SSTI Digest

Arizona's investment and technology communities are the anticipated winners from the state legislature's recent passage of a tax credit encouraging angel capital investments in start-up Arizona tech firms.

Senate Bill 1335 provides individual investors, limited partnerships or "S" corporations a 10 percent state tax credit per year for three years for investments in qualified technology companies. For investments in qualified biotech firms or for technology businesses located in rural areas, the credit climbs to 12 percent per year for two years and 11 percent the third year. Investments must be a minimum of $25,000 and only the first $250,000 of any investment is eligible for the tax credit.

Arizona must begin viewing medical and educational institutions as a major economic driver of the state economy in order to become a leader in the biosciences industry, according to a new report from the Arizona Board of Regents.

Instead of Arizona pouring millions of dollars into university research institutions as the only way to boost its bioscience sector, the report recommends the state first think differently about the "Meds and Eds" institutions and their impact on the economy. Arizona has held a narrow interpretation of these institutions in the past, and - rather than seeing them as separate entities - the state needs to view its institutions as collective assets that will help it advance, the author argues.

Two Southern Arizona tech councils, theInformation Technology Association of Southern Arizona and the Southern Arizona Industry and Aerospace Alliance, decided to merge to have the combined financial resources for a full-time executive director, according to the March 23 edition of the Tucson Citizen.

In January, Rhode Island's Tech Collective announced the creation of BioGroup, a subsidiary to focus on the needs of the state's life science industry. The new organization will serve as the state affiliate to the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).

The San Diego Regional Technology Alliance has become a component of CONNECT at the University of California-San Diego. Under the new name, RTA@CONNECT, the Alliance will focus on delivering training and entrepreneurial assistance services.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, State of the State Address, Jan. 10, 2005

"...I'll also ask for supplemental requests so we can become part of the e-corridor. We are one of the only Southern states that is not connected to the e-corridor, and it's vital to our long-term success and development. We'll also seek to provide more research dollars so we can see the incredible economic value that research provides for us."

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council announced Barry Broome will become the new president & CEO beginning in February.

Led by the Fort Myers-Cape Coral metro area, a burgeoning retirement and tourist destination on the state’s southwest coast, Florida landed seven of the top 15 metros in Milken Institute’s 2004 Best Performing Cities Index released last week. The others are West Palm Beach-Boca Raton (4th), Daytona Beach (5th), Sarasota-Bradenton (6th), Fort Lauderdale (9th), Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (12th) and Naples (15th).

The Milken index ranks the 200 largest U.S. metropolitan areas based on their ability to create and sustain jobs. It includes four measurements of technology output growth and one- and five-year measurements of employment and salary growth (see "Useful Stats" story below).

The National Technology Transfer Center named James Goulka as its new CEO. Goulka formerly was president and CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation in Scottsdale, AZ.

Ken Marcus is the new director of the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park.

An advocate for small businesses in Washington known as “Mr. Small Business,” Milton Stewart died of pneumonia on Nov. 5 in Phoenix.

With the goal of creating new access to venture capital (VC) for area businesses, Arizona and Montana are investing up to $50 million into a “fund of funds” concept. Both states are undertaking this multi-management model with the hopes of luring high-tech start-up companies. Their efforts are described in further detail below.

The number of business establishments in the U.S. grew by 17.4 percent between 1998 and the end of 2003, although a slight net decline occurred in 2003 for the first time in six years, according to data recently released by infoUSA.

In its analysis, infoUSA tabulated the number of business establishments in the U.S. at the end of each calendar year, describing an "establishment" as any small, medium or large business, division, brand, organization, association or government office with an assigned telephone number and paid employees.

The Omaha-based company has been compiling and updating the database of business establishments in the U.S. for the past 30 years, and updates the data regularly through more than 20 million phone calls to businesses throughout the U.S. and Canada.