SSTI Digest

The development and application of new information technologies across virtually every segment of the American economy has resulted in rapid, sustained growth in demand for highly skilled information technology (IT) workers. The Department of Labor estimates between 1983 and 1998 the number of high-skilled IT workers increased from 719,000 to 2,084,000 – an increase of 190 percent, more than six times the overall U.S. job growth rate during this period.  Rapid growth is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. The Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) most recent ten-year employment projections indicate that the number of core IT workers – computer scientists, computer programmers, computer engineers, systems analysts, computer support specialists, and database administrators – will rise from 2.2 million in 1998 to 3.9 million in 2008. Another 300,000 will be needed to replace those leaving the field during this period. 

The 2001 Farm Bill  H.R. 2646, awaiting action by the full U.S. House of Representatives, includes authorization language to provide $50 million in funding for the Value-Added Grants Program to provide grants for start-up, farmer-owned, value-added processing facilities. The bill also would provide authorization for regionally planned rural development pilot programs and would continue the Research Initiative for Future Agricultural Systems at a program level of $145 million per year for fiscal years 2004 through 2011. The press release for the version of the bill approved by the House Agriculture Committee can be found at: http://agriculture.house.gov/press/pr010727.html 

Declaring September “Nonprofits & Technology Month,” the Foundation Center has launched a website presenting myriad financial and technical assistance resources to support the acquisition and use of information technology in nonprofit organizations. Included in the site are several categories including: Community Development Resources; Corporate Funders; Digital Divide Resources; Disability Resources; Federal Government Resources; Foundations; E-Philanthropy Resources; Other Funding Sources; Software/Hardware Resources; Technology Assistance and Training Resources; Technology News, Newsletters, and Online Forums; Telecommunications Resources; and Web Development Resources. The site is http://fdncenter.org/pnd/npotech/ 

SSTI’s fifth annual conference, Creating Opportunity: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies, has been rescheduled for December 3-4. The agenda and location of the conference remain the same. At this time, we have confirmed the availability of the vast majority of our speakers; those that have not been confirmed are listed as invited on the agenda web-page (see http://www.ssti.org/Conf01/agenda.htm [expired] for the updated information).  While the riverboat cruise has been cancelled, we are planning a set of optional post-conference in-depth workshops for the afternoon of December 4. More information will be provided as soon as details are finalized.  Since the event was sold out and because we've received only a few cancellations for the December 3-4 dates, we will not be printing any new, revised promotional materials. The website remains the best source of information for the event. 

If the corporate leaders, educators, scientists, and technology entrepreneurs who make up the Birmingham Area Technology Task Force have their way, Birmingham, Alabama in the 21st century will be a mecca for technology-based businesses and jobs. A cooperative effort of the City of Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid and the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce, the “BATT Force” is charged with developing a strategic plan aimed at fostering the start-up, growth, attraction, and retention of technology industries to the Birmingham area. 

State and land-grant universities provide major stimulus to their state and regional economies – generating jobs, attracting and helping create new high-tech businesses, and increasing state tax revenues in addition to providing a well-educated work-force, according to Shaping the Future – The Economic Impact of Public Universities. The study, prepared by National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), is based on a survey of its 212 member institutions. Fifty percent responded to the survey.  Among the key findings are: 

The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is a nationwide network of not-for-profit Centers in over 400 locations nationwide, whose sole purpose is to provide the more than 361,000 small and medium-sized manufacturers in the country the help they need to succeed in a global economy. The Centers, serving all 50 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are linked together through the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology – making it possible for even the smallest firms to tap into the expertise of knowledgeable manufacturing and business specialists all over the U.S.  Since its founding, MEP has worked with more than 107,000 manufacturing firms, achieving impressive results for its clients: $996 million in increased revenues, $195 million in cost savings, and $360 million in modernization investment. 

With all its promise of connecting businesses and residents of even the remotest areas the country to the global economy, the Internet led most states and communities to invest resources toward the Digital Divide. Will these investments pay off? Will the Internet lead to an economic geographic revolution similar to that caused by past technological advances such as the automobile?  Combining linguistic theory, economic theory and history, two UCLA faculty members, Edward Leamer and Michael Storper, provide their answer – probably not – in The Economic Geography of the Internet Age. They argue that the economy is increasingly dependent on relationships requiring understanding and trust, qualities developed through face-to-face contact rather than long distance conversations enabled by the Internet. 

Since its founding in 1991, the nonprofit Minnesota Technology Inc. (MTI) has been Minnesota lead technology-based economic development organization. Its mission, to help existing small and medium-sized companies apply, develop and commercialize technology, is achieved through three objectives: 

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) releases reports and testimonies nearly every day. On the accompanying webpage are summaries from seven recent reports, identified below, that are relevant to state and local tech-based economic development objectives. 

With 90 percent of Chicago’s economy in slow-growth sectors such as manufacturing, retail, financial services and real estate, leaders from business, academia, government and nonprofit groups have joined forces to develop and implement a strategy to establish the city as a key player in the New Economy. Mayor Richard Daley unveiled A New Economy Growth Strategy for Chicagoland earlier this month, accompanied by announcements of new initiatives and commitments by leaders of several entities central to the plan’s success.  The plan calls for a unified effort toward two goals: 1) make Chicago a prime location for technology startups, and 2) create world-class leadership in priority New Economy sectors of biotechnology/biomedical, wireless software, software development, and emerging technology such as nanotechnology.  To achieve the first goal, five areas are to receive attention: 

The Industries of the Future (IOF) strategy creates partnerships between industry, government, and supporting laboratories and institutions to accelerate technology research, development, and deployment. Led by the Department of Energy's Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT), the Industries of the Future strategy is being implemented in nine of the country's most energy- and waste-intensive industries: agriculture, aluminum, chemicals, forest products, glass, metal casting, mining, petroleum and steel.  The effort is unique among federal programs because the IOF research agenda is almost entirely defined by the partnering industry sectors. Industry members of each cluster jointly prepare documents with the industry's vision for the future and a technology roadmap to identify the technologies that will be needed to reach that industry's goals. IOF then provides matching grants for research projects to carryout the roadmap.