In This Week's Issue
SSTI News and Analysis
White House Launches $15M Rural Jobs Accelerator
Program
On Tuesday, President Obama announced details of a new
initiative to support rural innovation. The Rural Jobs Accelerator
will award $15 million for projects that promote innovation-fueled
regional job creation in rural parts of the country with funding
from the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Economic Development
Administration, the Delta Regional Authority and the Appalachian
Regional Commission. USDA's Rural Community
Development Initiative will support the program and offer technical
assistance and training funds to qualified intermediary agencies. A
Federal Funding Opportunity will be released in the next few
weeks. Read the announcement...
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Governors Ramp up Skilled Workforce Initiatives
Lawmakers in several states will consider legislation this year
aimed at solving the workforce disconnect as states continue to
struggle with unemployment and look for ways to attract industries
in emerging fields. Many of the recent proposals, including those
in Connecticut and Massachusetts, focus on revamping oversight of
higher education and workforce training to offer better tools and a
quicker path to a degree and skills matched with the needs of
businesses. In Missouri, a new Innovation Campus will allow high
school students to train for high-tech careers while they earn
college credit and, in South Dakota, the governor wants to recruit
1,000 skilled workers from outside the state.
Connecticut
Gov. Dan Malloy earlier this month proposed legislation making
changes to the Connecticut Technical High School System (CTHSS) in
order to tailor programming to the needs of employers. In addition
to programmatic changes, the governor wants to change the
governance of CTHSS to an independent, 11-member board whose
members are made by appointment, removing oversight from the State
Board of Education. The process would be led by the Department of
Education in collaboration with the Board of Regents, Department of
Labor and Department of Economic and Community Development.
The governor hopes to put in place reforms that will position
the 20-school system to provide programs relevant for high-tech
jobs available in Connecticut. Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman singled out
fields like precision manufacturing, bioscience and fuel cells in a
press release. To help the efforts and increase the training and
resources available for students, Gov. Malloy would allocate
$500,000 in additional funding.
The governor's bill is available at: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2012/TOB/s/pdf/2012SB-00024-R00-SB.pdf.
Massachusetts
By aligning the state's 15 community colleges
under a statewide system with authority to allocate all state
funding, Gov. Deval Patrick hopes to improve the
state's efforts to provide skilled workforce
training for regionally specific jobs.
Under the proposal, the Board of Higher Education (BHE) would
have the authority to allocate all state funding to community
colleges, consolidating the 15 separate funding lines into one line
item within the Department of Higher Education budget. The BHE
would be responsible for developing a system to make funding
allocations to the individual colleges taking into account
enrollment data, credits that can be transferred across campuses,
and the creation of new programs better aligned with regional labor
market needs, according to the governor's
office. The plan also gives the BHE authority to establish new
parameters for setting student fees and the use of revenues
generated from the fees.
In support of these reforms, the governor's
FY13 budget includes a $10 million increase in total funding for
community colleges.
Read more...
Missouri
A new Innovation Campus at the University of Central Missouri
(UCM) will serve as a testing ground for helping students find work
in high-demand fields while reducing student loan debt. Announced
by Gov. Jay Nixon earlier this month, the initiative will provide
high school students with intensive training in science and
technology fields through apprenticeships with local employers
while they also earn college credit.
Thirty students will be selected to enroll in the Innovation
Campus this fall with hopes to expand the program to 100 students
by year three. During high school, Innovation Campus students can
earn up to 30 college credits and participate in apprenticeships
with local business partners, including Cerner, Exergonix Inc.,
Sprint, and DST. To support the training opportunities, Gov. Nixon
announced the availability of $500,000 through a Community
Development Block Grant.
To participate in the program, corporate partners must commit to
creating or training a specified number of jobs, according to the
governor's office.
Read the governor's press release:
http://governor.mo.gov/newsroom/2012/Gov_Nixon_President_Ambrose_launch_new_Innovation_Campus.
South Dakota
Gov. Dennis Daugaard is hoping to attract skilled workers
outside of the state through a new recruiting initiative with the
employment firm Manpower. Under the 1,000 New South Dakotans
initiative, the state would pay $5 million to the recruiting firm
to fill a surplus of private sector jobs in fields such as
accounting, engineering and information technology, according to a
Stateline article.
Positions would be posted locally for 30 days before being turned
over to Manpower. The article notes that the proposal is a
short-term fix while the state works to improve its own
job-training efforts. Gov. Daugaard approved a contract with the
firm on a conditional basis in January. However, lawmakers must
appropriate the money to close the deal.
More information is available at:
http://www.southdakotawins.com/newsouthdakotans/1000newsouthdakotans/.
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Michigan Budget Boosts Funding for Economic Development,
Higher Ed
With a greater focus on jobs training and arts and cultural
programs, Michigan's budget for economic
development would increase by more than 10 percent in FY13 under
Gov. Rick Snyder's proposal. Universities and
community colleges would receive a 3 percent boost under a new
performance formula based on degree completion —
particularly in critical skills areas such as science, technology,
engineering, mathematics, and health care.
The Michigan Economic Development Corp (MEDC) is slated to
receive $195 million in FY13, up from $175 approved for the current
year. This includes $100 million for business attraction and
economic gardening. Another $25 million would support innovation
and entrepreneurship programs established last year (see the
June
1, 2011 issue of the Digest). To address economic
development in distressed cities, the governor recommends an
additional $15 million in general fund support for the Talent Fund
for Job Training and Skills Development. The budget also increases funding
by $3.6 million for arts and cultural grants programs ($5
million total).
Funding would increase by 3 percent for universities and
community colleges under new performance guidelines proposed by the
governor. State universities would receive an additional $36.2
million from the general fund based on four metrics: the growth in
the number of undergraduate degree completions, the number of
undergraduate completions in critical skills areas, the number of
undergraduate Pell Grant recipients, and compliance with tuition
restraint.
Community colleges would receive an additional $8.5 million,
which would be distributed based on the total number of certificate
and associate degree completions in critical skill areas, averaged
over the past three fiscal years. Beginning in FY14, the community
colleges funding formula also would recognize successful student
transfers to four-year colleges or universities.
The FY13 executive budget is available at: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/budget/EB1_376247_7.pdf.
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Obama Administration Launches a New Online Platform to Help
Small Businesses
The Obama Administration announced the launch of BusinessUSA, an online platform to
help small businesses and exporters of all sizes find information
about available federal programs. The website combines information
and services from 10 different government agencies through one
consolidated website and coordinates telephone support through a
single 1-800 number. Visit the website...
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Manufacturing Policy Should Strengthen Four Key Areas, According to Brookings Report
"While U.S. manufacturing performs well
compared to the rest of the U.S. economy, it performs poorly
compared to manufacturing in other high-wage
countries," according to Why Does Manufacturing
Matter? Which Manufacturing Matters? — a new
report from the Brookings Institute. For U.S. manufacturing to
achieve its potential and compete with other high-wage countries,
the authors contend that policy makers must strengthen four key
public policy areas including:
- Research and development (R&D) — policy
makers must support funding R&D to solve problems common to a
variety of manufacturing processes, not just R&D needed to
develop "breakthrough" products;
- Workforce development — industry and
government must work together to develop lifelong training of
workers at all levels, so that they are equipped to collaborate in
designing and implementing innovative products and processes;
- Access to capital — manufacturing firms must
have improved access to finance to make productive investments and
expand business operations; and,
- Mechanisms for creating and sharing productivity improvements
— policy makers and industry must work together
to develop mechanisms that increase the role of workers and
communities in creating and sharing in the gains from innovative
manufacturing.
These problems can be solved with the help of policies
designed around three broad recommendations that:
- Promote "high-road production"
— in which firms harness the knowledge of all
their workers to create innovative products and processes;
- Include a mix of policies — that operate at
the level of the entire economy, individual industries and
individual manufacturers; and,
- Encourage workers, employers, unions and government
— to share responsibility for improving the
nation's manufacturing base and to share in the
gains from such improvements.
The report also highlights that manufacturing
matters to the overall U.S. economy because
it:
- Provides high-wage jobs, especially for workers who would
otherwise earn the lowest wages;
- Is the major source of commercial innovation and is essential
for innovation in the service sector;
- Can make a major contribution to reducing the
nation's trade deficit; and,
- Makes a disproportionately large contribution to environmental
sustainability.
According to the report, several manufacturing sectors make the
greatest contribution to these four objectives and present the
greatest potential to maintain or expand employment in the United
States including:
- Computers and electronics;
- Chemicals (e.g., pharmaceuticals);
- Transportation equipment (e.g., aerospace and motor vehicles);
and,
- Machinery.
To support these four industries and firms in other
manufacturing industries, the authors contend that the U.S. must
urge industry and other stakeholders to develop programs that aid
firms in adopting more industry-specific,
"high-road" strategies.
Read the report...
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TBED Books
The Rainforest: The Secret Recipe of Innovation
Ecosystems
Authors: Victor W. Hwang and Greg Horowitt
Many authors have explored the rise and dominance of Silicon
Valley over the U.S. tech landscape. Silicon
Valley's mix of talented entrepreneurs and
coders, abundant venture capital and critical mass of technology
businesses have not only made the region into the
world's premier innovation center, but also have
kept it at the top for decades. The explanations for its elite
status are diverse: from roots as an early twentieth century center
for radio research, its entrepreneurial culture, its ability to
attract the most talented technology workers from around the globe
and the tendency of venture capitalists to invest in businesses
they can closely monitor. In The Rainforest: The Secret Recipe
of Innovation Ecosystems, authors Victor W. Hwang and Greg
Horowitt explore the alchemy at work in Silicon Valley using the
model of the rainforest, a biological system defined by the
interactions between its component parts, not the components
themselves.
The authors argue that the neoclassical model, in which economic
output is determined by the quality and quantity of inputs, is
insufficient to describe innovation ecosystems. Instead, innovation
is rooted in social mores, role modeling and peer-to-peer
interactions. The ingredients (land, labor and capital) are less
important than recipe (personal interactions). Hwang and Horowitt
cite several key factors in the success of innovation ecosystems
including: diversity of talents, trust across social barriers,
motivations that rise above short-term rationality and social norms
that promote collaboration.
The authors use the key metaphor of the book, that of the
rainforest, to suggest that typical approaches to economic
development can be actively hostile to innovation. They liken
traditional economic development, cluster theory and free market
economics to an agricultural model. Agriculture attempts to stifle
weeds in order to cultivate crops. In this case, weeds can include
high-potential businesses with odd structures or firms working on
products that do not fit the focus areas of the
region's economic development initiatives. A rainforest-based approach recognizes that weeds
are key to innovative ecosystems and they tend to thrive in regions
that recognize their potential value.
The authors see an essential role for government intervention
within the rainforest model. That intervention, however, must be
both flexible and geared toward setting the stage for
entrepreneurism through investment in research and seed stage
concept demonstration. The book includes a list of rules tools for
leaders seeking to cultivate innovative economies using the
rainforest model.
Learn more or purchase the book ($12.99/book, $9.99/Kindle or
iPad) at www.therainforestbook.com.
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TBED People and Job Opportunities
TBED People & Orgs
SSTI Board Member and University of Akron President Luis
Proenza has been appointed to serve on the
Board of Science, Technology and Economic Policy (STEP) at the
National Academies.
David Monkman has resigned as the president and CEO of
the National Business Incubation
Association. Tracy Kitts, the current NBIA vice president and
COO, has been named acting CEO.
Len Heller, vice president of the University of Kentucky Office for
Commercialization & Economic Development has announced he
will retire March 1.
Larry Lee has joined Northwest Missouri State University
as director of business development and tenant relations for the
Center for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Previously, Lee served as the
director of technology development and commercialization for the
University of Missouri-Kansas City SBTDC.
Jamie Grooms has been appointed chief executive
officer of the Florida
Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research. Grooms
has co-founded two successful University of Florida spin-off
companies.
Read more job postings
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Staff Picks
NIST Announces National Cybersecurity Center of
Excellence
With the goal of protecting America's ideas and innovations, the
new center will host multi-institutional, collaborative efforts
building on expertise from industry and government.
Read more ...
Rising Chinese Labor Costs Could Level the Playing
Field
Amid the arguments regarding China's unfair
policies, the playing field may be leveling in terms of labor
costs. This NY Times op-ed describes why China's labor costs
have risen and reasons they will continue to rise
— all of which is good news for U.S.
manufacturing.
Read more ...
NGA Report Finds Widespread Support for Green Economy
Policies among GOP Govs
Of the 28 states that have enacted new clean economy policies,
more than half have Republican governors. The finding is a sharp
contrast to the debate in Washington and on the presidential
campaign trail.
Read more ...
State-by-State Guide for Business Offerings
This map
from Business USA allows you to browse what services your state has
to offer, including where to go for funding, taxation information
and access to data.
NJ to Launch State's First Technology
Accelerator
In partnership with TechLaunch, LLC, the New Jersey Economic
Development Authority will launch a technology accelerator, which
is expected to host 12 companies in the first year.
Read more ...
UCF Business Incubator Program Returns Impressive
Results
An updated study of the University of Central Florida business
incubation program shows that between 2009 and 2011, the program
supported nearly 1,500 new jobs with earnings in excess of $62
million annually in the region.
Read more ...
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