SSTI Digest

The discounts ending this week on registration and accommodations for SSTI's annual conference will pay for much, if not all, of your round trip airfare to Philadelphia, so we encourage you to act soon on both. Or you can use the savings toward having one of your colleagues attend as well!

Building Tech-based Economies: Preparing for Tomorrow's Challenges will be held at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel on Oct. 14-15, 2004. Three optional, intensive pre-conference workshops and a tour are offered on Wednesday, Oct. 13. The full conference offers 30 timely and focused breakout session options.

A two-year grant from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Community and Economic Development enabled Lehigh University to announce last week the appointments of Glenn Doell and Graham Mitchell to serve respectively as director of the office of technology transfer and director of the entrepreneurship program.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP), a nonprofit economic development organization based in Philadelphia, seeks someone to serve as director of its investment and entrepreneurial services. Established in 1982, BFTP exists to stimulate economic growth through innovation, entrepreneurship and the development and adoption of new technologies. The selected candidate will direct the planning, coordination and execution of activities associated with the sourcing and evaluation of BFTP's applicants, among other responsibilities. The candidate also will oversee the client management of portfolio companies in the manufacturing and nanotechnology sectors. Qualifications include having a B.S. or B.A. in Engineering or other technology discipline, preferably with an MBA. Inquiries should be directed to Katie Rotella, manager of administrative services for the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, at katie@sep.benfranklin.org.

Travel and training dollars are limited for most tech-based economic development programs. For many states, these are the first budget items frozen in a cutback. As a result, you need to get the most bang for each dollar spent on professional development for each staff member.

Fortunately, SSTI thinks this way too when planning its annual conference, Building Tech-based Economies: Preparing for Tomorrow's Challenges. In addition to 30 top-of-the-line breakout sessions during the main conference -- a full slate for your full staff -- we are offering three intensive pre-conference workshops and a behind-the-scenes tour to use your limited training dollars to their fullest potential.

Few of us would consider one piece of a jigsaw puzzle to be sufficient for comprehending the whole picture. Similarly, a state or regional strategy to develop a knowledge-based economy is not complete with just one element of a complete portfolio to nurture science, technology and entrepreneurship.

Research has found innovation does not follow a simple linear path, but instead requires a complex system of inputs. It also happens locally with the presence of key resources. Strategically developed public and public-private initiatives can be supportive players in strengthening a regional innovation system, but only if well designed, well managed and well funded.

Florence Mendelson has resigned as president and CEO of Pittsburgh-based Innovation Works. She will remain in her position through the end of the year, helping to identify her successor and implement plans for fiscal year 2005.

One word sums up today's efforts to build tech-based economies: challenging. A restructuring manufacturing base, revolutionary scientific breakthroughs, China and Inda heralding a truly global economy, and tight budgets have left many states and communities simply reacting to change or waiting for better times.

Building Tech-based Economies: Preparing for Tomorrow's Challenges, SSTI's 8th Annual Conference, is designed to help policymakers and practitioners meet these challenges head on. On October 14-15 and with pre-conference workshops on October 13, the nation's most widely respected forum for policymakers and practitioners to work and learn together will convene in Philadelphia. This year's conference promises to be even better than ever for the tech-based economic development (TBED) community. Here are a few examples of why:

In the coming weeks, many Digest readers will receive the 24-page full color brochure in the mail. If you can't wait until then or want to make sure you get a copy, a PDF version is available for download on our conference website: http://www.ssti.org/conference04.htm [expired]

Feel free to pass the link, PDF or brochure along to all in your state, region or university, that you think may be interested in attending.

Slate of 30 breakout sessions SSTI's largest offering yet The agenda is packed. Packed with great breakout session topics and engaging presenters. With as many as 30 breakout sessions, this year's conference offers something for everyone. The session titles are provided below. Brief descriptions of each topic are presented in the brochure and will be available our conference website:

The larger conference structure allows us to experiment with some of the sessions, adding elements to improve the event's value for most participants.

Ready to move up to the next skill level? Try our series of Advanced Sessions If you've been in the field a while and have attended SSTI's annual conferences in the past, you may be excited to see we've designed eight breakout sessions to address advanced subject matter within the given topics. The presentations and discussions of those topics identified as Advanced in the descriptions will be tailored specifically to participants already comfortable with the terms and issues that tend to arise.

Please note all conference registrants are welcome to attend any of the 30 breakout sessions offered on Thursday and Friday.

To get your experience at SSTI's annual conference off on the right foot, the City of Philadelphia proudly invites you to enjoy a private evening at its most beautiful and interesting new cultural center — the National Constitution Center. The evocative museum is the first devoted to one of the most important and innovative documents in world history — the U.S. Constitution.

Whether you're unwinding after one of the four pre-conference options or just arriving in the City of Brotherly Love, the Opening Reception affords a wonderful, relaxed environment to reconnect with colleagues and network with other conference attendees, speakers, as well as Philadelphia's government, academic, and corporate leaders.

On October 13, SSTI will offer four exciting options as pre-conference activities: three day-long sessions on topics that will help you prepare for tomorrow's challenges and a tour of one of the world's foremost science parks. The sessions are:

Marketing Success: Telling the TBED Story Successful tech-based economic development organizations (TBED) have three things in common: they do good work, they know they're doing good work through program evaluation and impact assessments, and they make people aware of the good work they’re doing.

This stimulating, day-long workshop goes in-depth into the best way to communicate your success. We’ll consider how to define your audiences, determine what your message is, and then tailor your message to clients, constituents and key decision makers.