SSTI Digest

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter selected James Ellick to head the Idaho Department of Commerce. Ellick brings a tech perspective to the department, having run four venture capital backed tech companies in Silicon Valley in his past.

Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher named John Hindman, retired former vice president of strategic communications and public affairs for UPS Airlines, to run the state's Economic Development Cabinet.

John Mengacci, CEO of Connecticut Innovations, announced his resignation.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson appointed Fred Mondragon as the director of the state's economic development department. Mondragon had been economic development director for the city of Albuquerque.

New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer nominated Edward Reinfurt to serve as executive director of the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation. Reinfurt has been vice president of the Business Council of New York State, a statewide 4,000-member chamber of commerce, since its founding in 1980.

The 2008 SSTI Annual Conference could come to your city! Increase your national and international visibility by showcasing the success of your state and/or community’s tech-based economic development efforts to thousands of TBED professionals through SSTI's conference. This is your opportunity to shine in the spotlight. Some of the host benefits include:  Minimal or no travel expenses incurred for conference attendees from your state. This cost savings and convenience facilitates greater participation and attendance at the conference by your key state and local decision makers and practitioners in the region's tech-based economic development community. The result can be a better understanding and stronger commitment among legislators and civic leaders to building a tech-based economy, as well as reinvigorating your program staff and board with fresh ideas, perspectives and professional development tips from peers from around the country. Opportunity to host an Opening Reception, welcoming all SSTI conference attendees. 40 complimentary registrations for SSTI's 12th Annual Conference for distribution as…

Bills have been passed and budgets approved with the close of several 2007 legislative sessions in the western states. The below article is part of the Digest's continuing coverage of the legislative outcomes of some of what governors proposed in their State of the State and budget addresses (see SSTI’s Tech Talkin’ Govs Series in the Jan. 8, Jan. 15, Jan. 29 and Feb. 19, 2007 issues of the Digest).   Washington The 2007 legislative session ended last month with the approval of the first installment of $70 million over the 2007-09 biennium for the Life Sciences Discovery Fund. Created in 2005, the fund provides grants for promising life science university research within the state. The bill allocates $35 million per year from strategic tobacco settlements for 10 years beginning in 2008 (see the May 16, 2005 issue of the Digest).   Legislation was passed to fund Innovation Partnership Zones (HB 1091) at the request of Gov. Christine Gregoire and the Global Competitiveness Council. The fiscal year 2007-09 capital budget includes $5 million for the zones — designated areas of Washington where globally…

Experience can be an invaluable, and sometimes irreplaceable, asset during the intense and complicated process of building a new firm. Many theorists believe that past entrepreneurial experience, whether with successful or unsuccessful firms, prepares entrepreneurs for the pressures and risks involved in starting a company. In his book, New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century, JA Timmons observes that failure is a prerequisite for entrepreneurial success and that entrepreneurs frequently fail in creating their first company only to succeed in their second. Failures teach lessons that can only be imparted through "real world" experience and firsthand exposure to what can go wrong during the tenuous early stages of venture development. In a recent article, however, Georg Metzger of the Centre for European Economic Research reports that not all entrepreneurial experiences are created equal. In general, prior experience with other start-ups increases the likelihood of success with future ventures. If at least one of its managing firm owners has had previous experience with forming a business, a new venture is likely to create more…

A popular strategy in the TBED community is the attempt to both recruit and develop academic entrepreneurs that may have a substantial effect on the growth of a region's economy. Successful efforts to attract researchers, such as the Georgia Research Alliance and Kentucky's Bucks for Brains programs, are being replicated across the country. However, if one of the hoped-for payoffs is the successful creation of innovative companies, what types of researchers are best suited for this role? A recent discussion paper by Dirk Czarnitzki and Andrew Toole released via the Centre for European Economic Research contributes to the growing collection of studies that measure the impact of the background of entrepreneurial researchers on their firms' performance. In preparing their paper, the authors explored the effect of the human capital of academic entrepreneurs who started companies through the government's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They measured this human capital by the extent academic entrepreneurs were oriented toward scientific endeavors (based on past NIH grants) or commercial…

Cities play a pivotal role in producing the technologies that sustain high-tech industries, hosting a majority of the businesses and individuals that comprise those industries. Modern urban theory, including the work of Edward Glaeser and Richard Florida, has popularized the idea of cities as key nodes in which new knowledge is created, spread and adopted by innovative businesses and entrepreneurs. Successful high-tech cities have a self-sustaining quality, according to Florida, in which a city's reputation for innovation attracts more skilled and creative workers and entrepreneurs, which in turn spurs further economic growth.   This process is symptomatic of a greater trend, according to a recent article by Luís Bettencourt, José Lobo, Dirk Helbing, Christian Kühnert and Geoffrey West. The authors argue that urban life and metropolitan economies develop according to a predictable pattern, one that closely resembles patterns observed in other types of social organization and in biological organisms. Cities with higher populations tend to experience faster rates of innovation and greater productivity in their urban economy.  …

Industrial R&D expenditures in the U.S. totaled $208 billion in 2004 — an increase of 2.1 percent ($4.3 billion) from 2003, according to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Survey of Industrial Research and Development. From 2000 to 2004, industrial R&D expenditures increased by 3.14 percent, the NSF data show. North Dakota experienced the largest increase over the five-year period, more than tripling its 2000 total with $379 million in industrial R&D expenditures in 2004. Oregon (99.4 percent), New Hampshire (84.2 percent), Connecticut (73.68 percent) and Maryland (72.87 percent) followed North Dakota, in terms of percent change. Connecticut showed the largest dollar increase ($3.05 billion) over the five-year period. Six other states also saw an increase in industrial R&D spending of more than $1 billion from 2000-2004: Maryland ($1.61B), Oregon ($1.52B), Virginia ($1.32B), Indiana ($1.32B), Minnesota ($1.23B) and California ($1.12B).   SSTI has prepared a state-by-state table that shows the above NSF data for 2000-2004 and ranks the states accordingly. The table is available…

SSTI’s Annual Conference provides the opportunity to place your organization at the center of the tech-based economic development community, reinforce your brand, and build relationships in 2007 and beyond. Each year, SSTI works to improve upon our annual conference, and one of the improvements in this year's conference is more personalized sponsorship opportunities — an array of strategic marketing opportunities to ensure greater exposure and added value to your partnership. No other event brings together the nation’s top players in the TBED community. SSTI Conference Partners have the chance to showcase their organization with the decisionmakers responsible for crafting and implementing local and state-level policies and programs that directly contribute to the nation's competitiveness. Take advantage of the conference’s powerful reputation to help your organization: Connect with the people who set the agenda for their organizations and control budgets. Access industry movers and shakers. Gain exposure to key decisionmakers. This is the nation’s premier TBED event, gathering more than 350 of the most…