In This Week's Issue
SSTI News and Analysis
Tech Talkin' Govs: Part II
The second installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series includes
excerpts from speeches delivered in Alaska, Colorado, Missouri, and
New Mexico. Our first installment was in the Jan.
11 Digest.
Alaska
Gov. Sean Parnell,
State of the State Address, Jan. 19, 2012
"I also thank you for working with me to
create a merit scholarship that gives all
Alaska's children an incentive to complete a
more rigorous high school curriculum. ...
"... In its first year, this scholarship has
been a remarkable success. Now we must secure it for future years.
This legislative session, let us take the $400 million that we set
aside last year, and build a strong fence of moral obligation
around it. Let us create a fund for that money so the
fund's earnings can pay for these scholarships
for future generations."
Colorado
Gov. John Hickenlooper,
State of the State Address, Jan. 12, 2012
"We established the Colorado Innovation
Network (COIN) to foster collaboration and idea-sharing across
private sector, academic and public lines, including the 29
research laboratories in Colorado. ...
"... COIN gives us a unique
opportunity to incubate entrepreneurship and facilitate the
transfer of new ideas to the marketplace. ...
"... While COIN is privately
funded, we are asking for a modest public investment to continue
the success we had with Arrow and GE."
Missouri
Gov. Jay Nixon,
State of the State Address, Jan. 17, 2012
"As part of our Missouri Works strategy, the
budget I present tonight continues our record investment in worker
training for a second year, especially in high-tech areas so
critical to modern manufacturing. ...
"... The next pillar of Missouri Works is to
accelerate investment in high-growth industries like science and
technology. ...
"... With the passage last
year of the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act, we
are poised for rapid progress.
"As part of Missouri Works, my budget includes
$4 million in seed capital to invest in attracting the very best
science talent to Missouri."
New Mexico
Gov. Susana Martinez, State
of the State Address, Jan. 17, 2012
"We need to invest in a culture of
entrepreneurship so more of these family businesses can make it
— so they can grow and hire more New
Mexicans.
"I'm also proposing a tax
credit for high-tech research and development to attract more
high-paying jobs to the state."
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President Elevates SBA Head to Cabinet, Seeks Agency
Consolidation
President Obama recently announced his intention to streamline
the six federal departments and agencies focused on business and
trade into a single department. Doing so would require Congress to
grant the president authority to reorganize the Executive branch
and then submit the proposal to Congress as an up or down vote. The
new department would help coordinate federal trade policy, and
provide a comprehensive source for business support. As an
indication of the president's commitment to
improving federal support for small businesses, he also announced
that he would promote the Small Business Administration (SBA) to a
cabinet-level agency.
The consolidation would include the core business and trade
functions of the Department of Commerce, the Small Business
Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the
Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and
the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. In his announcement,
President Obama said that the move would allow entrepreneurs to
have a single office, website and phone number to turn to through
all stages of their business' development. The
White House also expects to reduce spending on business-related
functions by eliminating overlap between these
agencies' responsibilities.
The proposed Consolidation Authority Act would provide the White
House with the authority to begin the reorganization. The act would
allow the president to restructure agencies, with the stipulation
that the changes must reduce the total number of agencies or
decrease government spending.
The president announced that the SBA Administrator Karen Mills
would join his cabinet to represent small business interests in
policy coordination and throughout the restructuring process. Under
the current plan, SBA would no longer be a part of the cabinet once
the reorganization is complete, according to the Wall Street
Journal. Also, a new website, Business USA, will be unveiled in the
next few weeks as a one-stop shop for small business and exporters
while the reorganization is underway.
Read more about the planned reorganization at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/13/government-reorganization-fact-sheet.
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Vermont Gov Proposes $8M Investment in University
Programs
Gov. Peter Shumlin introduced a plan to invest $8 million in
university programs designed to address a shortage of skilled
workers. Under the plan, the University of Vermont and Vermont
State Colleges each would receive $4 million in one-time funding to
implement university-industry partnerships, facilitate re-entry of
science and engineering professionals, and expand dual enrollment
for high school seniors.
In his Budget
address to lawmakers last week, Gov. Shumlin cited a disparity
between high-quality jobs that are available and skilled workers to
fill those positions as inspiration for his higher education
proposals. Funding would come from the state's
Higher Education Trust, which received $11 million in FY11 from the
estate tax, bringing its balance to $29.5 million, reports The
Burlington Free Press.
The University of Vermont (UVM) would use its $4 million in
one-time funding for the following initiatives:
- Expanding successful university-industry partnerships to
provide seniors the opportunity to get hands-on job experience with
businesses and nonprofit organizations;
- Creating an international center of excellence in complex
systems at UVM to enhance economic growth; and,
- Developing a program to facilitate re-entry of science and
engineering professionals back into the workforce specifically by
targeting women who temporarily have left the field.
Meanwhile, Vermont State Colleges would invest $4 million
to:
- Allow more students to enroll full-time in college during their
senior year in high school;
- Create an applied educational institute supporting agriculture
and food production; and,
- Improve access to Vermont community and technical colleges in
the southern portion of the state by supporting a consolidated
academic center.
The governor also asked legislators to increase support for the
Vermont Economic Development Authority by up to $30 million to
increase access to capital for entrepreneurs.
The FY13 executive budget is available at:
http://finance.vermont.gov/sites/finance/files/pdf/state%20budget/FY2013%20Executive%20Budget%20Recommendations.pdf.
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Higher Ed Funding in AZ, NM Focuses on Outcomes, Increasing
STEM Grads
With a sharp decline in state funding available for higher
education over the past several years, performance- and
outcome-based funding has garnered a great deal of attention in
several states seeking to maximize education funds and support
economic growth. Governors in Arizona and New Mexico recently
proposed significant reforms in higher education funding so that
universities with greater R&D expenditures and those that
graduate more students in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) fields would receive a bigger share of state
funds.
Arizona
Gov. Jan Brewer's funding plan for higher
education builds on a formula recommendation published last year by
the Board of Regents that includes increases in degrees, credit
hours and outside research and public service funding. Gov. Brewer
recommends moving to the Board of Regents $15 million of the
universities' base funding, which would be
allocated using each university's share of total
general fund support. The state would match the $15 million, for a
total $30 million to be allocated by the Board of Regents to the
universities based on an agreed-upon funding formula.
The governor plans to work with the legislature and the
universities in the coming months to determine a
performance-funding formula. Her recommendations include
incentivizing greater production of in-demand degrees specifically
in the STEM fields. The governor also would expand community
college and university partnership programs and increase graduation
rates. The executive budget recommends $706.8 million for the
University System in FY13, up from $682.5 million last year. Budget
documents are available at:
http://www.ospb.state.az.us/documents/2012/FY2013-ExecutiveBudget-AgencyDetail.pdf.
New Mexico
Colleges and universities that increase the number of graduates
qualified to fill new economy jobs in fields such as science,
technology, engineering, health care and mathematics (STEHM) would
be rewarded with more state funding under Gov. Susana
Martinez's new formula. The governor wants to
change the state's current formula, which funds
higher education institutions based on size, courses and degree
programs started to one that awards funding based on courses and
degree programs completed.
Although many details of the proposal have not been released,
Jose Garcia, Secretary of Higher Education, said initially no
institution would gain or lose more than 2 percent of its funding,
and the ration of funding to the two-year and four-year colleges
and universities would remain roughly equal, reports El Defensor
Chieftain.
Read the governor's press release:
http://www.governor.state.nm.us/uploads/PressRelease/191a415014634aa89604e0b4790e4768/higher%20ed%20forumla.pdf.
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Universities Develop Private-Public Partnerships to Transform
Research into Startups
Across the U.S. and Canada, universities continue to forge
public-private partnerships focused on creating a formalized
approach to turn university research into market-ready products and
startup companies. Three universities and their respective partners
recently have announced efforts to bring inventors, the community
and investors closer together. They also intended to provide
potential entrepreneurs with the skills, mentorship and resources
need to launch a startup company.
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University (British Columbia, Canada) launched a
$210,000 high-tech entrepreneurship initiative that will establish
an incubator targeted at third- and fourth-year business and
applied sciences students. The program will provide skills, mentors
and resources to help launch new, student-led startups from
innovative ideas. Students accepted into the program will take a
variety of courses and have access to mentors, scholarships and a
product design studio. Over the next seven years, the university
hopes to accept 20 to 25 students with the goal of producing six
potential companies or products annually. The initiative received
approximately $205,000 in matching funds from the province through
the British Columbia Innovation Council. Read the press
release...
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) recently unveiled
the Invention to Innovation (i2i) initiative
— a formalized approach intended to directly
link the business community to university research activities.
UAB, in partnership with the Birmingham Business Alliance, hopes to match
potential entrepreneurs and research teams with technology-specific
mentors (i.e., market experts, technology experts or as
entrepreneurial quarterbacks).
The University also intends to revive a certificate in the life
sciences entrepreneurship program. Currently, the four-course
graduate program is working with candidates in the Alabama
Launchpad, a statewide competition between tech-based startups held
by the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama. However, the
certificate will be made available to all students in the future.
Read the press release...
University of Arizona
Tech Launch Arizona is intended to help University of Arizona
(UA) students and researchers move their inventions from the
labs to the marketplace. The initiative is intended to restructure
university technology transfer and commercialization and bring UA
inventors, the community and investors closer together. To achieve
these goals, Tech Launch Arizona will consolidate resources and
provide funding for proof-of-concept tests, or prototyping and
testing. The state will contribute about $1 million a year in
funding from the Technology Research Initiative Fund to increase
this funding through Tech Launch Arizona.
The program also will work to match business students with
innovators to help with business plans and potentially create
startup companies. Currently, Tech Launch Arizona is a
decentralized hub, but long-term the University plans to construct
a physical area to house Tech Launch projects.
Read the press
release...
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NSF 2012 Science & Engineering Indicators Are Now
Available
The National Science Foundation's National
Science Board has released the 2012 edition of its biennial
compilation of U.S. science and engineering indicators and trends.
This year's release includes an interactive
tool to view state S&E data and a separate digest with 30 key
data points for evaluating U.S. progress. While the
U.S. still leads the world in many of these key metrics, developing
countries appear to have made significant strides in S&E
competitiveness, according to the report.
Additional data will be available after February 15. Learn more...
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New Firms and SMEs fuel the European
Union's Job Growth, According to New
Report
Between 2002 and 2010, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
created 85 percent of new jobs in the European Union (EU),
according to "Do SMEs Create More and Better
Jobs?" — a new
report from the European Commission. During this period,
SMEs' annual employment growth (1 percent) grew
at twice the rate of large enterprise (0.5 percent). Fueled mostly
by the birth of new SMEs, net employment in the EU rose by an
average of 1.1 million new jobs each year. In 2010, SMEs employ 67
percent of all workers in Europe. The report contends that these
results imply that the employment share of the SME size class has
increased over time, and indicates the increasing relevance of SMEs
to the EU's overall economy.
The study also shows that new firms (younger than five years)
are responsible for an overwhelming majority of the new jobs.
However, only 50 of new firms last past the first five years. The
report contends that newly born SMEs more than compensates for job
loss caused by the death of enterprises in all size classes. Read
the
report...
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SSTI Webinars
SSTI Launches Webinar Series
Join Us
Each Month on the Third Thursday at 3:00 PM EST
As SSTI was preparing for the 2011 conference, there were simply
too many great session ideas for the time slots available. SSTI
could not bear to see this great content simply
cut from the schedule and forgotten. From that moment forward, we
decided to bring some of the conference to you each month
by introducing SSTI
Webinar Sessions.
The webinars are a great way to keep up on the major issues and
initiatives impacting technology-based economic development. The
live interactive webinars provide a convenient and cost-effective
platform to learn about new approaches and tools that can help
in your work. This informative and educational webinar series is
hosted by SSTI staff, thought leaders and colleagues from around
the country with relevant experience and knowledge.
Thursday, February 16 at 3:00 PM EST:
High-Growth Companies: Identifying and Learning from
Them
Less than 1 percent of companies in Pennsylvania are creating 74 percent of
the net new jobs, according to a new report. The Team PA Foundation
intends to harness the power of these high-growth firms (higros)
through a new pilot program in Pittsburgh. In the first installment
of our SSTI's new monthly webinar series, Team PA will provide an
insider's look at their new high-growth pilot program, a program
intended to learn from the region's higros and potentially
incorporate their best practices into economic development policy.
You also will have the opportunity to learn about the
characteristics of higros and what separates them from other
businesses.
Presenters:
Gary Kunkle, Founder, Outlier, LLC
Matt Zieger, President & CEO, Team Pennsylvania
Foundation
Register!
SSTI Members: $49
Non-Members: $69
As part of SSTI's Membership Benefits
all members receive one complimentary webinar. Not a member? Join
today and start receiving benefits immediately. Contact Noelle at
sheets@ssti.org for
more information.
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Can the EB-5 Program Help Seed Finance Your Local Tech
Firms?
Join SSTI January 24 at 2:00 PM EST for the third of the free
RIAN webinar series. This unique session will look at the potential
for a little-used federal program to help attract foreign follow-on
investment into your young technology ventures. While most EB-5
Immigration Investment Program projects are simple real estate
plays, more and more people are exploring how the program can be
used for seed and post-seed investment in science and tech firms.
And one venture development organization is putting the thought
into practice.
The Center for Innovation's North
Dakota/Northwest Minnesota Regional Center, in Grand Forks, North
Dakot,a launched their EB-5 Regional Center Program the middle of
last year and closed its first, more traditional style deal just a
few weeks later. The center has made numerous international
connections, already brought in significant funding to the region,
and is engaged in the challenging work to change the EB-5 applicant
mindset away from real estate. We're fortunate
to have on the call the two individuals responsible for the creation and
development of the regional center:
- Rodrigo Cintra, Manager, EB-5 Regional Center
- Bruge Gjovig, Director, Center for Innovation
The candid, practitioner-based discussion will cover the EB-5
program, its requirements and benefits from the perspective of
reaching the tech-based economic development community.
Time will be set aside for questions from the attendees.
Registration space for this presentation will be
limited. To sign up for the session, please see the
Events page on the RIAN
website at http://www.regionalinnovation.org/index.cfm.
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Staff Picks
NSF: Asian Countries Rapidly Closing Ranks on
U.S. Leadership
In China alone, R&D growth increased 28 percent in a single
year, propelling it past Japan and into second place behind the
U.S.
Read more ...
NY Times: Few Cities Have Regained Lost Jobs,
Report Finds
By the end of the year, only 52 of 363 metros will have
recovered jobs lost during the recession, and mayors are blaming
Congressional gridlock for the slow recovery.
Read more ...
Report on Global Metros Finds Uneven Recovery
This
video from Brookings discusses those findings and outlines the
importance of developing new trade and investment
partners.
Three Things America Must do to Compete
Rebecca Bagley, a member of Commerce's
Innovation Advisory Board, offers her perspective for ensuring
America's competitiveness.
Read more ...
Study Finds Nearly Half of America's
Business Startups have Foreign-born Founder
Findings come as Congress considers legislation to broaden the
scope of visas offered to include more foreign students studying
science and engineering.
Read more ...
Nominations Sought for Highest Honor in Technological
Achievement
The USPTO is seeking nominations by March 31 for the 2012
National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
Read more ...
Predictions in Biotech Venture Hint at Optimism
VCs share five new trends for biotech
investing, including fading of the traditional business model, funding
higher quality companies and generating better returns.
Read more ...
UK Launches Strategy for Life Sciences to Grow Biopharma
Industry
The plan includes a €180M ($278.6M USD) Biomedical
Catalyst Fund to help startups navigate the
"valley of death" between new drug
development and the point when it comes to market.
Read more ...
Long Island Index Finds Need to Leverage
Region's Growing Federal Research Funds
The first Long Island Innovation Index
provides an overview of Long
Island's high-tech community, using benchmarks
from peer regions including Silicon Valley, Greater Washington,
D.C., Boston, St. Louis, the Research Triangle and San Diego.
Read more ...
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