SSTI Digest

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced it will commit up to $70 million in funding for the Manufacturing Innovation Institute for Smart Manufacturing to support R&D efforts to develop, demonstrate, and transition to industry advanced sensing, instrumentation, monitoring, control, and process optimization as well as modeling and simulation technologies for industrial automation. The Innovation Institute on Smart Manufacturing will be the third DOE-funded facility as part of President Obama’s National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) institutes. As with the DOE-led NNMI institutes, those eligible to apply for the federal funding announcement (FOA) as the prime recipient include state and local governments and nonprofit and for-profit organizations. A mandatory concept paper from all applications is due by November 4 with applications due January 29, 2016. Read the FOA….

Five North Carolina communities have been selected to participate in InnovateNC, a two-year economic development initiative centered on sharing knowledge, tools and resources between partner regions. Asheville, Greensboro, Pembroke, Wilmington and the city and county of Wilson were chosen from the 18 applicant regions. The initiative is spearheaded by NC State University’s Institute for Emerging Issues with nine partners and supported by a grant from the Kenan Creative Collaboratory. The selected communities will create local innovation councils and develop tailored local innovation strategies in an effort to expand the benefits of the innovation economy to parts of the state that have not experienced the same boom as the Research Triangle and Charlotte. Find more information at: http://iei.ncsu.edu/emerging-issues/innovation-reconstructed/forumnextsteps/innovatenc/.

Since the establishment of the Tennessee Promise in 2014, the first statewide free community college effort, community college systems and states are outlining their own strategies to make a two-year education free for students in their region in attempt to create an educated, qualified workforce that addresses the needs of industry and promotes economic prosperity. While it may remain too early to judge the benefits and the costs of these programs – lawmakers and educational professionals remain divided on the issue. 

In Wisconsin, Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) announced a plan to offer tuition-free enrollment to low-income, academically qualified high school seniors starting in the fall of 2016. Called the MATC Promise, the privately funded program is intended boost MATC’s enrollment and create a pathway to receive a college degree for students from families who otherwise could not afford to send their kids to college.

The STEM Funders Network (SFN) announced that 27 communities will pilot the national science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) Ecosystems Initiative. Launched at the Clinton Global Initiative, the program is intended to nurture and scale effective preK-16 instruction best practices in STEM learning. The new initiative focuses on cultivated cross-sector partnerships with industry, institutions of higher education, government, and foundations to develop specific programs that address the gaps in the community’s current STEM education system. SFN leadership intends to use these 27 communities and future participant communities to develop a platform for a national and regional peer-to-peer professional learning network for communities to share information, expertise and best practices in preK-16 STEM education through meetings, conference calls, web-based meetings, and other web-based methods. Read the announcement…

Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto announced the launch of the Pittsburgh Roadmap for Inclusive Innovation, a strategic plan that is intended to support economic growth and the equitable access to technology, city resources, and information. The roadmap includes three primary goals that include:

• Bridge the digital divide and facilitate residents’ participation in the new economy;
• Improve the city’s capacity to serve the public in the digital age; and,
• Increase Pittsburgh’s resilience in the digital age by strengthening the clean tech and local business sectors.

Under the proposed strategic plan, the city of Pittsburgh and its partner organizations intend to undertake over 100 Initiatives and projects including:

German leaders are debating the future of a program intended to help its elite universities compete in research with the likes of Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge. The 11-year, €4.6 billion (USD$5B) Excellence Initiative was launched in 2006, and has provided funding to support clusters of excellence, international graduate schools and strategies to strengthen the institutions as a whole. Since the program began, Germany’s universities have greatly increased their research publication output and their number of highly-cited articles. However, an analysis by Nature finds that much of that increased output has come from second- and third-tier schools that received less support through the initiative. In a similar study, academics found that China’s 985 Project to boost research competitiveness had a great effect on output at lower-ranked universities.

Six states received A's for the health of their manufacturing sector in a new study from Ball State University (BSU) – Conexus Indiana 2015 Manufacturing and Logistics National Report.

Around the world, increased attention is being paid to inclusive economic growth, which, according to the World Bank, suggests that for growth to be sustainable in the long run it should be broad-based across sectors and inclusive of the large part of the country’s labor force, regardless of demographics. Encouraging this type of growth oftentimes requires political, social, and systematic change, though action is already being taken in both the United States and abroad. The United States ranks as a leader among advanced economies in inclusive asset building and entrepreneurship, although it lags in employment and labor compensation, according to a recent report on inclusive growth and development by the World Economic Forum.

Applicants for the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) FY 2016 Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance Programs Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) will notice some changes to the application process when the FFO is released in the coming weeks. The standard ED-900 form has been replaced with a selection of shorter forms that can be mixed and matched to fit the needs of different solicitations. Also, a short proposal form can be submitted to ascertain whether a project is responsive to the FFO, instead of having to complete a full application. EDA is planning several webinars to provide more guidance once the FFO is released. Read the announcement at: http://www.eda.gov/news/blogs/2015/09/01/highlight.htm.

In a fact sheet released ahead of President Obama’s visit to Macomb Community College in Warren, MI, this week the Obama administration announced new steps to expand apprenticeships and continue other efforts around workforce development and free community college. Notable initiatives announced include: $175 million grants to provide apprenticeship opportunities to 34,000 individuals; the launch of Heads Up America, an independent campaign to raise awareness about the importance of community colleges; and, the creation of the College Promise Advisory Board to further the administration’s efforts to make two years of community college free to responsible students.

Using data to track recent graduates in the workforce helps ensure postsecondary education institutions are preparing graduates for successful careers, according to a report recently released by the National Governors Association (NGA) – Tracking Graduates into the Workforce: Connecting Education and Labor Market Data. In this report, NGA contends that accurate, real-time information is a key element of functional labor markets. The NGA report starts with a discussion about the importance of connecting postsecondary education and training programs with labor market data to spur job creation, address the needs of industry, and stimulate economic prosperity. Through the report, NGA highlights new practices in Florida, Kentucky, and a multistate collaboration (between Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) that NGA authors believe are promising strategies to better connecting postsecondary and training programs with the needs of industry.

Oregon announced an agreement with the four regional economic development organizations to improve business development coordination, help existing Oregon businesses expand, recruit new companies, and align other economic developments efforts to grow Oregon's economy and job creation. To achieve the goals of the program, the partners will share office space, hold regular planning meetings, and develop ongoing communications through shared software tools. Business Oregon will provide $100,000 ($25,000 per regional economic development organization) during the next two years to help offset expenses related to the increased cooperation. The pilot program will serve 11 counties, 127 cities, and about two-thirds of the state's population. Read the announcement…