SSTI Digest

Because knowledge-based services can be supplied anywhere across the world due to increased international investment in IT infrastructure, future U.S. competitiveness hinges on diversification and broadening of the technology-based manufacturing sector, according to NIST Senior Economist George Tassey. Tassey's lastest report, R&D and Long-Term Competitiveness: Manufacturing's Central Role in a Knowledge-based Economy, lays out the critical role manufacturing and manufacturing R&D plays in the U.S. economy, presents the dire forecast for low-R&D intensive manufacturers, and presents a framework for analyzing federal R&D investment strategies consistent with a national innovation system. Tassey also argues that the zeal or enthusiasm for information technology that dominated policy discussion during the past few years and overshadowed and "induced and unbalanced perspective" on the appropriate strategies to secure economic competitiveness.

President Bush has nominated Elias Zerhouni, executive vice dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as the new director of the National Institutes of Health.

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) and the Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) recently presented the first part of a two-phase study by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies entitled The Genealogy of Maryland Entrepreneurs. Phillip Singerman, executive director of TEDCO, and David S. Iannucci, Maryland Secretary of DBED, provided the information Feb. 4 during the fifth annual State of Technology in Maryland Summit in Annapolis. Highlights of the first phase of the study reveal the following about the history of Maryland businesses:

The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) kicked off the new year with a new $330,000 program to support Maryland companies wishing to develop technology-based products and/or services in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Morgan State University (MSU) or federal laboratories in Maryland. The Maryland Technology Transfer Fund (MTTF) will award non-equity investments of up to $50,000 per project.

The program supports company technology development projects that transfer technology from JHU, MSU or a federal laboratory in Maryland to the commercial sector and the development of technology-based products and/or services for future government uses. The Fund, made possible by a grant from the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), is also providing $100,000 to JHU and MSU to develop innovative ways to partner with industry.

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO), RESI (a regional economic studies institute at Towson University), and the Maryland Business Incubation Association (MBIA) presented on Thursday the results of the Maryland Incubator Impact Study — a first-of-its-kind study for the state by measuring the economic impact of Maryland's six public- and university-related high-tech business incubators on the state's economy.  Maryland's incubators are a significant economic boon to the state of Maryland, the study shows, estimating that incubator tenants and graduates generate between $184 and $530 million in gross state product and between $31 and $96 million in taxes annually.  The study also reveals the following: 

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) has announced that James Thurston has joined the ITIC team as Director of Technology Policy. Mr. Thurston has worked for NIST's Manufacturing Extension Partnership for several years. 

The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is a nationwide network of not-for-profit Centers in over 400 locations nationwide, whose sole purpose is to provide the more than 361,000 small and medium-sized manufacturers in the country the help they need to succeed in a global economy. The Centers, serving all 50 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are linked together through the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology – making it possible for even the smallest firms to tap into the expertise of knowledgeable manufacturing and business specialists all over the U.S.  Since its founding, MEP has worked with more than 107,000 manufacturing firms, achieving impressive results for its clients: $996 million in increased revenues, $195 million in cost savings, and $360 million in modernization investment. 

With the completion of the 2001 edition of the Maryland Innovation and Technology Index, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) is able to show state policymakers and tech community leaders graphically and statistically the state’s progress since the first Index was prepared two years ago. 

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) bridges the gap between the research lab and the marketplace, stimulating prosperity through innovation. Through partnerships with the private sector, ATP's early stage investment is accelerating the development of innovative technologies that promise significant commercial payoffs. ATP exhibits four primary strengths: Early Financial Support. ATP provides cost-share funding in the critical early stages of R&D, including a maximum of $2 million for up to three years in direct costs for a single company and up to half of the total project costs for a maximum of five years for joint ventures.

Research Support. ATP encourages R&D partnerships and consortia and provides guidance in putting together a joint research venture.

Dennis J. Sysko is serving as interim president of the Anne Arundel County High Technology Council, following the resignation of president John G. Rice. Mr. Sysko, who is currently serving as the group's treasurer, will perform both roles until a replacement president is elected in January.

Ann Lansinger, the director of the Baltimore's Emerging Technology Center, has been named the first president of the Maryland Business Incubation Association, a new organization representing the state's eight publicly funded incubators in the state.

The Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development has hired Lawrence C. Mahan to serve as the state's senior biotech executive.