SSTI Digest

The Angel Capital Association is piloting a new report on the factors that influence successful angel investing and the startups that angels support.  The initial Angel Funders Report covers 2017 data from 26 angel groups and provides new insights for one year of investments. Some of the report’s key findings include: Angels invest early and often: while very early stage round financing dominates at 59 percent of angel group deals, 36 percent were in Series A or later rounds, including 13 Series C investments and one Series E. Angel groups invest in both their home communities and beyond their local base: while the groups in the report were located in 17 states, their investments were made in companies in their states and an additional 21 states, plus one Canadian province and Israel. Angels use a variety of investment structures: many investments were in equity deals, but nearly 36 percent of rounds were convertible notes or SAFEs. Syndication is vital for startups and angel groups. Angel backed companies have more female CEOs (21 percent) compared to VC-backed companies (2-5 percent according to other reports). Angels invest in a variety of industries, but…

Inclusive workforce development, downtown revitalization, and an influx of funds for venture capital are among the proposals in an economic development strategy unveiled by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy earlier this week. In an effort to focus on bottom-up development rather than a package of tax incentive programs favoring big businesses, the strategy seeks to build the nation’s “most diverse and inclusive innovation economy.” Perhaps the most notable proposal included in the plan is the creation of a $500 million New Jersey Innovation Evergreen Fund (IEF). Developed over a five-year period, roughly half of the funds for the IEF would come from an auction of tax credits to New Jersey corporations. Private venture capital firms hoping to do business with New Jersey startups would match the remainder of the fund, and any company receiving investments through the IEF will need to be based in New Jersey. The auction would sell tax credits for roughly 90 cents on the dollar, offering companies a tax break and diverting the tax revenue to the new fund. While developing the fund is within the purview of the state’s Economic Development Authority,…

Vibrant Virginia (VV), a new program from Virginia Tech’s Office of Economic Development, is offering seed grants as a way to encourage faculty and graduate students to explore persistent public policy challenges spanning the state’s urban, suburban, and rural communities. Providing between $5,000 and $12,000 to university researchers targeting key issues facing the state, VV has an initial focus on Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia, and Southside Virginia – regions located outside of the university’s traditional footprint. Examples of projects funded so far include programs that match public school students with internships, build online capacity at rural nonprofits, and use population health expertise to identify strategies around the opioid crisis. The VV program also funds regional conversations to help Virginia Tech become a more effective partner in advancing community changes, as well as academic projects, which seek to highlight important challenges and opportunities across the state.     

With at least six federal agencies supporting quantum computing research and at least 10 agencies supporting synthetic biology research, more collaboration is needed to effectively marshal the agencies’ efforts to maintain U.S. competitiveness, according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). While the agencies do coordinate on the two areas through efforts such as conferences and interagency groups, the GAO found that the agencies have not fully implemented other practices, such as agreeing on roles and responsibilities and identifying common outcomes. Experts interviewed for the report identified ways to maintain U.S. competitiveness through transformational technological advances that address federal and nonfederal entities’ roles. Such considerations include: developing a strategic approach using consortia or other mechanisms to bring together potential partners; fostering an environment in which information is shared among researchers while also considering the risks of information sharing; focusing on technology development and commercialization, for example, by providing support across multiple stages of technology…

With the close of the primaries, the 36 gubernatorial elections are now taking shape. November’s election will see at least 18 new governors as those seats were term-limited, the incumbent was not seeking reelection, or did not win the primary.  In each of the 36 races, SSTI has reviewed the major party candidates’ positions relating to technology-based economic development and here outlines what those candidates have revealed on topics touching the field. If a candidate is not covered, it is because we were unable to discern specific positions or proposals involving creating a better future through science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. Common themes in 2018 gubernatorial candidates’ positions include free tuition for some years of post-secondary education, expanded broadband access, addressing lagging rural economies, and apprenticeship and redesigned workforce development efforts. Alabama Walt Maddox, the Democratic candidate, wants to develop a “New Covenant between our leaders in Montgomery and the people they serve.” This ‘New Covenant’ would focus heavily on job creation and economic…

Congress is set to pass portions of the overall FY 2019 federal budget before the end of the current fiscal year, which has been rare over the last decade. To keep pace, SSTI will be running a series of FY 2019 budget updates. Part I is Energy and Water (including Regional Agencies), Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. Part II is Defense with Labor and HHS, as well as a CR for the rest of the government through Dec. 7.  

During the past decade, there has been rapid growth of the smart cities movement – improving critical public service delivery, while reducing cost over the long run, through the Internet of Things, real time data gathering, better sensors and integrated systems management. The pace of growth is resulting in a wide variety of do-it-yourself models for smart communities to address their IoT data management and analysis needs. If there are advantages in connecting all of the various components of the complex business of a local government, it follows that there have to be economy of scale opportunities for even greater efficiencies and innovations by connecting Smart Cities’ data systems to each other. US Ignite and the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) recently announced a strategic alliance to provide the platform to help municipalities of all sizes to work together to develop a blueprint for a “secure and interoperable exchange of data beyond city operational boundaries.” The joint initiative will develop the foundation for a data-exchange specification or standards to pave the way for greater inter-operability across data…

As the National Science Foundation announces awards for five new regional academic centers to encourage underrepresented populations to pursue and attain college degrees related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), a recent working paper from two Harvard researchers finds an explanation for the popularly perceived persistent shortage of STEM workers: changes in technology.  The rapid pace of technological change is making the skills of the existing STEM workforce obsolete in much shorter time than previously, flattening their wages and reducing opportunity for advancement after seeing an initial high wage premium at the beginning of their careers.  Despite the steady growth of STEM-related occupations and technology-related jobs, 58 percent of STEM graduates leave the field within 10 years after receiving their degree, previous research has found. As David Deming and Kadeem Noray conclude in the new “STEM Careers and Technological Change,” “[f]aster technological progress creates a greater sense of shortage, but it is the new STEM skills that are scarce, not the workers themselves” [emphasis original]. There…

Working together to address the skilled labor shortage in manufacturing, manufacturers across the nation participate in Manufacturing Day as an opportunity to change perception. Always the first Friday in October, thousands of manufacturers open their doors to the public to exhibit what they do in modern manufacturing. Many community and technical colleges also participate to educate the public on the changing nature of the industry and highlight the skills required for a well-paid career in the field. For information on a Manufacturing Day activity near you, organizers present an interactive map to find events in your area. Addressing the skills gap in the equipment industry, a new workforce development toolkit from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) provides methods to kick start recruitment efforts with students and people entering the labor pool. AEM notes that while filling the workforce pipeline “won’t happen overnight,” the toolkit provides ideas that can be put into action immediately.

Starting next month the SSTI Weekly Digest will bring you a special series of interviews conducted with leaders in the innovation economy. We will feature topics like driving regional innovation on modest R&D budgets, honing your value proposition, and tips on working with your state legislature and making innovation a priority with your governor. The Q&A series will provide a quick preview into some of the insights we will explore in greater depth during SSTI’s 2018 Annual Conference: Navigating the New Innovation Landscape, Dec. 3-5 in Salt Lake City. For more information on the conference, click here.

The 21st TCI Global Conference organized by the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity will be held in Toronto, Oct. 16-18. The conference is expected to draw more than 400 international practitioners and will focus on cluster leadership, governance and evaluation, as well as designing innovation networks for knowledge exchange, with the goal of furthering economic development. It will feature 11 unique immersion experiences on Toronto clusters, including advanced manufacturing, emerging technology, energy, and the innovation ecosystem. More information on the conference can be found here.

A new platform to match promising start-ups with experienced business executives, investors and startup mentors from participating school’s alumni ranks is reporting momentum. Following a year of development, the University of Kentucky last month announced the launch of the Southeast Executives-on-Roster (XOR) and the Midwest Executives-on-Roster (XOR) platforms, collaborations between regionally-partnered universities to broaden access to experienced entrepreneurial talent and match that talent to university-affiliated startups in need of executive management. SSTI learned more about the program through interviews with two of the universities involved.