State & Local Round Up
Camden, Arkansas
The June 19, 2001 issue of The Bond Buyer reported that Camden, with a population just over 13,000, approved a one-cent sales tax to raise $6 million over four years to support downtown business revitalization efforts. Plans include construction of a business incubator and development of a 500-acre business park.
Missouri
People
Jim Pickens will be the permanent director of the Arkansas Department of Economic Development. Mr. Pickens has served as interim director since February 2.
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.
Advocacy Group En'Visions' New Economy for Duluth, Minn.
A group of community leaders bent on revitalizing the Duluth, Minn., economy and ensuring economic opportunities for the city recently moved one step closer toward accomplishing its goals.
The Bridge Syndicate, a non-profit with more than 300 members, recently made public its plan for economic growth, issuing A Positive Vision for Duluth's Economy.
Conference Sponsor Profile: Minnesota Technology, Inc.
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:
Local TBED Round Up
Blythewood, South Carolina
Incubators: Proven Tools for Tech-based Economic Development
The headlines of many tech and business publications scream of massive Internet incubator layoffs, closures, and restructuring. The rapid rise and fall of these organizations has left some local tech-based economic development practitioners wondering if encouraging the growth of incubator facilities is a worthwhile strategy to pursue.
MTI Launches $3 Million Cluster Initiative
Over the next three years, Minnesota Technology, Inc. (MTI) will invest $3 million to support the development of existing and emerging technology-focused industry clusters. The new program is designed to increase collaboration between groups of tech business and the state’s nonprofit research, federal lab, and academic research communities.
Minneapolis Collaboration Offers Approach to Addressing Digital Divide & Expanding IT Workforce
An initiative to provide computer training to local teenagers to help jumpstart their information technology careers was launched earlier this month in Minneapolis. The Community IT Learning Center is the result of a partnership involving a North Minneapolis-based youth development organization, two local technology training companies, and Microsoft.
Group Recommends Measure to Improve Minnesota Economy
Following on the Summit on Minnesota’s Economy, a 21-member group appointed by the president of the University of Minnesota has unveiled its recommendations to strengthen the state’s economy. The recommendations in Report to the People of Minnesota: Building a Knowledge Economy for Minnesota’s 21st Century are divided among five strategies:
Recommendations in the new report are divided among five strategies:
Arkansas Enacts $140M TBED Package
With all of the recent activity from its state legislature, Arkansas will soon possess one of the nation's most comprehensive portfolios of state-supported TBED initiatives. A number of TBED-related acts passed by the Arkansas General Assembly this session have all received Gov. Mike Beebe's signature. The result could be a public injection of up to $140 million for Arkansas's TBED community over the next biennium.
Upcoming Conferences of Note
The following is a sampling of the more than 60 events included in the SSTI Calendar of Events webpage: http://www.ssti.org/calendar.htm
Bipartisan Efforts Deliver New Tech Programs, Acts for Arkansas
A wide range of research and tech-based economic development bills were approved by the Arkansas legislature, which ended its legislative session in mid-April. With proposals and support coming both from Republican Governor Huckabee and the heavily Democratic legislature, Arkansas is the latest state to demonstrate broad bipartisan support for investing in science and technology.
People
The Arkansas Department of Economic Development has been renamed the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.
State and Local Tech-based ED RoundUp
San Pablo, CA, College to Use $2.1M EDA Grant to Build Biotech Incubator
People
Sandy Layman was named commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Agency (IRRRA) earlier this month. IRRRA promotes economic development in Northeastern Minnesota.
Keys to Growth Involve Discovery, Engineering and Entrepreneurship, Report Says
A 19-year veteran of the technology-based economic development field has co-authored a guide that outlines strategies for growth in the knowledge-based economy. The Keys to Growth in the New Economy:Investing in Discovery, Engineering, and Entrepreneurship draws on the experiences of John Ahlen, who has led the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority (ASTA) since 1984. The report is co-authored by Mark Diggs, Chairman and CEO of Maryland-based Ontology Works, Inc.
Governors Challenge Youth to Solve Real-world Industry Problem
Armed with professional advice from mentors in scientific fields and free access to sophisticated design and engineering software, teachers and students from Hawaii, Kansas, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Vermont and Virginia will participate in a national competition to solve a real-world engineering challenge defined by the aviation industry.
Arkansas Two-year Colleges Offering Entrepreneurship Degrees
Entrepreneurship education courses continue to appear across the country. A large-scale commitment was announced recently, as eight Arkansas two-year colleges will offer degrees and certificates in entrepreneurship this fall. The broad availability is expected to help create a culture of entrepreneurship that extends from regions capitalizing in the emerging fields of bioscience and nanotechnology research to the rural pockets of the state in need of high-paying jobs.
$12M SEED Initiative Proposed in Minnesota Supplemental Budget
Aiming to resolve the state’s projected $935 million deficit in its current two-year budget, Gov. Tim Pawlenty introduced a plan that closes Minnesota's budget gap and invests additional funding in rural entrepreneurship and teacher training initiatives for K-12 math and science educators.
Under the governor’s plan, state spending would be cut by $341 million and the state would tap into the budget reserve and surplus funds within the Health Care Access Fund for another $500 million.
Recent Research: Measuring the Effectiveness of State R&D Tax Credits
Two weeks ago, Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter vetoed legislation to repeal state R&D income tax credits for Idaho companies. Among his reasons for the veto, Gov. Otter claimed removing the credits would put Idaho at a competitive disadvantage because surrounding states over similar incentives. Was he right?
People
With new governors often come changes in the leadership of state economic development organizations. Arkansas, Colorado and Maryland recently announced their new development officers:
Minnesota Legislature Creates New Office of Science and Technology
Minnesota legislators established the Office of Science and Technology (OST) to develop a collaborative partnership between industry, academia and government that will coordinate federal funding procurement efforts in S&T with Minnesota.