TBED Resource Center February 2006 Newsletter includes stories highlighting state and local S&T strategic plans, indices or impact analyses.

Exposing More than the Iceberg’s Tip

Each week’s edition of the SSTI Weekly Digest includes stories highlighting state and local S&T strategic plans, indices or impact analyses. In addition, the findings of academic research and policy studies are included in the Digest’s occasional Recent Research series. These brief articles, though, expose just the tip of the iceberg of reports, plans and studies published each month that could be useful in refining your efforts to build a tech-based economy.

That’s where the Technology-based Economic Development (TBED) Resource Center comes in handy. The TBED Resource Center, developed by SSTI in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Technology Policy, is an interactive website providing a wealth of information for practitioners, policymakers, university faculty, and researchers alike. With links to more than 3,400 reports, the website features information in a variety of TBED-critical topics in the U.S. and abroad. More than 140 new entries were added in January alone!

Keeping up with the rapidly growing library catalog may seem to be a daunting task, so beginning with this inaugural issue, SSTI will showcase each month selected reports, analyses, strategic plans and research papers from around the world. As a subscriber to the SSTI Weekly Digest, we thought you’d be interested in this monthly newsletter highlighting some of the reports we enter each month.

This month’s newsletter features 12 reports that touch on an array of TBED interests, including strategies for competitiveness, boosting productivity in higher education, and the role of temporary clusters in building global knowledge pipelines. Following are links to the selected reports alongside a brief description:

The full TBED Resource Center is accessible at: http://www.tbedresourcecenter.org/

Economic Impact of the University of South Carolina
According to the report, the combined economic impact of the University of South Carolina’s (USC) eight campuses and its alumni on the state of South Carolina is more than $4 billion. This level of economic activity supports a total of 49,850 jobs and an associated $1.5 billion in total household income. The report breaks down the total economic and employment impact of each regional campus. This report is available at: http://www.sc.edu/economic_impact/

Stop Paying More for Less: Ways to Boost Productivity in Higher Education
The article from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis outlines several strategies aimed at increasing productivity in higher education, all of which require the unbiased attention of administrators, parents and legislators. Unfortunately, some parties are likely to dismiss such ideas out of hand, an attitude that is part of the reason universities have a productivity problem, the article states. The authors define starting points for policy and recommend several issues to be addressed by educators and legislators, including defining objectives; defining productivity; measuring productivity; and showcasing productivity improvements. This article is available at: http://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/re/2006/a/pdf/higher_education.pdf

Economy at Risk: The Imperatives for a Science and Technology Policy for New Jersey

With New Jersey facing a 14 percent loss of high-tech jobs since 2000, the Commission on Science and Technology commissioned a study for developing a high tech recovery plan for New Jersey. The report outlines four principles in which New Jersey’s science and technology policy should be guided. Positive public policy responses are needed to halt the slippage in the state’s core economic sectors, the report states. This report is available at: http://www.state.nj.us/scitech/wn051123.pdf

Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth
The article from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s publication, Economic Trends, summarizes what is known about the characteristics of entrepreneurial firms. Entrepreneurial businesses are clearly important to economic growth, and this warrants a strategic focus on new and small firms, according to the author. Luring and retaining companies and providing incentives and assistance for expansion are the focus of an impressive set of Minnesota economic development and business support programs, the article indicates. Data is provided on employment change, firm births and deaths, and change in top growth industries for the state. This article is available at: http://www.deed.state.mn.us/lmi/publications/trends/1105/growth.htm

Building Global Knowledge Pipelines: The Role of Temporary Clusters
The paper compares temporary clusters with permanent clusters and other types of inter-firm interactions. The authors pose the question, if regular participation in temporary clusters can satisfy a firm’s need to learn through interaction with suppliers, customers, peers and rivals, why is the phenomenon of permanent spatial clustering of similar and related economic activity so pervasive? The answer, it is claimed, lies in the restrictions imposed upon economic activity when knowledge and ideas are transformed into valuable products and services. This research paper is available at: http://www.druid.dk/wp/pdf_files/05-20.pdf

Tolerance, Aesthetics, Amenities or Jobs? Dutch City Attraction to the Creative Class
Using a cross section of Dutch cities, the author tests a hypothesis of Richard Florida, which claims that it is not only job opportunities or urban amenities which attract creative high-educated people to cities but, rather, tolerance and aesthetics. The authors conclude that the tolerance and creative class nexus empirically fails to materialize for the Netherlands. However, the aesthetic assets of cities do provide a strong explanation for both share and growth of the creative class in Dutch cities. This research paper is available at: http://www.uu.nl/content/05-33_1.pdf

Art of Economic Development: Community Colleges for Creative Economies
The conference report from Regional Technology Strategies finds that many community colleges are unassumingly becoming places students and communities look to for leisure-time, creative, and cultural activities. Additionally, they are becoming institutions of choice for qualifying for creative, and growing occupations and industries. This report is available at: http://www.rtsinc.org/publications/rtsashville.pdf

Tennessee Economic and Community Development Play Book: 2005
The update to the initial plan released in 2003 includes more recent activities and incorporates the focus of the department with the earlier philosophies and directives outlined in the first edition. Since the publishing of the first Play Book, Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber has set the department on a course to become a national “best practices” model. This strategic plan is available at: http://www.state.tn.us/ecd/pdf/strategic_plan.pdf

Toward a More Competitive Colorado
The Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation examines hundreds of national rankings on issues related to Colorado’s competitive position nationally. There are nine major industry clusters currently operating in Metro Denver, all of which are important to the economic base, making them primary targets for economic development retention and expansion efforts. This report is available at: http://www.metrodenver.org/documents/mdedcCenter/Competitiveness_IndClusters_Report.pdf

National Analysis of Diversity in Science and Engineering Faculties at Research Universities
This comprehensive, national analysis of tenured and tenure track faculty in the “top 50” departments of science and engineering disciplines shows that females and minorities are significantly underrepresented. The data demonstrate that while the representation of females in science and engineering Ph.D. attainment has significantly increased in recent years, the corresponding faculties are still overwhelmingly dominated by White men. This analysis is available at: http://cheminfo.chem.ou.edu/faculty/djn/diversity/briefings/Diversity%20Report%20Final.pdf

State Policy and Economic Development in Oklahoma: 2005
From Oklahoma 21st Century, the report is a follow up to a 2004 study and offers suggestions to be implemented to improve economic development. The study explores historic growth of establishment-based employment in Oklahoma relative to the nation. Several conclusions are reached by examining the behavior of Oklahoma’s share of national employment, monthly detailed statistics on year-over-year growth rates, the secular trend in sustained rates of growth, cyclical deviations about the trend, and industry-sector sources of differential growth. This report is available at: http://origins.ou.edu/reports/ok2000%20pdf/OK2005.pdf

China and the Relationship Between the Oil Price and the Dollar
The authors study co-integration and causality between the real price of oil and the real price of the dollar over the 1974-2004 period. Results suggest that a 10 percent rise in the oil price coincides with a 4.3 percent appreciation of the dollar in the long run, and that the causality runs from oil to the dollar. This research paper is available at: http://www.cepii.fr/anglaisgraph/workpap/pdf/2005/wp05-16.pdf

Copyright State Science & Technology Institute 2006. Redistribution to all others interested in tech-based economic development is strongly encouraged. Please cite the State Science & Technology Institute whenever portions are reproduced or redirected.