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SSTI Digest
Sponsor: Bill will create jobs
Doug Johnson of UniverCity Connections believes a bill providing tax credits to angel investors putting their money into start-up companies will create hundreds of new jobs in Colorado and help stimulate the lagging state economy.
Sponsored by Democrat John Kefalas of Fort Collins, the bill is expected to cost about $1.5 million, a price that if not reconciled will likely kill it as the state grapples with a possible $1 billion shortfall through next year.
"I completely understand that unless we can come up with a non-general-fund way to pay for this, it will be difficult to get out of the finance committee," Kefalas said.
"I don't want to further strain the budget for next year, but this is a very good economic development tool that will ultimately increase revenue because it will help businesses move along and create jobs. My job now is to figure out how to pay for it."
Superclusters push CSU inventions
Superclusters can be explosive.
Colorado State University this week announced that its researchers have more than doubled the number of inventions, a phenomenal effort in two years. University officials attribute the success to the supercluster concept, which unites researchers with those in the private sector who can take their ideas and run, such as business experts, patent attorneys, marketers, etc. While the superclusters don't create new research, they foster it by speeding the transfer of technology from research to implementation.
The number of inventions attributed to CSU researchers rose from 42 in 2006 to 91 in 2008; CSU is expecting 100 this year.
Another report last week found that CSU has created 13 bioscience companies from 2002 to 2007, which is key to a growing employment sector. The report, by a coalition of advocacy groups, says Colorado ranks 11th in the country for bioscience venture capital investments. Two of three CSU superclusters are related to bioscience: infectious dis-eases and cancer research. The third supercluster is focused on renewable energy.
Inside ARRA - More on the Opportunity for TBED
A party-line vote may be all the President can get as the House of Representatives is poised to vote on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 (ARRA). That vote would be enough, though, to advance the $825 billion plan into the Senate, which is considering its own version of the bill this week.
Budget Proposals Produce Mixed Bag for TBED Programs
As governors across the nation seek to fill record deficits, many new and longstanding TBED initiatives are facing challenging cuts or elimination. At the same time, governors are shoring up support for critical, targeted investments in the economy that they say are needed now more than ever. Using the platform of the state of the state, budget and inaugural addresses, several governors have announced new or increased investments in workforce innovation, bioscience, and alternative energy (see the Jan. 7, 14, and 21 issues of the Digest). Summarized below are executive recommendations from budget proposals in Georgia, Idaho and Vermont outlining new plans and proposed cuts to ongoing TBED efforts.
Tech Talkin' Govs, Part IV
Maryland Budget Proposal Increases Support for State's Bio 2020 Initiative
In support of the state's goal to attract and grow biotechnology companies, Gov. Martin O'Malley's executive budget recommends increasing by $400,000 the state's investment in stem cell research, while maintaining current funding for biotechnology tax credits and slightly increasing the appropriation for the Nanotech Biotechnology Initiative Fund.
Studies Find NIH Funding Is Beneficial For State Economies, But Also Politicized
In the 2007 fiscal year, funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) generated about $2.21 in new business activity for every $1 invested, according to a report from Families USA. The group, which advocates for increased healthcare spending in the U.S., argues that NIH investment can be a powerful driver of economic growth. Just in 2007, NIH funding generated 350,000 new jobs, more than $18 billion in new wages and $50 billion in business activity.
Tech Talkin' Govs, Part III
The third installment of the Tech Talkin' Govs series includes highlights from state of the state, budget and inaugural addresses from governors in Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, and New Mexico.
Minnesota
Gov. Tim Pawlenty, State of the State Address, Jan. 15, 2009
Kansas Gov Puts TBED Programs in Jeopardy with Budget Request
Tech entrepreneurs in Kansas would lose a long-time independent friend and ally in their efforts to expand the state's economy if the FY10 budget proposed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius passed the state legislature. The governor has proposed many of the functions of KTEC, a program spanning more than two decades as a quasi-public agency developing Kansas' technology-based economic development efforts, would be cut substantially and absorbed by the state Department of Commerce (DOC).
SBIR to Be Victim of Recovery Myopia?
The proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, released last week by the House Appropriations Committee, would dramatically increase federal funding for research in several agencies required to participate in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The National Science Foundation alone, for example, would receive an additional $3 billion - equal to 50 percent of its FY08 appropriations. The Department of Energy would get a $2 billion research injection; the National Institutes of Health, a cool $1.5 billion for R&D. The SBIR program requires the research agencies to award 2.5 percent of their extramural R&D funds to small businesses. So it would seem small tech firms fighting for funds in the highly competitive SBIR arena could see a windfall in the coming months as a result of a Recovery Act.