In the September 11, 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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Transforming Regional Economies: The Essence of Tech-Based Economic Development
Incubators and accelerators. Angel, seed and venture capital. Research parks. University and industry research. Technology licensing and commercialization. Entrepreneurship assistance. R&D tax credits. Technology workforce development. Regional technology councils. Manufacturing extension. Science and technology advisers.

While all have specific functions, collectively, when supported by public funds, these activities are working toward a single goal of transforming a regional economy to be more competitive in the knowledge-driven global market for innovation and growth.

These are not the same components used for traditional economic development approaches that strive to improve or maintain economic vitality of a geographic area. Technology-Based Economic Development is driven to improve the standard of living of the residents and businesses of an area while simultaneously increasing their capacity to generate new opportunities for wealth creation into the future through targeted strategies and investments focused on encouraging a combination of knowledge, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

How well TBED programs work together depends on many variables, not the least important is the degree to which they embrace concepts of cooperation, partnership, integration, and unity in vision. Often, this shared interest for transforming the local or state economy gets lost in petty turf issues, lack of community leadership, overlapping services, isolation, battles for limited financial resources, political power struggles, and competing needs for recognition or public credit. The full economic benefit or impact of public investments to encourage growth through science and technology can remain unrealized as a result. SSTI knows, sadly, that the majority of Digest readers will be able to think of at least one segment of their own local, regional or state strategy that suffers as a result of these types of problems.

Fortunately, there is a solution.

There is a single place, a single event, a single phenomenon even, each year at which the leadership and staff from the complete spectrum of programs and practices dedicated to transforming regional economies share common experiences, insights and approaches. During much of the year they may be dedicated to their specific function or role or "silo" of tech-based economic development, but collectively they form a national community dedicated to advancing innovation-based economic growth. For a few days this fall, most of the top 300-350 TBED practitioners and policy makers will convene in Oklahoma City to improve the ability of each participant to positively transform their regional economies through science and technology, research and development, innovation and entrepreneurship.

The event is SSTI's 10th Annual Conference. The dates are Nov. 1-2. The place is the Oklahoma City Convention Center. The participants will be drawn from the full-spectrum of the tech-based economic development practice from across the country - last year, TBED leaders from 47 states were present. It is the only event that draws such a wide cross-section of the TBED community and, as a result, provides the premiere professional development opportunity of the year for launching, re-energizing, or improving the TBED talents of your state, region, university or locality.

We invite you to join your peers at this special event. Attendance will be limited to ensure the high quality of interaction, dialogue and community past participants have grown to expect from SSTI's annual conference. More information, including a registration form is available at: http://www.ssti.org/conference06.htm

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Something for Every TBED-er in Final SSTI Conference Agenda
Sometimes quality takes longer to achieve than we'd like, but your patience paid off as SSTI has assembled one of our finest slates of sessions yet to anchor the 10th annual conference, Nov. 1-2, in Oklahoma City. Providing the core of the conference, the 24 sessions are structured to allow ample discussion time among participants, something we're told sets SSTI's conferences apart from the rest of the field.

Additionally, SSTI uses a two-stage survey process each summer to develop the conference agenda rather than having the agenda set by invitation or call for papers many months in advance. The result is all topics to be discussed were ranked as being of highest interest or most pressing need by SSTI's sponsors and affiliates -- your peers from around the country! Given the breadth and diversity of interests and perspectives present among SSTI's membership, the slate of sessions is assured to offer at least one topic of interest for nearly every component of the TBED community during each of the six time slots offering concurrent breakout sessions. In many cases there will be multiple sessions you'd like to attend, making the team-approach the best way to participate. Bringing multiple members of your state of local TBED community will also enable you to better transform the excitement and new knowledge gained at the conference into a solid action plan when you return home.

The following is a list of the sessions. Full descriptions and lists of speakers are available online at: http://www.ssti.org/Conf06/schedule.htm

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Oklahoma City Offers Perfect Fit for SSTI's 10th Annual Conference
If there is ever an example of a city-region that can demonstrate the benefits of working as a team to transform its economy through all aspects of tech-based economic development, it would have to be the Oklahoma City area. And fortunately, the vibrant community is based in a state that both understands what is needed for transforming an economy from being natural resource-based to knowledge-driven and is matching talk with real money.

Whether they realize it or not, several state and regional TBED programs around the country owe their structure and existence to the pioneering TBED work done in Oklahoma since the 1980s. Much of the portfolio of programs offered through OCAST, its private sector partner I2E, the Oklahoma Alliance for Excellence in Manufacturing, and the "Oklahoma model" for increasing equity capital availability has been replicated around the country.

The Sooner State may have developed successful comprehensive TBED strategies sooner than the rest of the country, but its residents aren't afraid to share their successes, their lessons learned and their current challenges with their peers from around the country. We will be drawing on this expertise and this candor throughout the conference.

Oklahoma City fully embodies this year's conference theme Transforming Regional Economies. But don't take our word for it, check out: http://www.ssti.org/Conf06/amenities.htm

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Maximize Your Professional Development Dollars with Pre-conference Options
On Oct. 31, SSTI will offer four exciting options as pre-conference activities. Registration is separate from the full conference fee. Seating for each will be limited.

Turning Innovations into Enterprises: A Practitioner's Guide to Technology Commercialization
A name and face familiar to many SSTI members, Dr. Randy Goldsmith, president of the Mississippi Technology Alliance, brings his internationally popular technology commercialization workshop to this years SSTI pre-conference in a half-day format especially designed for TBED professionals. The Goldsmith Technology Commercialization Model has been adopted by NASA and by economic development organizations in the United Kingdom, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky and elsewhere.

Through this interactive workshop, Dr. Goldsmith will introduce you to assessment tools, a step-by-step process and financing resources that can help your clients achieve their business objectives. You will identify key milestones, ask critical questions, estimate costs, and determine an entrepreneur's strengths and weaknesses. Based on his extensive technology commercialization experience in the private, public and university sectors, Dr. Goldsmith will share proven strategies and practical tools to help your regions entrepreneurs turn technology innovations into successful enterprises.

Transforming a Regional Economy: Moving Forward Together
How does a medium-sized city in a small state accomplish big things? How was a down-at-the-heels tract of urban landscape transformed into a 27-acre research park featuring a seven-building complex with 600,000 sq. ft. of Class A wet lab space and a 97 percent occupancy rate? How did the city convince its citizens to support one of the largest capital improvement projects in the country one that has already yielded more than $2.4 billion in public and private investment? This full-day session will provide answers and insights from the key players in the initiatives that have radically transformed the face of the community.

In the morning, participants will travel to the Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park. The complex's master plan calls for the construction of 10 buildings, raising the total research and office space to more than 1 million sq. ft. Working in cooperation with federal, state and local agencies, the park is a collaborative alliance including businesses, government and higher education. It is strategically located near the Oklahoma Health Center to create a synergism of research science and commercialization. Through interactive sessions with the city and states bioscience leadership, participants will learn the inside story of how vision, leveraging resources, and a spirit of collaboration resulted in one of the most important economic drivers in central Oklahoma.

Following lunch at the Research Park, participants will depart for a tour of Oklahoma City's MAPS projects. Guided by former Oklahoma City mayor Kirk Humphries, the tour will highlight the new and upgraded sports, recreation, entertainment, cultural and convention facilities funded through MAPS. The projects began in 1993, when voters approved the MAPS sales tax, and were completed in 2004. Oklahoma City is the first city in the country to undertake a public facility enhancement project of this size. All projects are now complete and paid off.

As a result of MAPS, downtown Oklahoma City has seen more than $2.5 billion in new public and private development. The initial investment has spurred millions of dollars in additional development, filling in voids and redeveloping underutilized land as housing, mixed use offices, and arts and entertainment facilities. MAPS was the catalyst for dramatically changing public perception and improving quality of life in downtown, which has developed into a vibrant 24/7 community with places to live, work and play.

TBED Program Evaluation: An Introduction
One of the hallmarks of effective TBED programs is that they evaluate what they do. But to do evaluation properly, you must consider why you are evaluating, what you are evaluating, and how best to do it. What tools and methods will generate the most appropriate and reliable metrics? What metrics are viable indicators of positive performance, and how should they be presented in order to have the most meaning for key stakeholders?

In this half-day session, we'll examine those basic but critical questions and consider approaches that some of the leading programs have used to evaluate their effectiveness and impact. Cathy Renault, program manager of technology-based economic development with RTI International in Research Triangle Park, N.C., will lead participants in this discussion of performance metrics fundamentals a good course for those new to TBED and a good refresher for anyone on how to successfully deal with a perennial challenge of TBED program management.

Introduction to Tech-based Economic Development
Gaining a good understanding of tech-based economic development (TBED) the approaches, vital elements, effective strategies, successful programs, proven policies, and important lessons learned from failures will make your efforts in the field more rewarding. Attendance is always limited to a small group to ensure each participant benefits from the personalized session walking away with a firm foundation for SSTI's full conference and for their TBED responsibilities back home.

In a format that is engaging, educational and enjoyable, participants will discover proven programs and policies for creating technology companies, financing high-tech firms, commercializing technology, and developing productive university-industry partnerships. Attend the session to find out what your peers and colleagues in successful communities and states are doing to build tech-based economies.

One reason the workshop sells out year after year is that it is led by two of the top names in our field: SSTI President and CEO Dan Berglund and Marsha Schachtel, senior fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins University. If you're new to the field, there is no better way to prepare for the caliber of discussion and content at SSTI's 10th Annual Conference than to attend this full-day, highly interactive workshop examining the fundamental elements of successful tech-based economic development.

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Opening Night Reception to Showcase Generosity, Spirit of Our Oklahoma Sponsors
On the evening of Oct. 31, SSTI's conference participants will be treated to a fun-filled evening of dinner, drinks, art, culture and entertainment thanks to the overwhelming generosity of the conference's 22 local hosts.The event will be held at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, a stunning 100 percent non-publicly funded cultural art museum and research center.

Whether you're unwinding after one of the intensive SSTI pre-conference workshops or just arriving in Oklahoma City, the Opening Reception affords a wonderful, relaxed environment to reconnect with colleagues and network with other conference attendees, speakers and our local hosts. Festivities will begin at 6:30 p.m. Shuttle transportation will be provided between the conference hotel and the museum beginning at 6:00 pm.

The sheer number of organizations that comprise our host team perfectly demonstrates Oklahoma truly understands competing in a global knowledge-based economy takes a team. The great social networking opportunity presented by the Opening Reception is made possibly entirely by the generosity and overwhelming hospitality of our great host sponsors, lead by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce:

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What to Expect at an SSTI Annual Conference
If you're new to SSTI's annual conferences, you're in for a treat when you join us in Oklahoma City, Nov. 1-2. Here's what you can expect:

If you have come before, you know that each year's agenda provides the newest perspectives, thinking and approaches to dealing with common problems, new issues and the latest trends and challenges facing your efforts to transform your regional economy.

Register today to attend SSTI's 10th Annual Conference, Transforming Regional Economies, at: https://www.ssti.org/Conf06/registration.htm

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