SSTI Digest

Ivy Estabrooke has been named the executive director for the Utah Science and Technology Research initiative. She replaces former Executive Director Ted McAleer, who stepped down in January.

Catherine Lang, Nebraska’s director of Economic Development and Commissioner of Labor, has resigned to pursue a job in the private sector.

Tricia Braun has been named vice president of Economic and Community Development of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

Megan Lucas has been named the CEO for the Region 2000 Business and Economic Development Alliance.

U.S. angel investors returned to their pre-recession level of activity in 2013, according to the latest release from the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Venture Research (UNH CVR). Investment had plummeted during the economic crisis of 2007-09, and grew over the next few years. Last year however, investment dollars jumped by 8.3 percent and deals increased by 5.5 percent over the previous year. Total investments reached $24.8 billion in 2013, near the market high of $26 billion achieved in 2007. Some of this growth is attributable to the rise in media sector investments, which overtook healthcare as the second most important sector.

Previous UNH CVR showed that the angel activity hit a long-time market low in 2009. After an already weak 2008, investment dipped 8.3 percent to $17.6 billion. That year, 57,225 firms received angel support from about 260,000 active investors. In 2010, investment dollars recovered by a healthy 14 percent, followed by a 12.1 percent increase in 2011. In 2012, dollars remained fairly steady, with only 1.8 percent growth.

While it is common for states, regions or cities to develop economic strategies when times get rough, the Valley Prosperity Partnership hopes to capitalize on the unprecedented job growth the Red River Valley has experienced in recent years to build a more innovative economy. A new, five-year action agenda, drafted in partnership with Fourth Economy, offers many possible action items for the region, which includes parts of North Dakota and Minnesota. Priority areas include talent attraction and development research output, entrepreneurial activity, water management, infrastructure development and marketing.

The Red River Valley region straddles the North Dakota-Minnesota border, incorporating the cities of Fargo, Grand Forks, Grafton and the Wahpeton-Breckinridge region. In recent years, growth in this region has far outpaced the national economy, according to the authors, though a number of barriers have put a ceiling on the success of the region.

J.B. Pritzker, the successful businessman who has helped ignite Chicago’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, will keynote SSTI’s 2014 Annual Conference, Regional Prosperity Through Innovation, being held in Chicago, September 14-16.

Michigan now has 44 percent more venture capital firms and 86 percent more investment professionals than it did in 2009, according to a report released by the Michigan Venture Capital Association. While the state ranks near the middle of the pack for total venture investment dollars and per capita investment, the size of its venture capital community has shown strong growth over the past five years, led by healthy life science and information technology industries. The total amount of capital under management has also grown, from $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion during that period. Investment activity in Michigan appears to be increasingly targeted to smaller deals, resulting in twice as many deals in 2013 as in 2009. Download the report…

More than 75 percent of U.S. manufacturers report a moderate to severe shortage of skilled workers, according to a recent study by Accenture and The Manufacturing Institute.  While most manufacturers plan to increase their U.S.-based production over the next five years, many report that these plans are being hindered by the lack of skilled, and especially highly-skilled, workers. More than 80 percent perceived that the U.S. has a moderate to severe problem with the availability of highly-skilled labor.   Read the study…

Business dynamism, a measure of firm destruction and creation in an economy, has steadily declined in the U.S. over the past 30 years, according to a study released by the Brookings Institution by Ian Hathaway and Robert Litan. Dynamism has long been considered a key element of innovative economies, indicative of entrepreneurship and labor market mobility. The U.S. decline appears to have been consistent across industries and geographic areas. In an update to the original article, Hathaway and Litan clarified that their study was not proposing an explanation for the trend, which other sources had linked to the rise of the retail and service sectors or to specific government policies. Read the report…

In a field where talent, resources and funding have become increasingly competitive, practitioners must find creative ways to stand out from the crowd. Since SSTI introduced the Most Promising TBED category as part of our annual awards program, three innovative programs have been recognized for a creative approach in design or implementation. From a co-working network embedded in the Greater Phoenix public library system to a funding model for bioscience startups in Arizona based on philanthropy rather than traditional venture funding, and a grassroots approach to cluster development in Northeast Ohio, these initiatives are transforming their regions.

This could be your year to stand out. If your organization fits the criteria, please consider sharing your story by applying for the 2014 awards. Applications are due June 17.

Lawmakers included $30 million in the recently enacted FY15 budget to establish a fund to help smaller manufacturers modernize and grow with priority given to companies located in the state’s 42 communities designated as historic manufacturing hubs. The budget also increases by $100 million the bond authorization for the Manufacturing Assistance Act, a program for larger companies that provides incentive-driven direct loans for projects with strong economic development potential. The proposals were part of Gov. Dan Malloy’s workforce development agenda outlined earlier this year.

Through last year’s passage of the Advanced Industries Accelerator Act, Colorado lawmakers established three grant programs designed to leverage state assets and grow the number of companies in seven key sectors. In further support of the initiative, lawmakers recently provided level funding of $5 million and approved an angel investor tax incentive specifically geared toward companies operating within those seven advanced industry sectors.

A scholarship program enabling graduates to attend up to two years of college for free and increased funding to encourage more startup companies to launch or grow in Vermont were among the 2014 legislative accomplishments touted by lawmakers. The legislature also created a $4.5 million fund to attract and retain companies with substantial economic impact.

State agencies in New York spent more on research and development than agencies in any other state in FY11, according to data released by the National Science Foundation. The NSF data provides an overview of state agency investments in R&D, broken down by the source of those funds and the types of organizations that eventually performed the research. Ohio, Florida and California also ranked among the top states for total agency investment. West Virginia and Ohio led in R&D investments as a share of state GDP in FY11.

New York’s Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation, Department of Health and Energy Research and Development Authority led the state’s agency-based research investments. New York state agencies spent $182.7 million on R&D in FY11, equal to about 0.016 percent of state GDP. Investments were nearly equally distributed between research at academic institutions and private researchers. New York has been a national leader in agency investments for many years, but still managed to increase those investments over the 2006-11 period. Agency R&D spending grew by 76.4 percent during that time.