SSTI Digest

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. HawaiiGov. David Y. Ige, State of the State, Jan. 26, 2014“…We need to nurture an “innovation economy,” in which entrepreneurs use technology to develop new processes and products from existing ones, like smart phone makers who have taken their products far beyond the original concept of a mobile phone and created entire new markets. “It’s a whole new economic paradigm which we need to support with modern infrastructure, whether it’s expanding our broadband network or building innovation parks. That’s why we are providing $10 million for the HI Growth initiative to support innovation.” MontanaGov. Steve Bullock, The State of Our…

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. The PwC/NVCA data, which is collected through quarterly surveys of venture capital practitioners conducted by Thomson Reuters, suggests that seed stage investing has all but evaporated as a source of capital for entrepreneurs. Funding for seed stage firms, defined as business…

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. NevadaGov. 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. To support STEM education and professional development, Gov. Sandoval introduced the Nevada Ready 21 Technology Program. Funded with $48.8 million over the biennium, the program provides grants to middle and high schools to…

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. Separately, all 10 REDCs would be able to participate in a fifth round of REDC awards. The governor’s budget would allocate $150 million to fund regional priority projects and…

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. Last year also saw the rise of megadeals, which…

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.   DelawareGov. Jack Markell, State of the State Address, Jan. 22, 2015“… This year, I ask the General Assembly, our schools, our colleges, and our businesses to join me in committing to the Delaware Promise. This is a new goal for our state. By 2025, 65 percent of our workforce will earn a college degree or professional certificate. Everyone will earn at least a high school diploma. …” “…First, we will create an initiative called Pathways to Prosperity, which will establish partnerships with Delaware employers, universities, and our K-12 system to prepare students for a bright future in key industries. High school…

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: The state’s investment must serve to stimulate competition in the broadband market where none or little exists; improving affordability and quality of service. Broadband providers must provide Internet speeds of at least 100 Mbps with funding priority given to those delivering the highest speeds at the lowest cost. In certain limited cases, providers may offer 25 Mbps speeds to the most remote unserved and underserved areas of the state if the project can be scaled to 100 or more Mbps in the future. Building on the successful Connect NY model, each Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) will submit a comprehensive plan to the state. In addition to connecting New York…

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) announced that it will commit up to $125 million for its 2015 OPEN competition to Support R&D projects on potentially disruptive new energy technologies. Applications should be able to address how the proposed technology will be able to make a significant impact in one of the three mission areas of ARPA-E – to reduce imported energy, to reduce energy-related emissions, and to improve energy efficiency. Via the 2015 OPEN program, DOE intends to make up to 50 awards across the full spectrum of energy applications. Concept papers are due February 27, 2015, with the full application due date yet to be determined. Read the announcement… The 2015 solicitation is the third round of funding for ARPA-E’s OPEN competition. The previous two OPEN solicitations were conducted at the inception of the agency in 2009 and again in 2012.  The program was established to provide ARPA-E with a mechanism to fund innovative energy R&D that falls outside of the topics of the focused technology programs or that develop after focused solicitations have closed. It also is an…

As competition increases within the venture capital industry to fund the next Google or Uber, the most highly desirable startups often have multiple investment offers and must decide upon the best. There are several factors that can affect evaluation of potential equity investors. For many startups, the decision may focus solely on the terms of the deal. However, there may be many more factors – outside of financial considerations – that impact the startup’s evaluation process. To date, most of the discussion in the academic literature and research conducted has focused on the decision-making process for the investors. However, over the last few years, researchers have started to refocus their research on the entrepreneur’s perspective to better understand what makes a deal more desirable for startups looking for financing. They want to know what drives the decision-making process and what factors make an equity investor more desirable to the startups with the most growth potential. Beyond the terms and financial incentives of the deal, researchers from several universities have found that entrepreneurs with multiple offers were more likely…

President Barack Obama recently announced a pair of initiatives to provide American students better access to two-year degrees and technical training programs. Under the first program, American’s College Promise, the federal government would cover three-quarters of the cost of an average community college education for students who attend at least half-time and maintain a 2.5 GPA. States would be required to contribute the rest of the tuition funds. The second program, the American Technical Training Fund, would provide awards to 100 technical training centers to partner with employers and offer training in strategic fields. Additional grants would be provided for pilot programs and program expansion. Details are still being released, but a Los Angeles Times article indicates that the community college plan would require approval from Congress and participating states. Read the White House fact sheet…