SSTI Digest

Industry support for additive manufacturing is exploding as startups find new ways to market the technology to businesses. States and universities are taking advantage of this growing trend to form partnerships with companies that support the lean innovation approach is driving the 3D printing renaissance.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Stratasys, a major 3D printing company that focuses on additive manufacturing, acquired MakerBot in a deal worth $403 million in stock. MakerBot, which specializes in the production of consumer 3D printers, will retain its brand and operate as a subsidiary. The move positions Stratasys to push for broader adoption of 3D printing across industries. MakerBot has sold 22,000 3D printers since 2009, but because of rapid market growth, half of those sales have come in the past 9 months. This has propelled the company's stock to rise 76 percent over the past 12 months.

Since the beginning of the year, several new partnerships have been launched that are intended to support research collaboration, enhance student-employer relationships and increase overall university-industry engagement. These partnerships focus on creating a more expedited, user-friendly process for industry to partner with universities.

Recently, Motorola Mobility's Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) announced a new collaboration agreement with eight U.S. research universities. By reducing the time and complexity needed to establish new research projects through the use of common strategies and terms, the Multi-University Research Agreement (MURA) is intended to streamline the generation of new joint research projects and increase cooperation on the development of fundamental new mobile technologies. This single, universal agreement allows ATAP to easily engage in a spectrum of research efforts with these universities and reduce the time it takes for sponsored research agreements to be established from several months to less than 30 days.

Businesses and entrepreneurs seeking commercializable technologies now have a powerful tool to locate inventions developed at federal labs. The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer first introduced its Available Technologies search engine last fall, but now has upgraded the tool with a Google-powered search and user profiles. Users now can create more specific search queries, which can be saved for repeated use. Access the search engine...

This week, President Obama released details of a climate action blueprint that incorporates preparation for future natural disasters as a major component of the plan. Most of the domestic aspects of the plan are to be implemented by executive order, avoiding the complications of the legislative process. Though much of the blueprint centers on the strengthening of American infrastructure, the improvement of the electrical grid and ambitious renewable energy standards, the plan also includes a few mentions of increased federal support for technology development and commercialization.

The three pillars of the administration's climate action plan include: cutting carbon pollution in America; preparing the United States for the impacts of climate change; and, leading international efforts to combat global climate change and prepare for its impacts. With two of the three pillars explicitly targeting preparation for severe weather caused by climate change and post-disaster relief, the plan reflects a shift in focus for the administration from renewable energy development and deployment to infrastructure improvement.

Over the last week, several states have announced/passed new programs focused on increasing the capital available to spur small business growth and innovation. Officials from New Jersey announced the state's new angel tax credit will take effect July 1. In Arizona and Wisconsin two bills await gubernatorial approval that would rework the Arizona R&D tax credit program and establish a $75 million venture capital fund in Wisconsin. Meanwhile, the Minnesota state legislature did not approve an additional $5 million for its popular Small Business Investment Tax Credit.

For several states, this year's legislative session resulted in continued austerity toward new investments and level funding for established tech-based initiatives producing good results. Workforce initiatives seemed to be the exception, garnering greater attention from state leaders eager to boost employment numbers — especially in high-tech fields. While the existence of a STEM worker shortage has been a hotly debated topic among policy groups (see the May 22, 2013 issue of the Digest), some state leaders, including lawmakers in California, Indiana and Michigan, have prioritized high-tech job training to produce more skilled workers through increased funding for new or established programs in the recently enacted budgets.

SSTI is honored to welcome advertising legend Dan Wieden, co-founder+global executive director of Wieden+Kennedy and the man behind the "Just Do It" slogan as the keynote speaker for SSTI's 2013 Annual Conference being held in Portland, OR, September 15-17.

Dan Wieden grew up in Portland, graduated from the University of Oregon and worked briefly in public relations before trying his hand at copywriting. In retrospect, it wasn't such a bad career move.

Dan quickly found himself at a local agency working with his creative partner, David Kennedy, on a regional sneaker account. When the agency—client relationship began to sour, Dan and David seized the moment, scraping together $500 apiece to open their own shop, (fittingly) on April Fools' Day, 1982. They took the upstart sneaker company, called Nike, with them.

Earlier this month, President Obama announced plans to expand broadband and wireless Internet access to every school and library in the U.S. The new initiative, ConnectEd, has a goal of connecting 99 percent of students to the Internet within five years by having the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) modernize and leverage its existing E-Rate program. The president claimed that millions of students lack access to high-speed broadband and fewer than 20 percent of educators say that their school's internet connection meets their needs, particularly those in rural America. The ConnectEd program will direct federal funds to support the use of new digital education tools in the classroom and provide support and training for teachers to better implement and utilize these tools. With the global education marketplace surpassing $1 trillion in value, the initiative hopes to encourage private sector innovation to produce educational devices and software that can unlock the value of the federal government's investment. Read more about the ConnectEd initiative...

Business, civic, and political leaders in St. Louis are coming together to raise $100 million in private funds over the next five years to support the Regional Entrepreneurial Initiative, a new effort aimed at helping emerging regional businesses grow and thrive. The project was launched with funding from the federal government and will draw on several ongoing fundraising initiatives in the community. About 80 percent of the funds will be used to provide capital support for startup businesses, with the remaining 20 percent directed toward entrepreneurial support and mentoring, according to the St. Louis Beacon.

State economies appear to be re-energizing after several years of slow recovery from recession, according to the Spring 2013 Fiscal Survey of States by the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) and the National Governors Association (NGA). As a result, state government revenues also are improving with 42 governors recommending higher spending levels in FY14. Total FY13 spending, however, remains below the pre-recession 2008 peak, and much of the increased spending will be dedicated to areas where spending was reduced over the past five years. Read the report...

The Manufacturing Institute, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, has released an inaugural roster for the “M-List,” which includes academic institutions training workers up to industry standards in advanced manufacturing. M-List schools have designed their curriculums to compliment industry standards and provide their students with credentials through the NAM-Endorsed Manufacturing Skills Certification System. The M-List will help connect workers and employers by identifying schools that prepare their students for the globally competitive standards of U.S. advanced manufacturing. In support of the program, the NSF's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program provides grants to M-List schools to support the connection between workers and employers. Read the press release...

Two projects, one in the United Kingdom and another in Africa, are working to improve the information economy, university training and research in their respective regions. A new United Kingdom strategy includes a partnership between the national government, industry, and academia in support of the information technology sector. In Africa, the World Bank will engage in an international effort to promote education and research, supporting regional economic development across the continent.