SSTI Digest

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently launched the NYC Urban Technology Innovation Center, an initiative that will connect universities, technology companies and building owners in an effort to bring new green building technologies to market. The initiatives will provide a database of technology needs and research, and will provide researchers with real world test sites for their work. Building owners will be able to use the technologies at discounted rates. Learn more ...

The 11th Annual Tech Talkin' Govs series highlights new and expanded TBED proposals from governors' State of the State, Budget and Inaugural Addresses across the nation. The first edition includes excerpts from speeches delivered in the following states:

New York
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, State of the State Address, Jan. 5, 2011
"We must change the way we engage in economic development planning and execution. Those working at the local level know their area economies best and we will empower them through the creation of regional economic development councils that can coordinate and integrate state agency responses with local government and business activities to create jobs.

"These will not be advisory councils but instead planning and implementation councils that are empowered to allocate resources. ...

TBED People
Walter Bumphus has been named the next president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges. Bumphus currently serves as a professor in the Community College Leadership Program and chair of the Educational Administration Department at the University of Texas at Austin. Bumphus will begin his tenure with AACC in January.

Deborah Clayton resigned as the commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Commercialization and Innovation. She has accepted a position at the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago. Warren Nash, deputy commissioner of the same department, also has resigned.

Kansas Governor-elect Sam Brownback appointed State Rep. Pat George to his cabinet as secretary of the Department of Commerce. George is expected to start after Brownback is sworn in on Jan. 10 and the Senate confirms his appointment.

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is seeking an enterprising, energetic and experienced executive director for Innovation and Commercialization. The executive director will be charged to accelerate and strengthen the university's "Innovation Eco-system" that will be recognized and emulated globally by industry, academia and governments. In its vision to become the "Innovation University" RIT is investing heavily in a unique set of academic, research and technological initiatives, programs, and resources. The executive director will be responsible for integrating and mobilizing these critical elements of the innovation eco-system, which include the Simone Center for Entrepreneurship, Student Innovation Center, Venture Creations Incubator, Entrepreneur's House, Design/Rapid Prototyping Lab and the Office of Intellectual Property Management.

Nancy L. Zimpher, the Chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY), believes that SUNY campuses statewide can become "the engine of New York's economic revitalization."Chancellor Zimpher's vision of economic development fueled by higher education is supported by a recent report from the Rockefeller institute of Government. The report describes a new paradigm of economic development in which university-driven economic development will replace the traditional mix of business attraction and retention incentives. The report lists five essential elements that must be leveraged for universities to become engines of economic revitalization. New "Technology Transfer" hubs at SUNY's five campuses are among SUNY's efforts.

"Trends [in higher education] suggest a new paradigm for economic development programs — one that puts higher education at the center of states' efforts to succeed in the knowledge economy" according to the Rockefeller report. The authors found these common trends among universities across the country:

Specialized and high-tech incubators provide crucial services and resources to promote and enhance Commercialization & Entrepreneurship, one of the six thematic tracks of this year's annual conference. Three sessions tied to this theme will be explored during SSTI's annual conference, focusing on direct lessons from successful and proven TBED programs, regional innovation clustering, and more. They include:

• Distributed, Non-University Models for Commercializing New Technologies
• Technology Entrepreneurship: Direct Contact Required
• Sustaining Entrepreneur-in-Residence & Mentoring Programs

Announcements of new incubators designed to hatch ideas, speed commercialization of university-based inventions, and grow technology-focused companies across the nation are detailed below.

The NY-BEST Board of Directors released a solicitation to acquire an Executive Director for NY-BEST and an organization to provide operational support.

The Executive Director is expected to work full-time on NY-BEST activities to: accelerate the commercial introduction of energy storage technology in New York, build the human capital and expertise to sustain a vibrant commercial energy storage industry in New York, and leverage seed resources of approximately $25 million to create a sustainable organization that provides value to its members and to New York State. Individuals may apply directly for this position or as part of a broader application with an organization to provide operational support.

Read more job postings

The $68.2 million FY 11 budget approved last week for the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), allows the foundation to continue to provide 10 percent matching funds for research institutions and businesses in order to attract federal, private and industry funds. The budget allocates $29.5 million in FY11 for a matching grants program started with ARRA stimulus funding and $5.2 million for the state's six Centers of Excellence.

The appropriation is scaled down from Gov. David Paterson's original budget recommendation that would have provided $100 million for the program (see the issue of the Jan. 27, 2010 issue of the Digest). The NYSTAR budget also includes $1.5 million for state matching funds for the Manufacturing Extension Program and $343,000 for the Research Development Program.

A. 9705, providing the budget detail, is available at: http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us.

A job creation program to replace New York's Empire Zone Program, often criticized by Gov. David Paterson for its lack of results and soaring cost, was approved this week by lawmakers. The Excelsior Program carries a much smaller price tag than its predecessor and limits the focus to seven industry sectors seen as having high job growth potential. Funding for the program is capped at $50 million per year for a total $250 million when fully implemented. Annual Empire Zone expenditures exceeded $550 million, according to the governor's office.

Benefits offered under the new program include a jobs tax credit of up to $5,000 per job based on salary and benefit levels, an industrial tax credit of 2 percent of qualified investments, and an R&D tax credit of 10 percent of the federal R&D tax credit that can be allocated to the state. Businesses located within existing investment zones and regionally significant projects also are eligible to receive 50 percent of the Real Property Tax Credit in one year, phasing down to 10 percent in year five.

TBED People
Michael Burcham has been named the first president of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Burcham currently serves as a clinical faculty member at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management.

Austin Burke, longtime president of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, is being nominated secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Burke will replace George Cornelius, who is leaving his post to become the president of Bridgewater College in Virginia.

Former National Science Foundation official Deborah Crawford has been appointed Drexel University's vice provost for research. Crawford will begin her tenure at Drexel in September.

Having the tools and resources to develop innovative concepts and products and move discoveries from the lab to the marketplace is an essential component for building tech-based economies. Research parks, a place where innovative ideas are borne, partnerships between university and industry are created, and companies grow and create new jobs, provide a foundation for the kind of economic growth necessary to compete in a global economy. Over the past few months, development plans and groundbreaking announcements from research parks across the nation have been made.

Construction on the first building of Innovation Park, a Missouri University of Science & Technology Research Park, began in March on what used to be a 60-acre golf course. When completed, the building will provide 18,500 sq. ft. of office suites and shared office space for tenants. The concept for a research park on the Missouri S&T campus has been a topic of discussion for more than 10 years, according to the university. Innovation Park is slated to open in October 2010.

The State University of New York has released a ten-year strategic plan to help revitalize the New York state economy. One major element of the plan is increasing the university's involvement in statewide entrepreneurship through several new inititiatives, including SUNY Start-UP, which would invite entrepreneurial mentors on campus to work with students and professors, and SUNY-INC, which would align research teams across the state to accelerate the commercialization of new technologies. Read more ...