SSTI Digest

Perhaps most state and local technology-based economic development (TBED) professionals are not aware of a debate going on within academia, but some of the finger-pointing is directed toward you.

America’s institutions of higher education are undergoing a tremendous transition as the image of an independent and objective Ivory Tower morphs into a structure more closely resembling the modern corporate research facility.

Balancing the role of universities and colleges in economic development can be tricky, as Dr. Bok points out in his new book (see article above), but its important role in building stronger tech-based economies cannot be overstated. SSTI’s 7th annual conference, to be held in Seattle on October 21-22, presents the best opportunity of the year for developing a great understanding of the most effective ways for local and state economies to benefit from the academic research enterprise. Five interactive sessions have been scheduled to help participants capitalize on this enterprise:

New university-based research efforts in biodesign, nanotechnology, embedded systems and virtual manufacturing show that Arizona has stepped forward to compete in the knowledge economy, according to a recent study by Morrison Institute for Public Policy, a unit of Arizona State University.

The Institute's 44-page report, Seeds of Prosperity: Public Investment in Science and Technology, uses the research projects that ASU initiated with voter-approved Proposition 301, proceeds from a sales tax, as a lens for understanding the value of science and technology (S&T) research to Arizona's economy. It also introduces "CAT measures" designed to assess the lasting economic value of such research for the state and region. The CAT measures are intended to help assess whether connections were made among ASU researchers and external groups, attention was attracted to ASU's research, and talent was recruited, retained or developed.

The Department of Commerce is accepting nominations for the 2004 National Medal of Technology awards, the nation’s highest honor awarded by the President to America's leading technological innovators.

The Medal was first awarded in 1985 following its creation in 1980 by Congress. It is given annually to individuals, teams, or companies for accomplishments in the innovation, development, commercialization, and management of technology, as evidenced by the establishment of new or significantly improved products, processes or services.

Past awards have been made in five main areas: technology product and process; technology management and policy; technology concepts; technology and human resource development; and environmental technology.

Alaska, with 25.7 percent of its academic R&D expenditures coming from industrial sources, ranks first in the U.S. in the amount of industry-funded R&D at its academic institutions, according to new data released by the National Science Foundation (NSF). An NSF report, Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges, FY 2001, shows $28.4 million of Alaska's $110.2 million in academic R&D expenditures in 2001 were industry-supplied.

The U.S. as a whole saw more than $32.2 billion go toward R&D activities in its research institutions, with almost $2.2 billion coming from industry, according to the report. Nineteen states ranked above the U.S. average of 6.82 percent.

North Carolina finished runner-up to Alaska at 15 percent while Massachusetts, Georgia and Pennsylvania rounded out the top five, percentage-wise.

Boston

The Mystic Valley Development Commission (MVDC) recently secured a $5.5 million loan from Citizens Bank of Massachusetts to finance the final land acquisitions for the first phase of TeleCom City, a 200-acre technology development project along the banks of the Malden River in the cities of Medford, Malden and Everett. MVDC was created by an act of the state legislature in 1996. With the loan from Citizens, the Commission will purchase the project's remaining three parcels of land, which total about eight acres in Medford. The project also has received more than $25 million in state support and $13 million in federal funding. Phase One, the construction of four 110,000-square-foot buildings on about 29 acres in Medford, is scheduled to begin in 2004.

After months of analyzing data and hundreds of interviews, organizers of western North Carolina's Future Forward economic development strategy only await the study's approval by local governments. Future Forward is aimed at improving economic development conditions for 12 counties in the Western Piedmont and Mountains of North Carolina located in the 10th and 11th Congressional Districts — Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Iredell, Lincoln, Rutherford, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes and McDowell counties.

Specifically requiring approval are the study's final recommendations, which fall into three broad categories:

TOP Reauthorized and To Grow, Says Senate Commerce Committee

The Technology Opportunities Program (TOP), a highly-competitive, merit-based grant program for stimulating digital network technologies in the U.S., might survive after all. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation adopted S. 1478 on July 31, reauthorizing the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) for four years and effectively restoring funding for TOP. Under the reauthorization act, NTIA would receive $18.9 million in 2004 and $21.2 million annually by FY 2008. TOP, which was proposed for elimination by the Bush Administration, would receive $15.9 million in FY 2004, $16.3 million in FY 2005 and $17.9 million in FY 2008.

Climate change. Global warming. Foreign oil dependency. Natural gas prices. Ozone alerts. Brownouts. Increasingly, energy related items grab the headlines, copy space and news coverage across America.

Strategies for dealing with energy issues vary — and spark some of the most heated debates in federal public policy. More and more sides of the energy discussion see research, development and commercialization of renewable energy technologies, while historically receiving negligible federal funding relative to traditional energy R&D, as playing more prominent roles toward solutions to the country's energy issues.

Recently released information on per capita income by state reveals the dramatic impact the dot-com boom and bust, plus the economic slowdown has had on income levels. Analyzing per capita income from 1998 to 2002 indicates that during that time every state but Nevada saw their per capita income increase. However, almost half of the states (23) peaked in 2000 and their per capita income has declined since.

Two of the most critical issues in today's tech-based economic development (TBED) involve money — funding for companies and funding for TBED programs. That's why preceding SSTI's 7th Annual Conference, Building Tech-based Economies: From Policy to Practice, two intensive workshops will be held on October 20, 2003, that focus on financing: developing angel organizations to help increase the amount of capital available for entrepreneurial companies and exploring new strategies in financing TBED programs.

Large-Scale Biomedical Science: Exploring Strategies for Future Research

The Human Genome Project, considered by life scientists to be their first foray into "big science," has paved the way for future large-scale projects that promise to lead to faster improvements in human health. But no guidelines on how to organize and fund such initiatives in the biomedical sciences have been available — until now.

A new report from the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies fills this gap by describing how the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies should select, fund, launch and evaluate large collaborative biomedical projects, and how their scientific staff should be trained and retained.