SSTI Digest

In a report released by the Commission on Entrepreneurship and Middle-Class Jobs at this year’s Milstein Symposium, a convening held at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center dedicated to restoring the American Dream, the authors deliberate the significant barriers to American entrepreneurship and postulate potential policy recommendations. Ultimately, the authors propose five ideas that they believe would help rebuild the American dream by promoting entrepreneurship:

Governors in Maryland, Minnesota, and Florida proposed substantial funds to higher education in their budgets this week, with an emphasis on affordable education and expanded research capacity.

Maryland
Gov. Larry Hogan’s structurally balanced $40.5 billion FY 2016 budget marks the first time in 10 years that the state’s general fund spending would be aligned with available general fund revenues, according to the governor’s office.  Included in Gov. Hogan’s proposed budget allowance is:

As the federal and state governments look for methods to support the creation and retention of well-paying science and tech (S&T) and manufacturing jobs, two recent reports have found that R&D tax credits play a vital role in helping keep domestic R&D-intensive firms resilient from economic downtowns and competition from emerging economics. These studies confirm the importance of R&D-intensive firms, which have taken advantage of R&D tax credits, are more likely to report a higher percentage of corporate liquidity; are less likely to cut capital expenditures and employment; and, downsize considerably less than the average firm.

SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series has returned as governors across the country formally convene the 2015 legislative sessions. The series highlights new and expanded TBED proposals from governors' State of the State, Budget and Inaugural addresses.

The fourth installment of this year’s series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Hawaii and Montana. Read the first, second  and third installments of this year’s series.

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced a second round of the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) competition. IMCP, a cross-agency initiative, coordinates federal investments behind long-term economic development strategies in manufacturing communities. The first four designee communities were announced in May 2014. Applicants must demonstrate that their communities have a significant manufacturing presence and develop strategies to boost workforce and training, advanced research, infrastructure and site development, supply chain support, trade and international investment and capital access. Read the Federal Register notice…

The first wave of year-end 2014 data on U.S. venture investment painted a portrait of a resurgent capital market. Investment activity reached its highest level of activity in a decade, finally shaking off the stagnation of the Great Recession (see last week’s article). Within the data, however, there were some concerning trends. The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)/National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) Moneytree data indicated that while later-stage investments and megadeals drove the 61 percent one-year increase in total VC dollars, seed stage dollars fell by 29 percent.

Authors of a CB Insights report argue that this perceived drop in seed activity, however, is just an artifact of the imperfect methods used to collect data, and seed investment is actually on the rise. The rise of newer, smaller investors has made data collection more difficult, particularly for seed stage activity.

Ernest Moniz, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, announced the creation of the Jobs Strategy Council (JSC), an initiative to develop a methodology for providing consistent, usable data measuring energy job growth and help align workforce development systems with the needs of the clean energy industries through partnerships with the private sector, community college systems, union apprenticeship programs, and other educational institutions. JSC also will develop a resource tool kit and workshop materials that instruct states on how to access the Department of Energy’s technical knowledge and funding opportunities to create state-based energy jobs plans. The continued growth in energy production is expected to produce 2.4 million Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) jobs in the next three years. Jobs in STEM fields paid, on average, between 160 to more than 300 percent more than the U.S. average, according the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Read the release…

This week, governor’s in eight states released their budget proposals. Balanced budgets and fiscal austerity were undoubtedly emphasized by the governors, yet funding for STEM education and workforce development initiatives were increasingly popular.

Nevada
Gov. Brian Sandoval’s education-heavy $7.3 billion biennial budget for FY 2016-17 includes considerable amounts of TBED funding, such as $10 million over the biennium for the Knowledge Fund. The Fund, which was created by AB 449 during the 2011 legislative session, provides grants that: establish technology outreach programs; recruit, hire, and retain researcher teams and faculty; construct research laboratories, facilities, and related equipment; and, provide matching funds for federal and private sector grants. Additional funding is also added to continue the Center of Excellence efforts to be a world leader in water technologies that focus on dealing with arid conditions.

This week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo released his proposed 2015-16 budget, including an extensive slate of economic development and innovation initiatives for the state. The governor unveiled his plans in a press conference outlining his 2015 Opportunity Agenda in lieu of this year’s State of the State address. Gov. Cuomo’s proposed economic strategy includes a $1.5 billion competition, based on the previous Buffalo Billion initiative, to help revitalize Upstate New York.

The Upstate New York Economic Revitalization Competition would offer awards of $500 million to three of seven Upstate regions. The competition would leverage the partnerships created through the Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) awards by calling on those groups to prepare regional investment plans that could qualify for the competition. The Western New York, Long Island and New York City REDCs would not be eligible. Submissions would be due in July and winners would be announced in the fall.

U.S. venture capital investment hit $48.3 billion in 2014, its highest level since 2000, according to data from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Investments jumped 61 percent over the previous year in terms of dollars. Deals were up as well, but by a more modest 4 percent to 4,356 deals in 2014, indicating the growth of deal size and the presence of a number of “megadeals.” NVCA also noted that investments were dispersed throughout the country, with 160 U.S. metros receiving some venture capital.

A few trends drove the large bump in investment dollars last year. In 2009, the venture capital industry hit its lowest point since the 1990s following the Great Recession, according to NVCA/PwC. Since that year, the industry has grown, though investment activity seemed to reach equilibrium in 2011, hovering around $29 million in 4,000 deals through 2013. In 2014, the industry broke out of that equilibrium, with a sharp uptick in investment in the Software and Internet-specific industries. Both industries reached their highest point since the dot com boom in 2000.

SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series has returned as governors across the country formally convene the 2015 legislative sessions. The series highlights new and expanded TBED proposals from governors' State of the State, Budget and Inaugural addresses.

The third installment of this year’s series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Delaware, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and South Carolina. Read the first and second installments of this year’s series.

New York Gov. Cuomo unveiled a $1 billion public-private broadband program to ensure every New Yorker has access to high-speed Internet by 2019. Utilizing capital funds from bank settlements, the state will commit $500 million to the New NY Broadband Program with the intent of incentivizing the private sector to invest the additional $500 million to expand high-speed broadband access in underserved and unserved areas. To receive funding, the proposed plan must meet three qualifications: