In the July 11, 2003 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.

Subscription to the SSTI Weekly Digest is free. If you are reading a forwarded copy of this issue and would like to receive your own copy each week directly, please subscribe at http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digform.htm. Requests to unsubscribe also may be completed at http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digform.htm.


House Slashes MEP Funding While Manufacturers Face Uncertain Future
As the economy struggles, unemployment rates rise to a nine-year high, and manufacturing continues to shed jobs, the Modernization Forum reports the House Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee appropriated just $39.6 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). The FY 2004 funding would slash the program's funding from the FY2003 level of $106.6 million, a 63 percent cut.

MEP, a public-private program, provides small manufacturers with support to bolster domestic production and keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S. The House CJS Subcommittee chose to restore some but not all funds for MEP. The Administration had proposed funding MEP at $12.6 million, effectively eliminating the national program.

The House Subcommittee action on Wednesday reverses a position taken by the House and Senate earlier this year when the 108th Congress approved $106.6 million for MEP in FY 2003. The action also belies support from a majority of legislators for full MEP funding. The leaders of the House CJS Appropriations Subcommittees received letters signed by a total of 246 fellow House members supporting $110 million for MEP in FY 2004.

U.S. manufacturing has experienced 33 consecutive months of net job loss, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A recent House Small Business Committee found manufacturing-related jobs in information technology and management have also started to move overseas to be located closer to production facilities.

In a study by the U.S. Census Bureau, researchers found MEP clients experience productivity gains more than four times greater than comparable firms. MEP clients report strong bottom-line impacts including over $636 million in new sales, $680 million in new investment, and 25,500 retained or new jobs during FY 2001.

While the House bill must be approved first by the full Appropriations Committee, full House consideration is expected to take place next week. The Senate has yet to consider the FY 2004 CJS Appropriations bill.

return to the top of this page

Massachusetts House Announces $110M Plan to Encourage TBED
Details on a $110 million initiative to create more jobs and stimulate the Massachusetts economy were released yesterday by Massachusetts House Speaker Tom Finneran and other state leaders. The initiative, Mass Jobs: Investment and Opportunity, is an innovation-friendly plan to streamline government functions and encourage growth in emerging technology through capital formation, regional development, and stability in regulation and taxation. The House proposes to recapitalize these funds from the Health Care Security Trust Fund.

The proposal includes:

More information on these and other initiatives outlined in Mass Jobs: Investment and Opportunity is available at http://www.tomfinneran.com/.

return to the top of this page

Ohio Enacts TBED Components of Third Frontier Project
Ohio Governor Bob Taft today signed into law Am. Sub. House Bill 1, putting into place the newest components of his Third Frontier Project to foster tech-based economic development (TBED) and growth in Ohio.

The law creates incentives for businesses to invest in Ohio companies as they commercialize research coming out of private, public and university labs. Among its key provisions, the act:

The Third Frontier Project is a $1.6 billion plan to create high-paying jobs for Ohioans. Am. Sub. HB 1 goes into effect immediately upon the governor's signature and filing with the Secretary of State.

return to the top of this page

Editor's Note
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: Quebec S&T Demise Offers Lessons to All
The previous issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest (June 27, 2003) included a story with the headline "Québec Investing More Than $500M for Biotech." It was the kind of big initiative with a hefty price tag that a few states have launched and most others salivate to replicate. A perfect item for the Digest.

The problem is that big initiative never actually happened.

Had the story run before June 12 – the day the first budget of recently elected Québec Premier Jean Charest was released – it would have been accurate. However, the new Liberal government cancelled all of the biotech initiatives mentioned in that Digest article, and the budget eliminated or reduced several other government programs and tax incentives promoting science and technology (S&T):

The new administration's budget does include a few positive highlights for the S&T community, including: doubling the province's spending on genomics research to $21 million; phasing out the capital tax for companies whose capital value is less than $600,000; and, exempting companies with payrolls under $1 million from having to spend 1 percent of their payroll on training. In addition, Québec's three major research-granting agencies will receive nearly $149 million to support academic and scientific research and graduate study. Other research and innovation programs will receive more than $55 million for grants and transfers to the research and business communities.

Proponents of technology-based economic development efforts point to many years of targeted investments by the government as contributing significantly to why Québec currently is home to Canada's largest concentration of biotech companies. Some are quoted in Canadian news publications as fearing the abrupt end of so many government initiatives, coupled with the dearth of private equity and investment capital, will cripple the fledgling industry.

While the reversal in policy and commitment to building a tech-based economy in Québec occurred virtually overnight, it is not the only example we can point to this year. The demise of the Alaska and Maine S&T foundations and the attempted, or in some cases successful, raids on several states' economic development budgets should bring the issue closer to home for most readers.

Strong public and private leadership is necessary to create and sustain momentum developed through the programs highlighted on the pages of this newsletter. Public leadership must resonate within and across political parties, ideologies within parties, and branches of government.

More importantly, though, active private sector support and buy-in must be integral to the design, implementation and continuous improvement of all tech-based economic development programs. Attempting to rally troops only after the public sector's commitment becomes threatened demands more resources and energy at a time when programs can least afford either.

A source for inspiration: Surviving and thriving in the current fiscal environment will be on the formal and informal agendas of SSTI's 7th Annual Conference, Building Tech-based Economies: From Policy to Practice, to be held in Seattle on October 21-22. Join your colleagues and peers for networking and professional development in this and other timely topics at the field's most invigorating and rewarding event. More information is available at: http://www.ssti.org/conference03.htm [expired]

return to the top of this page

Labor Department Offers Technical Skills Training Grants Program Assistance
Business-led partnerships looking to train workers in high-skill, high-tech occupations may get a boost from a series of instructional conferences to be held later this month and in August. The U.S. Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will hold three conferences in 2003 to assist prospective applicants for its H-1B Technical Skills Training Grants competition, under which approximately $50 million is available for new awards.

Among other purposes, the conferences will serve to instruct prospective applicants on the goals and principles of the training grants program, with an overview of the Department of Labor's policies and emphases. Participants also can expect to gain an understanding of the required elements of a grant package, the grants review process, and the experiences of successful H-1B grantees.

Eligible applicants for the grants will be business-led partnerships consisting of at least two businesses or a business-related nonprofit organization representing more than one business. The partnership also may include any educational, labor, faith-based or community organization, or workforce investment board.

The conferences are scheduled as follows:

Grants are awarded competitively for up to a maximum of $3 million over a three-year period. Employers and trade associations must commit themselves to substantial involvement in planning, designing and delivering the training for American workers to fill existing or expected vacancies in order to qualify for the grants. Project results should include creating job opportunities for unemployed workers, increasing salaries of incumbent workers, and the attainment of industry-recognized certification or licensing for trainees. A 100 percent cash/in-kind matching requirement applies.

Earlier competitive grants awarded by the Department of Labor have been used by businesses to increase the productivity of their current workers; retrain workers in new skills; improve employee morale and decrease turnover by advancing employee careers. The majority of training under these new grants will focus on advanced manufacturing, information technology, biotechnology, and other high-level technology skills.

Applications for H-1B Technical Skills Training Grants are due on Sept. 22, 2003. More information on the application process, as well as conference registration details, is available at http://www.doleta.gov/h-1b/.

return to the top of this page

Providence, R.I., Undertakes Initiative to Jumpstart Economy
Providence was listed among the top 50 cities in the U.S. in which to do business in a June issue of Forbes Magazine. Now, a new initiative to jumpstart economic development in the Rhode Island capital is aimed at solidifying the ranking.

Providence Mayor David Cicilline announced on July 1 the creation of the initiative in an effort to position Providence among the nation's best cities in terms of economic development. Under the initiative, the Providence Economic Development Partnership (PEDP) will be established as a public-private partnership to provide services ranging from logistical support for start-ups to loans for new and existing businesses.

The initiative also will implement the strategies outlined in Building Providence’s Creative and Innovative Economy, a report by the Providence Foundation, the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council and New Commons, Inc. Five industry clusters – biomedical research, knowledge creation, design and business innovation, technology-IT and creative elements, and arts and culture – power Providence's economy, according to the report.

It is the synergy of these industry clusters, and the co-location of these industries in Providence, that can create job growth and business development, Mayor Cicilline said in a press statement. The creative professionals in the five clusters represent 18 percent of the jobs in Providence, with 20,000 jobs anchoring another 40,000 jobs in the other sectors, to account for 54 percent of all jobs in Providence.

Building Providence’s Creative and Innovative Economy builds on the city's strengths, highlighting 52 projects for implementation over the next five years. Among the projects — grow Providence's scientific research capacity through its research institutions. Specifically, the report calls for increased support of Brown University's computer science, biomedical research, public health, brain science, and materials and manufacturing science research programs.

The report goes on to name such challenges as commercializing research more rapidly, facilitating improved access to capital and reducing the brain drain in Providence. The full report is available at: http://www.ripolicy.org/resources/index.asp?cat=4

Mayor Cicilline will chair PEDP. An extensive search for PEDP Executive Director is expected.

return to the top of this page

Kauffman Foundation Challenges Universities to Institutionalize Entrepreneurship
The Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City announced on Monday it will award grants of up to $5 million to 5-7 U.S. universities to make entrepreneurship education a common and accessible campus-wide opportunity. The Foundation works with partners to encourage entrepreneurship across America.

In June, the Foundation chose 15 universities out of 30 schools invited to demonstrate interest by developing a preliminary concept to compete in the Kauffman Campuses initiative. Each of the 15 universities selected was awarded a $50,000 planning grant to assist with the development of a comprehensive proposal to be presented this December. At that time, 5-7 universities will be awarded grants of up to $5 million, each based on their creativity and commitment to make entrepreneurship training and experiences available across college departments and to students of diverse disciplines. Universities also must demonstrate their ability to raise matching funds.

The Kauffman Campuses initiative builds on the Foundation's 10-year history of advancing entrepreneurship, which has included support of entrepreneurship education efforts at hundreds of U.S. colleges and universities. While more than 1,500 colleges and universities offer some form of entrepreneurship training, the goal of the Kauffman Campuses initiative is to transform campus life so that entrepreneurship is an integral and natural part of the college experience.

The 15 universities selected to compete for the multi-million-dollar grants include: Florida International University, Howard University, Purdue University, Syracuse University, University of California-San Diego, University of Illinois, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, University of Memphis, University of New Mexico, University of North Carolina, University of Rochester, University of Texas-El Paso, University of Wisconsin, Wake Forest University, and Washington University.

More information on the Kauffman Foundation is available at http://www.kauffman.org/.

return to the top of this page

Innovations Guide Offers Keys to Long-term Growth for Rural Regions
A new book released by the Sierra Business Council (SBC), Investing for Prosperity, suggests new ways for rural regions to achieve long-term prosperity. The 148-page guide brings together many of the latest innovations rural communities across North America are using to grow their economies, improve their towns and build their social capital.

SBC, a nonprofit organization that promotes the Sierra Nevada region, finds that communities in the Sierra Nevada can diversify and expand their economies in ways that were not possible over the last 150 years, thanks to new technologies and the market premium put on the Sierra's natural assets and livable communities. The same finding applies to many other fast-growing rural regions in America, including New England and the Pacific Northwest.

The product of three years of research, Investing for Prosperity includes 44 case studies and a resource list for more information. The guide recommends four integrated strategies to help rural communities build long-term wealth:

The Sierra – stretching from Plumas to Kern counties – is California's third fastest growing region, behind the San Joaquin Valley and San Diego. To download Chapter 1 or to purchase Investing for Prosperity in its entirety, visit SBC at: http://www.sbcouncil.org/publications.asp

return to the top of this page

Useful Stats: NIH Awards by State 1998-2002
In response to recent requests from SSTI sponsors and affiliates, SSTI has compiled a table summarizing total funding distributed within states in the form of grants and awards by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The table <http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/071103t.htm> includes total amounts and state rankings for NIH awards for each of the years 1998-2002.

States are presented in rank order by the percent change for the five-year period. The greatest gains were posted in Idaho (760.86 percent), North Dakota (510.09 percent), South Dakota (424.25 percent), Wyoming (283.59 percent) and Alaska (281.65 percent). Despite the significant growth, these states still hold the five lowest rankings in 2002, as they did in varying order for each of the five years. In fact, no state moved more than three rankings up or down from 1998 to 2002, although there was slightly wider variation in the mid-years. The only movement in the top 14 rankings for the five years occurred in 2002 when Ohio and Illinois flipped positions, ranking 9 and 10 respectively.

Reviewing the results in order of percent change over 1998-2002, reveals some broader geographic distribution of NIH funding. Total NIH awards grew substantially during the period, increasing by 70.02 percent. While every state received more NIH funding in 2002 than in 1998, states above the U.S. total on the table can be seen as increasing their share, relative to NIH's overall growth. Conversely, states below the line "lost" share. Seven of the top 11 states fall below NIH's performance. These seven held 43.11 percent of the total NIH awards in 1998 and only 40.60 percent in 2002.

NIH provides detailed award statistics and information on the website of the Office of Extramural Research: http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/award/awardtr.htm  Information for the SSTI Useful Stats table can be found under the Current Data section in the Geographic Area.

return to the top of this page

People and Organizational News

The first director of the new Automation Alley Technology Center will be Thomas Anderson.

Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns has appointed Richard Baier as the state's first rural development director. Baier will work closely with the new Nebraska Rural Development Commission.

Colorado State Representative Tim Fritz is resigning his seat to become director of Colorado's Office of Aerospace and Aeronautics.

John Hansen is the new Secretary of Technology for the State of Colorado. Hansen retains his position as Chief Technology Officer as well.

Gwinnett County (GA) Commission Chairman Wayne Hill is the new president of the National Association of Regional Councils.

The Indiana Proteomics Consortium has changed its name to Inproteo.

New York Ecomm has changes its name to The Executive Council of New York to better reflect the organization's broader membership and program offerings.

David Quam is the new director of state-federal relations for the National Governors Association.

Phillip Z. Sobocinski has accepted a new position as Assistant Director of the new Office of Corporate Relations in the Office of the Chancellor, University of Wisconsin-Madison. The new initiative will be led by Charles Hoslet.

Spokane Economic Development Council president Mark Turner has announced his resignation.

Jeff Wadsworth has been named the next director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Wadsworth was a former deputy director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Larry Willard, president of the University of New Mexico Board of Regents, is leaving the position to become chairman of the New Mexico Economic Development Corp.

return to the top of this page

State Science & Technology Institute
5015 Pine Creek Drive
Westerville, OH  43081
Phone: (614) 901-1690
Fax: (614) 901-1696
Email: ssti@ssti.org

© 2003 State Science and Technology Institute. All rights reserved.