In the April 2, 2007 Issue:

Copyright State Science & Technology Institute 2007. 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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ATP Announces Details on Competition, Proposers’ Conferences
Approximately $60 million is expected to be available under a new Advanced Technology Program (ATP) competition to support high-risk industrial R&D projects, the program announced today.

As part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, ATP offers funding for specific research projects by individual companies or industry-led joint ventures to accelerate the development of innovative technologies. Multiyear awards are made on a cost-shared basis for technically challenging, high-risk research that has the potential for broad national benefit. The program encourages path-breaking research on emerging or enabling technologies that lead to revolutionary new products and industrial processes and services that address national priorities and generate large societal benefits.
 
A single company can receive a total of up to $2 million for R&D activities over a three-year period. For single-company recipients, ATP funds may only be used to pay direct costs. A joint venture can receive funds for R&D activities for up to five years, with no funding limitation other than available funds.
 
Projects are selected in a competitive, peer-reviewed process. Project proposals must be submitted to ATP by 3 p.m. Eastern time, on Monday, May 21, 2007.
 
To provide potential applicants with general information regarding the program, tips on preparing proposals, and the opportunity for questions and answers, ATP is holding five public Proposers’ Conferences on April 13, 2007, in Gaithersburg, Md.; on April 16, 2007, in Detroit; on April 18, 2007, in Boston, and Los Angeles; and on April 20, 2007, in Austin. There is no registration fee, and applicants are not required to attend one of these conferences. The April 13 Proposers' Conference in Gaithersburg will be webcast.
 
Full information on the 2007 ATP competition and conferences is available at http://www.atp.nist.gov/atp/helpful.htm.

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New Mexico Legislature: Tax Credits, Energy Initiatives among Successes of 2007 Regular Session
With the close of its 2007 regular session, the New Mexico State Legislature wrapped up "one of the most productive sessions in state history." Those were the words of Gov. Bill Richardson, following the legislature's adjournment last month. The governor had outlined a number of economic development and energy initiatives in his 2007 State of the State Address that he hoped would be brought to bear (see the Jan. 15, 2007 issue of the Digest). While not all of the initiatives were realized during the regular session, there were a few victories providing the governor cause to celebrate:

Another development resulting from the regular session is the creation of a new Workforce Solutions Department that would oversee programs currently run by other agencies. House Bill 1280 "transfers all functions, personnel, appropriations, property, contractual obligations, etc. from the Labor Department and the Office of Workforce Training and Development to the new department, effective July 1, 2007." The legislature also passed two bills designed to encourage business activity. The bills would maintain a number of incentives enacted in earlier sessions, including:

One education item of note, the New Mexico State Legislature passed House Bill 220 -- legislation that creates a math and science advisory council and creates a math and science proficiency fund. The bill appropriates $3 million from the state's general fund to the math and science proficiency fund to support summer math, science and reading institutes. Another $620,000 is targeted "to the public education department to work with national laboratories, other federal science-related facilities, and science and technology businesses to create internships; and to work with the institutions of higher education and the mathematics and science advisory council to increase the rigor of mathematic and science teacher preparation courses."

The extent to which the legislature addressed New Mexico’s water problems - a concern Gov. Richardson expressed in his 2007 State of the State Address - is unclear to SSTI. Press reports indicate the legislature approved $45 million for water and wastewater projects; however, the governor had called for a "Water Innovation Fund to inspire and invest in the latest technological breakthroughs" and no mention of it is made. Repeated requests for more information on the fund were unanswered as of press time.

To see other proposals passed, the governor called for a special session that began on March 20. However, twice senators have quickly voted to adjourn.

Bills cited in this article may be accessed through the New Mexico State Legislature at http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/. A list of bills acted on by Gov. Richardson is available at: http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/legRpt/legisreports15dis.asp

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Reports Examine Two States' Experience with Economic Incentives
Incentive packages to attract companies are nothing new in economic development. In recent years, though, incentives have been used to recruit technology companies, and these incentive packages are growing in scope and complexity, with some in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Two recent reports that take a close look at experiences in North Carolina and Iowa may be of interest to communities and states using incentive packages to recruit companies to their area.
 
North Carolina
In 2004, Dell accepted an incentive package to build a computer assembly plant in North Carolina. With the state’s contribution over a 15-year period valued at $242 million, plus an additional $40 million provided by its counties, the North Carolina Department of Commerce argued the package was reasonable because the investments would stimulate 8,086 jobs. Researchers at the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center and the Corporation for Enterprise Development analyzed the incentive package, however, noting differences between North Carolina’s offer and Virginia’s $37 million offer for the same project. Virginia believed its project would yield 4,113 jobs while North Carolina’s investment would nearly double this number, they found.

In their report, Getting Our Money’s Worth? An Evaluation of the Economic Model Used for Awarding State Business Subsidies, the researchers conclude that North Carolina's offer to Dell was overly generous, with fiscal impacts three times higher than those of other projections. The researchers attribute the high fiscal impacts to weaknesses in the model North Carolina used to make its projections and a reliance upon excessive sales estimates provided by Dell. Following corrections to the model, the report estimates North Carolina will lose $72 million in revenue from the deal rather than gain $707 million, as the state predicted. The researchers suggest similar generous offers may be widespread, noting preliminary findings of 31 other projects in the state’s Job Development Investment Grants program.
 
While the researchers caution that no projections are 100 percent correct, including their own, they provide recommendations to improve future practices, including:

Getting Our Money’s Worth? is available at:
http://www.cfed.org/imageManager/_documents/getting_our_moneys_worth.pdf
 
Iowa
Another examination of employment projections recently was performed in Iowa. The state auditor of Iowa claimed that, of the 30,732 jobs the Iowa Department of Economic Development reported to have been pledged between July 2003 and June 2006, only 14,285 jobs were included in contracts signed between the department and the businesses receiving funds. Additionally, the auditor evaluated the effectiveness of the Grow Iowa Values Fund, stating that while contracts were signed to create 343 jobs and retain 52 existing jobs, as of June 2006 only 80 jobs were created and 28 existing jobs were retained. The difference may illustrate either unrealized employment or just a time lag between jobs pledged and jobs created.
 
In response to the audit, the Iowa Department of Economic Development said that no wrongdoing had occurred, but that improvements can be made in the methodology the state uses to track and report employment figures which are subsidized by various funding mechanisms. The department proposed several corrective actions, including:

The Iowa State Auditor’s report on the Grow Iowa Values Fund can be found at:
http://auditor.iowa.gov/specials/ValueFund.pdf

Links to both reports and more than 4,500 additional TBED-related research reports, strategic plans and other papers also can be found at the Tech-based Economic Development (TBED) Resource Center, jointly developed by the Technology Administration and SSTI, at http://www.tbedresourcecenter.org/.

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Department of Education Announces Major Changes in Federal Financial Aid
The Department of Education is beginning to implement the first wave of initiatives based on the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Department Secretary Margaret Spellings recently met with national leaders to discuss the recommendations of the commission's report, released in September 2006. Secretary Spellings emphasized the federal government's commitment to cooperating with states in order to create an educational system tailored to the 21st century economy and the needs of students.
 
Among the announcements is the unveiling of a new online tool to simplify the federal financial aid process. FAFSA4caster will help simplify the process of filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and will provide users with an early estimate of a student's aid package. The site is the department's first step toward solving some of the problems with the financial aid system pointed out by the commission, which found that many students were discouraged from pursuing a college degree because of financial uncertainty. In the near future, the department plans to partner with states to use existing income and tax data to help students complete the FAFSA and to ensure that high school students can obtain financial aid estimates before the spring of their senior year.
 
Three states have volunteered to take part in a pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of FAFSA4caster and to develop consumer information websites that help parents and students find out more about higher education options. The department plans to help Kentucky, Florida, and Minnesota build websites that will allow consumers to compare data from the colleges and universities in their state. The pilot effort will place a particular emphasis on providing information to nontraditional and underserved populations of potential students.

Last year's report found that current admissions and financial aid practices alienate many adults considering a return to school. These consumers often face a difficult a more decision about whether or not to enroll because of other financial responsibilities. By using FAFSA4caster and the new websites to obtain an earlier estimate of their FAFSA award, adult students may be able to make a more informed financial decision about enrollment.
 
Secretary Spellings also announced the department's agenda for higher education reform over the next few months. Top priorities include:

Read Secretary Spelling's remarks at: http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/03/03222007.html

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Useful Stats
2004 Federal R&D Obligations Per Capita to Universities and Colleges
Elaborating on last week's "Useful Stats" article (see the March 26, 2007 issue of the Digest), SSTI has created a table of federal R&D obligations standardized by state population for each of the five years from 2000 to 2004 and ranked by five-year percent change.
 
The National Science Foundation data show that, in 2004, the District of Columbia led the nation in federal R&D obligations per capita at $324.72, followed by Maryland ($249.03), Massachusetts ($208.52), Hawaii ($134.50), Connecticut ($131.79) and Vermont ($131.62).
 
Nationally, federal R&D obligations increased by 32.39 percent over the five-year period, averaging $80 per person in 2004. Hawaii experienced the largest increase in per capita federal R&D obligations at 100.45 percent, with North Dakota (83.02 percent), Nebraska (81.62 percent), Tennessee (68.56 percent) and Kentucky (57.33 percent) rounding out the top five.
 
SSTI's table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/040207t.htm

Did you know?
One of the most used features of our website is an archive of past "Useful Stats" articles, available at www.ssti.org/Digest/Indices/usefulstats.htm. This section has direct links to the information and tables found in past SSTI Weekly Digest issues. 

The following is a sample of the more than 100 "Useful Stats" available:

In fact, all Digest issues are available in the Digest Overview section of our website at www.ssti.org/Digest/digest.htm.

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SSTI Co-sponsoring Two Conferences of Note
SSTI is partnering with other organizations to sponsor two conferences that will be of interest to the TBED community: the Regional Workforce Education & Training Best Practices Conference put on by the ASME Center for Engineering Entrepreneurship & Innovation and the Internationalization of Regional Innovation organized by the European-based Technopolicy Network.
 
The ASME Center for Engineering Entrepreneurship & Innovation is holding the first in a series of Regional Workforce Education & Training Best Practices Conference for the science, engineering, and technology community. The purpose of the conference will be to highlight, educate, and provide awareness on workforce education and training best practices in the Economic Development Administration’s Philadelphia Region.
 
The conference will take place at the Philadelphia Marriott on May 18, 2007.
 
The conference will address linking the most innovative regional programs in place to support the educational and career pathways of high school students, university and college graduates, first-job holders, individuals changing jobs, and adult learners.
 
For more information please visit www.asme.org/events/workforce or contact Ben Johnston at johnstonb@asme.org or 202-785-7384.
 
Internationalization of Regional Innovation, organized by the European-based Technopolicy Network, will cover international aspects relevant to science-based regional development and focus on international strategies and cooperation. The conference is being held on June 7-8, 2007, at the Sheraton Premiere at Tysons Corner in Fairfax, Va.
 
Information on the conference can be found at http://www.technopolicy.net/conferences.php?conference=washington.
 
As a sponsor of this conference, SSTI is able to offer a discount of $200 (US) off the normal registration fees. To make use of this offer, please fill in the code “TPN-SSTI” on the registration form in the conference brochure or complete the online registration with this code on http://www.technopolicy.net/formulier/registrationfairfax.html.

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