SSTI Digest

During this year’s legislative sessions, several states looked toward creating, providing support for or redesigning programs that help incentivize businesses to hire and mentor student interns. In an effort to spur rural internships, Minnesota lawmakers approved a new tax credit program to support internships for students in greater Minnesota. In North Dakota, lawmakers committed $1.5 million to their Operation Intern program, while Nebraska lawmakers updated their Intern Nebraska grant program to provide students with a high-quality internship experience. Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed a bill that will allow high school students (16 years and older) to engage in pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship and internship experiences during school hours in approved manufacturing career and technical programs.

As many state legislative sessions wind down, a clearer picture of the current direction of state innovation policies is emerging. This week’s SSTI Weekly Digest presents a few of the major trends in technology-based economic development initiatives approved by state legislatures during their most recent sessions. While this review is not meant to be comprehensive, it should illuminate the shifts states are making to refine their investments in the high-tech economy by providing smarter, more targeted support.

Over the past few months, the Digest has reported on several major capital access initiatives, transparency efforts and agency reorganizations that have made headlines amid a slow economic recovery and renewed attention to accountability in economic development.

While other stories in this issue will examine some of the trends in legislation that previously have gone unreported in the Digest, several major legislative efforts have appeared in earlier issues, but represent other intriguing developments in state innovation policy.

A three-year effort to implement an SBIR state matching funds program gained enough traction this legislative session to win support from Rhode Island lawmakers. The measure was spearheaded by a group of leaders from 24 life science companies who advocated for a statewide program to encourage small business R&D and commercialization. Lawmakers appropriated $500,000 for the effort in FY14. Adding a workforce development component to the measure, a new bioscience and engineering internship also will be established to enhance the state's talent pipeline.

NIST MEP has finalized cooperative agreements to create new MEP Centers in Arizona and Rhode Island. NIST is awarding $1 million to the Arizona Commerce Authority and $750,000 to the University of Rhode Island Research Foundation to serve small- and mid-sized manufacturers in their states. Read the release...

Chris Coburn, the founding executive director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations, is leaving at the end of May to join Boston-based Partners Healthcare, the largest healthcare system in Massachusetts.

Mary Jo White has been confirmed by the Senate as the new head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Marcel Valois has been nominated for executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Develop Corporation by Gov. Lincoln Chafee.

Erik Mitisek has been named the CEO of the Colorado Technology Association, effective April 29.

Richard Sutton has been named executive director of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education.

In the wake of a potential overhaul to the state's economic development strategy, Gov. Lincoln Chafee received two reports analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of Rhode Island's existing industry clusters and identifying potential new opportunities. The reports provide guidance for consideration by the Sustainable Rhode Island Initiative, a multi-agency effort to develop an integrated approach for the state related to land use, transportation, housing and economic development. Recommendations include the appointment of an individual to lead and oversee economic planning efforts of the state and the creation of a statewide incubator network and investment in entrepreneurship and small business creation and growth.

The second installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Our first installment was in the Jan. 9 Digest.

Colorado
Gov. John Hickenlooper, State of the State Address, Jan. 10, 2013

“We also ask that you pass House Bill 1 ... bipartisan legislation that will support ‘advanced industries’ in Colorado. ...

“... The second annual COIN Summit, hosted by the Colorado Innovation Network, will take place in August. We will convene national and international stakeholders to discuss technology, workforce development, higher education and our state's brand”

Gov. Lincoln Chafee has nominated Deputy Director William Parsons to lead the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation.

Gov. Rick Perry has appointed J. Bruce Bugg, Jr. as president and chairman of the Texas Economic Development Corp.

Gov.-elect Steve Bullock tapped Meg O'Leary to be the Montana Commerce Department director.

Thomas McDonnell, a Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation trustee since 2003 and board chairman since 2006, has been elected CEO of the foundation.

Blake Perry has been appointed as the interim president of the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority.

Rhode Island has released its 2012 Benchmarking the Rhode Island Knowledge Economy, a follow-up to the inaugural report published last year. Produced by the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and Rhode Island Science & Technology Advisory Council, Benchmarking is a comprehensive report of the state's innovation capacity and a method of measuring over time Rhode Island's innovation economy in comparison to the region and the country. The report looks at 19 categories for overall economic strength, including more traditional measures such as gross state product and per capita income, but also for measures of the state's innovation capacity, like patents issued, R&D performance, and the attainment of science and engineering degrees and their inclusion in the state workforce. Of the 19 metrics, Rhode Island improved their national ranking in 11 areas, including significant improvements in venture capital investments as a percent of gross state product, total R&D performance as a percent of gross state product, and math scores for 8th graders.

Building on a previous statewide initiative to boost technology entrepreneurship, a group of Rhode Island organizations have combined resources to launch a new effort called the Founders League. The idea is to assemble a treasure trove of support from universities, a mentorship-driven accelerator, and the Chamber of Commerce to provide resources and connections for established and aspiring entrepreneurs. The group is the promoting power of collaboration with guiding principles that include: the importance of physical space, co-working communities and transitioning to a self-sustaining business model. The Founders League officially launches in December and will offer community co-working space, programming and support for entrepreneurs at all stages of development. Read the announcement...

Richard Bendis has been named the first president and CEO of BioHealth Innovation, Inc. a regional private-public partnership focusing on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early stage funding in Central Maryland.

RI Gov. Chafee on May 17 accepted the resignation of Keith Stokes, executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. The RIEDC's deputy director, William Parsons, currently is serving in Stokes' place. Although a successor for Stokes has not been named yet, the governor has nominated six people to the board that oversees RIEDC after the vice chair and other members resigned. The nominations are subject to Senate confirmation.

In Pittsburgh, PA, The Technology Collaborative is dissolving. Innovation Works will take over some of TTC's programs.

Michael Pazzani, vice president for research and economic development at Rutgers, has accepted the position of vice chancellor for research and economic development at the University of California, Riverside, effective July 1.

The fourth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs' series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Illinois, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Rhode Island. The first three installments are available in the Jan. 11, Jan. 18 and Jan. 25 editions of the Digest. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, State of the State Address, Feb. 1, 2012 "Today, I'm announcing a $2.3 million dollar investment in '1871,' a new technology center at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago to foster and launch digital start-ups. "Today, I'm also announcing a $6 million dollar statewide competition to build ultra-high speed broadband in neighborhoods across Illinois. "Through this challenge, we want our neighborhoods to become Gigabit communities with Internet connections more than 100 times faster than today! Our goal is to build smart communities that will foster the job engines of the future." New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, State of the State Address, Jan. 31, 2012 "There are tax reductions that can spur job growth here in New Hampshire. Innovative companies create jobs and lay the foundation for a stronger future for our state.