George Osborne, the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced the country's 2011 budget including the "Plan of Growth," a package of measures intended to support private sector investment, enterprise and innovation. Several initiatives highlighted in the Plan of Growth include:

Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic announced the plans to form the "Akron Development Corporation Seed Fund" in his State of the City address on Tuesday. The fund, with backing from corporate sponsors, aims to attract biomedical companies to the region. Companies receiving investment would locate in the Akron Global Business Accelerator. Read the announcement...

Recent announcements of new and emerging technology incubators range from Google's selection of Cape Town, South Africa to launch a pilot incubator supporting technology entrepreneurs that it hopes to replicate globally to Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley's plan to create a statewide business incubator focusing on workforce training. Select announcements from across the globe are highlighted below.

Innovative firms rely on global pipelines and communication more than local interactions to increase their innovative capacity, according to a working paper by Rune Dahl Fitjar and Andres Rodriguez-Pose. The authors examine the practices of 1604 firms in the five largest urban regions of Norway, and find that international cooperation is the main source of product and process innovation.

After declining last year for the first time since 1949, U.S. personal income rose three percent in 2010 to more than $12.5 trillion, according to a release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). U.S. per capital personal income, which had also dipped in 2009, rose 14.6 percent to $40,584 last year. Both U.S. total and per capita personal income, however, remained below their peak levels in 2008.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland is seeking a dynamic and innovative biomedical/biotechnology expert to provide strategic leadership as the director of the newly created Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination (OTAC). The OTAC is charged with accelerating the translation of basic discoveries and innovations into new diagnostics, devices, and therapeutics, and facilitating the development of new technologies via SBIR initiatives.

A budget agreement reached last week between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders adopts the economic development reforms set forth by the governor to establish a regional strategy for job creation. The approved budget allocates about $200 million in existing capital funds and tax credits to support 10 regional economic development councils and merges the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), the state's tech-based economic development initiative, into the Department of Economic Development.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed the Oklahoma Aerospace Engineer Tax Credit — reestablishing a tax incentive that was put on moratorium during last year's legislative session. The legislation extends tax credits of $5,000 a year for up to five years to engineers who are hired in Oklahoma. Under the law, companies receive a tax credit equal to 10 percent of the compensation paid to an engineering graduate from an Oklahoma institution of higher education.

The Department of Energy announced the "America's Next Top Energy Innovator" Challenge — a new initiative intended to give startup companies and entrepreneurs the opportunity to obtain an option agreement to license one or more of the 15,000 energy-related technologies developed by the National Laboratories. Participating entrepreneurs will pay a $1,000 upfront fee for portfolios of up to three patents — a savings of $10,000 to $50,000 on average in upfront fees.

Expanding the federal research tax credit and making it permanent could help generate $10 billion per year in research activity, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Tax Policy. Treasury also suggests that the enhanced credit could expand use of the credits, which already generate a one-to-one match in research spending and help support almost one million jobs. The current credit, which has been reauthorized temporarily 14 times since its introduction in 1981, is set to expire at the end of the year.

Recruiting bioscience faculty to universities and investing in R&D infrastructure tops the list of strategies recommended for Iowa to capitalize on a growing bioscience economy. A report commissioned by Innovate Iowa also finds that while significant progress has been made in growing the state's bioscience industry over the last 10 years, declining state funds to build research capacity and provide seed and venture capital remains a challenge for bioscience companies and entrepreneurs to compete regionally and globally.

Since 2000, two-thirds of the nation's 51 largest cities have seen on average a 26 percent increase in the number of young, college-educated adults choosing to live within three miles of the urban center — compared to an average increase of 13 percent in the rest of the metropolitan area. In Young and Restless 2011, a new report by Impresa and CEOs for Cities, researchers utilized 2010 Census data to examine the migration of young individuals (between the ages of 25 to 34 year olds).

Three recent reports from Maine provide insight into the challenges of fostering an innovative economy in a rural state. Overall, the research suggests that Maine has done well in its efforts to support startups, but could do more to help those startups expand and find new markets. By encouraging innovation-based businesses to expand to markets outside of Maine and by offering mentoring services, the state could overcome the stagnation that can occur when companies and states focus on local markets.

The Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, a semi-autonomous Hawaii State agency that developed and manages a globally unique and innovative technology incubation and commercial park in Kailua-Kona on the island of Hawaii, currently is seeking an Executive Director.

House and Senate appropriators have released details of the almost $40 billion in spending reductions that were agreed upon over the weekend in order to avoid a federal government shutdown. The six-month continuing resolution (CR) would set FY11 spending levels at $1.049 trillion, $78.5 billion less than President Obama's FY11 budget request (see the February 16, 2011 Special Federal Budget Issue) and $39.9 billion less than the FY10 spending bill as enacted.

Proposals that promise job creation and economic growth have taken center stage in several state legislatures. Lawmakers who recognize the importance of R&D, tech commercialization, access to risk capital, and investment in higher education are fighting for passage of TBED-focused bills in the final months of their states' 2011 legislative sessions.

SSTI is introducing a new category in our awards program to recognize the Most Promising TBED Initiative. Through strategic partnerships, leveraged resources, and diversified funding, these initiatives have "all the pieces of the puzzle," they just haven't been around long enough to demonstrate the impact SSTI generally seeks in an Excellence in TBED award winner. Proposals submitted in this category should address a specific need in a community geared toward improving overall economic conditions.

Steven Chu, the Secretary of Energy, announced nearly $170 million in available funding over the next three years to support the advancement of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) technologies in four areas:

Governor Jay Nixon has released the final report from a year-long effort to design a five-year economic strategy for Missouri. The report identifies seven target clusters for development, including advanced manufacturing, energy solutions, biosciences, health sciences and services, information technology, financial and professional services, and transportation and logistics. Recommendations include a new science and technology/innovation fund, an R&D tax credit, an angel investment tax credit and cluster-based career training.

Federal Grants are almost twice as effective as tax credits in spurring clean energy innovation, according to Reassessing Renewable Energy Subsidies — a recent report by the Bipartisan Policy Center. From 2005 to 2008, the federal government incurred a liability of almost $10.3 billion due to tax credits given to wind projects totaling almost 19 gigawatts of new generation capacity. However, researchers calculated that direct grants issued at the time of commission could have achieved similar gigawatt production at a cost of only $5 billion.

Manufacturers face a growing talent deficit due to an outdated education system based on 19th and 20th century principles, according to the Roadmap to Education Reform for Manufacturing. The report, coauthored by the Manufacturing institute and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), is a compilation of books and research related to education reform and manufacturing topics available on NAM's website.

Using figures provided by the 12 participating federal agencies of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, SSTI has prepared a table showing FY09 Phase II award data for all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Statistics include award data and state rankings based on total awards. SSTI finds the top 10 states receiving Phase II SBIR awards in FY09 are: California (423), Massachusetts (291), New York (138), Virginia (128), Colorado (115), Maryland (112), Texas (87), Ohio (77), Pennsylvania (72), and New Jersey (66).

The Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development is looking for an executive director who is an ambitious, successful professional that will provide leadership in Kentucky's efforts to develop a knowledge-based economy. The executive director will work in partnership with all levels of government, academia, and the private sector to help create a supportive high-technology environment.

Steve Biggers, deputy director, Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology has retired after 31 years of service to the state. He has served at OCAST for the last 19 years.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) — a $30 million initiative to support up to 10 research and development (R&D) projects focused on advanced biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products. Projects should propose integrated science and engineering research in three technical areas of interest: