SSTI Digest

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced more than $715 million in funding for 824 projects across the state as part of the third round of funding for the Regional Economic Development Councils initiative. Established in 2011 to improve the business climate statewide, the 10 regional councils support projects tailored to maximize resources and competitive advantages. Many of the new projects to receive funding are tech-focused, including $5 million for the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering to establish a digital data training center and $1 million for SUNY Buffalo to expand its high-performance computing and data analytics center. Read the press announcement...

Battelle Memorial Institute and R&D Magazine have released their annual Global Funding Forecast, an assessment of global political and economic impacts on worldwide industrial research. The report notes that although global R&D spending by leading countries has remained virtually unchanged since the Great Recession, the flows of innovation research have changed substantially. Research collaboration between countries has increased markedly and the scope of research partnerships, particularly between Southeast Asia and the U.S. and European Union, has broadened significantly. The result is a growing global innovation ecosystem that leverages national advantages in tech commercialization and industry engagement to increase the economic return on public and private R&D investments.

In a report letter to the president this week, the U.S. President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) advocated the expansion of massive open online courses (MOOCs) to boost U.S. competitiveness, STEM learning and economic mobility. PCAST recommends that the federal government avoid setting technology standards for these programs at this point, as online education is still in its infancy. Instead, they call for accrediting bodies to become more flexible in response to educational innovation and institutions to improve their sharing of effective practices. Read the report letter...

A record number of U.S. students received doctorates in 2012, according to new data from the National Science Foundation. For the first time, the number of doctoral recipients broke 50,000, with a final tally of 51,008. Total doctorates awarded grew by 4.3 percent over the previous year, the largest increase since 2007 and a significant improvement from the previous four years in which the numbers remains fairly steady. The NSF data shows large increases for doctorates in STEM areas, including life sciences, physical sciences and engineering between 2002 and 2012, and little growth in other major fields, including the social sciences, education and humanities.

As we plan for 2014, Dan Berglund, SSTI president & CEO, will provide us with an in-depth view of the latest trends affecting tech-based economic development (TBED), new developments in the field, opportunities for the year ahead, and the implications and issues for TBED policymakers and practitioners. This webinar will be a good opportunity to reflect on 2013 and look forward to 2014.

University-industry collaborations need a paradigm shift from the traditional one-way knowledge transfer model to a two-way knowledge co-creation model, according to a new report from the Big Innovation Centre (BIC) — Collaborate to Innovate. The authors propose that a shift toward a knowledge co-creation paradigm focused on holistic relationships between university and industry, specifically small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), will have more significant economic and societal impacts than the traditional one-way knowledge transfer that relies primarily on patents, licensing and startup formation. Although focused on the innovation ecosystem in the UK, the paper addresses four universally important questions on how to achieve successful university-business collaborations via a co-creation model:

In the evolving American economy, TBED is increasingly looked to as a potential driver of inclusive competitiveness, expanding and deepening economic opportunity for communities that suffer from poverty and unemployment. The Regional Federal Reserve Banks have been leading efforts to study the linkages between economic and community development and this week hosted a Connecting Communities webinar on Redefining the Rust Belt: The Role of Anchor Institutions and the Arts.

With bright colors, interesting graphics, and intuitive navigation, the new look of Connecticut Innovations (CI) captures attention. The launch of CI's new brand identity, complete with an updated message platform and logo, hopes to better reflect the organization's mission and promote their resources to attract entrepreneurs. The new website highlights services offered by the three entities under CI's umbrella, including the merger with the Connecticut Development Authority in 2012 and the Small Business Innovation Group in 2009. Companies and investors are provided information on the Resources page, including articles, case studies and stats. Several educational features such as videos, webinars and podcasts are planned for a later launch. Explore the website...

A growing number of states and localities, stymied by conventional budgetary processes, are seeking financial support for economic development initiatives through alternative means, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution. Many regions are instead turning to legislative referendums and citizen-driven ballot initiatives to support large-scale economic initiatives. Authors Jessica A. Lee, Mark Muro and Bruce Katz offer several recent examples of state innovation, education and infrastructure projects funded through ballot measures. The researchers only recommend this approach in cases where traditional funding mechanisms have failed.

North Carolina is rich in resources to support a thriving innovation ecosystem. But despite its strengths, several factors are preventing the state from reaching its full potential to fuel and sustain strong economic growth. These and other findings are outlined in a recent report tracking the state's performance in 38 measures related to innovation assets, activities and trends. The fourth in a series of indexes produced over the past 13 years, the report benchmarks North Carolina with six key comparison states, the U.S. overall and leading countries. Findings indicate the state excels at academic R&D, but lags in business-led R&D. Additionally, the state's high-tech sectors have wages well above the U.S. average, but a large share of the state's industries and employment not high-tech in nature. Recommended actions to improve the state's standing are detailed in the report, Tracking Innovation: North Carolina Innovation Index.

New York City Deputy Mayor Robert Steel announced that it will establish a new $100 million venture fund for life sciences research according to Crain's New York. The city will invest an initial $10 million to establish the new biotech venture fund. The city already has an additional $40 million pledged from private-sector partners — Celgene, GE Ventures and Eli Lilly & Co. The city currently is seeking to partner with a venture-capital firm to manage the fund and invest at least $50 million to the fund. The proposed fund would help launch between 15 to 20 life sciences companies by 2020.

U.S. spending on higher education research and development (R&D) declined in FY12 (after adjustments for inflation) for the first time in almost 40 years, according to data from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The decrease marks the end of a period of modest growth since 2009 in which R&D expenditures increased at an average of five percent each year. While data on higher education R&D spending by state is not yet available for FY12, NSF has released state data through FY11, including expenditures by funding source

U.S. higher education R&D spending totaled $65.8 billion in FY12, up from $65.3 billion in FY11 without adjustment for inflation. In constant dollars, however, this modest increase amounts to a 1.1 percent decline, according to NSF.