SSTI Digest

As Congress continues negotiations over the FY15 federal budget, SSTI is hard at work trying to secure additional funding 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 Senate has approved $20 million for the program for FY2015, while the House did not provide any funding for the program. SSTI has prepared a support letter to Congressional leaders and is seeking organizations to sign on to the letter. The more organizations that sign will increase our chances to secure funding. The deadline for signatures to this letter is Thursday, July 31. To add your organization to the list, please email Caroline Wagner at cwagner at sheridangroupdc dot com. The letter follows: Barbara Mikulski                                                        …

Over the next three years, the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) plans to hold open competitions for MEP center cooperative agreements in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The process will begin with a demonstration program this summer, in which competitions will be held in six to 10 states in each of MEP’s six regions. MEP notes that the recompetition is being undertaken to comply with guidelines calling for new competitions at least every 10 years, and will allow MEP to reduce the variation in funding levels across the country. Though MEP plans to hold new competitions in every state, no list or timeline of competitions has been released.  Current MEP center operators will be eligible to reapply for cooperative agreements, but the competition will be open to other applicants as well. NIST’s associate director of Innovation and Industry Services will be responsible for the selection process. The official language of the Federal Funding Opportunity notice is not yet available, but MEP has indicated that applicants will need to submit as a single state entity. NIST has not yet…

About 74 percent of U.S. residents with a bachelor’s degree in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields are not employed in STEM occupations, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. While STEM graduates are less likely to be unemployed, they generally find careers outside of science and technology. As detailed in a recent SSTI Digest article, many employers are having difficulty filling STEM positions, with the average STEM job posting lasting twice as long as other jobs before being filled. An update to the ongoing Pathways to Prosperity project describes some successful efforts around the country in improving the pipeline of students headed into STEM jobs. Among U.S. residents with a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field, only 25.7 percent currently work in a STEM occupation, according to the Census Bureau data. In calculating this percentage, the bureau includes STEM graduates who work in a STEM field other than the one in which they received a degree. They do not, however, include STEM graduates who now work in “STEM-related” occupations. STEM-related fields include architecture, health care…

In addition to the recent announcement of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Incubator program (See related Digest article), several other countries announced initiatives that will provide financial and other resources to support innovation incubator and accelerator programs to help cultivate new tech startups and increase economic growth. Canada Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that 15 organizations were chosen to advance in the selection process for the Canada Accelerator and Incubator Program (CAIP). Established in 2013, CAIP is intended to help accelerators and incubators deliver commercialization and other services to Canadian tech firms. As part of the CAIP network, each accelerator and incubator will receive up to $5 million CAD (approximately $4.7 million USD) in grants per year for a five-year period. CAIP recipients will be required to demonstrate matching contributions on at least a 1:1 basis during the same period. The proposals will be evaluated by the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) with winners announced later this year. Read the announcement… United…

STEM degrees lead to higher salaries and more employment opportunities than other degrees, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Despite these economic advantages, only 16 percent of 2008 graduates received a STEM degree. The lack of workers with STEM skills has created a difficult hiring environment for many U.S. firms. A recent Brookings Institution study reveals that the lack of STEM graduates has meant that STEM job postings take twice as long to fill as other postings. An NCES survey of 2008 bachelor’s degree recipients found that, as of 2012, 5 percent of STEM graduates were unemployed, compared to 7.1 percent of other graduates. STEM graduates also were  more likely to be employed full-time, to have just one job and to have spent fewer total months unemployed. Average salary for STEM graduates was $65,000, compared to $44,500 for other respondents. Download the National Center for Educational Statistics report Baccalaureate and Beyond: A First Look at the Employment Experiences and Lives of College Graduates, 4 Years On… Based on the NCES data, which reflects a decades-long trend toward an economy that…

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced it is accepting applications for the SBA Clusters Program. Through the SBA Clusters program, the SBA’s goal is to increase opportunities for small businesses to participate in and promote innovation within a regional innovation cluster and enhance regional economic growth in regions across the country. Up to four contracts may be made to lead organizations of innovation cluster initiatives from across the country. To be eligible for funding, the lead organization must provide the small businesses in the cluster with matchmaking opportunities, business training, counseling, and mentoring. The awardee is encouraged to partner with other regional entities to provide those resources. The awardee also will serve as the cluster’s primary organizing entity that brings industry, nonprofit organizations, and institutions of higher education together to identify research and new market opportunities that create jobs, attract capital, and have long-term, positive economic impact on the region. Visit the program’s website… Each contract will be for a base year with four additional option years. Each…

The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the launch of the National Incubator Initiative for Clean Energy (NIICE).  NIICE will serve a national support network for the nation’s clean energy startup community and the incubators that support them. The network will provide technical assistance and training services to help clean energy startups move their products closer to market readiness. It also will help establish a suite of technological and training resources, bring together energy industry partners, enhance incubator best practices, and increase access to information about industry resources to advance innovative clean energy technologies with commercial viability emerging from institutions of higher education and federal laboratories. DOE will commit most of the $3.2 million to support three clean energy-focused incubators to run their programs and commercialization services for clean energy startups and develop best practices for clean energy incubators that can be replicated nationwide. Awardees include: The NextEnergy Center in Detroit, MI, and the Clean Energy Trust in Chicago, IL, will receive more than $745,000 to establish the Midwest…

In recent decades as many countries have developed sophisticated national innovation strategies, the U.S. has generally avoided attempts to introduce a coordinated innovation policy system. Instead, U.S. leaders have placed their trust in the market, rather than the government, to generate knowledge, products and businesses. A new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) suggests that this approach ignores a major factor in the success of innovation economies. Modern, competitive nations rely on three elements that comprise an “Innovation Success Triangle” – business environment, regulatory environment and innovation policy system. ITIF’s Robert D. Atkinson breaks down the component aspects of each of these elements, and describes how the U.S. rose to global innovation leadership without developing a strong policy apparatus to drive research and technology commercialization. In the twentieth century, massive firms, such as Ford, GE and DuPont, funded research and buoyed American competiveness through sheer scale. Corporate R&D laboratories were joined by federal labs and university research centers in the post-…

This article is part of SSTI's series on trends in state technology-based economic development legislation in 2014. Read our other entries covering legislative action on research capacity, technology commercialization & infrastructure, capital & tax credits, workforce & STEM and manufacturing & clusters. In May, federal policymakers tabled patent troll reform legislation indefinitely due to differences of opinion on the scope of the bill, according to VTdigger.org. While the promise of federal legislative reform for 2014 dims, as many as 21 states may have patent troll laws on the books before the end of the year. Although most of the power to curb patent trolling is held by the federal government, these state laws provide mechanisms to allow for action to be taken against any person that makes a bad faith assertion of patent infringement and other abusive patent litigations. Since the start of the 2014 legislative session, 13 states have signed patent troll reforms into law including Alabama (SB 121), Georgia (HB 809), Idaho (SB 1354), Louisiana (SB 255), Maine (SP 654), Maryland (SB 585), Oklahoma (HB 2837), Oregon (SB 1540), South…

This article is part of SSTI's series on trends in state technology-based economic development legislation in 2014. Read our other entries covering legislative action on patent reform, research capacity, technology commercialization & infrastructure, workforce & STEM and manufacturing & clusters. Several states announced new or expansions to existing capital programs during the 2014 legislative session. The proposals targeted increasing and supporting venture/risk capital in the state; angel tax credits to spur investment in targeted sectors; and, intrastate crowdfunding exemptions to increase access to capital for startups and business expansion. States announce initiatives to increase risk capitalThe Nebraska Legislature and Gov. Dave Heineman approved LB 1114, a bill that would allocate $50,000 to support and increase venture capital in the state. The $50,000 would include support and analysis of best practices in other states. An accompanying report is scheduled to be completed by December and include policy recommendations to increase and cultivate venture capital in Nebraska. The bill also extends the Business Innovation Act’…

This article is part of SSTI's series on trends in state technology-based economic development legislation in 2014. Read our other entries covering legislative action on patent reform, capital & tax credits, technology commercialization & infrastructure, workforce & STEM and manufacturing & clusters. With an eye toward long-term payoffs associated with investments in research, lawmakers dedicated funds and strengthened ties with industry partners. Some states made significant investments in facilities and R&D to grow cancer research capabilities, while others looked to universities to establish new avenues for discovery or attract star researchers. In Washington, the life sciences community banded together to save a nine year-old grant fund that invests in R&D and helps the state remain competitive. Two states, Florida and Oregon, passed bills that dedicate funds to elevate their state’s status in cancer care and research. In Florida, lawmakers earmarked $80 million in the FY15 budget for a cancer research initiative announced earlier in the year by Gov. Rick Scott.  Of the amount, $60 million is slated for existing…

This article is part of SSTI's series on trends in state technology-based economic development legislation in 2014. Read our other entries covering legislative action on patent reform, research capacity, technology commercialization & infrastructure, tax credits & STEM and manufacturing & clusters. Addressing accessibility, affordability and ensuring workforce preparedness topped legislators’ agendas in many states during the 2014 sessions. States and regions are increasingly competing for talent as the trend toward growing and nurturing innovation ecosystems continues. Attracting and retaining high-tech companies also requires states to have a steady stream of tech-savvy workers. Specifically, policymakers are interested in matching worker skills with industry sectors important to their communities, and many of the efforts put into place during the legislative sessions focus on building long-term relationships between industry and higher education. Three states, Louisiana, Utah and Wisconsin, dedicated notably large sums of money toward workforce training with a STEM focus. One of the largest investments was made in Louisiana, where…