SSTI Digest

Recognizing Ohio's metropolitan regions as key to the state's future prosperity, a new report outlines 39 policy recommendations aimed at growing Ohio's economy and transforming old strengths, such as manufacturing, into new products and opportunities aligned with federal goals. The report foresees Ohio as an export-oriented, lower carbon, innovation-led economy capable of building on assets of its metropolitan regions such as innovation, human capital, infrastructure, and quality places. Recommendations include preserving Third Frontier funding, expanding the state's advanced manufacturing network, securing an Energy Innovation Hub, and using federal Sustainable Communities funds to support smaller Ohio cities. Read the full report: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2010/0222_ohio_prosperity/ohio_report.pdf

Last week, many states, universities and groups in the U.S. observed the fourth annual National Entrepreneurship Week. The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education sponsored activities around the country and Canada, including educational events, competitions and entrepreneurship summits. Read a full summary of events at: http://www.nationaleweek.org/

Arizona State University invites applications for the position of director, High Performance Computing Initiative (HPCI). Some of the responsibilities include leadership and management of the HPCI, developing the HPCI mission and strategy, growth of the HPCI computing systems and infrastructure, building a strong technical staff to support researchers, and training in HPC for graduate and undergraduate students. A PhD or equivalent experience in the areas of engineering, computer science, informatics, physics, chemistry, biology, computational science, applied mathematics or other relevant discipline is required.

Karina Edmonds will join the Department of Energy as its new technology transfer coordinator starting in April. This is the first time that the Department has appointed a full-time person to fill this role.

Cathy McGonigle has been named executive vice president of the Flinn Foundation. Previously, she held management positions for the city of Chandler, Arizona Department of Revenue and Arizona Department of Administration.

John Slanina, policy analyst, SSTI has accepted a position as the senior analyst of Revere Data, located in the Youngstown Business Incubator. We wish John well in his new position.

The National Economic Council and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) are asking for public input for a new initiative intended to address the challenges of the 21st century. The initiative, which would be similar to the National Academy of Engineering's (NAE) Grand Challenges for Engineering program, would help catalyze innovations to spur economic growth, encourage multidisciplinary collaborations and improve STEM education. Responses are needed to help identify specific challenges, potential partners and models for the program.

President Obama originally announced that his administration would launch the Grand Challenges Initiative in his National Innovation Strategy, released last September (see the September 23, 2009 Digest). The strategy identified eight challenges of national importance, where the market was considered unlikely to produce optimal research and commercialization outcomes on its own. These sectors include:

A plan to provide loans and specialized training to foster entrepreneurship recently was announced by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The two-pronged, $43 million strategy consists of a loan partnership between credit unions and Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Centers with specialized training provided through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's FastTrac NewVenture Program.

The loan partnership is expected to make about $43 million available to help more than 2,000 small businesses with new or expanding operations. For the training component of the plan, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation has pledged $200,000 to expand the 10-week FastTrac NewVenture program, designed for entrepreneurs in the early stages of business development, reports the Associated Press.

Nearly all components of a comprehensive legislative package set forth by Gov. Bob McDonnell that would provide tax credits for green jobs, invest in renewable energy R&D, and support the biotechnology and life sciences industries have passed at least one chamber in the legislature at this point. The governor also introduced amendments to the 2010-12 budget proposed by former Gov. Tim Kaine that would provide an additional $50 million for economic development initiatives.

The "Jobs and Opportunity Agenda" was announced during the governor's first weeks in office and focuses on job creation and tax incentives to grow the state's economy. Last week, the governor's office announced that 30 of the 34 measures within the package received legislative approval. Highlights of the legislation as it relates to tech-based economic development are listed below:

Gov. Tim Pawlenty recently unveiled his 2010 supplemental budget recommendations, which includes new tax incentives to boost job creation and spending cuts across state agencies to help eliminate a projected $1.2 billion deficit. Announced during his State of the State Address earlier this month, the proposed Jobs Creation Bill is a six-part plan with components aimed at stimulating formation of early-stage capital in new emerging businesses and encouraging businesses to invest in R&D.

Under the proposal, a 25 percent tax credit for angel investments in qualified businesses would be established. The tax credits would be capped at $5 million a year in 2010 and $10 million in 2011, according to budget documents. Angel tax incentives are likely to be a topic of debate during the upcoming legislative session with competing bills introduced in both the House and Senate (Read the article).

Florida's efforts to boost it's biotechnology sector may not be paying off as quickly as originally hoped. A recent report finds that the $449 million invested through the Innovation Incentive Program has yet to result in industry growth in counties where the program's grantees have their facilities. The report, published by the Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA), suggests that the state's lack of early-stage capital for biotech startups may be contributing to the sluggish pace of development.

Academic, industrial and federal R&D spending is surveyed annually by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Similar information regarding state R&D investments, however, only is captured periodically. The latest survey results, for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 were released this past December and used to create an SSTI Useful Stats table on state R&D intensity (see the Dec. 9, 2009 Digest). Is this information useful for state and local TBED practitioners and policy makers? Should NSF and the Census Bureau, which conducts the survey for NSF, continue the effort?

The Census Bureau has asked OMB for reinstatement of the collection of state R&D expenditures. The Bureau requests public comments and recommendations, within 30 days, as to whether or not the survey in its present form is useful to its primary target audience.

Being located within an incubator can provide tech startups help beyond low-rent space. Networking opportunities and direct counseling and technical assistance can play important roles toward the firms' success. Or do they? A recent study published in the journal Technovation finds the interactions incubator managers have with their tenant firms may not be as helpful as the metrics would suggest.

Most incubators use a variety of measures for interactions with tenants as indicators of their contribution to the companies' success. Increasing the number of hours counseled, number of meetings held, types of assistance provided, etc., generally would suggest more value to the company. Joanne Scillitoe and Alok Chakrabarti, the authors of The Role of Incubator Interactions in Assisting New Ventures, say not so fast.

Increasing life science and health-related research remains a major component of many state, local and university TBED strategies. Change in federal R&D obligations from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality among other agencies, could be a good indicator of progress — or an indicator of the need to expand or amend those strategies. This week's Useful Stats column presents five-year data on changes in HHS R&D obligations by state.