In the June 26, 2006 Issue:

Copyright State Science & Technology Institute 2006. 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.

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 Oklahoma Legislative Session Ends Kindly for TBED
Nearly $300 Million Tagged for TBED
It took moving into a special session and negotiating a late deal between lawmakers and Gov. Brad Henry last week for the Oklahoma legislature to pass several bills related to the state's budget for fiscal year 2007, which begins this weekend. The final product includes several of the governor's top priorities for the state's portfolio of technology-based economic development initiatives, including $150 million for the new EDGE Research Endowment to support research, $95 million for research infrastructure improvements at the state's universities, and a 75 percent increase for the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST). The budget also cuts the state's top marginal income tax from 6.25 percent to 5.25 percent by 2010.

Three years in the making, EDGE (which stands for Economic Development Generating Excellence) was originally proposed as a $1 billion endowment to support strategically targeted research projects across the state. Legislation passed creates two oversight boards for EDGE. One that will oversee investment decisions is comprised solely of appointees of the governor, state auditor, speaker of the house and president pro tempore of the Senate. The other board will consist of seven appointees of the governor and will be responsible for developing the program's structure.

As the lead state agency for TBED, OCAST will receive an additional $10 million, bringing its FY 2007 budget to nearly $23 million. The additional funds will expand several of OCAST's current initiatives and allow the agency to launch efforts to increase seed capital availability in the state and to support nanotechnology applications.

In other action, House Bill 1619, the Oklahoma Quality Investment Act, allows the state to offer a total of $10 million in incentives to support the retention of manufacturing companies across the state. Manufacturers "at risk" of moving out of state or closing may receive payments for five years to offset up to 10 percent of the cost of capital expenditures to modernize their equipment and facilities.

House Bill 2690 authorizes the establishment of regional economic development authorities located within the boundaries of cities, towns or counties. These regional development authorities have the same powers of current transportation authorities in the planning, financing and constructing of regional economic development projects.

The other large economic development priority in Gov. Henry's 2006 State of the State Address also passed. House Bill 1169 creates and funds a $100 million Economic Opportunity Fund to help "close deals" for business retention, expansion and recruitment.

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Arizona Approves $35M Tech Fund; Strong Public Support for S&T
Making the single largest TBED related investment in its history, the Arizona legislature approved and Gov. Janet Napolitano signed the state's FY 2006-07 budget, which includes $35 million for the new Arizona 21st Century Competitive Initiative Fund. HB 2477 is the successor in concept to the Innovation Arizona fund proposed by Gov. Napolitano during her State-of-the-State Address earlier this year. The new fund will support scientific, medical and engineering research programs and infrastructure in targeted fields, particularly biosciences.

Despite its size, the $35 million investment is only 70 percent of the funding sought by bioscience groups and many legislators. The original bill called for $50 million during FY 2006-07 and $100 million over the next four years. An article in the Arizona Republic reports that the amount was scaled back despite private offers to match a larger state investment. State business groups, represented by the Greater Phoenix Leadership, continued to object to the allocation because it draws $15 million from the Arizona Job Training Fund for the coming year. Supporters maintain there are sufficient funds for both programs. The Governor's Office has said that the push for additional bioscience funding will continue in upcoming years.

In 2000, the state earmarked $1 billion over 20 years for university research and K-12 education through Proposition 301. Funding from that program has led to the establishment of advanced biodesign research facilities at the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University. The current measure will augment those efforts by attracting world-class researchers and funding technology commercialization at state universities.

A recent survey of Arizona residents reveals strong popular support for these statewide science and technology initiatives. The phone survey of 793 heads of households, conducted by the Morrison Institute at Arizona State University, concludes that regardless of age, gender or income, Arizonans expect science and technology to create high-paying jobs and drive economic development. According to the survey, 87 percent of Arizonans believe science and technology lead to the creation of high-paying jobs, and 84 percent think science and technology play important roles in economic development.

The report is good news for state business groups attempting to find political support for research funding. Sixty-three percent said that they were more likely to vote for candidates who place a high-priority on strengthening science and technology research. A majority of respondents indicated that they would be willing to support high-tech economic development initiatives, even if those efforts required additional taxes. The authors conclude that Arizonans view science and technology as vital to economic growth and are willing to support more targeted programs like the 21st Century Fund.

Read the results of the Morrison Institute survey at: http://www.asu.edu/copp/morrison/

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Ireland Committing $3.4B to Science, Technology & Innovation
Ireland, a country the geographic size of West Virginia and with only four million citizens, about the same as Kentucky, is launching a comprehensive strategy to significantly strengthen the nation's position in the knowledge economy by 2013. And it is investing 2.7 billion Euros by 2008 - or $3.4 billion U.S. - toward implementing more than 75 specific action items.

Released June 25 by Ireland's Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation presents the reasons for making such a sizable commitment as well as the areas to receive the targeted investment. For instance, in the area of delivering world class research, the island nation will expand its recent expenditures for its university research infrastructure with the goal of doubling the number of Ph.D. graduates by 2013.

Public research activities, those carried out or supported by the national government, will be expanded in research thrusts of: agriculture and food; health; environment; marine sciences; and energy.

In its comprehensive scope, the plan outlines action items for the rest of the TBED spectrum as well -- from science education to industrial R&D and commercialization assistance to intellectual property protection to international S&T collaboration to R&D tax credits.

Major investment areas to receive new funds include university research infrastructure (€640 million), enterprise support (€340 million), and research and commercialization programs (€900 million).

The strategy is available at: http://www.entemp.ie/publications/science/2006/sciencestrategy.pdf
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Filling a Gap in the Nation's High-Speed Networks
Summer is road construction season for much of the country. A necessary inconvenience for maintaining our transportation system because connectivity is a fundamental requirement for commerce. For two parties to exchange goods, services or knowledge, they have to be able to find each other. The location and capacity of transportation infrastructures - sea ports, railways and interstate highways - very much determines the opportunity for and extent of economic growth. In a knowledge-based global economy, fiber connectivity is increasingly critical for supporting a regional innovation structure.

The emergence in the late 1990s of the concept of a Digital Divide - the separation of those populations with Internet/Web access and those without - helped solidify thinking that all Americans need access to these information tools for the nation to remain a global leader for innovation and worker productivity. While the goals of eliminating issues of accessibility are tailored around education, information sharing and commerce, for many people, the Internet has devolved into simply another entertainment delivery system.

Even as most of us are downloading Connie Chung's farewell song or World Cup scores, there are those, fortunately, using the Web to advance scientific discovery, learning and technological innovation. For heavy duty use, universities, federal labs, private companies and other research institutions have established separate networks such as the National Lambda Rail, the Abilene Network Backbone and vBNS for supercomputers.

The latest addition to this exclusive high-speed, high-power networking world comes from Internet2's June 15 announcement with Level 3 Communications to develop and deploy the Next Generation Nationwide Research Network, which will offer 100 gigabit per second capacity -- more than 10 times that of the current Internet 2 backbone network.

None of these systems have the drag on their speed and performance by all of our instant messaging and music downloads, because they are exclusive members-only networks. Membership is typically open to research entities that can demonstrate the need, have the financial resources to participate, and are near the hardwire cable infrastructure, or backbone of the selected network.

Therein lies the similarity of the nation's top networks and the transportation infrastructure issues of the more arcane economic development world. If you aren't on the line, you can't benefit directly from the network. Just as those regions underserved by the Interstate highway system are at a competitive disadvantage for many avenues for economic prosperity, those universities and research intensive tech firms away from the highest-speed information networks are at an innovation disadvantage.

A quick look at maps showing the infrastructure for the National Lambda Rail, vBNS, and Abilene Network Backbone reveals similarities in their service lines - and obvious, recurring areas of the country that are not served at all.

Universities and federal labs in the largest geographic area of no service, the Upper Midwest and Inland Northwest, are forming the Norther Tier Networking Consortium to revise the maps. With a $200,000 planning grant from the National Science Foundation, the consortium is in its early stages of formalization. So far, 21 members have signed the letter of agreement, including:

   * EROS Data Center, US Geological Survey (Sioux Falls)
   * Iowa State University
   * Minnesota Higher Education Services
   * Montana State University
   * North Dakota State University
   * Pacific Northwest GigaPoP
   * Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
   * State of North Dakota Information Technology Department
   * State of South Dakota Board of Regents
   * South Dakota State University
   * Turtle Mountain Community College
   * University of Idaho
   * University of Iowa
   * University of Minnesota
   * University of Montana
   * University of Nebraska
   * University of North Dakota
   * University of South Dakota
   * University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
   * University of Wisconsin-Madison
   * WiscNet Regional Network

The University of Wyoming also is a possible future partner. Depending on options chosen and how many sites are connected, the projects price tag is anywhere from $5.3 million to $8.8 million in one-time charges, and about $900,000 up to $1.5 million for annual ongoing expenses. The closest hubs to access the network are located at Chicago, Kansas City and Denver.

In addition to the NSF grant, the consortium is pursuing other federal grants and appropriations from the various state legislatures, to help cover some of the projects costs. However, Jewett acknowledged that state and federal appropriations would likely be necessary to cover the networks total cost.

More information is available at: http://www.ntnc.org/default.htm

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Useful Stats
2003 Federal Obligations per S&E Graduate Student by State
A new National Science Foundation (NSF) report shows graduate enrollment in S&E increased by 4.2 percent from 2002, reaching a record high of 474,203 students in fall 2003. Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in S&E: Fall 2003 presents the distribution of graduate students in science and engineering (S&E) by academic fields, demographics, institution and state. Data contained in the report represent estimates of S&E enrollment from 12,261 graduate departments at 591 institutions in the U.S. and outlying areas.

Using the report and NSF's data on 2003 federal R&D obligations to academic institutions, SSTI has prepared a table ranking federal R&D obligations per S&E graduate student by state. Results show Vermont led the nation in federal R&D obligations at $137.89 per student in 2003. Maryland ranked second with federal R&D obligations per student at $121.37, followed by Alaska ($97.57), New Hampshire ($96.01) and Washington ($93.93).

Conversely, West Virginia ranked lowest in the nation at $17.80 in federal R&D obligations per student. Puerto Rico followed closely at $18.25 per student, with Kansas ($20.81), Idaho ($21.46) and the District of Columbia ($22.32) rounding off the final five.

The SSTI table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/062606t.htm

Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in S&E: Fall 2003: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf06307/

Federal S&E Support to Universities, Colleges, and NPOs: FY 2003: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf06309/

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Job Corner
SSTI Seeks Policy Analyst
SSTI, a growing nonprofit organization serving the nation's tech-based economic development (TBED) community, seeks a policy analyst to research and prepare reports, articles and papers on TBED and assist with SSTI events. Excellent research abilities, strong writing and verbal skills and solid understanding of government are required. Candidates must have ability to work independently or as part of a committed team and be dedicated to creating a quality product. Those with a passion for economic development and/or government will have an edge. Salary commensurate with experience. Position located in Westerville, OH. Send cover letter, resume, and list of references to: SSTI, Human Resources; 5015 Pine Creek Dr., Westerville, OH 43081 http://www.ssti.org or via e-mail to hr@ssti.org.

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People

George Burrell is the new president and CEO of Innovation Philadelphia.

Randy Goldsmith, is the new president and CEO of the Mississippi Technology Alliance. Goldsmith formerly was Assistant Vice President for Technology Transfer and Economic Development at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio.

Krista Paternostro is the new vice president of operations at the Pittsburgh Technology Council.

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Digest, Funding Supplement Take Fourth of July Break
This week's Funding Supplement will be sent on Thursday, June 29. With the Fourth of July holiday, neither the SSTI Weekly Digest or Funding Supplement will be published next week.

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