SSTI Digest

When this year's high school freshmen receive their diplomas in four years, it will mark the largest and most competitive graduating class ever, according to a new study. Released by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), ACT Inc. and the College Board, the study projects the number of high school graduates will peak in 2008-09 at 3.2 million. A slow but steady decline in the number of enrollments and graduates is expected to occur in most parts of the U.S., following the peak year.

Arizona taxpayers paid at least $100 million for the TGen Institute. The east coast version of Scripps cost Florida a cool $500-plus million. How much should Kansas City expect to pay the Stowers Institute for Medical Research to double the size of its 600,000 sq. ft. research facility instead of locating a second campus elsewhere?

Not a dime.

At least not directly. In making the announcement, founders Jim and Virginia Stowers acknowledged the efforts of city, state and academic leaders to strengthen life sciences research at the University of Missouri at Kansas City and the University of Kansas.

California's Treasurer Phil Angelides called earlier this month for the nation's largest and third largest pension funds to invest at least $1.5 billion into environmental technologies and environmentally responsible companies. The goal of Angelides' initiative is to improve long-term financial returns for pensioners and taxpayers through investments in the burgeoning environmental technology sector, while also reducing the risks to the pension funds posed by corporate environmental liabilities.

The treasurer’s Green Wave initiative calls on California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System to invest a combined $500 million in private equity investments, venture capital, and project financing to develop "clean" technologies that can provide the pension funds with positive, long-term returns. The two pension funds have a total of $250 billion in assets.

The Fund for Our Economic Future, a new collaboration of Northeast Ohio private, community and corporate foundations to support regional economic development, has secured more than $22 million in commitments and is expected to grow to $30 million. Launched last week, the fund is believed to be the largest and most comprehensive philanthropic collaboration of its kind in the U.S.

Numerous participants are collectively providing the fund's initial $22 million. A select number of Northeast Ohio nonprofit organizations capable of strengthening the regional economy figure to benefit from the fund. By concentrating its resources on a small number of programs and pursuing them as part of an overall plan, the fund is expected to impact Northeast Ohio's economic revitalization more significantly than any other organized philanthropic grantmaking initiative to date.

As promised in her 2004 State of the State Address, Gov. Ruth Ann Minner released a New Economy Initiative last week that includes several new elements to encourage economic growth in Delaware. The $34 million package is expected to generate at least $16 million more in federal and private match. Many of the elements of the plan were recommended by the governor's Strategic Economic Council.

The largest component of Gov. Minner's proposal is a new $12.5 million Delaware Competitiveness Fund to make one-time investments in companies modernizing their production facilities. As presented in the governor's press materials, the uses for the fund could be quite broad: provided matching grants for implementing new manufacturing processes; bring in new product lines; abate taxes; find buyers for idled facilities; support employee training; and, bring R&D results into manufacturers' operations.

Other elements include:

Those arguing that the U.S. is slipping as the world's leader for innovation have another data point to add to their arsenal. The U.S. continues to dominate international patent filings, but America's lead over other countries shrunk 12 percent last year, according to data released this week by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The total of 39,250 international patent applications filed from the U.S. in 2003 was 12 percent less than the 44,609 applications filed a year earlier. The U.S. share of all international patent filings also fell — from 39.1 percent in 2002 to 35.7 percent in 2003. The nation's filings in 2000, for comparison, represented 42 percent of the world's total patent filings.

Advanced research grants and equity financing are just two items slated for funding in Maine Gov. John Baldacci's $120 million revenue bond package, unveiled last week. The tech-based economic development (TBED) items would receive a combined $7 million in funding. The largest portion of the governor's package, $65 million, is dedicated to land conservation and parks. Other elements address housing, health and environmental issues.

For Maine's business and research community, highlights include:

"We cannot be satisfied with simply passing stem cell research legislation."

So said New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey during his State of the Budget Address on Tuesday, proposing the state fund research specifically in the controversial area. Stem cell research holds promise for treating and curing a host of devastating diseases and disorders, including spinal cord injury, brain injury, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and coronary heart disease. The best source for human stem cells are embryos, which raises ethical questions.

A new plan to grow North Carolina's biotech industry to 48,000 jobs by 2013 and 125,000 by 2023 was released earlier this month by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, a state-supported nonprofit organization. If implemented, the 108-page plan would cost up to $650 million over five years. That figure does not include the "to be determined" cost for 15 of the plan's 54 recommendations.

The 54 action steps span a variety of objectives:

Dr. Russell Bessette has been appointed to the Federal Homeland Security Science and Technology Committee. Dr. Bessette currently is the executive director of the New York Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR).

Tony Brown, director of the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund at the U.S. Treasury Department, announced his resignation effective Feb. 27, to become chief executive officer of the Uptown Consortium in Cincinnati.

The Wisconsin Department of Commerce named Pamela Christenson as the first director for the new Bureau of Entrepreneurship.

Dr. Russell Bessette has been appointed to the Federal Homeland Security Science and Technology Committee. Dr. Bessette currently is the executive director of the New York Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR).

Tony Brown, director of the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund at the U.S. Treasury Department, announced his resignation effective Feb. 27, to become chief executive officer of the Uptown Consortium in Cincinnati.