SSTI Digest

Transforming as many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as possible into globally competitive firms is a challenge, as most TBED practitioners know. The complexity of combining all of Europe into a single market makes the work even more daunting.

 

To simplify the process for SMEs in more than 40 countries, the European Commission recently launched a consolidated Enterprise Europe Network. The network consolidates the older Euro Info Centres and the Innovation Relay Centres.

 

According to promotional materials, assistance services offered by the network include a business partner search within technology and business cooperation databases and access to information on funding opportunities. Network experts will provide “individual on-site visits to companies to assess their needs and a broad range of promotion and information material. Representatives of the network can also help businesses understand EU law, how it applies to their business and how to make the most the internal market and EU programs.”

 

Gov. Rod Blagojevich unveiled a $25 billion capital plan supporting, in small part, several energy and technology projects, while at the same time eliminating funding in his fiscal year 2009 operating budget for several TBED-related programs within the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO).

 

The bulk of the spending for the governor’s Illinois Works proposal would be spent on road and bridge construction ($14.4 billion), with $1.1 billion earmarked for both higher education and energy and technology projects. Gov. Blagojevich said during his Budget Address that the plan – which requires $11 billion in new state funds – would be funded primarily through a brief sale of the state lottery, which is expected to generate $10-12 billion. Of that amount, $7 billion would be used to fund the capital plan, and the state would issue bonds for another $3.8 billion, according to the governor’s office. The proposal invests in new and existing programs within DCEO, including:

This year's edition of the Angel Capital Association's (ACA) Angel Group Confidence Report reveals that angel investors are "cautiously optimistic" about their opportunities in 2008, despite recent predictions of a slowdown for the overall U.S. economy. In a survey of ACA members, nearly 55 percent predicted that the number of angel investments made by their group and the total dollars invested will increase this year. While most expect a decrease in the number of positive exits (through acquisitions or initial public offerings), 48 percent believe that both the quantity and quality of the deals they see in the coming year will be better than in 2007.

 

Across the nation, policymakers, business leaders, private foundations and nonprofit groups are investing in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates to maintain a competitive U.S. workforce. From middle school math and science labs to engineering-centered summer camps and tuition reimbursement for undergraduates who pursue these fields, there is widespread support for STEM graduates.

 

The authors of a recent report from the national campaign Skills2Compete argue that while increasing the number of scientists and engineers is critical for the U.S. to remain a globally competitive force, researchers are underestimating middle skill job prospects and find that investments in these areas will likely generate important returns for the U.S. economy.

 

The best path to breaking the cycle of poverty from one generation to the next is a college degree, according to a new Brookings Institution report. Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Economic Mobility in America reveals 41 percent of degree-holding people whose parents’ income placed their families in the bottom 20 percent of the population, or quintile, now have incomes placing them among the top 40 percent. Conversely, only 16 percent of college degree holders originally from the lowest income group remained in the bottom income quintile in adulthood. The balance, 47 percent of degree-holders from the lowest income population, move up either one or two income quintiles.

 

Further evidence of the importance a college education plays on breaking poverty is provided by those who do not obtain a degree. Only 14 percent of adults from a lowest economic group who do not attain a college degree make the ascent to the top 40 percent by income, the report states. Forty-five percent of non-degree people growing up in the lowest quintile remain there in adulthood.

 

BioConnect of Greater Charlotte, a new networking group for Charlotte, N.C.-area workers in life-science-related fields, held its inaugural meeting earlier this month.



The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has hired Yonnie Butler as business development director of its business and technology development unit.



Bob Calcaterra announced he is resigning as president of the Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise, effective this spring, to help form a venture capital fund.



James Ellick is taking a leave of absence as director of the Idaho Department of Commerce for personal reasons.



Bo Fishback is the new vice president of entrepreneurship for the Kauffman Foundation.

BioConnect of Greater Charlotte, a new networking group for Charlotte, N.C.-area workers in life-science-related fields, held its inaugural meeting earlier this month.