SSTI Digest

Using the microsystems industry in the Southwest as a model, Ross DeVol, Director of Regional and Demographic Studies of the Milken Institute, has written Blueprint for a High-Tech Cluster, a 40-page policy brief on one of the hottest trends for tech-based economic development. Recognizing the importance of technology and knowledge in the New Economy, and that "knowledge is generated, transmitted and shared more efficiently in close proximity," DeVol asserts that those regions with leading clusters in key technologies will enjoy greater economic growth and stability. "Success in creating high-tech clusters is now the distinguishing determinant in regional vitality," states DeVol. 

Blueprint outlines and describes ten specific strategies for developing a high-tech cluster: 

Academic Indirect Cost Rates 

Paying for University Research Facilities and Administration, a report released this week by the RAND Science & Technology Policy Institute, finds universities are already paying a significant share of the costs associated with their research partnership with the federal government. Pressures to increase that cost-sharing could lead to a slowdown in investment on research and research infrastructure and, potentially, to a decline in the partnership's contributions to health, education, defense, science and other vital research areas, according to the report's authors, Charles A. Goldman and T. Williams, with David M. Adamson and Kathy Rosenblatt. 

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, as big defense contractors closed their doors and unemployment climbed, San Diego looked as if it might not recover. Between 1990-1993 alone, nearly 60,000 high-paying jobs were lost to defense and aerospace cutbacks. Although the region had some of the ingredients to be successful (defense technologies, a strong university, medical and bioscience institutes, and a desirable climate), the players did not come together to face their economic woes. It took losing two major bids for federal R&D facilities to spur community leaders to action.

Last week, Governor Gray Davis signed into law California’s $99.4 billion budget which provides nearly $305 million for science and technology related programs plus an additional $20 million in research and development tax credits. Specific 

initiatives include:

Forbes magazine, in conjunction with the Milken Institute, released on Monday its second annual "Best Places for Business and Careers" - a ranking of the top 200 metropolitan areas in the United States. The Forbes-Milken Institute list looks at two critical factors to determine which metro areas are the most dynamic: jobs and earnings, and high-technology growth and output. All of the numbers were provided by the Institute's Regional and Demographic Studies group as part of its ongoing research into how high-tech impacts regional economies. 



The top ten metro areas were: 



1. Austin-San Marcos, Texas 

2. Atlanta, Georgia 

3. Santa Rosa, California 

4. Boulder-Longmont, Colorado 

5. Boise City, Idaho 

6. San Diego, California 

7. Orange County, California 

8. San Antonio, Texas 

9. West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Florida 

Technology Innovation Centers (TICs), defined broadly to include incubators, business support programs and web services, direct providers, and facilitators/gatekeepers, can be successful instruments for technology-based economic development if done properly, according to the San Diego Regional Technology Alliance's recent report Technology Innovation Centers: A Guide to Principles and Best Practices. The report provides public and private organizations with key tools for getting their technology innovation center off to the right start.

Cliff Numark has been named CEO for the San Diego Regional Technology Alliance, filling the position vacated by Joe Raguso when he became Deputy Secretary in the California Department of Trade and Commerce.