SSTI Digest

Foundations and philanthropists are playing increasingly important financial roles for many academic and regional technology-based economic development (TBED) efforts. The latest issue of Philanthropy News Digest, the weekly electronic newsletter of the FoundationCenter, highlights three recent announcements that provide examples of the size, scope and opportunity presented by these types of awards. The announcements are summarized below. The Danforth Foundation awarded the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center a $50 million challenge grant that can be earned by an equal amount of matching gifts. The award will contribute one dollar to the center for each dollar raised from other donors to the center's endowment. The nonprofit research institute focuses on plant science research that leads to increased agricultural production, more nutritious food, and a cleaner environment. Cleveland-based philanthropist and Harvard alumnus Albert Weatherhead III and his wife, Celia, recently created the Weatherhead Endowment for Collaborative Science and Technology at Harvard University. The $30…

Evan Barrett was named chief business officer of The Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity in Montana. Betsy Biemann will be the new director of the Maine Technology Institute, pending legislative confirmation in January. Biemann currently serves as an associate director at The Rockefeller Foundation. Brian Fitzgerald will be executive director of the Business-Higher Education Forum, a nonprofit organization that separated earlier this year from the American Council on Education, beginning in January. Fitzgerald stepped down from the independent Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, a panel that advises legislators and the U.S. Department of Education on student-aid issues. Kelly Lewis, a state legislator in Pennyslvania, will be the new president and CEO of the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania, beginning Jan. 1. C. Peter Magrath, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, announced he will resign from his position in late 2005. Indiana Gov.-elect Mitch Daniels recently named…

Evan Barrett was named chief business officer of The Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity in Montana.

Betsy Biemann will be the new director of the Maine Technology Institute, pending legislative confirmation in January. Biemann currently serves as an associate director at The Rockefeller Foundation.

Brian Fitzgerald will be executive director of the Business-Higher Education Forum, a nonprofit organization that separated earlier this year from the American Council on Education, beginning in January. Fitzgerald stepped down from the independent Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, a panel that advises legislators and the U.S. Department of Education on student-aid issues.

Kelly Lewis, a state legislator in Pennyslvania, will be the new president and CEO of the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania, beginning Jan. 1.

C. Peter Magrath, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, announced he will resign from his position in late 2005.

Indiana Gov.-elect Mitch Daniels recently named Michael "Mickey" Maurer as president of the Indiana Economic Development Corp.

Whether it is explicitly stated or implicitly understood, one of the distinctions between technology-based economic development (TBED) and more traditional economic development functions is TBED's goal of encouraging the creation of high-skill, high-wage jobs to raise the standard of living for the state or region's residents. An area's income levels and its positive change over time could be considered measures of success toward that goal. But should affluence be the measure of competitiveness? The Boston-based Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) answers yes in its fourth annual indicator report, Metro Area and State Competitiveness Report 2004. Authors Jonathan Haughton and Cagdas Sirin define competitiveness as "the policies and conditions that ensure and sustain a higher level of per capita income and its continued growth.” In actuality, median household income in the U.S. has declined in real terms each year since 2000 by an aggregate 3.4 percent (source: Economic Policy Institute). Apply the BHI definition of competitiveness and one would have to conclude the U.S. is increasingly non-competitive in the…

It may not be getting much attention from the White House or Congress, but encouraging innovation and technology-based economic development through coordinated national strategies and initiatives is very much on the legislative agenda of many other countries around the world. Recent highlights from the past few weeks include (all dollar figures are for U.S. equivalencies): Armenia A Nov. 26 press statement by the Arminfo News Agency reports the Armenian Ministry of Trade and Economic Development is working on enabling legislation to authorize several programs to support the financing of "commercial directions for science." The main emphasis of the draft - to be considered by the legislature this year and included in the FY 2006 budget request - is to support research in key technologies such as physics, radio physics and biotechnology; create a technology transfer system; and establish scientific technoparks. Brazil Last month, the Senate approved legislation authorizing incentives to encourage research and innovation through public-private partnerships, reports Gazeta…

Friday's issue of the Idaho SBIR Competition Newsletter brought to our attention two announcements from the SBA regarding the SBIR Program. Proposed changes for the program were included in the Dec. 3 online issue of the Federal Register. We reprint an extended excerpt of the text from the Idaho SBIR Competition Newsletter verbatim below, with our great appreciation for the work of Dr. Chris Busch, consultant to the University of Idaho EPSCoR Program, and Dr. Jean'ne Shreeve, Idaho EPSCoR/IDeA project director. The SBA rule change published today (3 Dec 2004) in the Federal Register establishes the following requirement for an SBIR awardee: It must be a for-profit business concern that is at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are citizens of, or permanent resident aliens in, the United States (as the regulations currently require); or it must be a for-profit business concern that is at least 51% owned and controlled by another for-profit business concern that is at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are citizens of,…

Even with record participation from 165 U.S. universities and 32 research hospitals, the 13th annual licensing survey conducted by the Association of University of Technology Managers (AUTM) reveals a 6.7 percent drop in the number of start-up companies created with technology licensed from the responding schools. AUTM Licensing Survey: FY 2003 provides information about licensing activities at a record-high 197 U.S. and 38 Canadian universities, hospitals and research institutions. The survey is presented in two separate reports for U.S. and Canadian institutions for the first time. In addition to licenses and options executed, the survey tracks new commercial products, new companies established, and royalty revenue. The U.S. report reveals continued growth in the academic technology transfer field. Data from fiscal year 2003 shows U.S. establishments continue to experience increased investment in such areas as research funding, which was up 10.1 percent over the prior year. In FY 2003, U.S. offices also experienced growth in invention disclosures (up 7.7 percent), patent…