SSTI Digest

With a new approach to supporting innovation by pursing business-led initiatives focused on better meeting private sector needs, Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty presented Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2012, providing $1.1 billion CAD ($1.1 billion USD) over five years for direct R&D support. The budget also includes $500 million CAD ($502 million USD) to increase private sector investments in early stage risk capital and support the creation of large-scale venture capital funds led by the private sector.

The 2012 budget builds on key recommendations from a report submitted by an expert panel in October 2011 titled Innovation Canada: A Call to Action. The new approach supports high-growth companies, research collaborations, procurement opportunities, applied research, and risk financing, according to budget documents.

Life sciences advocates in Arizona are celebrating the passage of HB 2272, a measure to tighten open records laws that require details of intellectual property be disclosed. Passage of the legislation will protect against the loss of current research contracts or the possibility of missed opportunities due to concerns over the state's previous law, according to a statement by the Arizona Bioscience Industry Association (AZBio).

The previous Open Records Act required details of intellectual property, such as results of clinical trials, be disclosed when a private company was engaged with a public entity, such as a university, to anyone who requested it. The Arizona Technology Council, another supporter of the new law, said lucrative projects were being halted because companies were concerned about having to reveal competitive information. The new law protects the university's ability to push academic conclusions from public-private research and allows Arizona to compete for public-private contracts against other states with tighter open records laws, according to AZBio.

Since the Great Recession, Government agencies in partnership with universities, for-profit and nonprofit other organizations have undertaken new efforts and developed new initiative to increase the number of small businesses in their region or state that are exporting and increase the value of exports for those small businesses that are currently exporting. The Small Business Administration announced the second round of funding for its State Trade and Export Promotion Grant (STEP) Pilot Grant Initiative. The Development Corporation announced Pure Michigan Export Now pilot program. The Brookings Institute announced Metropolitan Export Initiative in four metropolitan areas.

Small Business Administration

Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. (Dun & Bradstreet) announced the launch of the Entrepreneurial Growth Initiative, a program that will sponsor business plan competitions at universities and colleges across the nation. The top place teams in both undergraduate and graduate programs will receive an award — including Dun & Bradstreet's suite of products — to help their enterprises establish and build business credit. Dun & Bradstreet also will donate discounted products and services to students, staff and alumni at participating schools. Dun & Bradstreet is inviting universities seeking sponsorships for their 2012 business plan competition to contact them. Read the press release...

The U.S. attracted $48 billion in clean energy investment in 2011, reclaiming the top spot from China, according to a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts. Pew attributes substantial increase in U.S. investment (up 42.4 percent over 2010) to a rush of spending as investors took advantage of Recovery Act programs before they expired at the end of 2011. In China, which led last year's ranking, investment modestly increased to $45.5 billion. With the end of U.S. stimulus programs, China appears well situated to regain the top spot this year. Read the report..

The House approved the Senate amended version of the Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups, or JOBS, Act 380 to 41. Although, the House overwhelmingly approved the bill earlier this month, the House had to accept the Senate's amendments to the crowd funding provision. Crowd funding allows small business and startups to sale small amounts of stock to many individuals through the internet or other means without registering the shares for public trading with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, the companies seeking crowd funding capital must file some basic information with the SEC including a description of the business and its financial condition. Other Senate amendments to the JOBS Act require companies seeking crowd funding capital to provide: Financial statements to all investors; An independent accounting review of their statements, if they are seeking between $100,000 and $500,000 in capital; and, Audited financial statements for companies seeking more than $500,000 in capital. The amendment also limits the total amount that a company can raise through crowd funding to $1 million.

Funding is inlcuded for Gov. Andrew Cuomo's regional economic development initiatives under a FY13 budget agreement between the governor and legislative leaders announced earlier this week. This includes a new round of funding for the state's 10 regional councils and university challenge program initiated last year. The agreement also provides a down payment on the Buffalo Regional Innovation Cluster and funding to create a statewide energy initiative. The budget agreement authorizes $220 million in a second round of funding for the regional councils to implement strategic plans identified last year (see the Dec. 7, 2011 issue of the Digest). Of this amount, $150 million is new capital funding and $70 million is tax credits from the Excelsior Jobs program, according to the governor's office. Lawmakers also agreed to provide funding for the Buffalo Regional Innovation Council, announced by the governor in his State of the State address. The budget includes $100 million for the first year, with $75 million in capital funding and $25 million from the Excelsior Tax Credit program.

The U.S. Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office will hold its first workshop to help design a national network of regional manufacturing innovation hubs on April 25 at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. The event will be the first in a series of meetings to gather ideas from industry, academia and government participants on how to best structure the proposed National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. The president's FY13 budget requests $1 billion for the initiative to create up to 15 regional institutes, which will help develop industry-relevant manufacturing technologies. Read the announcement...

A new program launched in Massachusetts will help companies commercialize technologies developed under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program by picking up where Phase II of the program leaves off, providing financial support, coaching and introductions to potential investors. The Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation will initiate the program with $6 million over the next three years. The START program is aimed at helping companies transition from SBIR Phase II contracts, which fund technology development, to the commercialization stage, during which time companies typically rely on private sector funding. MTDC says a lack of private funding is impairing more technologies from coming to market and the START program will fill this gap by paying for patents, building prototypes, performing market research, and writing fundable business plans. The program consists of three stages over three years beginning with stage I grants of $100,000 each for 10 applicants who have won SBIR Phase II contracts. Based on the progress demonstrated over the first year, an additional stage II grant of up to $200,000 will be awarded to five of the most promising companies.

Six federal departments and agencies today announced a total of $200 million in commitments to support R&D related to the manipulation of large data sets. The Big Data Research and Development Initiative will invest in efforts to improve our ability to extract knowledge from large collections of digital data. The announcement comes in response to recommendations issued last year by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which found that the federal government was under-investing in data science. Learn more...

MaRS Discovery District, Toronto's innovation and entrepreneurship center, has launched a $30 million early stage clean tech fund, the first of its kind in Canada. This week, the group announced that it had raised its fundraising goal entirely from private sources, and that released information about its first two investments. The MaRS Cleantech Fund LP portfolio companies will be encouraged to seek maximum support from MaRS. Read the announcement... Interested in how U.S. states and regions are catalyzing clean tech innovation? Join Lewis Milford of the Clean Energy Group, Mark Muro of the Brookings Institution and Matthew Stepp of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation on April 19 for a webinar to learn about how the energy debate is resulting in new policies and programs and the local level. Read about SSTI webinars...

The SBA announced Supplier Connection, a private-public collaboration intended to help small businesses strengthen their revenue streams by gaining access to more than $300 billion in combined supply chain spending by a consortium of 15 of America's largest corporations. Supplier Connection, a free online portal created by the IBM Foundation, allows small businesses to send information about their products and services to 15 large private sector companies. The Obama administration hopes it will help bridge the gap between small, nimble businesses looking for new opportunities and large corporations looking for innovative new ideas and diversity in their supply chains. Visit the Supplier Connection website...