SSTI Digest

Within the past month, two of America’s major research universities – the University of California system (first in total R&D expenditures, according to the NSF) and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (eleventh in total R&D expenditures) announced new funds to increase the rate at which their students, faculties, and researchers are able to commercialize their ideas into new businesses. While the UC system announced the establishment of a $250 million venture fund, Minnesota announced that it was scrapping a plan for a $70 million investment fund and was pursuing programs that provide early stage seed funding instead.

Building stronger connections between universities and businesses in key industries could help generate new jobs, startups and technologies, according to an S&T roadmap released by the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition (ISTC). ISTC notes that the division between the state’s research universities and companies has limited Illinois’ competitiveness, despite its high overall level of innovative activity. In order to address the issue, the group recommends focusing on six high potential areas, as well as expanding statewide efforts to create university-industry partnerships, such as the Illinois Corporate-Startup Challenge.

Federal funding for basic research performed at universities and colleges decreased 0.3% between FY11 and FY12, according to a new National Science Foundation (NSF) Infobrief. In FY12, basic research at universities and colleges accounted for 11.4% of total R&D obligations, and is estimated to increase to 11.8 percent of total R&D obligations in FY13, and to 12.5 percent in FY14. Although colleges and universities accounted for just over one in $10 committed to total R&D, they received more than half of the $31 billion allocated to basic research. An SSTI Digest article earlier this month discussed federal commitments to research and development over the past decade.

As American spending on research relative to GDP dwindles, the system that generated America’s economic prosperity over the past century has begun to fall apart, according to a new report from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Academy calls the disintegration of the country’s national innovation system the key threat to American prosperity. The authors propose several strategies to address the issue, including renewed federal investment in basic research, policy solutions to ensure that the benefits of R&D are maximized and widespread, and strengthening government-industry-university partnerships. Download the report…

“People ages 20 to 34 created 22.7 percent of all new companies in last year [2013], down from 34.8 percent in 1996,” according to an article from Walter Hamilton of the LA Times. In the article, Hamilton contends that the “image of the U.S. as bursting with entrepreneurial zeal, it turns out, is more myth than reality.” To support his claim, he uses Census Bureau data to point out that the rate of business creation has fallen steadily for more than three decades – falling nearly 28 percent from 1977 to 2011.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) launched Community College Innovation Challenge – a Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics (STEM)-focused competition for teams comprised of up to five community college students, a faculty mentor, and a community/industry partner. Teams should propose innovative STEM-based solutions for real world problems within one of the five themes: big data; infrastructure security; sustainability; broadening participation in STEM; and, improving STEM education. NSF will select up to 10 teams invited to attend the Innovation Boot Camp, a professional development workshop on innovation and entrepreneurship. Those 10 teams will be eligible for multiple prizes including a $3,000 first prize. Team proposals are due January 15, 2015. Visit the challenge’s website…

Observing that legacy policies have hampered the contribution of the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories to the modern innovation economy, Brookings Institution authors Scott Andes, Mark Muro and Matthew Stepp outline a plan to engage DOE labs with regional technology clusters. The authors recommend tasking the labs with an explicit regional economic development mission, as well as opening regionally oriented microlabs that would provide a front door for smaller businesses to access lab resources. In addition, Brookings advises DOE to provide greater flexibility and funding for regional initiatives through the national labs. Download the report…

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently named the 50 winners of the first Growth Accelerator Fund competition, which recognizes accelerators building stronger entrepreneurial ecosystems in underserved parts of the country. Each organization will receive $50,000, in exchange for providing SBA with quarterly reports on their activities, impact and partnerships. SBA hopes to use the data to build a national database of information about accelerator programs and forge long-term relationships within the accelerator community.

Federal investment in research and development appears to be falling far short of the ambitious goals set by Presidents Bush and Obama in the early part of the century. Though federal R&D spending grew by 22.5 percent from fiscal years 2002 to 2012, commitments declined substantially in 2011-12, following the spike in funding through the Recovery Act. By 2012, R&D expenditures were at their lowest levels since 2004.

Over two years, President Obama signed the JOBS Act, a bill authorizing a variety of significant changes to securities laws. Among those changes, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was mandated with implementing rules for equity crowdfunding within 270 days – approximately January 2013. However, the rules still remain in draft form. This SEC slow play has led to grassroots lobbying efforts by crowdfunding industry professionals; 30 members of the U.S. House  of Representatives’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Caucus drafting a letter to pressure the SEC into adopting the new rules; and, federal lawmakers proposing new federal legislation to revise the original JOBS Act proposed crowdfunding rules.

With a recent request for information (RFI), the National Science Foundation began soliciting comments on the potential establishment of a national network of big data regional innovation hubs. These hubs will help to continue and scale up the activities and partnerships launched under the National Big Data R&D Initiative and also serve as a catalyst for economic prosperity by supporting the growth of the U.S. big data industry. Hub activities include acting as a matchmaker to support emerging big data research partnerships, coordinating regional big data clusters, sharing best practices, accelerating the commercialization of big data solutions, and support education and workforce training focused on growing the country’s big data workforce. Public comments are due November 1. Read the RFI…

The U.S. Department of Commerce released a solicitation (EDA-HDQ-OIE-2014-2004219) for Regional Innovation Grants via the 2014 Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program. Under the RIS program, Commerce is soliciting applications for three separate Regional Innovation Strategy funding awards, including:

• i6 Challenge grants;
• Science and Research Park Development Grants; and,
• Cluster Grants to support the development of seed capital funds.

These awards are intended to help develop regional innovation ecosystems that provide support and funding to startups engaged in the commercialization process that ultimately lead to high-growth companies – the drivers of regional economic prosperity and job creation.