Reserve Thursday, May 31st for a new event that showcases and connects the South’s research assets in the advanced materials of carbon fibers, composites, and light weight metals for transportation industries. Hosted by the Southern Advanced Materials in Transportation Alliance (SAMTA) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the day-long event will consist of presentations by researchers from across the South, and company panels commenting on the presented research and research trends in the industry. For additional information as it becomes available or questions, please contact Scott Doron, director of the Southern Technology Council and SAMTA co-chair, at sdoron@southern.org. The other SAMTA co-chair is Tom Rogers, Director of Industrial Partnerships and Economic Development, ORNL. SAMTA is supported by a grant from the Economic Development Administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce.  

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The United States is known for its innovativeness and entrepreneurial spirit. The spark of technological innovation, however, often begins well before the opportunity is obvious or attractive to the private sector. As a result, the partnership between the U.S. government’s funding of research in the nation’s public and private universities plays a larger role than most observers recognize. The vast majority of economic growth in America arises from technological innovation, which depends heavily on research universities.
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The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) appears to be making technology one of its priorities with the creation of a new task force. Part of the task force’s mission will be to show how technology can foster innovation and transparency in local government. The committee will define mayoral priorities and will advise Congress and the Barack Obama administration.
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Across the United States, students are teaming up with classrooms around the world, using videoconferencing equipment, social media, and other technologies to learn about current events, historic milestones, economic trends, and cultural norms. Educators say the collaborations, which lend themselves to co-curricular projects, foster deep and meaningful conversations, whet a thirst for knowledge that textbooks cannot offer, and show that people in different countries have a lot more in common than many assume.
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Two years ago, President Obama popped a surprise into his State of the Union address: His administration would double American exports in five years, helping to create two million jobs. Two years later, the administration is on track—for now—to meet its ambitious goal. Growing exports have been one of the central drivers of the recovery, accounting for about half the nation’s economic growth since the recession ended. Economists say the administration deserves credit for some of the gains. It has pressured China to increase the value of its currency and open its markets to American businesses. It has worked closely with American companies looking to sell goods and services throughout the world.
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Multinational companies have shifted manufacturing operations and research and development from West to East, taking advantage of low wages and huge Asian markets poised for growth. On the global trade front, countries like France feel battered, and political leaders increasingly toy with protectionism. This YaleGlobal series offers ideas on how nations can optimize globalization’s benefits.
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Throughout the nation, governors and state legislatures and mayors and city councils are crafting innovative solutions to the problems facing their economies. They are joining together with leaders from private industry, philanthropy and advanced research to boost exports, strengthen the clean economy, expand innovation capacity and train the next generation of workers. They are adopting new styles of governance that emphasize collaboration over conflict and partnership over partisanship. Over the next few days, we’ll present ten state and metro-level innovations that we think deserve your attention in 2012.
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The ERS Major Land Uses (MLU) series is the only accounting of all major uses of public and private land in all 50 states. Land use and land-use changes involve important economic and environmental implications for commodity production and trade, open space, soil and water conservation, and other policy issues. This publication presents the results of the latest inventory (2007) of U.S. major land uses and discusses national and regional trends in land use compared with earlier estimates.
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One way communities can re-envision their futures before having to address the political challenges to change is by strategically investing in innovative, nonpartisan, public works projects. One of the most innovative and comprehensive proposals of this type is the Atlanta BeltLine, a 22-mile loop of old railroads being transformed into a linear park with streetcars and bike and pedestrian paths connecting more than 40 diverse neighborhoods, as well as city schools, historic and cultural sites, shopping districts, and public parks.
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Poor children who get high-quality day care as early as infancy reap long-lasting benefits, including a better chance at a college degree and steady employment, according to a UNC-Chapel Hill study that followed participants from birth to age 30. The latest findings, published this week in the online journal Developmental Psychology, are from one of the longest-running child care studies in the United States.
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In their early adult years, it is important for youth to gain additional skills through further educational, training, and work experience. Yet, many of America’s youth are neither enrolled in school nor participating in the labor market—they are not investing in their human capital or earning income. Their disconnection represents a significant loss of economic opportunity for the nation. This report examines the status of these “opportunity youth.”
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The news will come as no surprise to the public college administrators and faculty members who've seen their budgets slashed over the past year. But an annual study of state spending on higher education finds that state appropriations for colleges and students sunk by 7.6 percent in 2011-12, the largest such decline in at least a half century. The annual Grapevine study, conducted by the Illinois State University Center for the Study of Higher Education and the State Higher Education Executive Officers, finds that all but nine states experienced one-year declines from their 2010-11 totals.
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