SSTI Digest

To promote excellence and accelerate innovation in the nation's aerospace, defence, security and space industries, Canada earlier this month launched the Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative (SADI) -- a repayable contribution program being administered by Industry Canada's Industrial Technologies Office (ITO).



Canadian aerospace, defence, security and space industries are knowledge-intensive and major contributors to Canada's economy. The aerospace sector, alone, had sales of $21.8 billion and exports of $18.5 billion and employed 75,000 highly skilled-and-paid Canadians in 2005. SADI is expected to invest nearly $900 million over the next five years, with funding to reach up to $225 million per year, in support of these industries.

Several U.S. states have introduced plans in attempts to take the early lead in the country's emerging biofuels industry. For example, in 2006, the Washington legislature approved the initial components of the state's Bioenergy Program. Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen also has proposed a $73 million investment in biofuels research over the next five years though a new Biofuels Initiative at the University of Tennessee, and the Oklahoma legislature is mulling a $40 million Bioenergy Center to coordinate state research.

 

A $295 million three-part bond referendum package passed by the Maine State Legislature last week includes a number of components central to the state’s TBED strategy, including funds to support continued development of the state’s research enterprise, expanded broadband access and increased rural/economic development financing.

 

The largest TBED item provides $50 million for the Maine Technology Fund to support research, development, and commercialization efforts of Maine-based public and private entities. The funds are limited to the state’s targeted fields of biotechnology, marine technology, composite materials, environmental technology, forestry and agriculture, information technology, and precision manufacturing.

 

Additionally, the package includes $48.5 million for improvements at the University of Maine and the state community college system and $2 million for revitalizing downtowns and expanding access to digital resources through the New Century Community Program.

 

One of the most vexing problems facing states, outside of a few well known success stories, is a persistent lack of attention from the venture capital industry. In 2006, almost 60 percent of venture capital investment was concentrated in California and Massachusetts. The other 48 states have had to devise their own strategies to compete with Silicon Valley, Route 128 and each other to gain the attention of potential investors. Mississippi, for example, attracted only two venture investment deals and only $8 million in VC investment last year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ annual MoneyTree Survey. The lack of access to capital was stifling the state’s economy, especially its high-tech industries, Momentum Mississippi concluded in a study last year.

The U.S. as a whole showed an increase of 5.41 percent in per capita personal income from fiscal year 2005, according to second quarter 2006 estimates of state personal income data released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

 

Using BEA data, SSTI has compiled a table ranking all 50 states and the District of Columbia by per capita personal income and percent change between FY 2003-06. Twenty-four states showed an increase in per capita personal income over the four-year period greater than the national average of 15.51 percent. Among those states, Wyoming led the nation with a 22.1 percent increase, followed by Oklahoma (20.8 percent), the District of Columbia (19.7 percent), Louisiana (19.4 percent) and Hawaii (19.4 percent).

 

Approximately $60 million is expected to be available under a new Advanced Technology Program (ATP) competition to support high-risk industrial R&D projects, the program announced today.



As part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, ATP offers funding for specific research projects by individual companies or industry-led joint ventures to accelerate the development of innovative technologies. Multiyear awards are made on a cost-shared basis for technically challenging, high-risk research that has the potential for broad national benefit. The program encourages path-breaking research on emerging or enabling technologies that lead to revolutionary new products and industrial processes and services that address national priorities and generate large societal benefits.

 

A single company can receive a total of up to $2 million for R&D activities over a three-year period. For single-company recipients, ATP funds may only be used to pay direct costs. A joint venture can receive funds for R&D activities for up to five years, with no funding limitation other than available funds.

With the close of its 2007 regular session, the New Mexico State Legislature wrapped up "one of the most productive sessions in state history." Those were the words of Gov. Bill Richardson, following the legislature's adjournment last month. The governor had outlined a number of economic development and energy initiatives in his 2007 State of the State Address that he hoped would be brought to bear (see the Jan. 15, 2007 issue of the Digest). While not all of the initiatives were realized during the regular session, there were a few victories providing the governor cause to celebrate:

Incentive packages to attract companies are nothing new in economic development. In recent years, though, incentives have been used to recruit technology companies, and these incentive packages are growing in scope and complexity, with some in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Two recent reports that take a close look at experiences in North Carolina and Iowa may be of interest to communities and states using incentive packages to recruit companies to their area.

 

North Carolina