SSTI Digest

Recognizing startup businesses as a powerful force in building stronger local economies, a number of universities across the country have announced significant expansions in their entrepreneurship offerings over the last few weeks. Universities in Missouri and Virginia have announced new and expanded entrepreneurship programs for students, while a nationwide network of top business schools, including Babson College, Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco, plans to launch an online entrepreneurship program that can be licensed to other schools. The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) has awarded $2.5 million in grants through its 2013 University Center Economic Development Program that will be used to support regional entrepreneurship and innovation.

A recent report by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) dubbed American universities the “unsung heroes in the economic recovery.” Through licensing and startup activity, universities and other groups earned more than $2.6 billion total income from royalties and other sources in FY12 alone, according to the report highlights. Research universities often garner more attention for their role in product and company development. Such is the case at the University of Washington and University of Minnesota, where officials posted a record number of spinoffs from university technology over the past year.

Recently, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced a statewide Regional Prosperity Initiative — a voluntary, competitive grant process for existing state-designated planning regions and metropolitan planning organizations. The plan will divide the state into 10 zones with the intent of empowering local and regional partners to develop a consensus vision and implementation plan for economic success. Under the initiative, all state government departments also will begin serving the 10 regions, enhancing service delivery and encouraging communities to collaborate on a regional basis. Although specific details still are being worked through, starting in 2014, regions will compete for grant funding to support economic development efforts including establishment of regional prosperity collaboratives, councils and boards. The Initiative was signed into law as a part of the state’s FY14 budget (59 PA 2013).

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) annual report for FY12 includes a summary of some of the major regional programs and grants that have been awarded over the year, summaries of EDA activities in each state, and a breakdown of EDA investments in each state as well as their specific recipient. SSTI has prepared a table from the data reported. (Note: SSTI received EDA funding in FY12).

The EDA is highlighting three competitive initiatives designed to support “business growth and job creation.” These are the Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, the Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, and the i6 Challenge.

U.S. research universities have launched several new initiatives to impact international development across Africa by leveraging their institutional knowledge to support tech-based economic growth on the continent. The African Development Bank, a regional multilateral development bank, also announced that it will commit $45 million for the creation of a Pan African University consisting of five thematic institutes focused primarily on science, technology and innovation.

Although universities are not always at the forefront of the discussion on job creation and economic activity, they saw a sizable increase in licensing and startup activity during FY12, according to a survey by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). Respondents reported $36.8 billion in net product sales from licensed technologies and startup companies from 70 of the surveyed institutions employed over 15,000 full-time employees. Highlights from the survey are available now, and the full report is set to release at the end of the year. Read the report…

A new chair of the National Governors Association (NGA) also means a new challenge and opportunity to improve state economies. This week, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, newly elected NGA chair, announced a year-long initiative designed to improve the capacity and effectiveness of states’ education and workforce training systems and to align those needs with the needs of employers. The initiative kicks off with an intensive effort among six to eight states that will develop and implement a policy agenda to build and strengthen education and workforce training. Referring to a degree or certificate as the “new minimum” in order to gain access to opportunity, Gov. Fallin also hopes to elevate the importance of postsecondary education through the initiative. Read more about America Works: Education and Training for Tomorrow’s Jobs

Startup Colorado recently announced the launch of a new $200,000 fund to support events that strengthen the entrepreneurial communities across Colorado. The organization will issue grants to Colorado organizations planning events, seminars and contests that bring together startup communities, particularly those in the Denver-Boulder region, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, according to the Denver Business Journal. Project applications must be focused on driving entrepreneurship and innovation with the intent of becoming sustainable. Initial financial support for the fund has come from several prominent Colorado entrepreneurs, and a partnership with the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado intends to sustain the program through future contributions. Read more about the fund...

With additional funding directed to higher education as part of the FY14 budget, the California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) systems announced efforts to boost access to online courses for current full-time students this fall. The goal is to overcome space shortages in classrooms and help graduate more students on time. Meanwhile, a bill that would require the state’s colleges and universities to grant credit for online courses taken through for-profit groups, including providers of massive open online courses (MOOCs), is considered dead in the legislature for now. The bill’s main backer, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said he is waiting to see the results of the new online efforts by the state’s public higher education systems before moving forward, reports Inside Higher Ed.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a new initiative to fund the exploration of using Big Data to improve national health care outcomes. NIH will provide $24 million per year for four years to establish six to eight Big Data Centers of Excellence. The centers will be used by researchers and students for training in data science and testing the use of large and complex datasets to create tools, methods, and software that can improve health care processes.

Big Data has strong potential to revolutionize the health care industry, not just through the development of new processes and products, but also by establishing new standards for health care policy development and implementation. Global health expert Joel Selanikio recently discussed this issue in a TEDx talk. But while Big Data might have the potential for solving structural challenges in the health care system, the U.S. scientific community is ill-equipped to take advantage of the opportunity.

New business creation in the U.S. increased in 2011 for the first time since the 2007-09 economic crisis, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Census data indicates that 8.2 percent of all businesses were less than one year old in 2011, the first increase since 2006 and the largest increase in a decade. A pair of briefs from the Census Bureau and the Kauffman Foundation link the decline and rebound of American startups to fluctuations in housing prices during the economic downturn. They also suggest that the increase in firm creation has been well-distributed throughout the country.

As federal immigration reform remains in gridlock, cities are leading a charge to make America more welcoming to immigrants. Driven by the potential economic growth, mayors and regional economic development organizations are moving ahead with the creation of new initiatives and entities to attract and retain high-skilled immigrants. For mid-sized, and even larger cities, high-skilled immigrants are viewed as untapped, potential tech entrepreneurs who in the past have been drawn to Silicon Valley and other tech hubs.