SSTI Digest

SSTI's 2012 awards program kicks off May 15 with an open call for applications. The awards showcase initiatives that greatly impact state and regional economies through successful and innovative efforts to: Commercialize and Expand Research Capacity; Increase Access to Capital; Build a Culture of Entrepreneurship; and Improve the Competitiveness of Existing Industries. Entry fees are $75 for SSTI members and $95 for non-members. Applications are due July 17. Learn more about the program and our past recipients: http://www.sstiawards.org/.

A new report from TechNet finds that on the two-year anniversary of the National Broadband Plan aimed at getting more Americans to use broadband at home, the adoption rate remains about the same. The study identifies several reasons behind the plateau and calls for better coordination among policymakers and private stakeholders to improve adoption rates. Meanwhile, some states have big plans in the works to improve their broadband networks, including governors in Hawaii and New York pushing for funding to expand Internet access to underserved areas. Ohio's governor is taking a different approach in hopes of attracting new employers and cutting-edge researchers with a $10 million state-led initiative boasting broadband speeds that officials say would far exceed the rest of the nation. The TechNet report finds the number of Americans with broadband at home has remained around 65 percent since 2009 when the National Broadband Plan was implemented under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). At the same time, smartphone adoption and apps usage has grown significantly.

While many state programs provide periodic reports on their activities and impacts, a few states provide regular data on their innovation economy as a whole. These reports can be useful in assessing a state's overall approach to TBED and in finding new areas for strategic intervention. Recently, groups in Massachusetts, Maine and Illinois separately released innovation indices that provide quantitative guides to their state's progress in fostering innovation. Massachusetts The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's John Adams Innovation Institute has released its 2011 Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy, an annual review of the Commonwealth's high-tech economy through 25 indicators. Each year, the index tracks Massachusetts' progress in these indicators, along with comparisons to other U.S. states and national economies. In addition to Massachusetts, the 2011 edition provides indicator data for comparison from seven leading technology states, including California, Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Only 42 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. will maintain its dominance in science and technology through 2020, according to a recent survey by Research America. Americans also appear to expect that this change will have dire consequences. Sixty-four percent believe that it is important that the U.S. lead in R&D, and 78 percent believe that S&T leadership is important to U.S. competitiveness. Science, innovation and health ranked above "the environment" and "faith and values" in importance for future presidential debates, according to survey respondents. Read the report...

The U.S. economic crisis spurred more Americans to become entrepreneurs than at any point in the last 16 years, according to the 2011 edition of the Kauffman Foundation's Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. The study found that 320 out of every 100,000 (0.32 percent) adults (individuals between the ages of 20 and 64) in the U.S. started a new business each month in 2011, a 5.9 percent decline from 2010 (0.34 percent), but an increase over the pre-recession period. Many of these new entrepreneurs, however, are not creating new jobs through their startups. Instead, they tend to start sole proprietorships. The study posits that these opposing trends are due to new businesses launched by individuals who may have lost their jobs and have decided to become entrepreneurs. Lacking sufficient startup capital to take on employees, many of their businesses are sole proprietorships or other kinds of non-employing firms. High economic uncertainty also may have influenced entrepreneurs to choose the cautious approach of sole proprietorships over the more costly employer firms. Entrepreneurial activity rates varied substantially across states, but several states stand out.

President Obama announced the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, a propped $1 billion initiative to build a network comprised of up to fifteen Institutes for manufacturing innovation across the country. The proposed fifteen member institutes will serve as regional hubs of manufacturing excellence that will help make U.S. manufacturers more competitive and encourage investment. The administration also announced that it would take immediate steps to launch a $45 million pilot institute for manufacturing innovation. Each institute should have a well-defined technology focus to address industrially-relevant manufacturing challenges on a large scale and to provide the capabilities and facilities required to reduce the cost and risk of commercializing new technologies. By investing in industrially-relevant manufacturing technologies with broad applications, the administration intends for these institutes to bring industry, universities and community colleges, federal agencies and U.S. states together.

The House of Representatives passed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act by a vote of 390-23. Key components of the bill include several changes to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations by: Creating an "emerging growth companies" category that would lower the costs of initial public offerings for smaller firms; Abolishing an SEC rule that prohibits small companies from advertising for investors; and, Lifting restrictions on crowd funding that would allow entrepreneurs raise capital (up to $2 million) from large pools of small investors. According to an article in the New York Times, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said a Senate version will be introduced soon.

Though California remains the leading state for U.S. angel investment, 79 percent of angel deals and 70 percent of angel dollars were invested outside of the state in 2011, according to the first edition of the new Halo Report. The report, produced by the Angel Resource Institute, Silicon Valley Bank and CB Insights, also found that the median size of angel and angel group syndicate rounds increased by 40 percent between 2010 and 2011, from $500,000 to $700,000. Read the full report...

A new report assessing the innovation capacity of 55 countries ranks the U.S. in the highest tier possible for five of the seven core policy areas identified by the authors. The U.S. rankings fall slightly in the areas of science and R&D policies and high-skill immigration. Only Canada and Singapore placed in the upper tier on all seven indicators. The report highlights effective policies countries are using to build their innovation capacity and offers recommendations for improving performance. Countries are ranked as upper tier, upper-mid tier, lower-mid tier, or lower tier on seven indices with those ranks calculated by a country's performance on a set of sub-indicators relevant to each core policy area.

To help target federal spending activities that will most effectively meet national renewable energy needs and identify duplicative programs, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a detailed inventory of all federal renewable energy initiatives implemented by 23 departments and independent agencies in 2010. An accompanying report also examines the federal roles supported by agencies' renewable energy initiatives, including R&D and commercialization and deployment. The Departments of Defense, Agriculture, Energy, and Interior collectively were responsible for nearly 60 percent of all initiatives. Download the report: http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/588876.pdf. An e-supplement with further data is available at: http://www.gao.gov/special.pubs/gao-12-259sp/index.htm.

The U.S. economy rapidly has been becoming more export intensive over the last couple of years, according to a new report from the Brookings Institute — Export Nation 2012: How U.S. Metropolitan Areas Are Driving National Growth. According to the report, U.S. export sales grew by more than 11 percent in 2010 in real terms, the fastest growth since 1997, In terms of job creation, the report states, "export-supported jobs increased by almost six percent (approximately 600,000 jobs) in 2010, even as the overall economy was still losing jobs." The report also highlights an accelerated shift by U.S. exporters towards developing countries to take advantage of the growth in these countries. Canada and Mexico remain the largest export markets for the United States due to the NAFTA trade agreement (approximately 25 percent of all exports). The share of U.S. exports going to Brazil, India and China has increased two percent from 2008 to 2010. Brookings researchers contend that the 100 largest metropolitan areas (metros) were the key drivers of growth in exports. Overall, the top 100 metros produced "almost 65 percent of U.S.

Save the date! Hosted by the Georgia Research Alliance and the Georgia Institute of Technology, SSTI's 16th Annual Conference will be held at the Georgia Tech Hotel & Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia on October 29-30, 2012. Atlanta provides an excellent backdrop for SSTI's 16th Annual Conference. Georgia has a vibrant technology community that is using innovative approaches to bring together state and local partnerships to positively impact the economy. The Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center is offering SSTI conference participants the exceptional room rate of $159 plus tax. Use this link to make your room reservation. The hotel will be honoring a limited number of rooms at the government rate. Rooms can be booked at the government rate by calling 404-838-2100. To help get the most out of your time in Atlanta, these outstanding rates will be honored five days before and after the conference, based on hotel availability. Keeping with years past, the agenda will be set by SSTI member recommendations to ensure the conference will be jam packed with the most timely and relevant sessions. Look for more information on SSTI's conference website soon.