Technopolis Issues & Events



The Newsletter of Technopolis Times
Resources for Technology-Based Regional Economic Development
Summer, 2004 Edition

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CONTENTS

Why Technopolis Times?
Featured products
Technopolis Times editorial offices to move far, far away
New technopoleis and initiatives added to Technopolis Times’ database
Regional News
Conferences
Reports
Jargon Watch
Best/Worst Quote
Editorial
Technopolis Times’ Creed
Opt in / opt out
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Why Technopolis Times?

Technology jobs are driving economic growth, and these jobs locate in metropolitan regions – not nations, states, or provinces. Sometimes these growth regions cross state and national borders!

There are many sources of economic development information, but only Technopolis Times gives you current, need-to-know news and resources for economic development with a specific and exclusive focus on:

This issue’s featured products rainbow

Bibliography of technology based economic developmentEndnote™ file with 100 full bibliographic entries - books, articles, reports.

Specify Endnote or Word file.  Order using PayPal here.

Free online play of New Product Development Simulation ends September 30

The NPD sim is fun and instructional.  Learn the risks of new product development.  Play in on the web for FREE for a limited time (until September 30, 2004), or buy CD+license for $69.00 (check current prices at web sites) here (great media reviews of the simulation are posted there) or here.  Classroom/training licenses also available.

rainbow  This issue’s featured products

Technopolis Times editorial offices to move.  Far, far away.

Dear Readers,

On September 15, I will join the Maastricht School of Management as Professor and Associate Dean.  My responsibilities as Associate Dean will include the MBA and DBA programs, and MsM's research programs.

Here is my new contact information:
Visitors address    
Endepolsdomein 150
6229 EP Maastricht
The Netherlands
Postal address    
PO Box 1203
6201 BE Maastricht
The Netherlands
Phone    +31 43 387 08 08    
Fax        +31 43 387 08 00
Web      www.msm.nl    
E-mail   phillips@msm.nl

You can also continue to reach me at fp@generalinformatics.com.  I will continue as Editor of Technopolis Times and its affiliated e-publications, as Associate Editor of Technological Forecasting & Social Change, and as a Senior Fellow of the IC2 Institute.

Many of you extended kind and invaluable help during my recent transition, either by networking and mentoring or by serving as references for me.  I am grateful.  I will keep you apprised about opportunities for participation and support at MsM.  Please don't hesitate to contact me about project and alliance ideas.

Here is more information about MsM:
The Maastricht School of Management is a free-standing, independent business school located in the historic city where the European Union treaty was signed.  MsM is one of the oldest business schools in the Netherlands. Established in 1952 as the Research Instituut Voor Bedrijfswetenschappen (Institute for Management Science) at the Technical University of Delft, MsM moved its campus to Maastricht in 1989.

MsM's teaching program has a strong practical orientation, originating in its early task at the University of Delft: Management training for engineers.  The School balances management theory with practical experience and applied research in a multicultural and multidisciplinary setting.  This approach has resulted in a strong quality ranking for MsM's MBA courses.  MsM is one of the fastest-growing business schools in the Netherlands.

MsM’s mission is to enhance performance of the private and public sector for economic development in countries in transition.  Complementing the regular management education programs (MBA, DBA and PhD), MsM's technical assistance capability includes organizational and institutional development, training capacity development and research and policy advice.

In addition to its sizeable on-site MBA program, MsM is now involved in 31 MBA Outreach Programs in 23 different countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Indonesia, India, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Malta, Mongolia, Namibia, Peru, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Suriname, Tanzania, UAE and Vietnam).  In April, the Vietnamese Women’s Union gave an award to the Maastricht School of Management for its Training for Women in Micro and Small Enterprises project in Vietnam. In the past three years, more than 10,000 female entrepreneurs took part in the training.

Other advisory and consultancy support activities include projects financed by the World Bank, the European Union, the United Nations Development Program, the Dutch government, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Current projects include:

    * Chinese Enterprise Management Trainers’ Development Project in Changsha, China
    * Public Health Management in Egypt
    * Development of Small Industry Extension and Promotion in Bangkok, Thailand.
    * Capacity Building for Decentralization of Government in Accra, Ghana.

These projects focus on small business development, enterprise restructuring, and entrepreneurship. The Expert Centre for Sustainable Business and Development Cooperation is an initiative of four Dutch universities: the Maastricht School of Management (MsM), the Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University Rotterdam), the Amsterdam graduate Business School (University of Amsterdam) and EIBE (European Institute for Business Ethics, Universiteit Nyenrode). The Expert Centre combines the skills and expertise of the four institutions for multidisciplinary treatment of sustainable development issues.

Conferences hosted by MsM include the International Management Development Association's 13th annual World Business Congress (held July 14-18, 2004 in Maastricht), and the April, 2004 conference on Turkey and the EU, with Koc University.

Best regards,
Fred

New technopoleis and regional initiatives added to Technopolis Times’ database

Look for these and other regional technology initiatives in the “Regions” section of the Technopolis Times web site.

Moore’s Law keeps on rollin’

In his July keynote at Semicon West, Intel Fellow Paolo Gargini said that Moore's Law can continue to hold true for 15 to 20 more years. (Electronic News Today)

Regional News

From the Northwest

Incentives, cooperation draw knife company from California
William Henry Fine Knives will relocate to Oregon from Santa Cruz, Calif., in July, to make high-end pocketknives that retail for $300 and more. It hopes to employ as many as 25 people within 18 months.

The company received a $75,000 grant for relocation assistance from the governor's strategic reserve fund. William Henry will join Oregon's growing coterie of knife companies, including Kershaw Knives, Leatherman Tool Group and Gerber Legendary Blades. (Ted Sickinger, The Oregonian, June 2, 2004)

Oregon Governor announces 'project-ready' industrial sites
(Summarized from a May 3, 2004 story by American City Business Journals Inc.)  Gov. Ted Kulongoski announced that 11 Oregon sites are "project ready" for industrial development. He announced a marketing campaign to promote them to site selectors around the world. The eleven sites represent more than 900 acres of prime land. Each site is no more than six months away from development, exceeding national standards for "project-ready" status.

The new marketing effort surrounding these sites is OregonProspector.com, a joint effort of the state, the Oregon Economic Development Association, Pacific Power and other private-sector partners.

Oregon has also created an Office of Regulatory Streamlining to ease regulations and shorten the time it takes to get a permit.

TOC: Washington Technology Center Newsletter, Spring 2004 
WTC News
2004 statewide report shows shift in tech growth
New logo, look for WTC
Can Washington become a biotech powerhouse?
WTC, WSIB join forces
Three join WTC staff

RTS Reports
Angel Network takes wing
Tech as a Tool program can help companies boost productivity
Everett company paves way for new standard in road repair
Consulting can help small companies prepare for growth

Microfab Lab Link
Open house draws R&D crowd
Chu joins lab staff

New Industry Initiatives
What will Nanotech’s niche be in state’s economy?
Northwest Energy collaborative broadens reach

Quick Hits
Angel Network to begin reviewing funding proposals
Deadline nears for RTD grants
Nonprofit R&D facilities now eligible as grant partners

Events
Eye of the Investor links entrepreneurs, investors
April breakfast aims to help biotech companies access federal R&D funds   

Contact: "Ellen E. Barker, Washington Technology Center" <wtcnews@exchange.watechcenter.org>
Mendocino County bans gen-mod crops
On March 2, 2004, Mendocino County, California became the first region in the United States to ban genetically modified crops and animals, despite campaigns against the measure by Monsanto and DuPont. Similar measures are being debated in neighboring California counties and in North Dakota and Vermont.  http://www.bizsites.com/updates/io_updates.asp?id=13

Mexico's maquila industry: innovate or perish

Mexico’s maquiladora industry has experienced a severe downturn. Will it be viable in the long-run? Professors Jorge Carrillo from El Colegio de la Frontera Norte and Jim Gerber from San Diego State University recently conducted research on the electronics and auto parts industries in Tijuana and Mexicali.

Their results show that firms on the technological frontier are expected to be more likely to succeed in the long run. The researchers conclude: “Electronics and auto parts manufacturing have a solid foundation for a long run presence in the region. In the long run, expansion seems more likely than decline. The [industries’] solid foundation of technological upgrading, internationally competitive firms, best practice management skills, constant innovation, and competition on the basis of product quality, make a strong case for production staying in the region in the long run.”

For more information read: “Are Baja California’s Maquiladora Plants Competitive?” a paper prepared for the San Diego Dialogue, July 18, 2002. Or contact the authors at: carrillo@colef.mx or jgerber@mail.sdsu.edu.  See also http://innovationmexico.com/index.php?ed=6&id=192&opc=rn&type=fs:

In a related story, SONY makes Tijuana a major design center for the TV industry.

$12-billion Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor to France or Japan?

Siteselection.com reports it's down to those two countries as the site of the “artificial sun on Earth." The project will create thousands of high-end research jobs. 

European site incentives centrally regulated

Because incentives are considered a form of state aid, their availability and limits within the EU are strictly monitored by the European Commission,” according to Plants Sites and Parks.  Thus, it’s not just who you know, but what you know, that lets you nail that Continental location.  Good tips in the full article.

Austin proposes incentives worth $4.3 million to Samsung.

Samsung started work last summer on a $500 million expansion of its chip plant.  The expansion will add 240 jobs. The incentives include $1.6 million worth of fee waivers, mostly related to energy supply, and a $1 million grant for energy system upgrades. (Austin American Statesman)

BizSites.com surveys regions’ nanotech prospects

(This is a summary of Lauren Nypaver’s article at bizsites.com.) The U.S. government will invest $5 billion in nanotechnology research by 2008.  Tech regions are honing their infrastructure to attract the companies that might create the nanotech boom.

Roger Akers, managing partner of Akers Capital, says companies that need a strong technical infrastructure no longer have to stick to the old techno hot spots. But the areas that will attract emerging technology companies must have centralized research facilities, multiple capital resources, and a plan to attract more than one tech industry.

The status and prospects of the leading technopoleis:
Boston
“In March, the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX) created a new division to deal exclusively with nanotechnology.” It will offer statewide programs to nanotech ventures in the computing, life sciences and telecommunications markets.

As Massachusetts has not set aside funds for nanotech research, its universities have found other ways to pay for it. The schools have won more than $100 million in federal nanotech research funds. Airpath Wireless Inc. decided to move its headquarters to Waltham because Massachusetts’ emphasis on developing the state’s talent pool created people with the wireless technology experience Airpath needed.
Silicon Valley & vicinity
California is losing startups to states that understand technology’s importance to economic development and are aggressively pursuing them.

The state has pledged $100 million for a new NanoSystems Institute at the Los Angeles and Santa Barbara U.C. campuses.

Other California cities are starting to build tech clusters, says Akers. “There’s been an amazing influx of management talent to the Sacramento region over the last two years,” says Akers. Sacramento has attracted a variety of technology companies because of its affordability and quality of life.
New York’s Tech Valley
This 18-county region, with more than 1,000 technology companies employing 50,000, is expanding its universities’ research programs.

The nation’s first nanotechnology college will open at the University at Albany this fall. The College of Nanoscale Sciences and Engineering will be located in the Albany NanoTech complex, which will also host Sematech’s new $400 million center and projects of Tokyo Electron Ltd.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Like Massachusetts, Michigan focus on using its educated workforce to attract tech companies. The state will make zero percent loans available to public university students who pursue engineering and technology degrees and who continue to study and work in Michigan.

The University of Michigan will use a $6.4 million NASA BioScience and Engineering Institute grant to identify new technologies for space exploration.

At Ann Arbor’s Center for Biologic Nanotechnology, researchers are working on drug delivery devices that will target cancer cells and leave healthy cells unharmed.
Texas: Advances driven by the state university
The World Congress on Information Technology, a major economic development showcase, will come to Austin (home of University of Texas’s flagship campus) in 2006. A new $80 million diagnostic biotech facility in Houston will be located in the University of Texas Research Park and will focus on cancer treatment research. Texas Instruments (TI) will build its new $3 billion chip fab near the University of Texas at Dallas.
North Carolina’s research triangle
North Carolina has been promoting a research base similar to Massachusetts’, with a lower cost of living and lower cost of doing research. The state has pledged $60 million to train workers for biotech and it will revamp Research Triangle Park.

High-Tech Expands Elsewhere in New England too

(Summarized from an article by John W. McCurry on siteselection.com)  Vermont is registering some gains in the knowledge economy. Infineon Technologies, the fifth largest semiconductor manufacturer in North America, is investing US$10 million to expand its development center in the Burlington area. The expanded facility will encompass about 30,000 sq. ft.

Vermont's Bennington Microtechnology Center is getting $3.5 million from the U.S. Office of Naval Research to develop microsystem technologies for Navy use. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's nearby Center for Automation Technologies will play a major role in the research.

Maine has won National Semiconductor's investment of $58 million in a South Portland analog products manufacturing facility. Semiconductor manufacturing at the site dates back to 1962 with Fairchild Semiconductor. National acquired Fairchild in 1988. National considered several locations, including Texas, for the plant that wound up in South Portland. Part of the incentive to expand in Maine back then was the Business Equipment Tax Reimbursement Program (BETR). That program, in which the state reimburses a company for local taxes, is still in effect for the current expansion, he says.  Fairchild, meanwhile, is investing $33 million this year at its adjacent site in South Portland, expanding a six-inch line.

Janos Technology, an advanced infrared optics concern, is moving to Keene, New Hampshire.

Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcier will allocate $4 million to the Samuel Slater Technology Fund to boost investment in high-tech start-up companies. Carcieri is also proposing to allow the state's Economic Development Corporation to grant capital gains tax exemptions for investors, owners and managers of up to 20 companies per year achieving significant growth in Rhode Island.

Web sites:
Maine & Co. www.maineco.com
MassDevelopment www.massdevelopment.com
New Hampshire Economic Development www.nheconomy.com
Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation www.riedc.com
Vermont Economic Development Authority www.veda.org

New Jersey Economic Development Authority News

New Jersey has made $40 million in 2004 funding available to high-technology and biotechnology businesses through its popular Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program.  Now in its sixth year, the competitive program enables qualified technology companies to raise cash to finance their growth and operations by selling tax losses or research and development credits to other profitable New Jersey corporations for at least 75 percent of their value.  It is administered by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) in conjunction with the New Jersey Division of Taxation and the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology.

Last year 189 companies shared the $40 million made available annually. Gov. James E. McGreevey has proposed adding another $20 million to the program.

To download an application, visit www.njeda.com and look for "Helpful Tools" along the left side of the home page.  Click on "Online Applications," then scroll down and click again on "Tax Certificate Transfer Program, New Applicants Selling Business Application."  For more information about the Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program or other lending programs, visit www.njeda.com, call the EDA's Business Lending Division at (609) 292-0181, or send an e-mail to bl@njeda.com.

Conferences

Reports

ATIP has released the following reports.
To view these reports, please visit http://www.atip.org/reportmatrixindex.html.  Most ATIP reports may be viewed only by paid ATIP members.
ATIP04.014: Nanoelectronics in Taiwan
ATIP04.015 : Aeronautics in India
ATIP04.016: Japanese Government S&T Budget, JFY 2004
ATIP04.017: Telecom Revolution in India
ATIP04.018: Intelligent Systems in Molecular Biology

We are impressed with Siteselection.com’s comprehensive news of relocations and incentives.  Subscribe to their “SiteNet/IAMC Dispatch” email newsletter, at http://www.siteselection.com.

Write to info@generalinformatics.com for a free pre-publication copy of…
… a review of Terence E. Brown and Jan Ulijn (eds.), Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Culture: The Interaction between Technology, Progress and Economic Growth.   Edward Elgar Press, 2004.  The review will be published in Technological Forecasting & Social Change.

Jargon Watch

Best/Worst Quote

“Unfortunately, we have no idea how to market Oregon.”
– Nobumasa Yuzawa, North American marketing specialist for Japan Travel Bureau (reported in The Oregonian, June 15, 2004).

Editorial: Outward Marketing and Economic Development

In this issue we criticize the view, apparently held by many cities, that the infrastructural aspects of economic development are far more important than the marketing aspects.  Like many of our readers, the Technopolis Times staff are (or have been) in business.  If we have survived in business, it is not because we believe "if you build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door." No, we understand that a good product is half of business success, and the other half is excellent advertising and marketing.

As TT has reported previously, there might be evidence that on average, recruitment efforts don't work.  So what?  It's a famous business adage that "half my advertising dollars are wasted; I just don't know which half."  That is to say, the same thing is true in business; on the average, advertising only half works. Businesses advertise anyway.

In technology companies, engineers want to build bleeding-edge devices, but the marketers want the engineers to build what the customers say they want.  If engineers get the upper hand for too long, nothing gets sold; if marketers prevail for too long, the company loses its reputation for technological leadership.  Tension between the two is healthy, just as it is for infrastructural and marketing initiatives in economic development.

But, you might say, people are moving to your city anyway, without outward marketing, and you get some company start-ups there.

Fine, but are they the kind of companies you want?   At worst, an influx of random companies can have bad environmental impacts, or if headquartered elsewhere, siphon too much money out of the region.  At best, randomly arriving companies fail to contribute to cohesive industry clusters.

TT believes (though we admit we can’t prove) that all successful post-Silicon Valley, post-Boston technology clusters, anywhere in the world, have been seeded by the efforts of governments or public-private partnerships.  These entities do strategic and tactical marketing.  That is, they target the kinds of newcomer companies they want, and then market to them.

The phrase from Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come," is fantasy.  Good movie, bad business strategy.  In real life if you build it, either no companies come or the wrong companies come.  Barring dumb luck, of course.

But, you might say, if free enterprise is truly efficient, investors will locate in the right place (for them) regardless of a government’s incentives, pretty brochures, or official calls on company presidents.

TT respectfully disagrees, for three reasons. First, as noted above, the right place for the company is not necessarily the right place for the residents of a particular city. Second, free-enterprise market-clearing arguments can be excuses to do nothing.  And third, free-market equilibrium logic simply does not apply to cluster formation.

Using the market-clearing reasoning (in an extreme way, admittedly), Calvin Klein need not advertise, because the efficient market will ensure there are plenty of jeans for anyone who wants them. To take that logic even farther, Calvin need not even bother to do business, because the efficient market will see that if there's a need for jeans, it will be filled.

Would that be important?  In a way, no: Calvin's smart, he can always find another way to make a living.  He has a choice.

But cities don't have that choice!  Like it or not, Portland (for example) is “in the Portland business,” i.e., in the business of being Portland, improving Portland, and selling Portland.  And our "product," our only possible product, is... Portland.

Finally, an economic equilibrium analysis would show – falsely – that all technology firms will locate in Chicago, LA, or New York, because that’s where they will be close to large markets, large talent pools, large universities, and frequent direct flights to everywhere.  This kind of analysis cannot explain why Salt Lake City or Austin became vital technopoleis.

There are many smaller population centers with good quality of life, good universities, and low cost of living.  After a “critical mass” of companies have located in one such center, setting its industry cluster at the self-sustaining level, the locale can reduce its marketing budget.  Until then, it must – using market distortions if necessary – build exceptional infrastructure and stay in the faces of selected relocating firms, shouting, “Look at me!”

But, you might say, the city council should demonstrate to taxpayers that their ED marketing dollars are productive, and that’s very difficult.

Only in the same way that businesses have to demonstrate it to stockholders.  And that doesn’t stop businesses from advertising and marketing!

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