SSTI Digest

Funding for public colleges decreased by 12 percent overall from FY03 to FY12, while tuition rates for all public colleges rose by 55 percent during the same time, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).  Driven in part by the impact of the recent recession on state budgets, the decline in state funding has had a significant impact on college affordability for students and their family. The GAO found that a larger portion of family budgets are going towards helping offset the cost of their children’s college education. In the report, GAO also identified several potential approaches that the federal government could use to expand incentives to states to improve affordability such as creating new grants, providing more consumer information on affordability, or changing federal student aid programs. In addition to the report, GOA also released a web-based interview to share their thoughts and recommendations of how the federal government can help states to address the issue of college affordability. Read the report…

A total of $30.8 billion for science and engineering (S&E) was given by federal agencies to 1,073 academic institutions across the United States in FY 2012, according to new research from the National Science Foundation. Although these obligations are 2 percent less than they were the year before, commitments to science and engineering increased more than 9 percent from 2007 to 2012. During that same time, per capita commitments to academic S&E decreased 7 percent. Generally, states clustered on the West Coast and in the Northeast received the most money per capita for S&E at colleges and universities.  Nine states received more than $1 billion from federal agencies for S&E at academic institutions, combining to represent 57 percent of the total amount allocated. Unsurprisingly, highly populated states with legacies of strong higher education received the most money for S&E, led by California ($4.2 billion). New York ($2.35 billion), Maryland ($2.1 billion), Pennsylvania ($1.88 billion), and Massachusetts ($1.73 billion) all received considerable amounts of funding as well. Three sparsely populated states – Wyoming ($32 million), South…

Last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched the New York State Innovation Venture Capital Fund (NYSIVC or The Fund), a $50 million fund that is expected to leverage at least $100 million in private capital to support early stage companies in high growth areas such as advanced materials, clean technology, life sciences/biotechnology, and information technology. Administered by Empire State Development (ESD), The Fund will be comprised of two segments: The Technology Commercialization Segment works to facilitate commercialization of university technologies through investments of up to $100,000, while The Seed and Early Stage Co-Investment Segment invests between $100,000 and $5 million directly in seed and early stage companies in strategic industries and locations. The Fund, as part of Gov. Cuomo’s broader economic development strategy, will be coordinated with New York’s other existing business resources and programs, such as: The START-UP NY program, which offers regional tax-free zones to grow businesses; Innovation Hot Spots, regional collaborations offering startups business support services; Regional Economic Development Councils,…

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced the fourth round of regional economic development grants to support tailored approaches to job creation in different areas of the state. The $709.2 million in awards are part of the state’s ongoing Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) initiative begun in 2011. Regional strategies have long been a key component of state development policy, enabling policymakers to encourage institutional partnerships with a focus on the specific needs of local economies. New York’s approach supports individual projects proposed by regional councils. Other models have been proposed in Indiana and Kentucky. The New York Regional Council initiative added a few new components in its fourth round. Originally, the ten councils had been tasked with finding and proposing projects that were ready for investment while following a five-year strategic plan, coordinating regional economic development efforts, leveraging both public and private resources, eliminating local obstacles to growth and checking performance over time (see 2011 article on the launch). During the first three rounds, more than $2 billion has been invested by the…

This week, President Obama signed off on the continuing resolution omnibus spending package that will keep the federal government open for another nine months (see last week’s analysis).The spending bill provides stable funding for R&D and most research agencies, according to analysis by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). About $137.6 billion is appropriated for federal R&D, a modest 1.7 percent increase over FY14. Most science and technology agencies would receive small increases, with a few exceptions. Department of Defense applied research funding would decline, funding for most institutes of the National Institutes of Health would not keep pace with inflation and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and ARPA-E would receive flat funding. Read the AAAS science and technology summary…

Gov. Terry McAuliffe hopes to increase the commonwealth’s profile in the global life sciences industry through his recently launched Virginia Bioscience Initiative. The initiative will develop cross-agency linkages, as well as public-private partnerships, to support entrepreneurs, use big data to drive new discoveries and speed the commercialization of new technologies. Gov. McAuliffe released a number of other new initiatives in conjunction with his New Virginia Economy Strategic Plan, including a business plan competition that would focus on agriculture, bio-life sciences, cybersecurity, energy and social entrepreneurship, a community small business launch fund and tax incentives for energy companies and green job creators.

Earlier this week, congressional appropriators reached a tentative agreement on spending levels for the 2015 fiscal year just a few days before the Thursday deadline. The continuing resolution omnibus, “cromnibus,” spending package would, if approved by the House, Senate and president, avert a government shutdown and again defer budget negotiations until next September. Under the agreement, most agency budgets would remain at similar levels to those enacted for FY14. The package includes $250 million for the Economic Development Administration (EDA), a 1.4 percent increase over the FY14 enacted budget level. The entirety of the small increase would boost funding for Economic Development Assistance Programs (EDAP), which would receive a total of $213 million (1.7 percent increase). EDAP represents several programs of note for the innovation community, including the Regional Innovation Strategies program (see related article). Additional language included in the legislation would extend the authorization for EDA’s trade adjustment assistance for firms by one year. A total of $887.6 million would be provided for the Small Business Administration (…

Included in the continuing resolution/omnibus spending bill for FY15 is $10 million for the Regional Innovation program. The Regional Innovation Program was authorized under the American COMPETES Act and is designed to provide funding to support regional innovation activities. The program received its first funding of $10 million in FY14 after extensive work on the Hill by SSTI, its members and others. More than 60 organizations signed a letter urging Congress to fund the program at $20 million (see August 7, 2014 Digest article) for FY15. Last week, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that the FY14 solicitation had received 254 applications requesting more than $100 million in funding.

Labor Secretary Thomas Perez announced details of a new $100 million grant competition to expand apprenticeship opportunities in high-growth industries. The program will specifically target industries that are using H-1B visas to hire foreign workers.  By investing in collaborative efforts around the country, officials hope the program will help develop clear career pathways through apprenticeship, particularly for underrepresented populations. Labor expects to make about 25 awards, ranging between $2.5-5 million, to public-private partnerships that will register, improve and expand apprenticeship programs around the country. Applications are due April 30, 2015. Read the grant solicitation (FOA-ETA-15-02)…

President Obama has announced two new competitions for manufacturing innovation hubs as Congress debates whether or not to fund a national network of innovation institutes (see related article). The first hub would foster research and commercialization collaborations around smart manufacturing for the Department of Energy. The second would develop flexible hybrid electronics technology at the Department of Defense. Each institute would receive $70 million or more of federal funding, with a requirement that federal investment be matched by the private sector.  Read the announcement…

On December 4, the Canadian government revealed their national Science and Technology (S&T) Strategy – Seizing Canada's Moment: Moving Forward in Science, Technology and Innovation 2014.  An update to the original report released in 2007, the S&T strategy identifies five priority research areas for federal support over the next seven years: environment and agriculture; health and life sciences; natural resources and energy; information and communications technology; and, advanced manufacturing. Read the strategy… Among the proposals included in the S&T strategy, the government launched a seven-year, $1.5 billion CD (approximately $1.3 billion USD) Canada First Research Excellence Fund. Each year, Canadian universities and research institutions will compete for $350 million CD (approximately $304.9 million USD) in funding to support projects that increase the research and development (R&D) capacity and innovation infrastructure of their institutions.  The fund will support a broad array of activities including talent attraction, funding for research, R&D infrastructure projects and large-scale multi-institutional initiatives…

This week marks 2014 Computer Science Education Week, the Obama administration’s call to the education, business, foundational, and nonprofit communities to help support and expand access to computer science education in American schools. On Monday, the administration announced several commitments aimed at providing millions of additional students with computer since education, including: Partnering with Code.org to offer computer science courses at more than 60 school districts nationwide, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and the other four largest school districts in the country,  effectively reaching over four million students in more than 1,000 schools; Philanthropic contributions to train 25,000 computer science teachers by fall 2016, with more than $20 million in donations coming  from individuals such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Napster founder Sean Parker, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and others; National Science Foundation (NSF) partnerships with Teach for America, the National Math and Science Initiative, and the College Board to encourage additional computer science courses, expand professional development offerings in computer…