SSTI Digest

The state budget process is winding down across the country and SSTI continues to review the final budgets for funding for innovation-based programs. This week, we found level funding for South Carolina programs including MEP and regional-based economic development efforts, while university programs in Texas are taking a hit, and in West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice refused to sign the state budget although he will allow the legislatively approved measure to become law. Unless otherwise noted, the figures below represent level funding from the previous budgets. South Carolina South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed the state’s 2018 budget (HB 3720) that would support several tech-based economic development programs that are funded through the Department of Commerce including: $1.3 million for the South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership; $500,000 (up from $100,000 in FY 2016-2017 actual funding levels) for the South Carolina Small Business Development Centers; $250,000 for the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness – a nonpartisan, business-led non-profit organization committed to advance the long-term economic competitiveness of…

Earlier this month, the White House released an executive order to expand apprenticeship programs and to study other federal workforce initiatives. The administration will attempt to reduce regulations for “effective” efforts while reducing funding for other programs. The Washington Post reports that the administration seeks to increase apprenticeship funding to $200 million through reallocation of workforce spending. The executive order emphasizes the disconnect between higher education costs and employment, stating: “Far too many individuals today find themselves with crushing student debt and no direct connection to jobs… Federal programs must do a better job matching unemployed American workers with open jobs.” To expand apprenticeships, the order cites specific actions for the secretary of labor, including the following: Propose regulations to encourage apprenticeship programs by non-federal entities; Promote apprenticeships, with an emphasis on expanding participation among students in high school and at institutions of higher education; Establish a Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion to include the secretaries of…

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced a legislative proposal that would provide $500 million over five years for the life sciences sector, extending the state’s commitment to the biotech and medical technology industry. The money would be used for strategic investments in public infrastructure, research and development, workforce training and education. The proposal includes a $295 million bond authorization to provide capital funding,  up to $150 million in job-creating tax incentives, and $55 million for the Investment Fund, which would be provided through the annual consolidated net surplus, the same funding mechanism as the current initiative. The funding will continue to be managed by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) and build on earlier investments. MLSC was charged with implementing the $1 billion, 10-year state-funded initiative that was signed into law by former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick in 2008 and expires next year. Strategic priorities for the initiative include strengthening investments in the state’s skilled workforce pipeline, expanding opportunities for companies to access both private investment capital and…

On June 14, the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) announced $15.7 million in funding to support 18 projects (including those of two SSTI members – LaunchTN and Ohio University) that will help grow the economies in coal-impacted communities in seven states.   With this latest announcement, ARC has invested over $92 million (leveraging an additional $206 million in investments) to diversify the economies in 250 coal-impacted counties across 11 Appalachian states through its POWER (Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization) Initiative. The new round of investments are intended to create and retain hundreds of jobs in advanced manufacturing and tech industries; support entrepreneurial development efforts, and, build workforce pipelines through institutions of higher education. New grantees include: $500,000 to LaunchTN in Knoxville, TN, for the Entrepreneurial Education and Workforce Development project to provide entrepreneurial support services to innovators, entrepreneurs, and early stage companies; $300,000 to Ohio University in Athens, OH, for the Social Enterprise Ecosystem (SEE…

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced approximately $30 million in funding for the Assistance to Coal Communities (ACC). As part of the FY 2017 appropriation for the Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) programs, the ACC will assist communities severely impacted by the declining use of coal through activities and programs that support economic diversification, job creation, capital investment, workforce development, and re-employment opportunities. The program was created pursuant with the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017. ACC 2017 funds are designated for communities and regions that can reasonably demonstrate how changes in the coal economy have resulted and/or are anticipated to result in job losses and layoffs in any coal-reliant commercial sector or sectors. There is no pre-defined list of impacted coal communities that are eligible for ACC assistance. Instead, communities must demonstrate eligibility by providing appropriate economic and demographic statistics that document the extent to which contractions in the coal economy have negatively impacted the community or region.  Eligible entities…

Building Bridges for a Better Future serves as the theme of this year’s conference, taking place Sept. 13-15 in Washington, D.C. “We chose the theme after hearing from our members and others in the field about the importance of reaching outside of our traditional networks and imagining what the future may hold for those in the innovation economy,” said Dan Berglund, SSTI president and CEO. “We’re excited to hold the conference in the nation’s capital, and share the stories of successes, along with the challenges, that stakeholders in science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship are facing.” Conference attendees will have the opportunity to gather on Capitol Hill, relate stories that are important to them, hear about best practices from SSTI Creating a Better Future award winners, engage with their peers in the field, and make new connections through the many sessions that will be offered. For more information, please go to ssticonference.org and register before July 1 to take advantage of the biggest discounts.

As more state legislatures are coming to the close of their sessions, more state budgets are being finalized. This week SSTI takes a look at the final appropriations for Alabama, which is decreasing its innovation funding in higher ed; Florida, whose governor signed a budget after vetoing more than $20 million in STEM, higher ed, R&D and other innovation funding; Nevada, with positive news in technology-based economic development funding; and Tennessee, where the Department of Economic and Community Development’s state funding is down by more than 27 percent compared to FY 2017. Alabama Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed both the state’s general fund bill (HB155) and the education bill (SB129) for FY 2018. Within the state’s education budget, the Alabama Technology Network will receive $4.9 million. The Alabama Innovation Fund will receive $2.4 million – a 17.2 percent decrease from FY 2017. The fund operates two programs: a renewal program, which helps support university high technology infrastructure, and a research program, which allocates funding for commercialization and university-industry partnerships. Other efforts included in…

The angel investor market in 2016 experienced a decrease in investment dollars and deal size, according to a new report from the Center for Venture Research (CVR) at the University of New Hampshire. CVR researchers found that total investments were $21.3 billion in 2016, a decrease of 13.5 percent from 2015. In 2016, a total of 64,380 startups and other entrepreneurial ventures received angel funding – a decline of 9.5 percent from 2016.  The report also includes sections on sector analysis, stage of investment, job growth, valuation, yield rates, and inclusion. While total funding and deals declined, there was a positive note for entrepreneurs seeking early stage capital with seed and start-up stage investments making up nearly 41 percent of all deals – up 13 percentage points from 2015. This reverses a prevailing trend of angel investors focusing on later-stage, less risky deals. The researchers, however, write that while angels may be more willing to take on the associated risk of seed and start-up stage deals that these deals are mostly targeted at select companies with high valuations. In 2016, the yield rate was 19.7 percent (up slightly…

Over the past four years, 1,668 deals involving university spinout companies from across the globe attracted approximately $35.6 billion from 2013 to 2016, according to a new report from Global University Venturing. The report, however, highlights that global deals peaked in 2014 with 529 deals and total investments dollars peaked in 2015 with nearly $14 billion invested. As the authors highlighted, these global numbers were unsustainable and 2016 saw significant declines in both deals and dollars. In 2016, the total deals reported were 407 (21.6 percent decrease from 2015) and dollars invested was $6.4 billion (a 54.3 percent decrease from 2015). Nearly half of all global deals were spinouts from U.S.-based institutions with 768 deals funded. Driven by the strength of its top universities, the UK finished second with nearly 505 deals completed. In comparison, the countries (Germany, Canada, and Australia) that rounded out the top five had a combined 135 deals. The primary source of investment capital for university spinouts remains the traditional startup capital such as venture capital firms, private equity investors, private investors, angel investors, other…

After much criticism, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it will abandon the Grant Support Index (GSI) plan – a strategy to bolster NIH funding support for the next generation of researchers by placing limits on individual research funding which SSTI previously covered. Instead, NIH will launch the Next Generation Researchers Initiative (NGRI) that will allocate $1.1 billion over the next five years to support nearly 2,400 new grants for early and mid-career researchers whose grant proposals receive high scores, but fall short of receiving funds. At this time, however, there was no immediate promise of where that money would be found, according to an article in the The Chronicle of Higher Education. NIH’s director, Francis S. Collins, in a statement wrote that the GSI plan was shelved due to significant concerns from the research community about the GSI methodology for assessing research impact, and the potential for application of a GSI-based cap on total support to discourage team science, complex trials, research networks, and the support of infrastructure and training.  In addition to the proposed $1.1 billion fund, Collins…

Although it has been slated for elimination under the president’s proposed budget, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program is making progress toward achieving its statutory mission and goals, and it “cannot reasonably be expected to have completely fulfilled those goals given so few years of operation and the size of its budget.” That is among the findings released this week by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) in its assessment of ARPA-E. The project was overseen by the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) and was tasked with assessing ARPA-E’s progress toward achieving its statutory mission and goals, and determining whether it is on a trajectory to achieve them. In short, the answer is that it is. Congress established ARPA-E in 2009 to “enhance the economic and energy security of the United States through the development of energy technologies” that were to result in the reduction of energy imports, energy-related emissions, and greenhouse gases, and improve the energy efficiency of all economic sectors. It was also charged with ensuring that the U.S.…

Michigan’s University Research Corridor, an alliance of Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, conducted $1.2 billion in academic R&D in the life, medical and health sciences, and served as a stabilizing force to the state’s economy as one of the only sectors that grew during the 2000s. Those are among the findings of the 2017 URC sector report, which was prepared by Public Sector Consultants. The report, Leading Discovery: URC Contributions to the Life, Medical and Health Sciences, notes that employment in the life, medical and health sciences sector, which accounts for one in eight jobs in Michigan, is up 18.9 percent since 2000, compared to overall Michigan employment, which is down 9.3 percent. The URC also was successful in moving discoveries out of the lab and into the marketplace. From 2012 to 2016, the following results relating to the life, medical and health sciences sector were found: 1,348 inventions reported by researchers, 380 U.S. patents issued, 433 new license agreements, 32 new startup companies, and $142 million in royalties earned.