SSTI Digest

New Hampshire's University System and Community College System recently committed to increasing the number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates 50 percent by 2020, and then doubling that number by 2025. Currently, the two systems together graduate about 1,120 STEM students each year. Specific steps include the creation of new transfer pathways, cross-institutional sharing of facilities, staff and faculty and partnerships with the state's employers.

This week, the Puerto Rico Broadband Taskforce and Connect Puerto Rico, a subsidiary of Connect Nation, unveiled a comprehensive strategy to expand access to broadband services and improve the quality of Puerto Rico's high speed data infrastructure. Currently, about 14 percent of Puerto Ricans lack access to any broadband services, compared to 5 percent of U.S. households. Data transfer speeds also are much lower than in the U.S., stifling business development, investment and innovation. The plan includes 25 strategic goals and 40 specific policy strategies to increase broadband adoption and availability.

Workers who pursue manufacturing jobs likely are to earn premium wages and benefits and find work in STEM fields, thus improving their skills and directly contributing to the nation's competitiveness, according to The Benefits of Manufacturing Jobs from the Commerce Department's Economics and Statistics Administration. On average, total hourly compensation, including benefits, is 17 percent higher for manufacturing workers compared to non-manufacturing workers. The report also finds educational attainment for the manufacturing workforce steadily is rising.

For the third year in a row, technology startups met or exceeded their revenue targets according to Startup Outlook 2012 — a new survey from the Silicon Valley Bank. Nearly 64 percent of surveyed startup executives said revenue performance in 2011 was at or above target levels. This will lead to jobs with eight out of 10 companies surveyed intending to hire in 2012.

Respondents also remained optimistic about business conditions with 61 percent reporting better conditions than a year ago, and nearly 72 percent expecting conditions to improve in the coming year. However, respondents prioritized six policy recommendations to help them grow:

• Intellectual property protection;
• Controlling healthcare costs;
• Improving the regulatory environment;
• International trade/market access;
• Implementing healthcare reform; and,
• Immigration reform.

The report was compiled from responses by 270 executives of U.S. based, early stage companies in software, hardware, life science and clean tech sectors nationwide. The report also provides industry specific findings for each of the four sectors.

Tom Walker is departing i2E to join TechColumbus as CEO. Walker, a founding member of i2E, has served the private nonprofit for 14 years. Walker replaces Tim Haynes, who has been serving as interim CEO.

Mark Herzog will step down as executive director of the Virginia Biotechnology Association on June 1. Herzog will serve as senior vice president for corporate and government affairs at Health Diagnostic Laboratory, a Richmond-based company that conducts clinical tests.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant named Brent Christensen executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority. For the past 10 years, he has served as president and CEO of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce in Florida.

James Grunke has been named the president and CEO of the Missoula Economic Partnership. Grunke has been the interim director for the past six months.

Steve VanNurden has been named president and CEO of Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority, beginning in late May. VanNurden currently is chair of Mayo Clinic Ventures.

Massachusetts House leaders introduced a bill earlier this week calling for funding to support R&D at universities and research centers, manufacturing grants and workforce training, and a venture capital mentoring program for startups. The measure is touted as a jobs bill to stimulate the state's sluggish recovery by focusing on high-growth sectors of the economy.

The matching grant fund would support science and technology projects sponsored by the University of Massachusetts, research universities or nonprofit research institutions and would require recipients to leverage $3 for every $1 in state funding. The bill includes $25 million in new borrowing authorization and $25 million from a higher education bond bill established in 2008 to support the program.

Another major component of the bill establishes within the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency an Advanced Manufacturing Futures program to provide grants for facilitating growth and competitiveness in the manufacturing field. Under the program, grants could be used for several initiatives, such as:

As global economies shift, developing nations are attempting to transition as suppliers of raw materials to nations that are producers of value-added goods. Africa has been a major supplier of raw materials to the developed world. However, it drastically lagged behind in the production of valued-added goods. Recently, African nations have attempted to reinvent their economic development efforts from suppliers to producers by developing programs to grow tech-based economies. Two recent initiatives, the LIONS@FRICA Partnership and South Africa's manufacturing incentives program, highlight the changing attitudes on the continent. In addition, a new survey of European business leaders found discouraging results relative to European Union policies to improve innovation.

While touting broad support from lawmakers for his 2012 legislative agenda during the regular session, Gov. Bob McDonnell also expressed concern about several economic development and education initiatives left out of the 2012-14 biennial budget passed by lawmakers during a special session that ended last month. Just in time for the deadline, Gov. McDonnell submitted $43.9 million in budget amendments, which include restoring funds for research, life sciences and teacher recruitment.

Within the Office of Commerce and Trade, the governor is asking for $2.5 million each fiscal year ($5 million total) to partially restore funding for a life sciences initiative that was included in the proposed budget bill and later removed. The research consortium would be comprised of higher education institutions that would contract with private entities, foundations and other government sources to capture and perform research in the biosciences. The original proposal called for $10 million over two years to fund the effort.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is now accepting the first stage of the licensing process for the new five-year $1 billion Early Stage Small Business Companies (Early Stage SBICs) initiative. In 2012, the SBA may commit up to $150 million to support eligible investments funds focused on early/seed stage investments. By licensing and guaranteeing leverage to these investment funds, SBA intends to help early stage small business overcome the valley of death, the period when it is difficult for early stage businesses to access capital due to the lack of necessary assets or cash flow for traditional bank funding.

Three federal agencies (Departments of Commerce, Defense and Energy) are accepting applications for the establishment of a $45 million pilot Institute for Additive Manufacturing. The federal agencies intend for the Institute for Additive Manufacturing to accelerate research, development and demonstration in additive manufacturing and transition technology to manufacturing enterprises within the United States. It will serve as a proof-of-concept for the potential subsequent institutes in the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) — a network composed of up to fifteen institutes for manufacturing innovation around the country, each serving as a hub of manufacturing excellence in a specific research area.

The National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a request for information (RFI) on the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. Responders to this RFI should address one or more of the 21 questions found in the document. NIST intends for these comments to help shape the new program that will be funded in 2013. Comments are due October 25, 2012.

A new $15 million pilot program at the University of Michigan (UM) hopes to make a big impact in the research world by letting professors follow their instincts and allow breakthroughs to happen more naturally. Under the MCubed initiative, three researchers from different disciplines agree to work together or "cube" on a high-risk, high-reward idea. They also receive funding to hire students or a postdoctoral researcher. The university expects to fund research in the exploratory phase that could eventually lead to larger traditional grants.