SSTI Digest

The national recession that began at the end of 2007 is "very likely over," according to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Recovery, however, may be a long way off. Because states were affected differently by the economic downturn in both timing and impact, recovery for state and local economies is likely to occur at different times. Moody's Economy.com predicts, according to an MSNBC article, that job growth will return first in five states: Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. Four of those states benefit from high-tech industries, and the fifth, Texas, has a strong base of energy industries, the article notes.

Re-examining policy and priorities in the early aftermath of the national recession, governors and business leaders in three states that are likely to be at the tail end of the recovery recently unveiled long-term economic development plans to position their respective states for sustained growth in the new economy. Following is an overview of strategic plans and recommendations unveiled in Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The newly-created Clean Energy Leadership Council, convened by the Washington governor's office and a state-wide public-private clean energy alliance, held its first meeting. The council will deliver a clean energy strategy and recommendations by December 1, 2010.

Vicki Gaddy has been appointed director of workforce development for BioNJ.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear shuffled two top positions in his administration. Larry Hayes will be secretary of the state Economic Development Cabinet and budget director Mary Lassiter will replace Hayes as Executive Cabinet secretary. Hayes has been interim Economic Development Cabinet secretary since last September. Lassiter will keep her position as budget director.

Gov. Jim Doyle signed the 2009-11 biennial budget last month, providing funding for university-based research and enhancing tax credits for angel and venture investors supporting high-tech R&D.

Several of the governor's priorities outlined earlier this year in the Digest as part of the state's stimulus plan were funded this session, including the following provisions to enhance the Angel Investment and Venture Capital Tax Credit programs, known as Act 255:

The role of a technology incubator or accelerator for supporting nascent firms generally is regarded with the utmost importance by the tech-based economic development community. Tech incubators provide essential resources for startup companies to develop and commercialize new technologies, leading to the creation of high-quality jobs.

With estimates suggesting there could be as many as 5,000 incubators of all shapes and sizes worldwide, finding the latest and best practices for tech business incubation could be a challenge. Fortunately, award programs, such as the currently open SSTI's 3rd Annual Excellence in TBED Award, can help call attention to some of the most successful approaches.

Gov. Jim Doyle unveiled last week several proposals to boost university-based research and commercialization efforts in emerging fields and encourage private industry R&D and job growth through the creation of several new tax credits.

The governor's 2009-11 biennial budget dedicates $8.2 million in FY11 to the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery for research in biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technology. First proposed by Gov. Doyle in 2004 as part of the Grow Wisconsin plan, the Institute was established to strengthen the state's position in science and technology (see the Nov. 22, 2004 issue of the Digest). A private donation of $50 million in 2006 launched the project, which was followed by a $50 million donation from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and matched by $50 million from the state. Construction is estimated to be completed in 2010.

Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation has named Jim Carroll as director of its Center for Entrepreneurial Growth.

Catapult Bio, a nonprofit organization designed to help transform emerging research discoveries into business opportunities, accelerating the commercialization of life sciences in Arizona, announced its official launch with a grant of up to $14 million from Abraxis Bioscience.

Gov. Jim Doyle unveiled today an economic stimulus plan for Wisconsin that includes a proposal to enhance tax credits for angel and venture investors in support of start-up technology companies. A coalition assembled to improve Wisconsin's existing investor tax credits law applauded the governor's announcement to refine the four-year-old program.

The Wisconsin Growth Capital Coalition, which is comprised of nearly 30 public/private TBED organizations and investment funds, have suggested specific improvements in Wisconsin's investor tax credits law to encourage angel and venture capitalists to invest in qualified early-stage deals.

Wisconsin's investor tax credits law, sometimes known as the Act 255 tax credit law, currently grants 25 percent credits spread over two years. The program is credited with helping to nearly triple early-stage investments by angel investors and venture capitalists in Wisconsin companies since its enactment.

Southern Growth hired Ted Abernathy, Jr., former Executive Vice President & COO of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, to serve as its Executive Director, filling the vacancy created by Jim Clinton's resignation in September.

The Minnesota Center for Engineering & Manufacturing Excellence has hired Ronald Bennett as executive director.

The City of Virginia Beach Economic Development Department has hired Scott Hall to fill their newly created position of Business Development Coordinator.

For several years governors across the country have announced life science and biotech initiatives that are as broad as they are large. The devil is in the details, and in most cases related to bio-based economic development, so are the opportunities. Participants in SSTI's 12th annual conference last week were reminded targeted investments in specialized areas related to merging existing life science and other technological strengths in a region are likely to have the greatest economic impact.

Over the past few weeks, two new initiatives were announced - one in Northeast Ohio and one in Wisconsin - highlighting more focused approaches to building research and commercialization capabilities within multiple industries through advances in the life sciences.

Technology-focused incubators are an important component to fostering entrepreneurial development in a region by nurturing businesses in the earliest stages of development and helping them grow into larger companies that employ high-wage workers and bring new technologies to the market. The following select announcements provide an overview of new incubators from across the nation, illustrating the vital role of entrepreneurial development in growing high-tech regional economies.

John Hindman announced his resignation as secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.

Elias Zerhouni, the director of the National Institutes of Health, announced his plans to step down at the end of October 2008.

As many stories in this issue of the Digest point out, academic institutions serve a critical role in performing R&D for the nation’s innovation pipeline. While most of the attention of national policymakers is directed toward the size of federal and industrial investments in R&D, the burden of financing the infrastructure to support much of that research activity falls on states and institutions of higher education. And that burden has a steep price tag.

For instance, in late August, the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison officially opened the first tower of the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research (WIMR), an estimated $600 million three-tower project which will house 1,500 lab workers by 2015. This first tower is devoted to interdisciplinary work studying cancer, with five floors dedicated to varying fields of cancer research, one floor for core laboratory equipment, one floor of outpatient radiotherapy, and one floor for the medical physics department which will concentrate on medical imaging.