SSTI Digest

It's one thing to call your entrepreneurship education efforts the best, but it's another when more than 950 of your peers from around the country do. The entrepreneurship program at Harvard Business School (HBS) recently won the top award for MBA programs nationwide from the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), an organization devoted to entrepreneurship education and development. USASBE named Harvard Business School as its National Model MBA Program winner at the organization's annual conference in Dallas on Jan. 17-19.

A quick scan of most state innovation indices and report cards will reveal Massachusetts is on the short list for comparison of what others states would like to achieve. But a leadership spot in the innovation economy is not being taken for granted in the Commonwealth.

The dot-com crash and recession hit the state hard, leading Massachusetts Speaker Thomas M. Finneran last summer to recommend that Massachusetts invest more than $100 million toward several tech-based economic development (TBED) initiatives (see the July 11, 2003, issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest).

A new report from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) finds the federal government’s expanding investment in Homeland Security-related research is already proving a major boon to the high tech economy in Massachusetts, but the state’s overall leadership in federally-funded research and development (R&D) is under intensifying pressure from states throughout the country.

The MTC report tracks $3.3 billion in new federal funding for Homeland Security R&D to key industry clusters in Massachusetts and finds the most significant opportunities lie in the life sciences. Recent major grants (e.g. BU National Biocontainment Laboratory and the Harvard Medical School Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research) will strengthen the region’s existing assets in fields related to bio-terrorism defense and the detection, prevention and cure of infectious disease.

Robert Pozen, secretary of economic development for Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, announced his resignation, effective at the end of 2003.

The high tech economy of Massachusetts is emerging from the recent recession with its fundamental strengths in science, technology and entrepreneurship in good shape, according to the Executive Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy. Significant innovation in the state’s industries, however, is necessary to make up for the jobs lost since 2000, the index states.

Prepared annually by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC), the 32-page index shows that while the state’s fundamental strengths are in place, its competitive position as an innovator cannot be taken for granted. The index argues Massachusetts must look for new ways to enhance and improve its climate for innovation, given the accelerating national and international competition in research and development.

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney appointed Kathy Kottarodis to serve as the state’s first small business advocate. Kottarodis had been director of small business and entrepreneurship within the state’s office of business and technology.

Gov. Mitt Romney outlined a legislative package on Monday totaling $125 million designed to create more jobs. Many elements of the package target the science and technology communities.

Romney laid out the details of the jobs bill in a series of meetings with key business, labor and academic leaders, and with members of his Regional Competitiveness Councils, which are all-volunteer boards that guide economic development in different areas of the state.

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:

The Institute for Government Innovations has announced it is accepting applications for the 17th Annual Innovations in American Government Awards, ultimately to identify outstanding examples of creative problem solving in the public sector.

Innovations in American Government encompasses all levels of American government, focusing on domestic programs. Innovations that arise within defense and international agencies are eligible if they have significant domestic policy content, such as job training, base conversion, procurement reform, energy conservation or environmental protection. Weapons systems will not be considered.

The awards cycle consists of four rounds, which will result in 15 finalists. Five winners will be selected in May 2004 to receive $100,000 each.

Most practitioners who have been in the tech-based economic development field long enough know the presence of a strong research university can make the job much easier. New innovations and technologies to commercialize through licensing and spinoff companies, research facilities and experts to partner with local companies, and a constant supply of fresh graduates for the workforce are just a few of the benefits a research institution can offer the local and regional economy.

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney recently announced a plan to spur job growth in the state by tapping the expertise of area business, community and education leaders through Regional Competitiveness Councils. Six such councils will represent the Berkshires, Cape and Islands, Central, Northeast, Pioneer Valley and the Southeast regions of the state. The Greater Boston area, due its size and diversity, will be approached on a cluster basis by working through existing technology-focused organizations, such as the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.

Each of the six councils is comprised of about 25 members from fields ranging from financial services and health care to manufacturing and tourism. In addition, key elected officials have been named as ex-officio members. The councils have been charged with a set of first tasks to perform, including:

Many states and communities are focusing their limited technology-based economic development funds toward cluster development, concentrating on those sectors in which some assemblage already exists within the jurisdiction. Proponents of the approach suggest the public sector is able to maximize its investments in those areas already showing some strength.

But what does a state with a new governor do when it is one of the top states in the country for two of the sexier tech sectors – biotechnology and information technology – and public resources are growing more scarce?