SSTI Digest

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.   The report also includes a glimpse into the nature of angel capital groups’ activities in 2007. A vast majority of groups still focus on seed and early-stage investments, despite an increase in later-stage angel investment. Seed and start-up companies are targeted by 81.5 percent of groups, and 85.2 percent invest in early-stage firms. Expansion and later-stage companies are targeted by only 38.3 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively. Software continues to dominate the field, with 82.9 percent of…

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.   Refuting the notion that America’s labor force is increasingly comprised of very low and very high skilled jobs with a hollowing out in the middle, the report, America’s Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs, calls for greater public investment to develop workforce education and training for jobs in the middle-skill range. Described as jobs requiring more than…

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.   Education may impact mobility at the highest rungs of the income…

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. A number of regional economic development organizations in Tennessee have formed a partnership called Innovation Valley Inc. Partners in Innovation Valley Inc. include the Blount County Chamber of Commerce, Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership, Loudon County Economic Development Agency, Oak Ridge Economic Partnership, The Roane Alliance and Tellico Reservoir Development Agency.…

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.

A number of regional economic development organizations in Tennessee have formed a partnership called Innovation Valley Inc. Partners in Innovation Valley Inc. include the Blount County Chamber of Commerce, Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership, Loudon County Economic Development Agency, Oak Ridge Economic Partnership, The Roane Alliance and Tellico Reservoir Development Agency.

Dr. Cynthia McIntyre was named senior vice president of the Council on Competitiveness.

Egils Milbergs was appointed director of Washington's newly formed Economic Development Commission.