SSTI Digest

Last week, the U.S. Treasury released interim rules for the new Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) Bond Guarantee Program. Through the program, eligible CDFIs will issue bonds that are guaranteed by the federal government and use the bond proceeds to extend credit to the broader CDFI industry for community development. Unlike other CDFI Fund programs, the bond proceeds are debt instruments that must be repaid. The Treasury Department will guarantee up to 10 bonds per year, each at a minimum of $100 million, up to a total of $1 billion per year. Learn more...

In July 2009, President Obama challenged community colleges to graduate an additional five million students by 2020. According to the president's speech, community colleges uniquely are positioned to fuel the future of U.S. competiveness by developing an educated, skilled workforce to address the needs of a 21st century workplace. However, community colleges across the country are going beyond the president's challenge and establishing new initiatives to help support regional innovation ecosystems focused on encouraging entrepreneurship and nurturing tech-based startups.

On her last day, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced several State Department initiatives that aim to have a global impact. A number of those that will be funded focus on technology-based development. The program wPower seeks to advance women's clean energy entrepreneurship around the world by supporting 7,000 women to launch small businesses around energytechnologies that might increase energy access in their area. Another initiative is the Alliance for Affordable Internet that will promote internet access in low-income communities through partnerships between governments, regulators and the private sector. The Department of State also will use funds to recognize women scientists in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region through their newly establish U.S.-ASEAN Prize for Women in Science. Read more...

While Congress remains in deadlock over another looming budget crisis, there is bipartisan movement on national immigration reform. Last week, a bipartisan group of senators introduced the Immigration Innovation Act of 2013 that focuses on reforming immigration law for high-skilled workers and promoting U.S. global leadership in innovation. Components of the proposed bill include increasing the quantity of H-1B visas, increasing access to green cards for high-skilled workers while eliminating country-based quotas, and providing a pathway for citizenship for foreign-born students who complete post-graduate degrees at U.S. universities in STEM-related fields.

Tom McDonnell, President and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, on Tuesday presented the organization's outlook on the current level of entrepreneurial activity in the U.S.. He began with news that there was growing national consensus that entrepreneurs can help promote growth in the sluggish economy, but cited challenges in capital financing and regulations. He directed many of his recommendations towards federal agencies, including the Federal Reserve and the SEC, urging better data collection efforts, improved metrics, and consideration of innovation in developing regulatory policy. Small Business Administrator Karen Mills then outlined three distinct agency strategies to promote entrepreneurial ecosystems before the session concluded with a panel discussion. Watch the address...

The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) will invest $500M in launching four new technology and innovation facilities this year. Two facilities will be based in Saudi Arabia, and the other two will be built in India and China. SABIC's expansion will bring the organization's number of research facilities around the world to 18. The new facilities will focus on commercializing university technologies, training students and academics in entrepreneurship, and cultivating innovation infrastructure that can help Saudi Arabia develop industrial clusters.

In his fifth State of the Union address, President Obama announced education and immigration reform as core issues for his second term and laid out a plan for innovation and job creation policies that would be fundamental drivers for broad-based, long-term economic growth. While acknowledging the need for entitlement reform and deficit reduction, President Obama held firm in his conviction that public investment is necessary to ensure that the United States remains an economic superpower in the 21st century.

Governors in several states recently unveiled spending proposals for the upcoming fiscal year or biennium. While fiscal conditions in most states remain fragile, new or continuing investments focused on science, technology and innovation were introduced as pro-growth measures to aid in states' recovery efforts. With the exception of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's ambitious economic development plan (see the Jan. 9 issue of the Digest), most of the proposals were on the modest side. They include funding for a life sciences partnership in Indiana, more money for tax credits in Maryland, and additional funds in Nevada and South Dakota for research and commercialization.

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Semiconductor Research Corporation have announced a five-year $194 million program working with six universities across the country to support the growth of the semiconductor industry. These research centers are:

The Department of Energy (DOE) is will commit up to $12 million for a new round of funding for the SunShot Incubator Program — a pay-for-performance program focused on helping solar energy startups transition from a proof-of-concept or business plan to domestic commercialization and/or deployment. DOE anticipates to make up to nine awards to support research and development of both hardware and non-hardware solutions that reduce the cost of systems that convert solar energy into electric potential. Interested startups must submit their concept paper by March 5, 2013. Read the announcement...

The Brookings Institute, in partnership with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), released three bold policy proposals intended to bolster the competitiveness of the U.S. manufacturing and advanced industries sector by improving innovation, workforce, and higher education connections. Each proposal paper provides a compelling argument for the federal government to make a strategic investment that will help to renew the national, state and local manufacturing bases to address poor U.S. economic performance since the Great Recession including sagging gross domestic product (less than 2 percent annually growth), skyrocketing numbers of individuals living in/near poverty and wage stagnation. Proposals include 20 U.S. manufacturing universities, a network of advanced industries innovation HUBs and a competition for states and a Race to the Shop competition.

Four have made it to the final round of the EU's Future and Emerging Technologies Flagships program in which 26 projects submitted proposals for funding. Each project is set to receive approximately $72 million from the EU's research budget that will be matched by national governments and other sources. If milestones are met within the first 30 months, the awards could total upwards of $1.33 billion each over the next decade. Inspired by the success of the CERN laboratories on the Swiss-French border, EU leaders hope that these long term investments in potentially “disruptive technologies” will give Europe a competitive edge in technology. The two winners will be announced by the EU's executive branch in Brussels on January 28, 2013. Read the announcement...