SSTI Digest

The U.S. Department of Treasury recently announced the selection of 70 organizations from around the country to receive a total of $3.6 billion in New Markets Tax Credits awards. The awards may be used to provide individual and corporate taxpayers with a credit against federal income taxes for making equity investments in community development entities. Read the complete list of awardees...

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation announced the Tech Transfer Talent Network — a new $2.6 million initiative to increase the supply of seasoned entrepreneurs and innovators who can lend their expertise to member universities' tech transfer offices. The University of Michigan's (U-M) tech transfer office will lead the seven-university network and share its tech transfer resources with member institutions. In addition to U-M, the members are: Wayne State University, Michigan State University, Michigan Technological University, Western Michigan University, Grand Valley State University and Oakland University. The Tech Transfer Talent Network's primary purpose is to increase the supply of seasoned entrepreneurs and innovators who can lend their expertise to university tech transfer offices. The state hopes these connections will serve as important bridges to launch technology-based startups or license university inventions to established companies.

his week Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel released the first draft of a long-term plan for the city's economic growth and job creation. The plan provides ten over-arching strategies to guide Chicago's economic development efforts, the first of which is a focus on advanced manufacturing. The plan also calls on the city to support entrepreneurship and innovation in emerging technology sectors. Read the full announcement...

By reducing legal and regulatory barriers to startups, states can harness the power to encourage the formation and growth of new companies, find two recent reports from the Kauffman Foundation. The reports were issued in conjunction with Kaufmann's third annual State of the Entrepreneurship address and call for state level initiatives and policy recommendations that have shown preliminary success but have yet to be widely adopted. In Startup Act for the States, several proposals are put forth to act as a "menu of initiatives" at the state level, which policymakers can evaluate and adapt according to their needs. Ideas are organized by stage of the entrepreneurial process, which include encouraging the launch of new businesses, measures to facilitate the launch of new ventures, and nurturing the growth of new businesses.

Countries that put significant resources into supporting clean tech innovation are rewarded with more emerging and commercialized clean tech companies, according to Coming Clean: The Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2012 — a new report from the Clean Tech Group, LCC. The U.S. placed fifth out of 38 countries, with the top score for several indicators including research and development funding, general innovation drivers (i.e., Entrepreneurial culture and "general innovation inputs") and strong emerging clean tech innovation. However, in comparison to other top performers, the lack of strong government policies in support of clean tech hurt the overall health of the sector in the United States. Other indicators that the U.S. performed poorly in were renewable energy consumption and clean tech company revenues. Denmark ranked first due to its unique combination of a supportive environment for innovative clean tech startups, evidence of those startups emerging as well as a strong track record of companies commercializing their clean tech innovations and widespread market adoption.

U.S. venture firms invested $4.9 billion in clean tech companies last year, nearly the same as in 2010, according to a year-end report from Ernst & Young. Approximately 57 percent of all clean tech investment was directed toward California companies. The overall cleantech market was bolstered by five IPOs and 79 M&As. Read the release...

On Tuesday, President Obama announced details of a new initiative to support rural innovation. The Rural Jobs Accelerator will award $15 million for projects that promote innovation-fueled regional job creation in rural parts of the country with funding from the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Economic Development Administration, the Delta Regional Authority and the Appalachian Regional Commission. USDA's Rural Community Development Initiative will support the program and offer technical assistance and training funds to qualified intermediary agencies. A Federal Funding Opportunity will be released in the next few weeks. Read the announcement...

Lawmakers in several states will consider legislation this year aimed at solving the workforce disconnect as states continue to struggle with unemployment and look for ways to attract industries in emerging fields. Many of the recent proposals, including those in Connecticut and Massachusetts, focus on revamping oversight of higher education and workforce training to offer better tools and a quicker path to a degree and skills matched with the needs of businesses. In Missouri, a new Innovation Campus will allow high school students to train for high-tech careers while they earn college credit and, in South Dakota, the governor wants to recruit 1,000 skilled workers from outside the state. Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy earlier this month proposed legislation making changes to the Connecticut Technical High School System (CTHSS) in order to tailor programming to the needs of employers. In addition to programmatic changes, the governor wants to change the governance of CTHSS to an independent, 11-member board whose members are made by appointment, removing oversight from the State Board of Education.

With a greater focus on jobs training and arts and cultural programs, Michigan's budget for economic development would increase by more than 10 percent in FY13 under Gov. Rick Snyder's proposal. Universities and community colleges would receive a 3 percent boost under a new performance formula based on degree completion — particularly in critical skills areas such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and health care. The Michigan Economic Development Corp (MEDC) is slated to receive $195 million in FY13, up from $175 approved for the current year. This includes $100 million for business attraction and economic gardening. Another $25 million would support innovation and entrepreneurship programs established last year (see the June 1, 2011 issue of the Digest). To address economic development in distressed cities, the governor recommends an additional $15 million in general fund support for the Talent Fund for Job Training and Skills Development. The budget also increases funding by $3.6 million for arts and cultural grants programs ($5 million total).

The Obama Administration announced the launch of BusinessUSA, an online platform to help small businesses and exporters of all sizes find information about available federal programs. The website combines information and services from 10 different government agencies through one consolidated website and coordinates telephone support through a single 1-800 number. Visit the website...

"While U.S. manufacturing performs well compared to the rest of the U.S. economy, it performs poorly compared to manufacturing in other high-wage countries," according to Why Does Manufacturing Matter? Which Manufacturing Matters? — a new report from the Brookings Institute. For U.S.

SSTI Board Member and University of Akron President Luis Proenza has been appointed to serve on the Board of Science, Technology and Economic Policy (STEP) at the National Academies. David Monkman has resigned as the president and CEO of the National Business Incubation Association. Tracy Kitts, the current NBIA vice president and COO, has been named acting CEO. Len Heller, vice president of the University of Kentucky Office for Commercialization & Economic Development has announced he will retire March 1. Larry Lee has joined Northwest Missouri State University as director of business development and tenant relations for the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Previously, Lee served as the director of technology development and commercialization for the University of Missouri-Kansas City SBTDC. Jamie Grooms has been appointed chief executive officer of the Florida Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research. Grooms has co-founded two successful University of Florida spin-off companies.