SSTI Digest

SSTI’s latest Tech Talkin’ Govs installment excerpts TBED highlights from governors’ speeches in Alaska, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada and Rhode Island. Education and workforce are focal points in this latest round of the state of the state addresses, as they have been in the two previous posts. Varying issues are factored into the speeches, from the $3 billion fiscal gap in Alaska to the proposed free college tuition in Rhode Island.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced a number of grants last week to aid regional innovation and entrepreneurship efforts through infrastructure improvements, the creation of new spaces, and business improvements in regions across the country. The grants fund projects in AR, AZ, CA, ME, MI, and OH.

As the water crisis in Flint, MI, continues to capture headlines, details on potential relief efforts are beginning to emerge. In January, President Obama granted $5 million in emergency funding to address the crisis, while the state has approved $67 million in funding since October. To provide for more immediate relief efforts, The FlintNOW Foundation, created by Flint-native Tom Gores, Chairman and CEO of Platinum Equity and the owner of the Detroit Pistons, seeks to deliver private sector support in the wake of the crisis. FlintNOW announced late last month that Ohio-based Huntington Bank would help to support the foundation’s mission for comprehensive economic development programming in the region, providing $25 million to support businesses, entrepreneurs, and residents.

Illinois and Michigan are among the few states that support regular comprehensive examinations of the role higher education plays in the overall innovation economy. Organizations in both states recently completed studies on university-generated entrepreneurship, licensing, investment and employment, finding a steady rise in university economic impact over the past five years.  In both cases, the increase in university impact was linked to an expanding university role in supporting entrepreneurs and researchers. However, while the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (ISTC) focuses on the creation of startups directly supported by university programs, the Michigan University Research Corridor (URC) takes a more expansive view, encompassing alumni entrepreneurs as a key pillar of university impact.

Governors around the country continue to lay out priorities for the next legislative session. In the coming weeks, SSTI will review gubernatorial addresses and budget proposals related to economic development. This week, we highlight developments in Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey.

A bipartisan group of 17 governors signed the Governors’ Accord for a New Energy Future – a joint commitment to support the deployment of renewable, cleaner and more efficient energy technologies and other solutions to make the U.S. economy more productive and resilient as well as spur job creation in member states. The multi-state effort will work to implement clean energy policies and initiatives in four areas: clean energy, clean transportation choices, a modern electrical grid, and plan for a new energy future. Although the accord doesn’t provide specific efforts, senior advisors to participating governors are expected to convene shortly to discuss initial steps to pursue their shared priorities and commitments according to solarindustrymag.com.

Although universities are often pitted against each other in athletic events or competitions for state funding, one area in which they have increasingly been able to collaborate is in research and development. Modeled after the hugely successful Research Triangle in North Carolina, the University Research Corridor (URC), an alliance of Michigan’s three largest higher education institutions – Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University – was established by the state in 2007 with the goal of accelerating statewide economic development. Employing several facets of analysis not typically seen in higher-ed economic impact reports, the URC’s ninth annual assessment by independent evaluator Anderson Consulting Group is able to: quantify total degrees awarded, R&D expenditures, and technology transfer activities to estimate the cumulative impact of the corridor; analyze how the URC leads to jobs and income for residents and state revenue in each of Michigan’s counties; and, compare the URC’s performance to peer university innovation clusters nationwide. They find that the URC generated approximately $17.5 billion in net economic impact in 2014.

While speaking in Detroit last week, Vice President Joe Biden announced the creation of an Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IAMCI)  location in Detroit, aimed at creating better composite materials for wind turbines, compressed gas storage, and in particular, the automotive industry. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Michigan State University will serve as the primary academic partner for the IAMCI consortium, which consists of 122 members across six states: Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. According to a press release from Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, the IACMI’s open-access pilot manufacturing test facility and technology development and demonstration programs will be driven by major industry participation.

Over the past few months, SSTI has followed proposals issued by governors in their budget requests, State of the State Addresses, Inaugural Speeches and other events. Now that many governors have signed spending bills, the SSTI Digest will check on the status of these proposals, and examine the state of technology-based economic development funding in the states. This week, we review actions in Kansas, Michigan and Minnesota.

Uber and the City of London are among the growing number of backers of a nearly driver-free world. Proponents of autonomous vehicles contend that they will lead to large cost savings for both consumers and transportation organizations while delivering a faster, more efficient transportation experience. However, there are still major strides to be made before the technology can be safely deployed in real world settings. Several U.S. states, cities, and the Canadian Province of Ontario have recently announced initiatives in an attempt to position themselves as leaders in the rapidly growing industries of autonomous and connected cars.

This week, governors in Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Wisconsin unveiled their budget proposals. Included in the governors’ recommendations are several cases of agency restructuring and funds for workforce development, innovation tax credits, and other TBED-relevant issues.

SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series has returned as governors across the country formally convene the 2015 legislative sessions. The series highlights new and expanded TBED proposals from governors' State of the State, Budget and Inaugural addresses.