SSTI Digest

New NBER study suggests different tact may be necessary to breed entrepreneurial growth

Public strategies aimed at promoting tech-based entrepreneurial activity by providing capital or investment incentives may not be enough, posit Paul Gompers, Josh Lerner and David Scharfstein in Entrepreneurial Spawning: Public Corporations and the Genesis of New Ventures, 1986-1999. Instead, “regions may need to attract firms with existing pools of workers who have the ‘training and conditioning’ to become entrepreneurs.”

Today's issue of the Idaho SBIR Competition News, an electronic newsletter, includes a table presenting the FY 2002 award statistics by state for the Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR). The table includes state totals for the number of awards given and total dollar amount received for both Phase I and Phase II awards. Only Puerto Rico and five states were without some funding during the year from at least one of the five federal agencies required to participate in the STTR program — the departments of Defense, Energy and Health & Human Services, NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

After 30 years as leader of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, Robert Brennan is leaving to become a consultant to the new Office of Corporate Relations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Maine Governor John Baldacci has nominated one of his senior policy advisors, Jack Cashman, to become Commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development. Cashman formerly served as a Democratic state representative from Old Town.

Cameron Carter is serving as interim president and CEO of Indiana's TechPoint, following Donna Gastevich's resignation to spend more time with her family.

After 30 years as leader of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, Robert Brennan is leaving to become a consultant to the new Office of Corporate Relations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Maine Governor John Baldacci has nominated one of his senior policy advisors, Jack Cashman, to become Commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development. Cashman formerly served as a Democratic state representative from Old Town.

Cameron Carter is serving as interim president and CEO of Indiana's TechPoint, following Donna Gastevich's resignation to spend more time with her family.

Mike Leavitt of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory has been appointed the Co-chair of the Federal Laboratories Consortium State and Local Government Committee.

Tom Shea with the Office of Economic Adjustment in the Department of Defense has announced his retirement, effective September 30, 2003.

U.S. Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary Nancy Victory has announced her resignation effective mid-August. Victory led the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which manages the $15.4 million Technology Opportunities Program.

As the economy struggles, unemployment rates rise to a nine-year high, and manufacturing continues to shed jobs, the Modernization Forum reports the House Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee appropriated just $39.6 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). The FY 2004 funding would slash the program's funding from the FY2003 level of $106.6 million, a 63 percent cut.

MEP, a public-private program, provides small manufacturers with support to bolster domestic production and keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S. The House CJS Subcommittee chose to restore some but not all funds for MEP. The Administration had proposed funding MEP at $12.6 million, effectively eliminating the national program.

Details on a $110 million initiative to create more jobs and stimulate the Massachusetts economy were released yesterday by Massachusetts House Speaker Tom Finneran and other state leaders. The initiative, Mass Jobs: Investment and Opportunity, is an innovation-friendly plan to streamline government functions and encourage growth in emerging technology through capital formation, regional development, and stability in regulation and taxation. The House proposes to recapitalize these funds from the Health Care Security Trust Fund.

The proposal includes:

Ohio Governor Bob Taft today signed into law Am. Sub. House Bill 1, putting into place the newest components of his Third Frontier Project to foster tech-based economic development (TBED) and growth in Ohio.

The law creates incentives for businesses to invest in Ohio companies as they commercialize research coming out of private, public and university labs. Among its key provisions, the act: