SSTI Digest

Indiana Gov. Gary Holcomb announced two new workforce development grants program as part of the state’s Next Level Jobs initiative. Through this new initiative, the state will commit more than $20 million over the next two years to help state residents find careers in high-demand, high-wage jobs as quickly as possible. The Workforce Ready Grant program will support tuition costs for adults to earn career certificates in high-growth sectors including: advanced manufacturing; construction; health; life sciences; logistics; and, information technology. The grants will be made to adult learners for industry-focused certificate programs at Ivy Tech Community College and Vincennes University campuses throughout the state. The Indiana Department of Workforce Development's (DWD) Employer Training Grant program will help employers offset the costs of training new employees in the aforementioned high-growth industries. Grants of up to $2,500 per new employee will be made to qualifying companies to train and retain new hires. DWD will launch a pilot of the grant program in 2018 and 2019, paid for with $10 million in Career and Technical Education…

SSTI’s analysis of approved FY2018 state budgets continues with a review of action by the Georgia and Utah legislatures. Stability is the word for both states with level funding for the Georgia Research Alliance, Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, and Utah’s USTAR program. The Georgia legislature did approve the governor’s proposal to increase funding for scholarship programs by $50 million. Georgia Georgia’s FY 2018 budget includes a significant increase for the state’s HOPE Scholarship program and stable funding for the Georgia Research Alliance and Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. The HOPE Scholarship and Zell Miller Scholarship program budgets increase $50 million from $715 million in FY 2017 to $766 million in FY 2018 in keeping with the governor’s recommended budget; the HOPE Scholarship program provides tuition assistance for students that graduated from high school with at least a 3.0 GPA, while Zell Miller recipients must graduate with a minimum 3.7 GPA and a minimum 1200 SAT score on the math and reading portions or a minimum 26 on the ACT. The Georgia Research Alliance…

More can be done at the state level to encourage growth in U.S. manufacturing, according to a recent presentation by Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). In the presentation, held earlier this month at the National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL) summer meeting, Atkinson suggested that there is a role for state policymakers to address each of the four T’s related to sound manufacturing policy: trade, tax, technology, and talent. Citing examples from throughout the country, Atkinson recommended that states support innovative skills programs, including increasing engineering education in high schools, promoting advanced manufacturing training centers, and developing university programs that emphasize manufacturing skills. Beyond skills, additional support could come from expanding R&D tax incentives, creating innovation vouchers, and supporting manufacturing R&D at universities, he said. Additionally, Atkinson recommended promoting the use of programs such as manufacturing 401-k’s and CEO learning networks, and funding matching grants for programs such as the NIST Manufacturing Extension…

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that startup firms (small businesses that were five-years-old or younger and had full- or part-time employees in 2016) were twice as likely to be adding jobs and growing revenues but more likely to be higher credit risk than mature firms. The 2016 Small Business Credit Survey: Report on Startup Firms provides an in-depth look at the financing and credit experiences of the startups. The report notes that startups account for 34 percent of all small employer firms and “play an outsized role in U.S. innovation and productivity.” Despite their role in innovation and job creation, the rate of startup creation has been decreasing for years and the rate of failure for those that do launch is high, the report states. Noting that access to capital is critical for startups, the report offers a detailed look at startups financing needs and challenges. Overall the survey finds that startup firms have stronger growth and optimism than mature small firms, with 43 percent of startups adding jobs and growing revenues (compared to 22 percent of mature firms) and 70 percent seeking funding for expansion (compared to 60 percent of…

Cybersecurity efforts have been increasing across the country. In July, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who also serves as chair of the National Governors Association (NGA), announced that 38 governors signed A Compact to Improve State Cybersecurity – a multi-state, coordinated cybersecurity effort focused in three areas that will Enhance state cybersecurity governance; Prepare and defend their states from cybersecurity events; and, Grow the nation’s cybersecurity workforce. The compact was the culmination of McAuliffe’s Meet the Threat: States Confront the Cyber Challenge. In addition to the compact, new cybersecurity-focused economic development efforts have been launched in several states including Delaware, Kentucky, and Wyoming. Meanwhile, NIST has released a cybersecurity workforce framework intended for use by all sectors in the states

A House bill that would allow manufacturers to sell up to 100,000 self-driving cars each and bar states from restricting their operation passed both its subcommittee and the Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously last month. Concerned about potential job loss, unions representing truck drivers successfully lobbied the House to exempt commercial trucks from the “highly automated vehicle” definition the law affects for the time being.

Over the last several months, economic development organizations, universities, and their partners have announced new efforts to create the building blocks for entrepreneurial development in rural communities. Examples include i2e announcing new efforts to expand entrepreneurial support services to rural communities in Oklahoma and three Indiana universities partnering to support startup growth in rural regions across the state. These efforts are intended to leverage the existing skills and resources of these organizations and reformulate them for regions typically left behind by the field. Oklahoma i2e announced the expansion and reformulation of its Venture Assessment Program (VAP) to serve entrepreneurship in Oklahoma’s rural and Native American communities, including the tribal jurisdictional areas of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Muscogee (Creek) tribes. The VAP helps businesses explore the product/market fit of a new business concept that concludes with a report that recommends resources, programs and potential funding sources that will best suit the needs of the startup. The effort will serve 39 of the state’s 77 counties in Eastern…

After arduous processes in both Kansas and Rhode Island, the states have newly-enacted budgets in place that have retained some funding for TBED initiatives. Kansas was able to fund programs that will focus on a skilled workforce and research and development, while Rhode Island will see the creation of a pilot program for free tuition at community colleges through a scaled-back version of the governor’s proposed RI Promise. Kansas  With Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s signature on a $31.4 billion biennial budget for Kansas on June 27, varied national media covered the story as the end of a “failed” experiment revealing the extent of damage supply-side economics can do to a state’s public sector, infrastructure, education system, civic society and economic growth. During the past four years in Kansas, most of the state’s active support for nurturing growth based on innovation and entrepreneurship experienced severe cuts or complete elimination. Those programs that remain in the enacted budget include: Kan-Grow Engineering Fund ($21 million over the biennium; unchanged from previous budget) uses lottery proceeds…

In partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the Innovations in Food and Agricultural Science and Technology (I-FAST) prize competition. I-FAST prizes will provide entrepreneurship training to National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) supported academic research with the goal of facilitating the technology transfer of valuable food and agricultural related product opportunities. NIFA will commit $400,000 to support up to eight prizes. I-FAST pre-applications are due September 8, 2017. Learn more at SSTI’s 2017 Annual Conference During this year’s conference, you will have multiple opportunities to learn more about the federal research agenda as well as how to partner with federal agencies. In addition to USDA, we will be joined by speakers from Commerce, DoD, NIH, NIST, NSF, and many others.  

On the heels of delaying the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER), the White House has endorsed a bill that would grade candidates for immigration. A total of 60 organizations, including SSTI and many of our member organizations, stated their opposition to the move in a new letter. It is not clear why the IER’s standard of investible businesses would not fit into the legislation’s merit-based system. The bill’s scoring system sets a threshold of 30 points and rewards certain age groups (max of 10 points for 26 to 30 year olds), STEM degrees (max of 13), Nobel prize winners (25 points), job offers (max of 13), willingness to invest (max of 12) and an Olympic medal within the last eight years (15 points). The Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act  would also significantly reduce the number of available visas. Time has created a self-scoring quiz for those interested. 

There are numerous opportunities for leaders at community colleges to collaborate with the private sector around combatting the skills gap and making workforce development programs more effective for students, according to a new report by Elizabeth Mann of Brookings’ Brown Center for Education Policy. Although financial and cultural challenges may present initial barriers to collaboration between community colleges and industry, overcoming these differences can make a big impact on local efforts to boost workforce development. The first section of the report makes the case for community colleges to appoint an individual (or a group of individuals) who can be primarily responsible for developing industry partnerships. These “navigators” or “liaisons” can help potential industry partners navigate the college environment, identify shared norms and missions, and anticipate the future needs of local industries. The author suggests that the liaison does not necessarily need to be a new, full-time position, and that they could be responsible for multiple roles within the community college. There is also an important role for community…

SSTI encourages organizations dedicated to serving entrepreneurs to participate in the creation of a new primary data set on the impacts resulting from your efforts. The deadline for participation is August 16. The International Business Innovation Association (InBIA), with funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, is currently conducting the IMPACT Index Survey to measure the impact of entrepreneurial support organizations in their communities and industry sectors. To begin the IMPACT Index Survey, or for more information, please visit impactindex.inbia.org, or contact the InBIA research team via email at impactindex@inbia.org. Responses are requested by Wednesday, August 16, to ensure timely delivery of personalized reports.