SSTI Digest

Proposed state budgets in Louisiana, Massachusetts and North Carolina show support for innovation and higher education, with some states better positioned in their levels of support while some programs are experiencing cuts. North Carolina unveiled new programs supporting a variety of tech-based economic development initiatives, while Louisiana is restoring full funding for its state scholarships for residents despite its budget deficit. Louisiana Despite facing a $440 million budget deficit, Gov. John Bel Edwards presented a FY 2017-2018 budget proposal calling for $209.4 million for the TOPS program (Taylor Opportunity Program for Students) – a program of state scholarships for Louisiana residents who attend any of the Louisiana public colleges and universities or the Louisiana Community and Technical College system. This commitment would restore the TOPS program to full-. While the TOPS program is slated for full funding, eight of the state’s technical and community colleges (LCTCS) intend to merge campuses after facing 16 state budget cuts over the last eight years. Due to this declining…

Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) funding is showing signs of a positive return on investment, according to recently published results by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA). RIS, an initiative within EDA’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OIE), supports innovation-based and cluster-focused activities that seek to spur job creation and economic growth. In just two years, RIS awardees have leveraged $1.30 for every federal dollar requested and created nearly 1,000 jobs, according to the EDA. The RIS program has been and continues to be an important legislative priority for SSTI. The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 originally created the Regional Innovation Strategies program and it received a dedicated appropriation for the first time in FY 2014. RIS is comprised of two key programs: the i6 Challenge grant program, which supports promising ideas around technology commercialization and entrepreneurship, and the Seed Fund Support program, which seeks to fill gaps in early stage capital for startups. Since the program launched in 2014, EDA has awarded more than $40 million to more than 85…

Educational initiatives continue to dominate in state of the state, budget and inaugural addresses, with governors in North Carolina, New Hampshire and Oregon all acknowledging its importance in the workforce development sphere and the future competitiveness of the states. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper gave his first state of the state address to the North Carolina legislature Monday evening, reminding the General Assembly that, “Our constitution mandates that we work together to make North Carolina better…” He called the state of the state “promising” and the state itself “welcoming,” and immediately called for the repeal of HB 2, which he said has damaged the state. He laid out plans for what he called “common ground solutions,” one of which was education. “When I’m recruiting a business to come here - to your legislative districts, the first thing they ask is whether North Carolina has the workers skilled enough to fill the jobs they create. “Improving education is an area where we can find common ground. We have to measure our progress and hold ourselves accountable. That…

The White House Office of Management and Budget today released America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again, an overview of the administration’s proposal for the FY 2018 federal budget. This is a precursor for the full budget proposal, expected in May. The administration would increase spending authority for defense and security by $54 billion while decreasing all other discretionary spending by an equivalent amount. The White House would eliminate the Economic Development Administration, Appalachian Regional Commission and Delta Regional Authority, among others, along with all funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and ARPA-E, and would impose significant reductions in research spending by most agencies. The blueprint makes the White House’s prioritization of defense and security both explicitly and implicitly clear. In the document, a letter from President Trump states that his proposed budget makes, “the safety of our people its number one priority — because without safety, there can be no prosperity.” In his letter, three sentences are devoted to explaining the cuts to non-defense discretionary spending:…

The Trump Administration’s skinny budget proposal released today calls itself, “A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again.” From the information contained in the document, it is clear the Administration does not view science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship and the economic development efforts built around those activities as the path forward to making “America great again.” The program eliminations and drastic cuts are not the way to move the country forward economically. So what is behind this proposal? Two things: 1) a fight over the proper role of the federal government in the economy, and 2) a negotiating tactic to attempt to lull advocates into thinking program survival or lesser cuts are a victory. A full community response is needed and all of us must get off the sidelines and on to the playing field. The budget blueprint proposes drastic cuts for research at NIH, DOE’s Office of Science, NOAA and EPA and would eliminate a score of federal programs that serve as the cornerstone of federal activity in supporting an innovation economy, including the Economic Development Administration, the Manufacturing…

Ranging from diligent research to coin flips, pure chalk to cutest mascot, everyone has their own strategy for completing an NCAA college basketball championship bracket. At SSTI, we’ve completed our brackets based on NSF’s university data for R&D expenditures and doctorates produced, as well as the selection committee’s rankings. The chart included with this article displays the data. Update: The bracket that predicted the men's tournament using a combination of R&D expenditures, doctorates produced and NCAA ranking finished in the top 10 percent of all brackets submitted to the NCAA's tournament challenge. The NSF data-only men's backets finished in the bottom 20 percent. The expenditure and combined women's brackets did predict Stanford's success, but were otherwise not particularly strong. More details for all of the men’s and women’s brackets below. Men's Tournament if("undefined"==typeof window.datawrapper)window.datawrapper={};window.datawrapper["9brUm"]={},window.datawrapper["9brUm"].embedDeltas={"100":740,"200":594,"300":516,"400":476,"500":450,"600":450,"700":450,"800":450,"900":…

The SSTI Excellence in TBED awards program is back! SSTI wants to provide you with a national platform to share your organization’s success stories and be recognized during this year’s 2017 Annual Conference as a leader in the economic development field. Tell your story by submitting an application in one of this year’s awards categories: Most Promising TBED Initiative Building Prosperity Through Science & Technology Creating Prosperity Through Entrepreneurship & Capital Enhancing Prosperity Through Competitive Industries Increasing Prosperity Through Economic Opportunity   The call for application will open in early April with the release of 2017 SSTI Awards brochure. More details for submission will be announced in the coming weeks, with this year’s deadline of May 26. Information on last year’s winners is available here.  

Research-performing institutions of higher education increased their science and engineering (S&E) research space by only 1.4 percent from FY 2013 to FY 2015, according to the biennial  Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities, the lowest two-year percentage increase since NSF started collecting the data in 1988.  In FY 2015, total research space reached 214.7 million net assignable square feet (NASF) – an increase of 2.9 million in NASF from 211.8 million in FY 2013. The rate of increase was substantially below the average two-year growth rate (4.9 percent), as measured from FY 1988 to FY 2015. Science and engineering research space in academic institutions, change over two-year period: FYs 1988–2015: (source NSF) In FYs 2014-15, academic institutions broke ground on 5.2 million NASF of new S&E research space construction projects, which was 21.2 percent less than construction space started in FYs 2012–13 (6.6 million NASF). This continues a more than 10-year trend, starting in FYs 2002-03, where smaller amounts of new research space construction have been reported successively for five of…

Join us in Washington, DC on Sept. 13-15 for SSTI’s 2017 Annual Conference. During each conference, the leading policymakers and practitioners of regional innovation economies come together to discuss critical opportunities and common challenges. Washington, DC provides an opportunity not only to meet with these peers, but also to showcase the impact of science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship for federal officials and legislators. Learn more about the conference, register at early bird rates and reserve your room at ssticonference.org. Conference registration is at its lowest rate today – just $575 for members and $725 for non-members – and will increase by $150 by the event. Register online today to secure these rates. As always, additional attendees from member organizations pay an even lower rate, just $520 through June 30. SSTI’s 2017 Annual Conference is being held at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel. The conference rate is $239 per night, which is $90 less than the commercial rate and just $8 above the per diem rate. Reserve your rooms by August 23. Learn more about SSTI’s 2017 Annual Conference…

The Midwest and the Greater Philadelphia region have found pathways to build strong life sciences industries and create environments that provide the necessary risk capital for healthcare startups. These life sciences clusters are driven by leading healthcare companies, high quality health systems, and top notch research institutions as well as strong entrepreneurial support ecosystems. The region’s startup ecosystem saw 375 life startups attract over $1.7 billion in investments in 2016, according to the Midwest Healthcare Growth Capital Report from BioEnterprise, a Cleveland-based biomedical accelerator.  Indiana – home to several global healthcare corporations – has benefited greatly from its more than $63 billion life sciences industry. In 2016, the state’s life sciences cluster employed more than 56,000 people at 1,687 companies, according to the most recent data provided to BioCrossroads by the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University. The average wage for the life sciences sector was $98,934 per worker – up from $ 96,803 in 2014 (2.2 percent increase). The state’s life sciences industry…

The last of the state of the state addresses are trickling in, with Florida’s governor this week making the case for the state’s economic development organization and business incentives, which the Florida House of Representatives have targeted for elimination. Last month Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin called for education reform and highlighted the competition for state funds in workforce development. Ohio and Louisiana’s governors are scheduled to deliver their remarks in April. Florida Gov. Rick Scott is facing pressure to abolish Enterprise Florida, a public-private partnership that acts as the state’s official economic development organization. Adding to the turbulence, Enterprise Florida’s president resigned just one day before Scott’s address citing a difference of opinion with the governor over the vision for the agency. Scott, who has two years left in office, recounted the difficult year the state faced including a terrorist attack on the Pulse Nightclub, two hurricanes, an airport shooting, and the Zika virus. He talked about strength and resilience, and made a plea for the continuance of programs and tax cuts that he says…

In a world where disruptive innovation can change an entire industry, higher education has remained largely unaffected, according to a recent paper from The Christensen Institute. Innovations in higher education traditionally have centered on changes that allowed the industry to remain competitive and meet new challenges by pushing forward along established trajectories, such as building new buildings or adding new majors. But with technological changes moving deeper into the higher education field, traditional institutions are facing a greater challenge. As those institutions face rising tuition costs, declining state support and affordability issues due to weak wage growth, their business model is vulnerable to threats from larger disruptions. How they choose to respond may determine their future success. Five case studies presented in the paper showcase models that have succeeded in addressing such challenges through disruptive innovations, pushing their institutions into new dimensions. In College Transformed: Five institutions leading the charge in innovation, author Alana Dunagan of The Christensen Institute – a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank dedicated to…