SSTI Digest

Over the past few weeks, Delaware, New Jersey, and Tennessee have proposed, announced or expanded investment tax credit programs to spur job creation and innovation. In Delaware, Gov. John Carney signed the Angel Investor Job Creation and Innovation Act, while Tennessee is expanding its Angel Tax Credit criteria, and New Jersey is proposing establishing innovation zones and tax credits for high-tech businesses within those zones.

New Jersey is considering a state program for free tuition for community college which would be phased in over several years and Virginia is proposing money for a customized workforce recruitment and training incentive program in newly proposed state budgets. Both states have new governors who have revised their predecessors’ budgets, resulting in some additional TBED initiatives in the states. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed FY 2019 budget includes $50 million for tuition-free community college. The plan would provide tuition grants to students with average household incomes below $45,000, with the intention of phasing in more students until community college is free for all students by 2021. A $2.0 million grant program to help school districts offer college-level computer science courses and support, targeting STEM-focused high schools. In his budget message, the governor proposes a student-loan-forgiveness program that rewards those who graduate with a STEM-related degree and get a job in a corresponding field, all while staying in New Jersey. Although the governor also campaigned with this plan, there are no additional details in the budget…

The last of the governors’ state of the state addresses for this year have been delivered, and New Jersey’s governor presented his first budget address. SSTI has continued to review the addresses for news on TBED initiatives and presents excerpts of their addresses concerning such initiatives below. Louisiana’s governor is focused on addressing a fiscal cliff while preserving education gains in the state. New Jersey’s governor laid out a vision embracing green energy in the state and growing high school STEM-focused programs. And New Hampshire’s governor touted the state’s fiscal strength and said he would continue to build momentum on STEM initiatives with a new partnership for an annual robotics competition. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards delivered his state of the state Monday before the opening of the regular legislative session, which follows closely on the heels of an unsuccessful special session focused on the state’s budget deficit. The budget’s impact on higher education was on his mind as he drove the point home with a warning on funding for higher education and its implications for developing a trained workforce…

The innovation economy is a featured component of both newly elected governors’ agendas, with each showing support for TBED-related initiatives in their platforms. In New Jersey, Governor-elect Phil Murphy (D) has pledged to reclaim the state’s innovation economy while in Virginia Governor-elect Ralph Northam (D) proposed a new workforce development plan focused on “the new-collar jobs of the 21st century.” In New Jersey, Murphy has vowed to reclaim the innovation economy through a variety of means including: getting new advancements to market; making higher education and community colleges more affordable; developing a STEM-oriented K-12 curriculum along with “alternative pathways to success,” including apprenticeship programs and vocational training; lowering tuition and fees at public two- and four-year colleges; increasing state funding for R&D; convening an innovation cabinet with leaders from inside and outside government; increasing access to capital for small businesses and startups; and, providing computer science education to every child in the state’s public schools. In Virginia, Northam is proposing a new…

Noting a growing need for additional education to meet workforce needs, several states have announced programs focusing on education and workforce needs, channeling state funding to grants that will focus on aligning learning opportunities with business and industry needs, or creating new initiatives in the private sector. Reaching a higher educational attainment among a greater percentage of the workforce by 2025 is also a goal set by several of the states. Among the initiatives undertaken are free tuition options in Arkansas through the ARFuture grant, Nevada STEM Workforce Challenge Grants, a grant program in Utah focused on education and industry, and a private sector effort in New Hampshire. In Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed the ARFuture grant bill early this month, providing two years of tuition and fees at an Arkansas community or technical college to any state student who enrolls in a high-demand field of study, such as computer science or welding, or in a STEM field. The new grant will be funded by repurposing $8.2 million in general revenue funds from the state’s Workforce Improvement Grant (WIG), a needs-based grant for adult students 24 years old…

After training nearly 80 PhD scientists and engineers in the craft of policy making, the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) has awarded planning grants to nine other states to evaluate the potential to create a policy fellowship for scientists and engineers in their state capital.  The new one-year grant, which is administered by CCST and funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Simons Foundation, will support teams in Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Washington as they work on feasibility studies and other strategic steps toward creating science fellowships in their state policy arenas. It is up to each state to design the fellowship that would work best in their state, whether that is a position in the legislature or another body. “We are nurturing that larger landscape between science and policy,” said Annie Morgan, program manager for the CCST science fellows program. Because each state has different needs, it will be up to the planning teams to determine how best to structure a fellowship in their individual states. The grant, which was capped at $25,000…

To build 21st century workforces in key S&T sectors, several new public-private initiatives have been launched in South Carolina, New Jersey, Utah, and Montana. These initiatives are intended to better align the educational training of students with the needs of industries that each respective state has identified as a key industry cluster. Target industries include advanced manufacturing, aerospace, biotechnology, chemistry and plastics, and cyber security. South Carolina Earlier this month, in partnership with the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance, the state announced the launch of the South Carolina Future Makers (SC Future Makers) workforce initiative. The initiative’s mission is to increase the skilled workforce pipeline entering advanced manufacturing and technical-related careers. Via a web-based portal, individuals can search for careers in the state’s 10 key industry clusters. The portal also provides information on apprenticeships, technical colleges, and four-year colleges to expose and connect South Carolina’s next generation to all of the state’s educational and career-development opportunities. In partnership…

Governors around the country continue to lay out priorities for the next legislative session. In the coming weeks, SSTI will review gubernatorial addresses and budget proposals related to economic development. This week, we highlight developments in Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey. Illinois Illinois is now in its eighth month without an annual budget bill for the current fiscal year, but Gov. Bruce Rauner presented his spending plan for fiscal year 2017 last week. The state faces a $6.6 billion deficit, which the governor said would have to be bridged with drastic spending reductions, or a mix of tax increases and program reductions along with the governor’s larger legislative agenda. About $1.5 billion is proposed for the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in FY 2017. This would include about $4.8 million for Regional Economic Development, $5.3 million for the Emerging Technology Program and $1.7 million for job training for economic development. No funding is provided for the Invest Illinois Venture Fund, which was also true in FY16. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder recently unveiled a $54.9 billion budget request for FY 2017…

Located just a 20-minutes from New York City, Newark has long existed in the shadow of its much larger neighbor. Despite this, Newark’s downtown received an important boost to its innovation ecosystem this week with the announcement of Newark Venture Partners, a venture capital fund and accelerator. Seeded with funding from Audible.com and Prudential Financial and backed by city and state officials, Newark Venture Partners announced its intention to raise $50 million to form an investment fund dedicated to supporting local tech startups. In addition to the fund, Newark Venture Partners is also building out a collaborative, state-of-the-art, 25,000-square-foot accelerator across the street from Newark’s Broad Street train station, co-located alongside Audible’s headquarters and the Rutgers University Business School, who will both help provide resources to the young companies.  Audible, Prudential Financial, and the Military Park Partnership will also be funding the Firebolt Wi-Fi system, stretching two miles throughout downtown Newark, which will provide funded startups and other Newarkers with free-access to high-speed Internet service. Community…

Now that many governors have signed spending bills and legislative sessions are drawing to a close, the SSTI Digest will check on the status of proposals related to the innovation economy, and examine the state of technology-based economic development funding in the states. This week, we review spending bills in California, Iowa, Ohio and New Jersey. CaliforniaOn June 24, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a FY16 budget package that includes $115.4 billion in general fund spending. The final budget includes $49.4 billion in general funds for K-12 education, $14.2 for higher education and $214 million for labor and workforce development. Within the higher education allocation, there is $29.1 million in new funding for community college apprenticeship programs, including $14.1 million to expand current programs and $15 million for apprenticeship-demonstration projects in emerging industries. IowaIn early July, Gov. Terry Branstad approved $7.2 billion in general fund spending, but vetoed more than $55.7 million in K-12 education spending and $6.4 million for community colleges and state universities. The economic development budget (SF 499) includes $15.5 million…

This article is part of SSTI's series on trends in state technology-based economic development legislation in 2014. Read our other entries covering legislative action on patent reform, research capacity, capital & tax credits, technology commercialization & infrastructure and  workforce & STEM. The recent uptick in U.S. manufacturing activity, along with the attention generated by additive manufacturing and the Makers movement, has led to an increase in state initiatives to help cash in on this growth. In recent months, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Arizona have all taken steps to build stronger manufacturing sectors through research collaborations, grants and tax credits. Leaders in Colorado and New Jersey have pursued their own cluster-specific efforts to build stronger high-tech industries. Among New York’s many TBED-focused efforts in the past year, the state has established a 20 percent property tax credit and eliminated the income tax for manufacturers. The FY15 budget also provides $680 million for the Buffalo Billion initiative. The funding fulfills Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2012 commitment to provide $1 billion to the…

A new effort by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) seeks to make existing companies more competitive, support the growth of startups and create jobs by leveraging the assets of government, industry and higher education around five sector-focused labs. NJIT will launch a new nonprofit corporation, the New Jersey Innovation Institute, to support the labs – geared toward civil infrastructure, defense and homeland security, healthcare delivery systems, biopharmaceutical production, and financial services. The labs will work on technological challenges identified by industry partners. Read more.