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SSTI Digest
Rural Communities Making Technology Work for Them, Report Shows
Ten rural communities and the technologies being used within them are the focus of Networking the Land: Rural America in the Information Age, the latest report released by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the Department of Commerce.
NTIA's new Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) report reveals the communities are using telecommunications and information technologies for many purposes, from developing local economies to managing natural resources to improving access to education. Case studies are presented on the 10 communities:
Collaborative Planning Focuses Regional Development Efforts
Economic development leaders within the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Technology Corridor have joined other areas of the U.S. in marketing the area as one unified region. Elected representatives from 10 cities and two counties located in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Technology Corridor recently signed a joint proclamation as a statement of support for the Corridor’s targeted industry cluster development regional efforts. This effort, focusing on the strength of the regional economy, is designed to attract prospective businesses and industry to the Corridor.
Can the Innovation Process Survive A Competitive Market?
In Perfectly Competitive Innovation, a March 2002 research department staff report for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine address whether current copyright, licensing and patent laws which grant monopolist rights to inventors beneficial or harmful to the innovation process. The authors suggest the latter in certain markets.
Most modern analysis of innovation, the authors contend, is based on models assuming monopolistic competition as a prerequisite for understanding innovation and growth. Instead, Boldrin and Levine conceive a model that confers the "right of first sale" practice that was granted to entrepreneurs historically [defined loosely as before the mid-19th century]. They also argue that, contrary to prevalent opinion, idea generation and the creative effort should be viewed as sunk costs instead of as fixed costs. Models based on competitive markets can address sunk costs.
Useful Stats: State Rankings of Industrial R&D Intensity, 1997-1999
Industrial R&D intensity — measured by the ratio of industry R&D to Gross State Product (GSP) — can be a useful S&T indicator, because it indicates the level of private sector R&D activity and standardizes the data to eliminate geographic, demographic, historical, and natural resource differences among the states.
With the recent release of the National Science Foundation's Survey of Industrial Research and Development: 1999, SSTI has constructed a table presenting the data and state rankings for industrial R&D intensity for 1997-1999, the three latest years available.
The top five states for each year and their scores are:
1997
1998
1999
State & Local TBED RoundUp
Alabama
To help rural Alabama communities work with existing industries toward job training and creation, Governor Don Sielgelman is creating a Center for Economic Growth within the Alabama Department Office. The new initiative is intended to help businesses in the rural communities cope with pressures to keep and retain qualified workers once the recently announced $1 billion Hyundai automotive plant begins hiring up to 2,000 employees. The center also will help the areas develop industrial recruitment strategies, according to the Associated Press.
Arlington, Texas
Great Titles Added to SSTI Bookstore
Want to expand broadband in your state or community? Looking to launch a biotech initiative? Getting into commercializing university research? Are tight budgets leading to more rigorous program evaluation? Or do you simply want to help your community understand the importance of technology?
Any of these efforts should get easier with the 17 new titles added to Resources for Building Tech-based Economies, SSTI's publications catalog. A three-page PDF supplement of the new titles is available on the SSTI website as is the entire revised catalog, replete with more than 125 great resources to make your programs more effective and your job more rewarding.
As always, SSTI sponsors and affiliates receive a 10 percent discount on all purchases.
Both the new titles supplement and complete catalog are available at: http://www.ssti.org/Publications/publications.htm
Pennsylvania Governor Announces $100 Million to Seed Biotech Initiatives
On Wednesday, Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker officially launched Pennsylvania's Life Sciences Greenhouse, an historic initiative to be spread among three regions of the state — Southeast, Southwest and Central Pennsylvania.
The Governor announced $100 million will seed the program, including $33.8 million for the Southeast region, $33.3 million for the Southwest region, and $32.8 million for Central Pennsylvania. The state's financial support, which will come from surplus tobacco settlement funds, is the largest single technology-related, economic development investment in Pennsylvania history, according to a press release issued by the Governor's office.
Pennsylvania's Life Sciences Greenhouse is designed to build on the biotechnology research at Pennsylvania's top universities. The initiative is expected to create 4,400 new jobs, attract or create 100 new biotechnology companies, and leverage more than $150 million in private capital over the next five years.
SSTI Analysis: Tech Councils Adapt with Economic Times
[Note: SSTI defines a technology council as a regional entity that is membership-based and independently funded with science and technology-based economic development as one of its primary goals. National trade associations and government-created technology councils which serve in an advisory or policy role are excluded from this discussion.]
SSTI Editorial: Embracing Change: Analysis of Maine's Laptop Victory
One of the biggest obstacles many communities and states face to building tech-based economies is convincing traditional businesses, institutions and the general population to embrace change, technological advance, and innovation. A common element of many strategic plans is at least one recommendation or even an entire report dedicated to changing perceptions of the community or state toward being a technology mecca — or at least getting people to think about and recognize the importance of science and technology investments. [See the 6/23/00 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest for an article on a related report from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science & Technology.]
TBED Tidbits
More Funding Sought For Pell Grants
An educated workforce is one of the most important elements of any tech-based economic development strategy. The Association of American Universities (AAU) has alerted its members to a Dear Colleague letter being circulated in the Senate to encourage the strengthening and improvement of the Pell Grant program. Cosigners are sought by Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) to urge Senate appropriators to support a $500 increase in the maximum Pell Grant award for FY 2003 to $4,500 and to eliminate the current year's budget shortfall in the Pell Grant program. Pell Grants, which help to offset the financial burden of college for students from low and middle income families, have lost 20 percent of their value since 1975, because the award size has not kept pace with inflation. The AAU reports cosigners already include: Susan Collins (R-ME), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Gordon Smith (R-OR). More information is available from Tim Grace, in Senator Feingold's office, at 202-224-0398.
People
Formerly the marketing manager for a local software firm, Mary Bergeron recently was named the new executive director of the Baton Rouge Technology Council.
Virgil Carter has been named executive director of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers International, a not-for-profit organization actively supporting tech-based economic development across the country. ASME has more than 125,000 members worldwide. Carter, whose appointment is effective July 1, succeeds retiring David Belden.
John Glerum, former president and CEO of Ore-Ida Foods, has been named science and technology coordinator for the Idaho Department of Commerce. Glerum also will serve as director of the new Technology and Entrepreneurial Center, to be built on the campus of Boise State University West.