure website, and potential investors search the site for companies that match their interests. Investors then contact entrepreneurs directly.

Under the partnership agreement, NBIA members receive discounted rates on all LocalFund software. By creating a local entrepreneur-investor network, incubator managers provide new businesses with access to capital and give angel investors opportunities to develop their portfolios.

The Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire at Durham estimates that approximately 350,000 angels invest more than $35 billion of capital annually in the U.S. Most investors look to fund start-ups in their communities to promote local economic development, so local entrepreneur-investor networks are an effective way to bring the two groups together.

Business incubation catalyzes the process of starting and growing companies. A proven model, it provides entrepreneurs with the expertise, networks and tools they need to make their ventures successful. Incubation programs diversify economies, commercialize technologies, create jobs and build wealth. Today, there are more than 900 of these programs in the U.S., up from 12 in 1980.

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Michigan Governor Unveils NextEnergy Blueprint
Michigan Governor John Engler on Thursday unveiled NextEnergy— a comprehensive economic development plan to make Michigan a leader in the research, development, commercialization and manufacture of alternative energy technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells.

Gov. Engler's energy blueprint proposes the creation of a 700-acre, tax-free NextEnergyZone in York Township near Ann Arbor, building the NextEnergy Center there and attracting alternative energy companies from around the world to the zone, making it a cluster of energy innovation.

Surrounded by fuel cell vehicles at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Gov. Engler announced his plan would help reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, improve the environment and strengthen the economy. He said he would work with the Michigan Legislature and Congress to fund the plan and would establish a Michigan NextEnergy Development Fund to leverage additional capital for industry expansion.

The market for fuel cell products alone is expected to grow to an estimated $95 billion by 2010, Gov. Engler added. He explained that not acting could put at risk nearly 200,000 Michigan jobs that are either directly or indirectly tied to the engineering and manufacture of engines and transmissions.

Highlights of the Governor's blueprint include:

The complete text of NextEnergy is available at http://www.nextenergy.org

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New National and Local Indices Help Focus Policy Priorities
Preparing an index or report card is often a useful tool for tech-based economic development efforts to assess a geographic area's relative performance across selected statistics or indicators. The outcomes measured, if considered temporally, can help decision makers identify and shift policy and investment priorities for their community, region or state.

Two recent reports apply indices in very different ways, providing examples of how they can be used to promote varied strategies or objectives. The first looks at the Washington D.C. metro region from the perspective of five broad categories of indicators. No recommendations are suggested; the authors hope the report encourages broader awareness of and public engagement toward those areas showing improvement or greater need since the previous year's report was completed.

Measures used for these types of indices, which are both quantitative and qualitative, typically draw from independent data or value-neutral statistics. For instance, a state may look at change in per capita income over a specific period of time. While positive growth — relative to, say, other states, the national average or inflation — may be suggested by the author as good or assumed by the reader to be desirable, the conclusion is not intrinsically present in the data.

The second index discussed below is quite different. Written to advance a specific e-commerce policy agenda, the index ranks states' relative positions across several weighted indicators. The authors readily admit the indicators selected and the scores assigned are subjective, because, as is the case whenever indices are used in this manner, there is a cause-and-effect relationship either assumed or stated between the implementation of certain policies and desired performance. In this particular situation, the prevalence of certain laws and regulations is suggested to be related to a state's preparedness for e-commerce; agreement with the conclusion is assumed because statistical support for the hypothesis is not provided.

Both types of indices have disadvantages or risks. For the first, the risk in not presenting specific recommendations is the report may not lead to any changes in policy, while still achieving the desired concern. To avoid this, the authors must be prepared to help lead the discussion of the issues identified in the report.

The risk in using indicators in the second manner is that the assumptions may be proven invalid, once the statistical analysis is conducted. Other factors, for instance, may be found to be statistically more important for predicting outcomes or behaviors. An example of this contradiction, presented in the August 24, 2001 SSTI Weekly Digest, looked at the Small Business Survival Committee's rankings of the states for the policy  climates for small business and entrepreneurship versus independent statistics compiled by the Corporation for Enterprise Development to measure "Entrepreneurial Energy."

The 2001 Potomac Index
The 2001 Potomac Index is the latest effort to educate Washington metropolitan area leaders and citizens on their changing region and to measure critical issues affecting the region's success.

A joint project of the Potomac Conference and a research team led by the Brookings Greater Washington Research Program, the 2001 Index builds on the work of the 2000 Index and is organized around five priorities — innovation, inclusion, education, quality of life, and regional thinking. Several new indicators, some of which reflect the events of September 11, are added to this year's edition. However, most of the indicators are drawn from annual data, and comparative numbers on the last quarter of 2001 are not yet available.

The Greater Washington Region economy is well positioned for future growth, a highly educated population and nonprofit activity, according to the index. Some of the region's economic highlights include:

The priorities used in the 2001 Potomac Index were named by business, government and nonprofit leaders participating in the Potomac Conference. The index is available here. 

States & E-Commerce
The Best States for E-Commerce, prepared by the Progressive Policy Institute, uses four indicators — the extent to which states 1) impose "industry-specific protectionist laws," 2) tax Internet access, 3) enable Internet users to transact electronically with state government, and 4) recognize the legal validity of digital signatures — to rank the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Scores ranging from 0-10 were assigned to each state for ten categories: contact lenses, prescription drugs, telemedicine, mortgages, wine, auctioneering, insurance, automobiles, e-government, and uniform electronic transactions act. Actual values for telecommunications and access tax collections per online household were used for the eleventh category. Final scores were calculated based on the sum of the standard deviations for each category.

Using this process, Oregon, Utah, Indiana, Louisiana, and Iowa received the highest ratings, while South Carolina and New Mexico scored lowest.

Along with the rankings, the report recommends a comprehensive policy framework for states to follow to become more Internet friendly and subsequently improve their scores in the index:

The full report, The Best States for E-Commerce, can be viewed at: http://www.ppionline.org/

SSTI has created a webpage with links to past Digest articles covering local, state and national indices. 

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Mississippi Technology Alliance Partners with Tribal Government
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MBCI) Tribal Chief Phillip Martin and Mississippi Technology Alliance President and Chief Executive Officer Angie Dvorak recently announced a partnership to help foster science-based economic development for the state of Mississippi. The alliance's partnership with a tribal government is possibly the first of its kind in the U.S.

"This is an opportunity for members of the public, private and academia sectors to come together to aggressively explore ways to work with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians," Dr. Dvorak said in a press release.

The Mississippi Choctaw Technology Forum held earlier this week in Philadelphia, Miss., formally recognized the partnership. The April 15-16 event enabled representatives from science and tech-based industries to examine research and business partnership opportunities with the MBCI and tour the MBCI facilities. Representatives also were able to gain perspectives from technology industry officials and discuss research proposals with some of the top scientific educators in Mississippi.

Chief Martin said he hopes the partnership will foster the creation of higher skilled, higher wage jobs that compliment MBCI's existing capabilities.

"We are seeking seeking to develop partnerships with high-tech companies that create win-win relationships for both parties," Chief Martin said.

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'Working Better Together' Report Shows Collaboration Among Sectors
Changes have led the business community to redefine its performance standards, government to rethink its goals and nonprofits to redouble their efforts to meet rising demands, according to a new report published by the Three Sector Initiative, a collaboration of seven organizations representing business, government and nonprofits.

Working Better Together: How Government, Business and Nonprofit Organizations Can Achieve Public Purposes Through Cross-Sector Collaboration, Alliances and Partnerships works off the premise that technological, social and political changes have had far-reaching implications for the way government, business and nonprofit organizations fulfill their missions and work together. The report details the ways the sectors have used collaboration to form partnerships with each other to address complex problems.

The report also draws on regional dialogues with representatives of the three sectors, providing examples of how leaders can work together. New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen explains that fiscal constraints motivate her state government to aggressively seek out partnerships. Chris Gates, president of the National Civic League, says that the "rules of the road" for American communities — which contend that government owns the public agenda and that every issue has a winner and a loser — no longer apply.

Government, business and nonprofit organizations have a history of working together to achieve public purposes, the report states, but as the lines that distinguish each entity have become blurred, collaborative efforts can also reveal tensions and fault lines among the sectors. Working Better Together studies how cross-sector collaboration can better serve the public and the missions of organizations.

Cross-sector collaborations, which may range from ad hoc agendas to well defined public purposes, can last for months or be ongoing. The report describes the definitive stages of any collaborative process:

The Three Sector Initiative is a collaboration among the Conference Board, the Council on Foundations, Independent Sector, the National Academy of Public Administration, the National Alliance of Business, the National Civic League and the National Governors Association. An executive summary of Working Better Together is available at http://www.independentsector.org. The full report is available for purchase by calling 1-888-860-8118 or visiting the website.

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Symposium to Reveal 'Patterns' Shape the Network Society
More than 60 presentations on patterns, or solutions to problems in a given context, figure to be the highlight of CPSR's 8th biannual Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC) symposium, "Shaping the Network Society: Patterns for Participation, Action, and Change," being held May 16-19 in Seattle.

CPSR (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility) describes patterns as observable actions, empirical findings, hypotheses, theories or best practices that exist at all levels. Patterns can be global or local and theoretical or practical, according to CPSR. Some of the presentations at the DIAC-02 symposium have particular relevance to state and local tech-based economic development affects, including:

Brief papers on the patterns being presented at DIAC-02 are available at the event's website (see below). "Geographies of the Digital Divide" and "Community Access to Broadband" are among the discussion topics included in the agenda.

CPSR, a public-interest alliance of computer scientists, is jointly sponsoring DIAC-02 with the National Communication Association, a non-profit organization of researchers, educators, students and practitioners. For more information on the symposium or to access the pattern presentations, visit: http://cpsr.org/conferences/diac02/

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SSTI Weekly Digest Takes Spring Break 
The SSTI Weekly Digest will be taking a brief spring break and will resume publication on Friday, May 3. 

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