SSTI Digest

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.

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.

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.

The Institute for Government Innovation at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government recently announced open competition for its 2002 annual awards program. The Innovations in American Government Awards focuses on the quality and responsiveness of U.S. government at all levels and promotes innovative approaches to meeting challenges. Begun in 1986, the program has recognized 295 innovative programs that have received $17.9 million in grants. Of these programs, 150 have been named winners and received $100,000 grants while 145 have been named finalists and received $20,000 grants. Five initiatives were chosen among 15 finalists in the 2001 competition, including California’s Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program. MESA has built a network of support for disadvantaged students by teaming educators with corporate activists. The program's accomplishments are many:

A bipartisan coalition of more than 50 U.S. Senators support continued funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, according to the Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Modernization Forum. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Me) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT), co-chairs of the Senate Task Force on Manufacturing, spearheaded a letter to Senate appropriators requesting $110 million in FY 2003 funding for the program. The Administration's FY 2003 budget request reduced funding for MEP to $12.9 million, a cut of 88 percent. MEP is a national network of centers with 400 offices in all 50 states and Puerto Rico that provide technical assistance and business support services to small and medium-sized manufacturers. The Senators sent their joint letter to Senators Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), respectively, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary.

Georgia Tech topped the nation in its efforts to help state and local agencies with economic development, according to a study released by the Southern Growth Policies Board's Southern Technology Council (STC).

Conducted by Louis Tornatzky and Paul Waugaman, senior fellows at STC, Innovation U.: New University Roles in a Knowledge Economy offers comprehensive case descriptions of how national research universities operate in the following areas:

Connecticut-based bioscience research and development (R&D) investment in 2001 totaled $3.6 billion, an 18 percent increase over 2000, according to the Seventh Annual Economic Report of Connecticut United for Research Excellence (CURE), Connecticut's bioscience Cluster. 2001 Gains and Future Opportunities, released last week at Yale University, highlights several economic indicators that demonstrate the growth of the bioscience industry in Connecticut, including:

Small businesses bearing a critical role to the regional economies of upstate New York must overcome several barriers to growth if they are to enjoy future success, suggests a report by the Buffalo Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Conducted in partnership with the Center for Governmental Research, a non-profit organization based in Rochester, N.Y., Small Business: Big Challenge — A Survey of Small Firms in Upstate New York identifies the chief barriers to growth of more than 4,000 small businesses in western and central New York State. The survey also spells out the ways new technologies have impacted the region's small firms, more than one-third of which were reported to have expanded in the last three years.

In SSTI's second look at the 2000 Annual Survey of Manufactures, Geographic Area Statistics in as many weeks, SSTI highlights more of the report's key findings, including data on such fields as the value added by manufacturers, value of shipments, and average value added per employee. The total value added by U.S. manufacturers increased by 9.69 percent between 1997 and 2000, according to the Census Bureau report. Idaho experienced the largest such increase (122.89 percent). Of the eight states that saw a decrease of value added by their manufacturers, New Mexico topped the list (24.56 percent). However, the District of Columbia experienced the largest decrease in the U.S. (42.74 percent).

Michigan Governor John Engler recently signed Senate Bills 880, 881 and 999 to help make high-speed Internet connections available and affordable to consumers across the state. Almost unanimously approved in the Michigan House and Senate, the Governor’s broadband initiative was supported by a coalition of more than 50 statewide associations, local groups and companies. The bills are as follows: