SSTI Digest

Tuesday, June 17 is the final day to submit your application for the 2014 Excellence in TBED awards. Awards are presented in six categories representing the various approaches found in thriving, innovation-based economies. Tell us how your work to encourage economic growth is impacting your region, and you may be invited to share your success and present best practices to a national audience in Chicago, September 14-16. Learn more and apply: http://www.sstiawards.org/.    

Between December 2007 and February 2010, the manufacturing sector loss 2.3 million jobs, according to the Department of Commerce. This drastic decline accounted for about one-quarter of the negative shock experienced during those 26 months and the loss in manufacturing represented one-half the decline in U.S. GDP. In the aftermath of this decline, both public and private sector leaders began to search desperately for ways to stop the bleeding. A new Commerce report, Manufacturing Since the Great Recession, indicates that we may have found some success in halting the hemorrhage. The authors report that from February 2010 to May 2014, the manufacturing sector added a total of 646,000 jobs with the annual weekly hours for production workers climbing from 39.3 to 42.1 hours. Since the Great Recession officially ended in the second quarter of 2009, output in the sector has grown 38 percent and this has meant a regain of 18 percent of its real value added. Additionally, the number of manufacturing establishments have grown on a year-over-year basis in the second and third quarter of 2013. All these statistics indicate that manufacturing is heading in the right direction.…

With nearly $10 million in additional funding for the upcoming year, the public-private Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC) will receive a boost in support for core programs and new resources to administer early stage business grants. MTC invests in emerging high-tech companies with a focus on bioscience industries. Building on the success of the Arch Grants program, MTC will administer a pool of funds ($4.5 million total) to support similar initiatives across the state. Lawmakers included the funding for early stage business grants under HB 2007. A bill introduced earlier in the session would have earmarked up to $9 million per year over the next four years to MTC for investment in up to six Early Stage Business Development Corporations. These are described as nonprofit corporations that provide grants to winners of competitions for early stage business development – similar to Arch Grants. That bill failed to pass in the legislature, however. Established two years ago to encourage innovation and fuel business development, Arch Grants operates somewhat like an accelerator, offering support services and encouraging promising startups to compete for grants…

Massachusetts continues to reign as the U.S. state best prepared to meet the challenges of the current and future global economy, according to the sixth edition of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s (ITIF) State New Economy Index. The Index, which has been released periodically since 1999, ranks state economies using 25 indicators in five categories to evaluate the degree to which they are knowledge-based, entrepreneurial, globalized, IT-driven and innovation-based.  Delaware, California, Washington and Maryland round out the top five states. ITIF uses its 25 indicators to assign states an overall score and ranks them according to the preparedness for what it calls the New Economy. Massachusetts received the highest overall score of any state, as it has in all six editions of the Index since 1999. The group attributes Massachusetts’ perennial top rank to the state’s combination of world-class universities and high-concentration of tech-focused firms. Delaware took second place, as it did in the 2012 edition, due to its business-friendly policies and globalized financial sector. California ranks near the top in many areas,…

Tasked with taking the Small Business Administration (SBA) to the next level, Maria Contreras Sweet, the new head of the agency, envisions a modern SBA with a greater focus on inclusion. Contreras Sweet outlined steps to achieve her vision earlier this week in a speech at the Center for American Progress. An immigrant from Guadalajara, Contreras Sweet spoke about her humble beginnings as a child in the U.S., and her climb to a leadership position in the president’s cabinet. Referring to the changing demographics of the American entrepreneur, she said more faces today belong to women, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, veterans, seniors, and the socially or economically disadvantaged. Several initiatives discussed during her speech are geared toward making the agency work better for the diverse population it serves. Contreras Sweet outlined three initial efforts to advance SBA’s work on behalf of entrepreneurs, promote inclusion and modernize the agency. To modernize capital access programs through technology, the agency will switch to a new and smarter business credit-scoring model, making it less time-intensive for…

NASA is looking to U.S. universities to explore transformative space technologies and help the agency advance its plans for exploration to deep space and Mars. The agency will make up to 12 awards totaling $500,000 each this fall with R&D efforts taking place over two to three years. Notices of intent to submit proposals are due June 24. Learn more. 

National Institute of Health (NIH) Director Francis S. Collins has accepted recommendations from an NIH working group that call for increased investment in the federal government’s effort to map and understand the human brain. Under the recommended plan, the initiative would receive $400 million each year between 2016-20, which would grow to $500 million a year for 2021-25. The BRAIN Initiative is a multi-agency effort, supported by NIH, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, National Science Foundation and Food and Drug Administration. NIH has announced that BRAIN Initiative funding for FY14 will total $40 million. Read the report…

In a recent Pacific Institute and Vox Global survey, about 80 percent of U.S. companies reported that water availability has become an issue for their business, particularly among firms in the South and Southwestern regions of the country. About 63 percent said water issues would affect their future location decisions, and more than half reported that they expected water scarcity to impact their growth and profitability over the next five years. This year’s Global Risks report from the World Economic Forum, ranked water concerns as the third greatest risk to the global economy, separate from and ranked above climate change and extreme weather events.  In recognition of these developments, Michigan’s University Research Corridor institutions have begun highlighting their work in the water economy. The Pacific Institute/Vox Global survey focused on the water-related concerns of companies in a broad cross-section of industries in every part of the country. While the sample size of 50 companies is too small to be considered statistically significant, most of the companies involved are among the Fortune 500, including Intel, AT&T, GlaxoSmithKlein, DuPont…

This is part one of a two part series on the effects of policy dynamics on university innovation and focuses on national polices from developed countries; part two will focus on state policies. Since the end of World War II, national policymakers have seen the importance of supporting university-led innovation. Driven by the contributions of academic research to military innovation and technology, national policies focused on a linear, science-push model – a model focused on national governments investing significantly in university research including basic and applied research and the development of new technologies and other innovations. In return, industry and the national economy would benefit via the formation of wealth through tech transfer, health and national security. In recent years, however, many nations have started to shift their policies from the linear, science-push model. Instead, they are focusing on policies that support an interactive, reciprocal process of knowledge transfer between industry and university. This model focuses on creating linkage via the creation of research parks, industry-university research ventures and similar…

Last year, 108 unique institutional funders made a total of 260 investments in North Carolina companies, according to a report from the Council for Entrepreneurial Development. The 2013 Innovators Report details the $461 million in equity investments, grants and awards received by firms, including support from venture investors, angel networks, foundations, federal agencies, competitions, crowdfunding and other sources. Life sciences firms generated the most activity with $275 million in 134 deals, driven by the biopharmaceutical industry. Technology firms secured $117 million in 106 deals. The report identifies the location of the state’s funding institutions, with the largest number based in North Carolina (26), followed by the Northeast (24) and the Mid-Atlantic (14). Read the report…

A project underway between IBM and Louisiana State University’s School of Engineering aims to better meet employer needs by tripling the number of computer science graduates in five years. Hoping to generate more partnerships like these, lawmakers approved legislation supported by Gov. Bobby Jindal that allows colleges and universities to compete for funds in an effort to produce graduates in high-demand areas. A smaller percentage of the funds distributed under the new Workforce and Innovation for a Stronger Economy (WISE) Fund will be based on federally funded research expenditures.  HB 1033 establishes the WISE Fund within the state treasury and outlines responsibilities for a strategic planning council, operating as an independent subcommittee of the Board of Regents.  The recently approved FY15 budget allocates one-time funding of $40 million, $11 million of which is included in the capital budget. Ongoing funding is subject to appropriation by the legislature each fiscal year. Colleges and universities competing for the funds are required to secure a private match of at least 20 percent, which can include in-kind donations of…

This week, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced the first 12 communities to participate in the federal government’s multi-agency Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) initiative. The initiative will concentrate federal economic development spending across agencies and departments on key manufacturing regions with strong economic strategies in place. Eleven federal agencies and programs, managing  $1.3 billion in federal economic development assistance, will coordinate their efforts to support the strategies developed by the 12 designated communities. Federal agencies will use the local plans to make targeted investments in public-private partnerships to strengthen regional manufacturing and the competitiveness of the U.S. economy. Though this is the first round of the Manufacturing Communities effort, the IMCP kicked off in September of 2013 when 44 communities were awarded $7 million in planning grants for local strategies. The current phase of the initiative continues that work by recognizing strong manufacturing strategic plans and regional partnerships. Each designee was required to show strong public-private…