SSTI Digest

Venture capitalists invested $7.1 billion in companies during the third quarter of 2008, according to the latest Moneytree survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Though this figure represents a nine percent decline from the same period last year, investment levels still show little evidence of the current drought in venture-backed exits. Many expect investment to decline in the fourth quarter and next year, particularly for seed and early stage companies, as investors become more cautious and begin shifting their focus to the later-stage companies in their portfolio.

The University of Utah (U of U) announced last month two significant investments in TBED supported by USTAR, the state-funded initiative to grow Utah's knowledge economy.

Following a recent $15 million donation from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation, U of U officials said they would begin construction next year on the 193,000-square-foot anchor facility for the new Interdisciplinary Quadrangle, which encompasses 11 acres bridging the upper and lower campuses. The Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building will be the first of four multidisciplinary facilities and will house advanced imaging and nanotechnology laboratories.  USTAR is investing $100 million in the facility, which is slated for completion in 2012. The goal of the Interdisciplinary Quad is to bridge the university's health professions, engineering, science, business and law sections of the campus.

Universities in Canada are a major component of the country's science and technology ecosystem, and as gauged by funding, they performed 36 percent of Canada's R&D activities in 2007. In the U.S. comparatively, universities accounted for 13 percent of the R&D performed in the country. A breakdown of both the performing sectors and sources of R&D funding are included in two recent publications: Momentum: The 2008 Report on University Research and Knowledge Mobilization by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) and an August InfoBrief by the National Science Foundation.

At 54 percent, private industry performed $15.8 billion (Canadian) of Canada's R&D in 2007. This was followed by universities performing $10.4 billion, or 36 percent. The Canadian federal government performed 8 percent ($2.3 billion) and non-profit organizations contributed to 1 percent ($324 million) of R&D efforts.

SSTI has prepared a table displaying the amount of funding companies spent on R&D in each state from 2002 to 2006, the state's rank in 2006, the percent change over this five-year period, and the rank of that percent change. For the U.S. as a whole, industry-funded R&D was $193.8 billion in 2002 and rose to $247.7 billion in 2006 - a five-year jump of 27.8 percent. Note, the amounts in the chart are not indexed to a single year, but reflect values of when the data was released.

View the table at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/111208t.htm.

After two years of campaigning, President-elect Barack Obama has begun shaping the agenda for his coming administration. Though nothing is certain at this point, throughout his campaign, President-elect Obama reiterated his support for TBED-related initiatives and plans to increase funding for research and innovation. His Plan for Science and Innovation, released in September, makes a wide range of TBED commitments, touching on clean energy investment, STEM education, entrepreneurship and basic research.

Tuesday's elections will allow the Democrats in Congress to expand their majorities in both the House and the Senate. With several races still to be decided, the exact composition of the House is undetermined, although Democrats picked up at least 18 seats, according to the Washington Post. As of Thursday afternoon, there are 57 seats in the Senate for Democrats and those who caucus with the Democratic party, 40 seats for the Republicans, and 3 seats yet to be decided - with Georgia going to a special runoff later this month, Minnesota heading for a recount, and Alaska too close to call.

The outcome of Tuesday's election resulted in several wins and some defeats for TBED among the more than 150 ballot measures presented to voters across the nation. Outlined below are the unofficial election results of select ballot measures from each state's respective election office and local media reports as of Wednesday, Nov. 5. More detailed information on the measures is provided in last week's issue of the Digest, which is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2008/102908.htm#election.

Arkansas Voters approved 63 percent to 37 percent a constitutional amendment authorizing the General Assembly to establish, operate and regulate state lotteries to fund scholarships and grants for residents enrolled in two- and four-year colleges and universities in the state. Voters also approved a measure to shift the state's budgeting from a two-year cycle to an annual cycle.

Eleven gubernatorial elections were held across the U.S. on Tuesday, resulting in the selection of three new governors - with TBED initiatives spread throughout their campaigns' messages.

Only one of the races resulted in a change of party affiliation in the top state position, Missouri, where Democrat Jay Nixon defeated Republican Congressman Kenny Hulshof after current-Governor Matt Blunt declared he would not seek another term. Democrats now hold twenty-nine governorships, expanding on their significant gains in 2006. Governors retaining their seats include John Hoeven (R-ND), Christine Gregoire (D-WA), Brian Schweitzer (D-MT), Jon Huntsman (R-UT), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Mitch Daniels (R-IN), John Lynch (D-NH), and Jim Douglas (R-VT).

Democrats took control of five legislative chambers in Tuesday's elections: Delaware House, Nevada Senate, New York Senate, Ohio House, and Wisconsin Assembly. The Republicans picked up control of four chambers: Montana Senate, Oklahoma Senate, and both the House and Senate of Tennessee. Two houses, the Alaska Senate and the Montana House, are now tied, according to information compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and published reports.   Starting in 2009, Democrats will control both chambers in 27 legislatures, Republicans will control both in 14 states, and the chambers will be split in eight states. Nebraska has a unicameral legislature and does not figure into this calculation.  

While the Presidential election takes center stage on November 4, voters in several states also will cast their votes on statewide ballot issues affecting the TBED community. In addition to the 11 gubernatorial races and more than 5,800 state legislative seats up for grabs, voters across the nation will consider measures to provide funding for public education, expand investment in alternative and renewable energy, lift restrictions on stem-cell research, and eliminate income tax and state spending caps. Following is a summary of selected ballot issues from across the nation.

Funding Public Education

Florida Florida voters will be asked to amend the state constitution to require that the legislature authorize counties to levy a local option sales tax to supplement funding for public community colleges. Ballot question 8 requires voter approval to levy the tax.

Though the U.S. Treasury's initial proposal for a bailout of the financial sector was only three pages when it was first submitted to Congress, federal legislators did not waste time in expanding its scope. The $700 billion emergency stabilization package, passed early this month, eventually swelled to more than 400 pages. One of the largest additions to the bill was a new section extending incentives for alternative and renewable energy. 

These provisions include an extension of the wind energy Production Tax Credit and the solar energy Investment Tax Credit, as well as several other energy credits. In total, the bailout act contains 150 pages of energy provisions. 

Gov. Jim Douglas recently announced Vermont will roll out a suite of grants and incentives to strengthen the state's software industry. The initiative includes state-funded low-interest loans to software businesses, employment growth incentives and a tax credit for software research. In his unveiling of the software initiative at Champlain College's new Emergent Media Center, Gov. Douglas explained that state agencies will use these new measures in conjunction with the Center to help build a local software development cluster.