SSTI Digest

President Obama nominated Ernest Moniz as the next secretary of Energy, Gina McCarthy as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Sylvia Mathews Burwell as director of the Office of Management and Budget. The nominations require confirmation by the Senate.

Draper Triangle Ventures is opening a Columbus, OH, office. Will Indest, formerly of TechColumbus, has been named managing director.

Jim Stefansic has been named commercialization director of Launch Tennessee. The position previously was held by James Stover, who stepped down from his full-time role in 2011 but served as a consultant to LaunchTN in the interim.

Jasper Welch has been named president & CEO of the National Business Incubation Association.

A recent Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum instructs major federal research agencies to provide open access to federally funded research and digital scientific data. All federal agencies with an extramural research budget that exceeds $100 million will participate, following the example of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which implemented a similar policy in 2008. Over the next six months, these agencies will draft plans to ensure that any results of federal research published in peer-reviewed scholarly publications are available to the public. Depending on implementation, open access could lower overhead costs for research projects, accelerate scientific discovery and create new opportunities for entrepreneurs who organize, analyze and curate large data sets.

In his State of the State address, Gov. Neil Abercrombie stressed the importance of investing in innovation to diversify the state's economy and grow Hawaii's economic base, traditionally rooted in military and tourism. To this end, the governor wants to back startup companies with $20 million over two years for what he considers the critical building blocks of an innovation ecosystem: research commercialization, entrepreneur mentoring and the mobilization of startup investment capital. The HI Growth Initiative aims to attract support from the private sector and is geared toward businesses in digital media, food tech, med tech, information technology, clean energy, and other knowledge-based and creative industries. If approved, funding and programs would be managed by the Hawaii Strategic Development Corp. Read more....

Americans need to rethink their view of manufacturing and the role it plays in regional economies across the country, according to a new report issued by a special Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) commission on innovation. The MIT commission found that many U.S. policymakers and citizens still view manufacturing as a small group of traditional, shrinking industries. However, the commission contends manufacturing is a diverse, evolving group of industries in which new products and knowledge frequently emerge from firms of all sizes throughout the country.

As the additive manufacturing (3D printing) industry rapidly matures across the country, city governments and civil society leaders are advocating for the creation of makers spaces in their communities that offer open access to 3D printing technologies. This minimal investment in community infrastructure has the potential to generate diversified sources of locally-based economic growth.

Pramod Khargonekar has been selected to serve as the National Science Foundation's assistant director for the Directorate of Engineering.

Dan Blake will join the Wisconsin Technology Council as the director of its Wisconsin Angel Network in mid-March. Blake succeeds Zach Brandon, who recently became president of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce.

Robert Sternberg, who currently serves as provost and senior vice president at Oklahoma State University, has been named president of the University of Wyoming.

Susan Froshauer has accepted the position of chief executive officer and president of CURE (Connecticut United for Research Excellence), effective April 1.

The sixth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in New Hampshire and North Carolina. Our first five installments were in the Jan. 9, Jan. 16, Jan. 23, Jan. 30 and Feb. 6 issues of the Digest.

New HampshireGov. Maggie Hassan, Budget Address, Feb. 14, 2013"The drastic cuts made to higher education in the last budget have hurt our ability to train a highly skilled workforce and to give our people the bright future they deserve. ...

Following up on President Obama's advocacy of American manufacturing in the State of the Union address, the White House has released a document detailing the administration's manufacturing strategy. The strategy includes the formation of a new national network of Manufacturing Technology Acceleration Centers (MTACs), which will focus on moving technology into the products and processes of small- and medium-sized manufacturers. The National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership program would oversee the initiative. Read the White House release...

Over the last month, Gov. Scott Walker has slowly rolled out a series of ambitious proposals ranging from $25 million for venture capital investment to $100 million for worker training and nearly $500 million in new state funds for public education. Together, these and other broad-ranging initiatives make up the $68 billion 2013-15 biennial budget unveiled in its entirety yesterday.

Seeding startups and encouraging an entrepreneurial climate is a major focus of the governor's economic development budget, which in addition to the venture capital initiative provides nearly $6 million for two interrelated programs where entrepreneurs can participate in an accelerator program and apply for early stage capital. Managed by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), the seed accelerator program provides matching funds to communities and partners to establish accelerators that offer services such as mentoring, business planning and networking. Under the capital catalyst program, entrepreneurs can apply for financing to start or grow their venture.

Gov. Jay Inslee's vision for creating a more prosperous state economy through investments in key industry sectors came full circle with the announcement of his Working Washington Agenda, which prioritizes a similar set of proposals touted last year during his run for governor. The plan includes legislation, government reforms and new state investments totaling nearly $120 million focused around five areas. Tax breaks for startups in high-demand fields, instituting a tradable R&D tax credit, creating 500 enrollment slots in aerospace training programs, and tapping state capital funds to develop clean energy solutions are among the proposals. Gov. Inslee has issued policy briefs in support of each focus area, which are available at: http://www.governor.wa.gov/issues/economy/jobs/default.aspx.

The Patent and Trademark Office of the U.S. Department of Commerce published final rules of practice for implementing the first-inventor-to-file provision of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) that will take effect on March 16. The AIA is a major step towards harmonizing the patent systems of the U.S. and its major trading partners. The legislation will aid the U.S. government in the prosecution and enforcement of American patents in use across the global economy, as well as reduce the costs of filing for inventors and companies by simplifying the application of patents across multiple jurisdictions.

Commissioned by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, a study found North Carolina's biotech industry employees almost 58,000 residents at an average annual wage of $78,000. From 2001 to 2010, employment in the state's biotech industry grew by 23.5 percent (approximately 12,000 new jobs) — 3.5 times faster than the national biotech workforce. In comparison, North Carolina's private-sector workforce declined by 2.8 percent in the same period. The report also compares the North Carolina biotechnology industry in comparison to several other leading biotech states including Texas, Florida, California and Maryland. Read the report...