• New federal funding opportunities;
• New resources to support early-stage research;
• New products and services to expand manufacturing;
• New tools to help foster growth and innovation in companies you work with;
• New models to accelerate technology commercialization and translation; and,
• New ideas about ways to integrate state, local,and federal investments.

Who should attend?

• Company officials responsible for new product development;
• Local and regional economic developers interested in innovation;
• University technology transfer officials;
• Managers from non-profits interested in commercialization of new technologies; and,
• State agency technology program managers.

To register for the meeting, please go to: http://www.ssti.org/tipreg/tipreg.htm

The meeting will be held at:
Willard Intercontinental Washington
1401 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC 20004

The federal Recovery Act allocates $350 million for a new program called the State Broadband Data and Development Grant program, which is intended to help develop and maintain a national broadband inventory map. The program, to be administered jointly by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will help develop and maintain a national broadband inventory map.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal published a story examining the controversy over Connected Nation Inc., the largest U.S. provider of broadband service maps. Connected Nation is currently under contract with six states (Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia) to help create accurate maps of broadband availability. At issue is the fact that Connected Nation is supported by several telecommunications companies, including AT&T and Comcast, which have a stake in how the federal funds are used.

Connected Nation issued a press release following the passage of the Recovery Act making the case that state public-private partnerships, such as those engaged in by Connected Nation, would be necessary for the success of the broadband stimulus. The company maintains that its experience shows it is better-equipped than the state to obtain information about broadband availability from Internet service providers.

The difficulty in obtaining information from service providers also makes it difficult to verify Connected Nation’s findings. Providers often are reluctant to reveal information about their service areas to the state. This reluctance serves to make Connected Nation’s services both more valuable and less verifiable.

Several groups have objected to the company’s methods and expressed concerns about its growing popularity among states. Earlier this year, digital public interest group Public Knowledge charged that Connected Nation uses its position to represent the interests of the telecommunications industry and prevents efforts to expand broadband access when those efforts would mean decreased profits for providers. The group argues that Connected Nation uses non-disclosure agreements to keep states from verifying the accuracy of broadband maps and to prevent more in-depth examinations of access speeds and costs to consumers.

The Wall Street Journal article cites the example of Kentucky, where Connected Nation has advertised the increase in broadband availability from 60 percent in 2004 to 95 percent in 2009. The article claims that many in the state dispute the idea that 95 percent of areas currently have access to high-speed service and that rapid an increase would be unlikely. Connected Nation explains that some of the change in coverage statistics is due to corrections made to the map since its release to reflect coverage that already existed.

Connected Nation’s response to the Wall Street Journal article is available at: http://connectednation.com/in_the_news/the_blog/.

Not all states, however, rely on private companies to oversee their mapping efforts. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine recently released the state’s first broadband availability map, which can be viewed online. The map was produced through a collaborative effort between the state’s Center for Innovative Technology, the Virginia Information Technology Agency and the Office of Telework Promotion and Broadband Assistance. The data was collected through the voluntary participation of broadband providers, but without the oversight of a private firm. A separate effort now is being lead by Virginia Tech e-Corridors to improve on the new map by adding vertical details, including physical infrastructure, wireless access and transfer speeds.

Read more about the Virginia Broadband Mapping Initiative at: http://www.otpba.vi.virginia.gov/.

An SSTI Excellence in TBED Award distinguishes your initiative as a best practice worthy of emulation in the TBED community through your successful efforts to:

• Expand the Research Infrastructure;
• Commercialize Research;
• Build Entrepreneurial Capacity;
• Increase Access to Capital;
• Enhance the Science and Technology Workforce; and,
• Improve Competitiveness of Existing Industries.

Do not miss this opportunity to showcase the accomplishments of your initiative.

Applications are due Tuesday, June 16 at 5 p.m. ET. For more information, please visit www.sstiawards.org.

Instant Access to Best Practices from Leading TBED Practitioners! Download or subscribe to SSTI’s Excellence in TBED Award Podcast: http://www.ssti.org/Awards/podcasts.htm.

The bill would create three funding pools and establish methods to achieve tier one status, which generally is referred to as a high-performing research university having at least $100 million in federal research grants annually, selective admissions, and low student-faculty ratios. The following funds would be established under the bill and require the universities to increase research, raise private funds, and meet benchmarks required for tier one distinction:

• The Research University Development Fund would provide funding to support recruitment and retention of highly-qualified faculty and enhancement of research productivity.
• The Texas Research Incentive Program would provide matching grants based on the amount of donations from private sources.
• The National Research University Fund, a fund outside the state treasury, would provide funding incentives based on a point system to reward universities that meet certain criteria, such as the value of the institution’s endowment fund and number of doctoral degrees awarded. Voters would be asked to approve a constitutional amendment transferring the balance of the Higher Education Fund to establish the National University Research Fund.

Texas currently has three universities designated as tier one status:  the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and Rice University.

Two bills aimed at growing Texas’ renewable energy industries died during the legislative session. SB 545 would have created a $500 million solar incentive program for household and business installation. The other bill, SB 541, would have mandated the state generate 1,500 megawatts of power from renewable energy. A measure allowing cities to create financial districts to loan money for renewable power and energy efficiency passed both chambers.

Lawmakers also approved the 2010-11 budget last week authorizing $182.3 billion in spending over the next two years and includes $12.1 billion in federal stimulus funds. The approved budget replenishes funding for the state’s primary economic development tools, the Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) and the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF).

For the ETF, lawmakers appropriated an additional $94 million over the biennium, which totals $203.5 million, including the unexpended balance. Funding for this initiative supports research superiority awards, commercialization awards, and matching awards through the state’s institutions of higher education. The 2008-09 budget appropriated $75 million in new general revenue for the fund. To date, the ETF has allocated more than $89 million in funds to 75 early-stage companies, according to the governor’s office.

Lawmakers appropriated an additional $20 million for the TEF in FY11. This fund provides incentives to attract larger employers to the state and assist existing businesses with substantial expansion. Total funding including the unexpended balance for the TEF last biennium was $225 million.  

The approved budget also provides funding for debt service for $450 million in cancer research bonds to fund cancer prevention research and prevention programs through the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, the state’s 10-year, $3 billion research initiative.

The enrolled version of the 2010-11 General Appropriations Bill is available at: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/pdf/SB00001F.pdf.

LB 555 maintains the state’s R&D tax credit for companies at 15 percent of the federal R&D tax credit, but raises the state credit to 35 percent of the federal credit if a company’s research activities take place on the campus or any other facility owned by a Nebraska college or university. While the bill as introduced in January doubled the tax credit across the state regardless if a company engaged a postsecondary institution, the amended and signed version did not. The law is designed to improve university-based collaborative research, especially at university owned research parks such as the new Nebraska Innovation Campus (see the April 30, 2008 issue of the Digest).

Details on changes to Nebraska’s R&D tax credit, including estimates on the effect to the state’s general fund, are available at: http://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=6869.

The signed AB 522 also sets the duties of this new position, allowing the Energy Commissioner to grant abatements of property and local sales and use taxes for up to a 40-year period for facilities that generate, process, or transmit renewable energy. This bill additionally renews tax abatements for renewable energy that were going to expire in July.

Gov. Gibbons also signed SB 152, which steers federal stimulus dollars from the 2009 Recovery Act to training programs in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy, especially in the areas of energy retrofit operations and performing energy audits. Departments within state government will contract with nonprofit organizations to provide training in addition to apprenticeship programs.