SSTI Digest

It is often taken for granted that small businesses are the primary vehicle of employment growth in the private sector. While this is debated, academics have struggled to demonstrate a strong inverse relationship between firm size and job creation. A recent paper by John Haltiwanger of the University of Maryland and Ron S. Jarmin and Javier Miranda of the U.S. Census Bureau shows that once the data is adjusted to account for firm age, there appears to be no systematic relationship between firm size and growth. Instead, it is new businesses, of all sizes, that play the most significant role in gross and net job creation.

Kevin Carr was named CEO of Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp., after serving as interim leader since June 2009. KTEC is a public-private partnership charged with promoting tech-based economic development throughout the state.

Jo Anne Goodnight will resign her position as director, Division of Special Programs for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) SBIR/STTR program effective Sept. 17 after 21 years at NIH. Ms. Goodnight has accepted a program manager position in the private sector.

Kerry Taylor was hired as first director of the state-created aerospace innovation hub in Dayton, OH. Kerry, who retired from the Air Force in 2005, will focus on attracting more aerospace companies to the Dayton area.

TechConnect WV, a nonprofit advancing technology-based economic development, is seeking an executive director and solicits interest from individuals and entities able to provide services on a contractual basis.

The executive director will provide full-time support for TechConnect in executing an established strategy for promoting the Innovation Economy in WV. Critical skills will involve organizational management, branding/marketing, and financial development through a variety of sources, including state and federal government sources. The candidate should be a self-starter with the ability to work effectively with many organizational partners and a large, diverse board of directors. Experience as an entrepreneur, small business consultant, strategic consultant, or non-profit executive is desirable.

The contract will run concurrent to an 18-month grant, which TechConnect WV seeks to secure by Oct. 1, 2010. Responses will be accepted through Friday, Sept. 17 at blueprintwv@gmail.com.

The candidate elected as New Mexico's 27th governor will make history as the state's first female governor. Democratic nominee Diane Denish and Republican nominee Susana Martinez both offer plans largely focused on New Mexico's economic recovery and balancing the state budget. Denish's plan centers on support for small businesses such as greater access to capital and establishing a Federal Innovation Research Matching Grant program for small, high-tech companies. Martinez has proposed a variety of tax cuts and regulatory reform as well as a plan to revive the energy sector by encouraging producers to invest in new technology.

Diane Denish (D)

Both candidates for Wisconsin governor want to reorganize and refocus the state's agency for job creation. Tom Barrett (D) has proposed moving the Department of Commerce's economic development staff into a new Office of Job Creation headed by a director who would report directly to the governor. Scott Walker (R) would hire an experienced economic development professional to head up a newly consolidated agency that replaces the department. Uncertainty regarding the state's ongoing commitment to stem cell research also has become a focal point of the race with the two candidates on opposing sides of the issue. Throughout his term as governor, Jim Doyle, who is not seeking a third term, worked with the legislature to establish state incentives to promote and enhance the biotechnology industry and expand stem cell research. Media reports indicate Barrett supports embryonic stem cell research while Walker advocates adult stem cell research and would support a ban on embryonic stem cell research.

Tom Barrett (D)

Proposals to cut taxes in order to generate job creation and to raise taxes to generate new state revenue are dominating the polls in several of the 36 states across the country where ballot measures appear. Voters also will be asked to decide on issues surrounding budgets, elections, environment, and education, among others. Missing from this year's slate of proposals is major bond funding for science and technology initiatives or R&D efforts. (Note: Ohio and Maine voters approved economic development bonds related to R&D earlier this year.) Only five states have proposed bond measures appearing on the November ballot totaling $1.9 billion, which is down significantly from 2008 when proposed bond measures totaled $18.4 billion, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. A summary of select ballot initiatives are highlighted below.

Alaska
Proposition B allows the state to issue $400 million in general obligation bonds to build library, education and educational research facilities.

Gov. Jan Brewer is directing $10 million in federal stimulus funds to Science Foundation Arizona (SFAz) to support research and education initiatives. The bulk of the money ($6.5 million) will go toward research initiatives and the remaining $3.5 million will be directed toward education programs. SFAz was created in 2006 as a public-private organization to strengthen the state's economy through investments in science and technology. Arizona's neighbor to the north, Utah, also directed a portion of federal stimulus funds to enhance its technology-based economy. In 2009, legislators approved $33 million in stimulus funds for the state-funded USTAR initiative (see the March 25, 2009 issue of the Digest).  Read SFA's press release ...

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) recently announced the winners of its tenth annual Innovation in Economic Development Awards. The awards highlight some of the nation's best practices for promoting economic development through collaborative initiatives. Winners include San Diego's CONNECT, Lexington, KY's Bluegrass Business Development Partnership, the Pennsylvania Center for Trade Development Envoy Program and the University of Arizona Tech Park's Solar Zone.  Read the announcement ...

The U.S. will need to shift from a national S&T strategy predicated on the 1950s paradigm of "control and isolation" to a global innovation environment focused on "engagement and partnerships," according to a new National Academies report. S&T Strategies of Six Countries: Implications for the United States provides an overview of national science and technology strategies in Japan, Singapore, Brazil, China, India and Russia, and concludes that the U.S. should focus on improving its balance of "top-down" and "bottom-up" innovation. The report also suggests that the U.S. improve its global exchanges in education and R&D talent, international and national recruitment of R&D talent, and multinational corporate collaborations. Read the report ...

U.S. patent activity increased in 2009, after two years of reduced activity, according to statistics from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). U.S. applicants were awarded 95,037 patents in 2009, up from 92,001 in 2008. Last year marked a return to the patenting levels of the early part of the decade, though in 2006 the country had hit an anomalous all-time high with 102,267 patents.

About a quarter (24.6 percent) of all U.S. patent activity in 2009 occurred in California, a share that has grown steadily over the past 15 years. Californians were issued 23,354 patents last year, up from 22,203 in 2009. Other top states include Texas (6,436 patents), New York (6,127), Washington (4,856) and Massachusetts (4,038). Together, the top five states produced 46 percent of all U.S. patents. Japan received the highest number of U.S patents of any foreign country with 38,066 patents in 2009.

View the USPTO's Patent Counts by Country/State and Year, All Patents, All Types, January 1, 1977 - December 31, 2009 at: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/cst_all.pdf.

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is seeking an enterprising, energetic and experienced executive director for Innovation and Commercialization. The executive director will be charged to accelerate and strengthen the university's "Innovation Eco-system" that will be recognized and emulated globally by industry, academia and governments. In its vision to become the "Innovation University" RIT is investing heavily in a unique set of academic, research and technological initiatives, programs, and resources. The executive director will be responsible for integrating and mobilizing these critical elements of the innovation eco-system, which include the Simone Center for Entrepreneurship, Student Innovation Center, Venture Creations Incubator, Entrepreneur's House, Design/Rapid Prototyping Lab and the Office of Intellectual Property Management.

A research consortium led by Pennsylvania State University will receive up to $122 million over the next five years to develop an Energy Innovation Hub focused on developing technologies for making buildings more energy efficient. The team will pursue a research, development and demonstration program targeting technologies for single buildings and district-wide systems, according to a news release. This is the third innovation hub announced by DOE this year to receive FY10 funding. A team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory received funding to establish a hub on modeling and simulation for nuclear reactors and the California Institute of Technology was awarded funds to establish a method to produce fuels from sunlight. DOE's hubs are multidisciplinary, highly collaborative teams of scientists and engineers working over a long period of time to achieve a specific high-priority goal. The program is funded at up to $22 million this fiscal year with another $25 million per year expected over the next four years. Read the release: http://www.energy.gov/news/9380.htm.