People
After many years with the variously named New York offices for science & technology, Bruce Layton is moving to Illinois to become the Director of Government Relations for Northwestern University.
SSTI Conference News: Going, Going, Gone?
Registrations for SSTI’s fourth annual conference, Beyond the Hype: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies, have been brisk. As a result, the Regal Knickerbocker Hotel has no more vacancies at our special conference discount rate -- if any rooms are available at all by the time of this release. The hotel was kind enough to extend our room block by 50 percent before the discount deadline this past weekend.
Conference Sponsor Profile: GLITeC, GMCI, NASA IL Commercialization Center
As sponsors of Beyond the Hype: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies, the Great Lakes Industrial Technology Center, the NASA Glenn Garrett Morgan Commercialization Initiative and the NASA Illinois Commercialization Center will share space in the conference exhibitor’s area. Brief profiles of each organization are provided below:
HP Selecting Three “Digital Villages” to Receive $15 Million
Through its Digital Village Program, Hewlett-Packard is providing up to $15 million in products and resources over a three-year period to three communities who need assistance to participate fully in the New Economy. East Palo Alto, CA already has been designated as a Digital Village; the remaining two will be selected through a competitive process.
Guide to Federal Tech Programs Available
The Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance (larta) has released its 2001 Federal Technology Funding Guide which profiles 89 regularly scheduled federal programs that support technology development and deployment. Each profile includes descriptions, contact information, timelines, and examples. Targeted to technology companies, the guide presents only programs with eligibility requirements open to for-profit businesses.
Recent Reports & Studies: Milken Institute: Blueprint for a High-Tech Cluster
Using the microsystems industry in the Southwest as a model, Ross DeVol, Director of Regional and Demographic Studies of the Milken Institute, has written Blueprint for a High-Tech Cluster, a 40-page policy brief on one of the hottest trends for tech-based economic development.
SSTI Conference Agenda Set!
Reservations for Beyond the Hype: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies and limited-seating, pre-conference workshops started coming in only hours after we posted the date (October 3-4), price (extremely reasonable) and location (Chicago) on our web site. We’re glad to see so many of you are as excited about this year’s conference as we are.
Recent Reports & Studies
Academic Indirect Cost Rates
Guide Available of Best Practices in Technology Innovation Centers
Technology Innovation Centers (TICs), defined broadly to include incubators, business support programs and web services, direct providers, and facilitators/gatekeepers, can be successful instruments for technology-based economic development if done properly, according to the San Diego Regional Technology Alliance's recent report Technology Innovation Centers: A Guide to Principles and Best Practices.
People
Krisztina Holly was named executive director of the University of Southern California's Mark and Mary Stevens Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization.
SSTI's 4th Annual Conference Date Set
Mark Your Calendars! Book your Flights! Make your Reservations! Pack Your Bags!
Planning is underway for SSTI's fourth and largest annual gathering of S&T policymakers and practitioners. The event will be held October 3-4, 2000 in Chicago, Illinois. As in the past, two limited-seating in-depth workshops will precede the conference on Monday, October 2.
People in S&T
Cliff Numark has been named CEO for the San Diego Regional Technology Alliance, filling the position vacated by Joe Raguso when he became Deputy Secretary in the California Department of Trade and Commerce.
People in S&T
Jack MacLennan, Manager of the Office of Business Technology and Competitiveness within the Illinois Department of Commerce & Community Affairs, has announced he will be leaving state government at the end of February.
California's Best TBED Programs Identified
With a large land mass and a population surpassing the 21 least populated states and the District of Columbia combined, California has scores of public programs and nonprofit organizations dedicated to encouraging technology-based economic development on the state, regional, local and sub-local levels. Best practices in the field, then, could have applications in a number of other states and communities.
People
John S. Maxson has been named as the new president of The Illinois Coalition. Mr. Maxson fills the position vacated by Shaye Mandle earlier this spring.
People
The Illinois Innovation Initiative has named Jerry Mitchell to serve as commercialization manager. Mr. Mitchell is also president of the Midwest Entrepreneurs Forum.
People
Sacramento's economic development director, Andy Plescia, is moving on to become a private development consultant.
People
Marguerite Wilbur has been named president and CEO of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley.
Symposium to Reveal 'Patterns' Shape the Network Society
More than 60 presentations on patterns, or solutions to problems in a given context, figure to be the highlight of CPSR's 8th biannual Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC) symposium, "Shaping the Network Society: Patterns for Participation, Action, and Change," being held May 16-19 in Seattle.
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.]
Illinois Creates $60 Million Tech VC Fund
The Illinois General Assembly has passed legislation to encourage venture capital investment in technology businesses across the state. HB3212 creates the Technology Development Fund, which permits the State Treasurer to use up to 1 percent of the state's total investment portfolio for equity investments through Illinois venture capital firms.
People
Lewis Attardo is the first director of the new Sacramento Regional Technology Alliance. Attardo formerly was a Florida-based private business and economic development consultant.
Fuel Cells Increasingly on States' Radar
Ohio Proposes to Join Race With the growing need to identify cleaner sources of power, coupled with recent advances in alternative energy technologies, many states are targeting science and technology investments toward fuel cells. California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York all have made investments in fuel cell research demonstration or commercialization projects through energy related research funds.
San Diego’s High Tech Success Highlighted by SBA’s Office of Advocacy
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, as big defense contractors closed their doors and unemployment climbed, San Diego looked as if it might not recover. Between 1990-1993 alone, nearly 60,000 high-paying jobs were lost to defense and aerospace cutbacks. Although the region had some of the ingredients to be successful (defense technologies, a strong university, medical and bioscience institutes, and a desirable climate), the players did not come together to face their economic woes.
S&T Initiatives Snag $305 Million in California’s Next Budget
Last week, Governor Gray Davis signed into law California’s $99.4 billion budget which provides nearly $305 million for science and technology related programs plus an additional $20 million in research and development tax credits. Specific
initiatives include: