SSTI Digest

The National Science Foundation's National Science Board has released the 2012 edition of its biennial compilation of U.S. science and engineering indicators and trends. This year's release includes an interactive tool to view state S&E data and a separate digest with 30 key data points for evaluating U.S. progress. While the U.S. still leads the world in many of these key metrics, developing countries appear to have made significant strides in S&E competitiveness, according to the report. Additional data will be available after February 15.

Between 2002 and 2010, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) created 85 percent of new jobs in the European Union (EU), according to "Do SMEs Create More and Better Jobs?" — a new report from the European Commission. During this period, SMEs' annual employment growth (1 percent) grew at twice the rate of large enterprise (0.5 percent). Fueled mostly by the birth of new SMEs, net employment in the EU rose by an average of 1.1 million new jobs each year. In 2010, SMEs employ 67 percent of all workers in Europe. The report contends that these results imply that the employment share of the SME size class has increased over time, and indicates the increasing relevance of SMEs to the EU's overall economy. The study also shows that new firms (younger than five years) are responsible for an overwhelming majority of the new jobs. However, only 50 of new firms last past the first five years. The report contends that newly born SMEs more than compensates for job loss caused by the death of enterprises in all size classes.

SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series has returned for its 12th annual edition. The series highlights new and expanded TBED proposals from governors' State of the State, Budget and Inaugural addresses across the nation. The first installment includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Georgia, Iowa, New York, Kentucky, South Dakota, Vermont, and Virginia. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, State of the State Address, Jan. 10, 2012 "... I want to announce two ambitious goals. Georgians deserve a world-class, public medical university, and it will be a priority of this administration to have a medical college among the top 50 nationally. ... "... Also within this push, the Georgia Health Sciences University will seek to become the state's second National Cancer Institute designated Cancer Center ... This designation would mean greater access to research dollars and enhance our ability to recruit top cancer specialists. "... To support this goal of a second Georgia-based Cancer Center, my budget proposal includes an investment of $5 million. ... "...

U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson recently presented the key findings of a year-long study into the challenges and opportunities facing the national innovation economy (full video of the event is available at the Center for American Progress site). Over the past decade, a number of warning signs, such as declining job creation, poor student preparedness in science and math and aging infrastructure, have indicated that the U.S. is en route to a less dominant position in the global economy. The Department of Commerce (DOC) report focuses on the need for the federal government to collaborate with the private sector to increase research spending, improve STEM education and revitalize manufacturing. One year ago, Congress reauthorized the America COMPETES Act, which required DOC to prepare a report on U.S. economic competitiveness and innovation. A 15-member Innovation Advisory Board, with representatives from federal agencies, regional groups, foundations and the private sector, worked throughout 2010 on the report.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell unveiled his 2012 legislative and budget actions that support his administration's ongoing Opportunity to Learn K-12 education agenda. The governor's proposed budget also includes $438 million in new K-12 funding over the next biennium.

Gov. Butch Otter unveiled plans for a targeted partnership among industry, higher education and government that invests in R&D to produce new technologies — and ultimately — jobs. The governor is asking lawmakers to approve $5 million for startup costs in the FY13 budget. Legislation to be introduced later this session will provide a plan for reorganizing the Idaho Innovation Council and implementing the initiative — called IGEM for Idaho Global Entrepreneurship Mission. IGEM seeks to increase the state's knowledge-based economy by investing in strategic areas of research and developing a world-class talent pool. The program is modeled on similar initiatives in Utah and Virginia. As part of the IGEM initiative, the governor recommends $2 million for competitive state university research funds awarded through the Idaho Higher Education Research Council. This is envisioned as seed funding for investing in the development of expertise, products and services that can be commercialized. Another $2 million (up from $1.6 million in FY12) is included for the Center for Advanced Studies, which would serve as a partner in the IGEM initiative.

An economic development policy and strategic plan presented to lawmakers last month identifies several steps for investing in the innovation community to improve the state's competitiveness. To create a robust and supportive environment for new company formation and tech commercialization, the report recommends increasing by 20 percent annually over the next five years state funding for capital and incubator and accelerator programs. The plan, put forth by Economic Development Planning Council under Gov. Deval Patrick, is the latest competitiveness report to promote investments in research, entrepreneurship and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education for economic growth (see the Oct. 26, 2011 issue of the Digest). The report identifies five steps with corresponding action items outlined for each. Steps include advancing education and workforce development for middle-skill jobs; supporting innovation and entrepreneurship; supporting regional development through infrastructure investments; increasing the ease of doing business; and addressing competitiveness.

Connecticut Innovations (CI), a quasi-public agency supporting high-tech industries, will match state funds to expand access to capital programs and launch new initiatives supporting tech transfer efforts. CI's board this week announced the deployment of $250 million over five years for activities including SBIR assistance, establishing three technology accelerator hubs and recruiting emerging tech companies nationally and internationally.

In order to build thriving clean energy industries, state clean energy funds should devote a significant portion of their funding to economic development, according to a new report from the Brookings Institute. While most funds focus on clean energy project installation, additional state funding for R&D, early stage capital, entrepreneurial support and other activities are important elements in an effective cleantech strategy. Read the report...

Renee Winsky has resigned as the CEO of the Tech Council of Maryland. Winsky has headed the technology trade group since September 2009. Larry Letow, chairman of the council, will serve as CEO on an interim basis. Tom Ballard has retired as director of partnerships at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and accepted the position of director of Innovation and Entrepreneurial Initiatives at Pershing Yoakley and Associates. Mark Lytle has been selected to become the division director of the Georgia Centers of Innovation. Most recently, Lytle was director of the Georgia Department of Economic Development's foreign direct investment team. He succeeds Sidney Elliott, who served as interim director of COI before retiring at the end of last year. Gov. Phil Bryant has tapped businessman and philanthropist Jim Barksdale as interim director of the Mississippi Development Authority. The governor said he expects the interim term to last 90 to 120 days. Gov. Jay Nixon has named Jason Hall as the new director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development. Hall is currently the executive director of the Missouri Technology Corporation. He succeeds David Kerr. Nebraska Gov.

President Obama recently announced his intention to streamline the six federal departments and agencies focused on business and trade into a single department. Doing so would require Congress to grant the president authority to reorganize the Executive branch and then submit the proposal to Congress as an up or down vote. The new department would help coordinate federal trade policy, and provide a comprehensive source for business support. As an indication of the president's commitment to improving federal support for small businesses, he also announced that he would promote the Small Business Administration (SBA) to a cabinet-level agency. The consolidation would include the core business and trade functions of the Department of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. In his announcement, President Obama said that the move would allow entrepreneurs to have a single office, website and phone number to turn to through all stages of their business' development.

To help meet the goals of Virginia's Top Jobs Act enacted earlier this year, Gov. Bob McDonnell proposed $200 million in additional higher education funding over the next two years. A large portion of the new funds would support cancer and high-tech research, competitive research grant awards, and efforts to graduate more science, technology, engineering, mathematics and healthcare (STEM-H) majors. The Top Jobs Act outlines a plan for achieving an additional 100,000 undergraduate degrees over the next 15 years through a new higher education funding policy, targeted economic and innovation incentives, and the creation of a STEM public-private partnership. In accordance with the legislation, the state's colleges and universities completed six-year plans identifying initiatives to help meet those objectives.

Gov. McDonnell's proposed funding for the 2012-14 biennium would support some of the efforts proposed by the universities, including: