SSTI Digest

The Technology Innovation Program (TIP), a program within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), released its Three-Year Plan covering proposed grant competition topics through FY 2014. Future TIP grant competitions may target specific research topics within eight areas of critical national need: civil infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, health care, water resources, complex networks and sustainability. For additional information regarding these topic areas or to comment on TIP's authored whitepapers visit http://www.nist.gov/tip/wp/index.cfm. Program officials emphasize that the three-year plan is not a formal solicitation for proposals. There are no current TIP competitions. Specific competitions related to these topics will be announced in the Federal Register, on grants.gov and on the TIP website. Read the plan ...

In March, Canada's Advanced Research and Innovation Network (CANARIE) will begin a pilot program designed to reduce the time and cost of bringing new information and communications technology (ICT) products, services and protocols to market. The Digital Accelerator for Innovation and Research (DAIR), a virtual research and development environment, will enable small and medium-sized ICT firms to create complex, large-scale products and demonstrate them to customers without building a costly, in-house R&D infrastructure. ICT researchers at universities across the country also will have access to the program allowing them to investigate next-generation Internet technologies. During the pilot program, DAIR will run on a dedicated portion of CANARIE's advanced research and education fiber-optic network. Read more about DAIR ...

U.S. venture capitalists invested $21.8 billion in 2010, a 19.4 percent increase over 2009 and the first increase in venture investment since 2007, according to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and PricewaterhouseCoopers Moneytree Survey. The growth in activity affected nearly every industry, particularly clean energy software and Internet-specific companies. Early stage investments, though not seed stage investments, grew by double-digits as did first-time financings. In addition to the gains in venture dollars, VC deals grew to 3,277, a 12 percent increase over 2009. Venture capital (VC) returns also have begun to improve for the 3, 5 and 10 year horizons, according to the Cambridge Associates and NVCA.

President Barack Obama called for a renewed commitment to American innovation, education and infrastructure to restore the country's competitive edge in his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday. The administration's "plan to win the future" includes stronger support for research and high-tech businesses in order to maintain leadership in a global economy dominated by technology-intensive industries. In order to encourage innovation, the president set the goal of providing high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of Americans in five years, preparing 100,000 STEM educators over the next ten years and producing 80 percent of the country's electricity from clean energy sources by 2035. Other major proposals include a five-year spending freeze for many domestic programs, which could reduce the federal deficit by an estimated $400 billion over the next ten years, and an end to congressional earmarks.

The fourth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, and Vermont. The first three installments are available in the Jan. 5, Jan. 12 and Jan. 19 issues of the Digest.

Gov. Martin O'Malley last week unveiled details of his proposed $100 million venture fund announced last year during his re-election campaign as an initiative to grow the state's knowledge-based industries, particularly within the life sciences sector (see the June 9, 2010 issue of the Digest). The governor's budget also provides funding for the state's 10-year Bio 2020 initiative, including $12.4 million for stem cell research, $8 million for biotechnology tax credits and $3.8 million for the Maryland Biotech Center.

Funding for university-based research initiatives would be cut significantly under Gov. Nathan Deal's proposed FY12 budget as the governor aims to close a projected deficit of nearly $1 billion. The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), a nationally recognized model for creating and sustaining tech-based economies, would receive $4.5 million in FY12, a 75 percent reduction from the current year. The governor's budget also would transfer GRA funds to the Department of Economic Development, a move that would align TBED with the state's more traditional economic development efforts.

GRA's research and technology commercialization programs, which often are replicated by other states and regions, would be severely impacted if the governor's budget is adopted in its current form. Funding for GRA's Eminent Scholars, which is used to match university funds for recruiting world-class researchers to the state, would be eliminated.

While seeking to spur economic growth through new investments in university-based research, Gov. Sam Brownback also proposes to consolidate the efforts of a longstanding program recognized for creating high-wage jobs and diversifying the state's economy. Under the governor's FY12 budget proposal, many of the programs currently managed by the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC), which provides dedicated support for researchers, entrepreneurs and technology companies, would be transferred to the Department of Commerce.

Eliminating KTEC and folding some of its programs into the Department of Commerce would save $1.7 million, according to budget documents. Overall, the governor's budget proposes elimination of eight state agencies for a cost savings of $9.2 million. A similar plan was proposed by former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius two years ago and subsequently rejected by the legislature.

The Obama administration plans to award $2 billion in grants to two-year, degree-granting institutions over the next four years to expand job training programs across the country. The funding was allocated through last year's health care act and will support training programs designed to meet the needs of local employers. Awards will range from $2.5 million to $5 million for individual institutions and from $.25 million to $20 million for consortia. The administration also is using the program to support the development of free, online learning materials, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Find out more ...

Massachusetts continues to be the country's most successful high-tech economy, according to the 2010 edition of the Milken Institute State Technology and Science Index: Enduring Lessons for the Intangible Economy. The Index uses 79 indicators to evaluate and rank state performance in five categories: R&D inputs, risk capital and entrepreneurial infrastructure, human capital capacity, technology and science workforce, and technology concentration and dynamism. Since the last update in 2008, Utah climbed three places to rank fifth overall due, in part, to improved risk capital availability. Alaska and Ohio had the greatest improvement, each moving up seven spots in the overall rankings. Download the Index (requires login) ...

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently launched the NYC Urban Technology Innovation Center, an initiative that will connect universities, technology companies and building owners in an effort to bring new green building technologies to market. The initiatives will provide a database of technology needs and research, and will provide researchers with real world test sites for their work. Building owners will be able to use the technologies at discounted rates. Learn more ...

With the fears of rising state deficits and high unemployment, states must make tough decisions regarding their economic development efforts in the coming years. Researchers at the Brookings Institute contend that states should focus on regional economic clusters because it provides a "low-cost means" to reignite innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation. "Organic" job growth should be the focus of state economic development, according to the report — Job Creation on a Budget. The researchers say, "Some 95 percent of all job gains in a year in an average state come from the expansion of existing businesses or the birth of new establishments (i.e., organic factors of job growth)." These efforts also take significantly smaller financial commitments by the state and provide a more streamlined approach to achieve meaningful job growth than other more conventional economic development efforts.