SSTI Digest

As with last year's conference, registration has been brisk for SSTI's 5th annual conference, Creating Opportunity: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies. To make sure the event is the quality and caliber expected of an SSTI event, we anticipate once again the event will sell out — possibly before the September 5 deadline for early registration. SSTI encourages interested parties to complete the registration form on their brochure or on the website at their earliest convenience. Please note, registrations are confirmed only after payment is received.  Registration for the annual pre-conference session, Growing Your Economy: An Intro to Tech-based Economic Development, is now closed to all but SSTI sponsors. Parties interested in a hands-on intro to tech-based economic development in practice are encouraged to sign up for the pre-conference Tech City tour. 

Economic development in Oregon recently has been given new life, thanks to the approval of $222 million in bills by Governor John Kitzhaber. The legislation, including $72 million for high-tech infrastructure and research over the next two years, is expected to increase public investment in biotechnology, engineering and other research.

The Greater Cincinnati Regional Technology Initiative has released revving up the tech engine, a strategic plan with more than 30 recommendations to improve Cincinnati's position in a tech-based economy. Giving themselves just 100 days to complete the plan when they started in Spring, the project was developed through six "Accelerator Teams" involving more than 200 volunteers from the three-state metro area. The teams looked at: start-up capital and resources; research and commercialization; workforce development; e-commerce readiness; Greater Cincinnati’s image as a high-tech player; and public policy. The Accelerator Teams also drew on a regional "Angel Board" made up of seasoned community business leaders for resources and guidance. Major recommendations include:

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) bridges the gap between the research lab and the marketplace, stimulating prosperity through innovation. Through partnerships with the private sector, ATP's early stage investment is accelerating the development of innovative technologies that promise significant commercial payoffs. ATP exhibits four primary strengths: Early Financial Support. ATP provides cost-share funding in the critical early stages of R&D, including a maximum of $2 million for up to three years in direct costs for a single company and up to half of the total project costs for a maximum of five years for joint ventures.

Research Support. ATP encourages R&D partnerships and consortia and provides guidance in putting together a joint research venture.

No matter which source one uses, venture capital investments continued their decline during the second quarter of 2001. The Moneytree™ survey, released this week by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Venture One, Inc., found a 21 percent decline from the previous quarter. Second quarter investments fell to $8.2 billion from $10.4 billion in the first three months of the year. Only 669 companies received funding, down 11 percent from the 752 firms funded during the first quarter.

What are you doing to protect your state or local economy from technological advances that will completely overturn an industry 10, 20, 30 years from now?  With the prospect of someday losing 27,000 high-paying tech jobs at 15 automotive engine and powertrain plants, Michigan has unveiled a plan to position the state as a leader when automotive applications of fuel cell technology make the internal combustion engine obsolete.  Commissioned by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the Michigan Automotive Partnership, the strategic plan and market study call for the state and automotive industry to jointly: 

Last week, the U.S. Census Bureau released the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey Data (C2SS), compiled from 700,000 test households prior to the full census. C2SS provides a preliminary look at data similar to those that will be available next year from the Census 2000 long form. Several summary state tables are provided with the announcement that can be used by states as indicators of economic progress, including educational attainment, median household income, median value of owner-occupied housing, and percent of people below the poverty level.  Using the 1991 and 2000 educational attainment data from the Census Bureau, SSTI has prepared the accompanying table revealing each state's relative rank for the percentage of its population over 25 years of age that had obtained at least a Bachelor's Degree in 1991and 2000. The table also presents rankings for the percentage change between the two figures for each state. 

Is the current concentration of effort toward the identification and licensing of intellectual property (IP) the best method to stimulate innovation? In a period seeing increased pressures on public research universities to identify alternate sources of funding, IP opponents may find economic considerations obfuscating the innovation argument: 

The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is the nationwide network of federal laboratories that provides the forum to develop strategies and opportunities for linking the laboratory mission technologies and expertise with the marketplace. More than 700 major federal laboratories and centers and their parent departments and agencies are FLC members. 

The general fiscal condition of state budgets is growing weaker, indicates a preliminary report released August 1 by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). State Budget & Tax Actions 2001 provides information on 46 states included in NCSL's annual survey. The remaining states – Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and Wisconsin – had budgets that were either not passed or awaiting the governor's approval.  While the fiscal conditions of states were strong a year ago, they have since been replaced by anemic revenue growth and expanding budget gaps, NCSL reports. As many as 17 states had budget shortfalls during fiscal year (FY) 2001. Another 20 states took measures to reach balanced budgets for FY 2002 due to the slowing economy. States with budget surpluses, 22 in all, were able to make deposits to the rainy day fund or other reserves (12 states), offer greater funding for capital projects (eight states), reduce taxes (six states), and target funding for specific programs (six states). 

The toll a lackluster economy is taking on Wall Street, manufacturing orders, and tech firm profits are well-known facts at this point. Tightening state and local tax revenues are also apparent. For households, less cash usually translates to changes in vacation travel plans and fewer purchases of luxury items, like bigger cars, expensive jewelry and – Internet access?  Recent netScore Internet Traffic reports by comScore Networks, Inc. and Diameter reveal a five-percent decline in U.S. Internet usage over the past two months. While U.S. Internet traffic originating from colleges and universities is expected to drop off each summer, increases in household and business Internet use have historically more than made up for the decline. But not this year. In fact, household usage dropped in both June and July. 

Ohio businesses experienced a 15 percent increase in overall Internet and website usage between 1999 and 2000, according to the 2001 report released by ECom-Ohio — a public-private collaborative project to increase Ohio's readiness for global electronic commerce.  In Assessing Ohio's Readiness for Global Electronic Commerce, Ohio is said to have extensive connectivity infrastructure. Between May 2000 and June 2001, Ohio's network connectivity increased by more than 150 percent. Ohio's four "cybercities"– Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton – place it among the best connected states in the U.S., the report holds. Overall, Ohio cities saw the total bandwidth available increase by more than 400 gigabits per second since May of 2000. At least 20 cities witnessed more than 100 percent growth in capacity, with 12 new cities said to have network connectivity capacity of 45 megabits per second or more.