SSTI Digest

President Clinton has announced his nomination of Dr. Mildred S. Dresselhaus to serve as Director of Energy Research at the Department of Energy. Dr. Dresselhaus is currently a professor in the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Established in 1978 and entirely self-supported beginning in 1988, the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) has one of the longest records of success for state-sponsored venture capital corporations. SSTI has completed an eight-page profile of MTDC as the fourth in an occasional series examining the diversity of approaches to technology-based economic development. The MTDC profile includes background on the creation of the corporation, description of MTDC activities and funds, information concerning organizational structure and staffing, a summary of accomplishments, and lessons learned over MTDC's 22 year history. Challenges, future plans, and sample success stories are also highlighted in the Program Brief. Other SSTI Program Briefs have been prepared on the Kansas Commercialization Centers, the California Regional Technology Alliances, and the Maryland Investment Financing Programs. All four program briefs may be downloaded for free from the SSTI web site: http://www.ssti.org/Publications/online.htm

Efforts to transform rural Berkshire County, Massachusetts from an area of economic decline into an equal player for the New Economy through improved telecommunications access are bearing fruit. Berkshire Connect, a consortium of business, cultural, academic, and community leaders has successfully negotiated an agreement with Global Crossing, Ltd. and Equal Access Networks to provide low-cost, equal access telecommunications throughout the region. This agreement will allow area businesses to save 50% over their current rates for T-1 Internet access. Equal Access Networks and Global Crossing, Ltd. have agreed to invest several million dollars into the construction of a new facility designed to house voice, Internet, data, and video telecommunications services. This introduction of competition into the Berkshire market is expected to improve the cost, quality, and service offered throughout the county. It is also expected to encourage growth and educational development through the use of the new, improved telecommunications services. The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) and…

The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) has released its third annual Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy. The report tracks and explores the implications of 30 performance indicators on the long-term growth and stability of the Massachusetts economy. When statistics are available, Massachusetts is compared to its “leading competitor states” of California, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. This year’s report includes a special analysis of electronic commerce in Massachusetts. The section highlights policy implications of e-commerce and proposes several recommendations for industry, academia, and government. After preparing the Index for three years, MTC offers two new sections which demonstrate the relationship or relevance of the Index to state science, technology and development policies. “Lessons from the Index” highlights the strengths and weaknesses found through the process. “Implications for Action” focuses on three  concerns for future policy development: a continued shortfall of skilled workers in the face of an extremely tight…

Curious who will shape technological innovation in 21st century? Technology Review magazine has developed for the first time a list of the top 100 innovators under the age of 35. The list, nicknamed the TR100, was compiled by a panel of 24 judges including 3 Nobel laureates, 2 university presidents, and representatives of scientific and research organizations, businesses, venture capitalists, and the media. Apart from who the TR100 are and their expertise, the project led the panel judges and Technology Review writers to recognize two emerging themes: the increasing scale of technology collaborations and the growing ease with which innovators move between academia and the private sector. Both trends tie in closely with many of the activities or aspirations of state science and technology programs. In many cases for the TR 100, the traditional role of university-industry partnerships have evolved into more fluid and much more dynamic relationships than those of recent history. Creating environments within academic institutions, nonprofit research…

The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) seeks proposals that support innovation, invention, and entrepreneurship programs in U.S. colleges and universities. Through December 1999, NCIIA will award $400,000 in grants to faculty and students of member institutions. The next deadline is December 15, 1999. The NCIIA is interested in proposals for courses and projects which further the concept of E-Teams. E-Teams (the "E" stands for "excellence" and "entrepreneurship") are groups of students, faculty, and professionals who join together to pursue the development of an idea, product, or invention, or to solve a problem in a way that has the promise of developing an enterprise that will generate jobs and social benefits. NCIIA offers two types of grants: E-Team Course and Program Development Grants. Grants ranging from $2,000 to $50,000 will be awarded to support the development, implementation, and institutionalization of new courses and programs in which student teams will develop innovative, entrepreneurial…

There is potential trouble ahead for R&D and those states with relatively low levels of federal support will be impacted most severely, according to the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Analysis of the Impact of FY 2000 Federal R&D Investment Scenarios on Economic Growth. This report, the second conducted by MTC, looks at five funding scenarios currently under consideration by Congress and their effect on the economies of states receiving varying levels of federal R&D support. Among the reports' conclusions are: The caps on discretionary spending mandated by the 1997 Balanced Budget Agreement continue to impose severe constraints on proposed R&D investments; without extra-ordinary actions (such as lifting the caps, raising revenues, or shifting funds from other accounts) the federal science programs will face substantial cuts in FY 2000. Federal support of R&D — measured as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — would resume a downward…

Yahoo! Internet Life magazine has named its 1999 list of the "100 most wired" colleges and universities.  This is the third year in which the magazine has published the list. Listed  in the top five are: Case Western Reserve University (OH); Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Wake Forest University (NC); the New Jersey Institute of Technology;  and, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY). Compiled in conjunction with Peterson's (known  for its expertise in education information guides and services), the rankings  are based on a survey of 571 four-year institutions in the U.S. In analyzing the data, Yahoo! noted that schools have made great strides in developing  their computer networks. Of the "100 Most Wired" Colleges: 98% offer online course schedules 90% allow electronic applications 82% allow students to register online 54% offer distance learning courses 48% offer alumni free access to the campus  network The Top 100 rankings, by state are: Rank State…

Two new, free resources are available that provide access to statistical data that can be used for a wide variety of analytic processes, including impact assessment, regional measurement, strategic planning and program design. Socioeconomic Data for Understanding Your Regional Economy: A User's Guide, provides an overview of various sources of data valuable in regional economic analysis. The document was designed for people who want to use readily available socioeconomic data to characterize activities and trends, especially at the state, regional or local level. The User's Guide: reviews the offerings of federal statistical agencies, describes and compares sources of data by topic (e.g., population, employment, income, cost of living), identifies data intermediaries who can help uses get needed data, discusses approaches to using data, points out some common hazards in the process of data analysis, and offers suggestions on how to improve the impact of this type of analysis. The second resource is EconData.Net, a Web site with links to over  125 public, university,…

The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) released its second annual Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy earlier this month. The report tracks 31 performance indicators and explores the implications of each indicator on the long-term growth and stability of the Massachusetts economy. Included in this year's report is an analysis of "the Dynamics of Innovation" using healthcare technology's contributions to the state economy as an example. The special section illustrates the interrelationship of the innovation process and many of the indicators used in the Index. The MTC Index reports indicators from primary and secondary sources in nine key industry clusters, which represent 24 percent of the state's non-government employment and 35 percent of private-sector payroll. Eight of the measures are new this year for the Index. The 31 indicators are divided into three sections. Resource Indicators measure the availability of technological, investment, human, and infrastructure resources that are needed to support innovation. Process Indicators measure idea generation, technology…

The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) has released a new study entitled Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy. This assessment of the Massachusetts economy provides data on 33 quantitative indicators. The Index includes indicators such as industry clusters, pay per worker, manufacturing exports, education levels, R&D expenditures, Internet connectivity, and the number of patents, SBIR awards, and IPOs. The report establishes a baseline which will enable MTC to monitor, over time and in comparison to other states, Massachusetts progress in leveraging the state's resources through innovation to create quality jobs, productivity and rising incomes. The report highlights major changes in the structure of the Massachusetts economy that have occurred in the 1990s. For example, of the nine key industry clusters that drive the economy, the software and communications services cluster is the biggest gainer, growing by more than 20,000 jobs since 1992. This industry cluster also has the highest wages, averaging $56,000 per employee. In contrast, Massachusetts has become…

In what is touted as the first major national study of the economic impact of a research university, BankBoston recently reported on the economic impact of companies founded by graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The report, MIT: The Impact of Innovation, "is a case study of the significant effect that research universities have on the economies of the nation and its 50 states." Graduates of MIT have founded some 4,000 currently active companies, according to the report. Worldwide, these companies account for annual revenues of almost $232 billion. Compared with foreign countries, MIT-related companies would rank 24th largest in the world -- just behind South Africa and ahead of Thailand. The total employment of the companies exceeds 1.1 million. Within the U.S., the MIT-related companies employed 733,000 people at more than 8,500 offices and plants in the 50 states. According to the report, the five states benefitting most from MIT-related jobs are California (162,000), Massachusetts (125,000), Texas (84,000), New Jersey (34,000), and Pennsylvania (21,000).…