SSTI Digest

In perusing SSTI Weekly Digest articles related to approved and enacted budgets over the last several months, it is evident a majority of governors and legislators are supporting TBED initiatives through increased or maintained funds despite a bleak fiscal outlook in the coming years. However, state spending is expected to decrease over the next fiscal year and beyond. Combined with declines in state revenue and a weakening national economy, few state-supported programs and initiatives can be presumed safe from the possibility of budget cuts.

Several bills from the 2008 legislative session were signed into law by Gov. Ed Rendell during the past two weeks, including the fiscal year 2008-09 budget, providing enhancements to K-12 programs encouraging science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and a measure to significantly expand the Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) tax incentive program.
 

North Carolina legislators approved last week the fiscal year 2008-09 budget adjustment, providing additional funds for several TBED initiatives within the higher education system. Earlier this year, Gov. Mike Easley unveiled recommendations to use surplus funds to expand university projects aimed at supporting TBED (see the May 14, 2008 issue of the Digest).
 
Additional operating funds within the University of North Carolina (UNC) System appropriated in the budget agreement include:

Last week, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland signed an executive order that immediately allows all U.S. veterans eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill, their spouses, and their dependents to enroll at in-state tuition rates at Ohio’s public colleges and universities. Titled the Ohio GI Promise, the policy effectively allows all U.S. veterans to attend college for free in Ohio, once the new federal GI bill goes into effect on Aug. 1, 2009.

Ohio law gives the Chancellor of the state’s system of higher education the ability to determine which students can be deemed residents of Ohio. As outlined in Gov. Strickland’s executive order, all veterans along with their spouses and children who decide to live in Ohio to attend the state’s public colleges and universities will effectively be considered Ohio residents eligible for the reduced tuition rates. Other components of the executive order include:

Though the state of Florida has aggressively pursued research investment over the past few years, particularly in the life science, a new report finds the state is still struggling to build a sufficient pool of highly-skilled workers for its high-tech companies. The study, which was conducted at the behest of 19 local economic development organizations, finds the state has not yet made a complete transition from an agriculture- and real estate-based economy to one built on high-tech industry and innovation. Interviews with statewide stakeholders also confirmed there is a continuing need in the state to support innovations-based entrepreneurs through economic development organizations.

Collaborative research, particularly federally funded R&D, is playing an increasingly significant role in producing the top innovations each year, according to a new analysis released by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). Where Do Innovations Come From? Transformations in U.S. National Innovation System, 1970-2006 shows a dramatically diminishing role for the largest firms acting independently to fuel future technological advances.
 
Fred Block and Matthew Keller examined a random sample of 1,200 of the nation’s top commercialized innovations over the past four decades – as identified by R&D Magazine for its annual R&D 100 Awards – to determine the type of entity or entities that were responsible.
 
The total number of the top 100 innovations each year that include Fortune 500 firms either working independently or collaboratively with others has fallen from the mid-40s during the 1970s to only six in 2006.
 

A delegation of Automation Alley representatives recently traveled to the White House to receive the 2008 "E" Award for exporting. The Presidential 'E' Award was created by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to recognize persons, firms or organizations which contribute significantly to increase U.S. exports.
 
Since 2001, Automation Alley, a Michigan technology business association and SSTI affiliate member, has conducted eight trade missions and plans a mission to Brazil later this year. The missions focus on small and mid-sized companies in the automotive, electronic equipment, machinery, alternative energy, environmental, biotechnology, information technology and medical fields. Automation Alley directly attributes the trade missions to generating more than $130 million in new business and economic development for company participants in the region, in addition to creating nearly 100 new jobs in Southeast Michigan.
 

Steve Bazinet has been hired as executive director of the Maine Center for Enterprise Development.

Rahindra Bose is Ohio University's new vice president for research and creative activity and dean of the graduate college.

David Fouts was selected as the next president and chief executive of MAGNET, the Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network. Fouts replaces Fatima Weathers, who served for a year as acting president.

Denichiro Otsuga was named the first director of technology transfer at South Dakota State University.

Harris Pastides was selected to replace Andrew Sorensen as University of South Carolina system president. Sorenson retired after six years at the helm.

This afternoon, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell signed a $650 million package of tax incentives, loans and grants to spur the development and use of clean energy technologies within the state. The governor believes that the bill will help the state leverage as much as $3.5 billion in private investment and help the state build a stronger clean energy industry. Highlights from the Alternative Energy Investment Act include:

• $165 million for loans and grants that support alternative and renewable energy projects conducted by businesses and local governments;
• $100 million for loans, grants and rebates covering up to 35 percent of individual and small business costs incurred by installing solar energy systems;

Gov. Jennifer Granholm today signed legislation creating Centers of Energy Excellence, a program designed to bring companies, academic institutions, and the state together to create jobs in alternative and advanced energy. The initiative, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, is part of an overall job creation and economic stimulus package proposed by the governor in her State of the State address earlier this year (see the Jan. 30, 2008 issue of the Digest).
 
To be administered through the Michigan Economic Development Corp., the Centers of Energy Excellence will support the development, growth and sustainability of alternative energy industry clusters in Michigan by identifying and/or locating a base company in a geographic region with the necessary business and supply-chain infrastructure. These centers will match the base company with universities, national labs and training centers to accelerate next-generation research, workforce development and commercialization.   
 

National Governors Association
Twelve states recently received grants of $50,000 from the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices to support clean energy initiatives and to overcome obstacles preventing the adoption of clean energy technologies in their region. The awards were made through NGA’s Clean Energy State Grant Program, a part of the association’s Securing a Clean Energy Future Initiative. Several companies and foundations, including American Electric Power, Dominion Resources, The Ford Motor Company and The Rockefeller Fund, have provided financial support for the grants, which are intended to fund state projects that support research, analysis, training or outreach to advance clean energy implementation.
Highlights from the list of awardees include:

Compiling award and proposal statistics by state for fiscal year 2007, SSTI finds the 10 states with the most awards in FY 2007 were California (1201), Massachusetts (731), Maryland (342), Virginia (322), New York (297), Texas (269), Colorado (254), Ohio (240), Pennsylvania (211) and Washington (160). Compared to the top states for FY06, Maryland moved into the third spot from sixth last year, pushing Virginia to fourth place. New York climbed from eighth place to fifth place, and Texas, Colorado and Ohio each fell from their position last year.
 
SSTI has prepared a table showing FY07 Phase I SBIR data for all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Statistics include awards, proposals and award-to-proposal conversion rates for nine of the 12 participating agencies (the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education and the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declined to provide proposal statistics). The table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/070908t.htm