SSTI Digest

A proposal first announced during Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2013 State of the State address came to fruition earlier this month with a request for proposals (RFP) to fund clean energy projects through New York’s newly established green bank. A green bank is a state-sponsored nonprofit lender that provides long-term, low-cost financing support. Its purpose is to increase public-private investing in clean energy while offering consumers lower-cost energy solutions, according to the Green Bank Academy.

New York’s $1 billion initiative was capitalized with initial funding of $210 million in December, including $165 million redirected from other clean-energy programs. Through the RFP, the bank seeks financing proposals from industry participants and financial institutions including energy service companies, developers, equipment manufacturers and others. Projects supported by the bank can include solar, wind and other renewable energy generation technologies. Read the press release.

Recent court decisions regarding high-speed Internet competition and net neutrality have put U.S. broadband competitiveness on uncertain terrain. Despite two decades of publically supported high-speed data infrastructure efforts, many rural areas still lack access and even densely populated areas remain underserved.  New statewide efforts in Kentucky, Minnesota and Iowa have been announced to improve broadband services and boost economic competitiveness. In addition, Google has announced that it will expand its ultra-fast fiber services to nine more cities across the country.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently announced the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP), a new public-private venture to transform the current model for developing new diagnostics and treatments by jointly identifying and validating promising biological targets of disease. The Federal Drug Administration, 10 leading biopharmaceutical companies and several nonprofit organizations will partner with NIH to achieve the goals of increasing the number of new diagnostics and therapies for patients and reducing the time and cost of developing them. The first phase of AMP will begin with pilot projects in three disease areas:

A bill to consolidate several organizations and entrepreneurship efforts into one office led by the lieutenant governor passed in the Indiana General Assembly with unanimous support from both chambers. HB 1332 combines the Young Entrepreneurs Program, the Small Business Development Center and the Small Business Ombudsman into a single entity know as the Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The Office would be responsible for advancing small businesses in the state and operating a network of local, state and federal resources, according to a news release. The bill awaits Gov. Mike Pence’s signature. 

Several bills aimed at supporting startups, advancing research and improving the workforce have been introduced with the start of the 2014 sessions. Some of the proposed legislation offers a glimpse into the investment priorities of governors and lawmakers in the wake of economic recovery. Providing innovative companies with access to startup funds is a continued theme from previous years. Some states are seeking to expand tax credits for angel investors or offer new tax credits to encourage emerging industries. Other bills focus on generating more skilled workers quickly and positioning universities to enhance regional economic competitiveness.

Two More States Introduce Crowdfunding Bills

Patrick Gallagher has been named the 18th chancellor and chief executive officer of the University of Pittsburgh. Gallagher currently serves as acting deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Ben Walker has joined the Innovation Center of the Rockies team as the program manager working directly with CSU Ventures.

Bryan Toney has been named The University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s associate vice chancellor for Economic Development.

The U.S. remains the global leader in research and development (R&D) spending, but its share of global research is on the decline, according to the National Science Board’s (NSB) Science and Engineering Indicators 2014 report. U.S. R&D expenditures, including government, private and academic spending, reached about $428 billion in 2011 (see our previous Digest article on U.S. R&D spending), representing a 21.4 percent increase over 2006. Over the past decade, however, the U.S. share of global spending has fallen from 37 to 30 percent. Much of the decline is due to growing research activity in East, Southeast and South Asia.

In the U.S. there is strong bi-partisan consensus that immigration is a key driver for entrepreneurship and regional competitiveness.  With federal immigration reform essentially shelved for 2014, cities and states are searching for their own solutions to attract and retain high-skilled immigrants. Proposals by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and other policymakers represent new approaches to immigration reform that can support local entrepreneurship and regional economic development.

The sixth installment of SSTI’s Tech Talkin’ Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in New Hampshire and Wyoming. Read part I, part II, part III, part IV and part V.   

New Hampshire

Gov. Maggie Hassan, State of the State Address, Feb. 6, 2014

“And to help young people fill the jobs that growing businesses are creating here in New Hampshire, we need to come together as a state to ask tough questions about how we can best educate our young people, especially in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math. …

UK Moves to Support Growing Social Innovation SectorThe United Kingdom (UK) recently announced that it will petition the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, for permission to increase the size of tax relief for social investments that address significant social issues. The proposed plan would:

Expand the options for indirect investment in social enterprises; Establish a government-run accreditation scheme for Social Impact Bonds eligible for social investment tax relief; and,  Make changes to community interest companies’ regulations to promote the strategy to investors and social enterprises.

The proposed changes could spur up to £500 million (approximately $829.8 million USD) in social impact investments over the next five years. Read the announcement…

In response to public comments on SBIR/STTR rule changes resulting from the National Defense Authorization Act for FY12, the Small Business Administration (SBA) amended its policy directives for the programs, including changes to eligibility and the award process. The amendments also involve minor clarifying changes to ensure participants better understand certain program requirements.

SBA published a final SBIR policy directive on Aug. 6, 2012, implementing provisions of the Defense Reauthorization Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in December 2011. At that time, SBA asked for public input on the final directives, which made several key changes to eligibility, the award process, program administration, and fraud, waste and abuse. Outlined below are some of the resulting amendments for the SBIR program, which became effective Jan. 8, 2014.

Having world-class facilities to train workers or support research in fields most likely to benefit the state is a draw for many reasons. Attracting outside investment, retaining talent and generating buzz are just a few of the benefits. Last year, Connecticut lawmakers dedicated more than $2 billion to expand science and technology education on the campuses of the University of Connecticut, including construction of new STEM facilities and for build research and teaching labs. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is the latest state leader to announce funding proposals aimed at either building new facilities or making capital improvements for training students in high-wage, high-demand fields.