SSTI Digest

A new report from the Lumina Foundation finds the U.S. is making progress in the number of Americans holding high-quality credentials beyond high school diplomas. For the seventh straight year, the percentage of the country’s working age population (age 25-64 years) with a quality post-secondary credential increased, reaching 45.3 percent in 2014. Even with the progress that has been made, however, the U.S. still has a long way to go to meet the foundation’s goal that, by 2025, more than 60 percent of Americans will hold high-quality post-secondary degrees or certificates, according to the report. The full report also includes individual policy briefs for each state, highlighting discrepancies between credential, population group, county, and age. The five states with the highest attainment rates, according to the report, are: Massachusetts (55.4 percent); Colorado (54.2 percent); Connecticut (53.2 percent); Minnesota (52.9 percent); and, Washington (51.6 percent). The share of the country’s working age population (age 25-64 years) with a quality postsecondary credential – as measured by an associate’s degree or higher – has increased…

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced today that they are seeking proposals for a new Clean Energy Manufacturing Institute, a part of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). The $70 million Modular Chemical Process Intensification Institute will focus on developing breakthrough technologies that increase the energy efficiency of manufacturing processes used across an array of U.S. industries. Examples could include ethylene for plastics and biofuels used in sustainable transportation, among others. Proposals for this institute, which will be the fourth within the NNMI led by the DOE, are due June 15. In addition to its request for proposals, the DOE also announced the topic of its fifth manufacturing institute: Reducing Embodied Energy and Emissions of Manufactured Materials.  More information on this institute, which will be focused on lowering energy use through the development of innovative recycling and remanufacturing technologies, will be announced by the end of May 2016.

Wells Fargo & Company released a five-year, company-wide corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy that includes significant commitments to inclusion, innovation, small business lending, and community investment. Its 2020 social commitment will target three commitment areas – diversity and social inclusion; economic empowerment; and, economic sustainability. Proposed funding includes: Donating $100 million to meet social needs such as advancing social inclusion through education and leadership development efforts for women and diverse populations; Investing in emerging technologies and innovative solutions to address social needs, values and preferences of diverse customers; Offering $75 million in grants and lending to help diverse-owned small businesses access capital and technical assistance; Providing $65 million in philanthropic giving to critical environmental needs such as clean technology, and environmental education; and, Financing and investing in sustainable business opportunities as well as developing new products and solutions to address critical environmental needs. Read the announcement…  

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the 2016 Growth Accelerator Fund competition. In its third year, the SBA will commit up to $3.95 million for accelerators and other entrepreneurial ecosystem models to compete for monetary prizes of $50,000 each. This year, the SBA will partner with several other federal agencies – NIH, NSF, Department of Education, and USDA – to provide additional prizes to accelerators that assist entrepreneurs with submitting proposals for the Small Business Innovation (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Applications must be submitted by June 3. Managed by SBA’s Office of Investment and Innovation, the intent of the program is to support the development of accelerators and their support of startups in parts of the country where there are fewer conventional sources of access to capital (i.e., venture capital and other investors). In addition, the SBA also is seeking accelerators headed by women and those that support them or other underrepresented groups. Special consideration will be given to manufacturing accelerator models and models that support the White House Power Initiative during…

As the 2015-2016 academic year comes to a close, universities and their industry partners have announced several new university-industry partnerships to leverage university research capabilities to address industry needs. Fortune 500 companies including IBM, Rolls-Royce, and several pharma companies have agreed to commit millions of dollars to support these partnerships targeted at increasing the pace of scientific discovery as well as training the next generation of STEM professionals. Partnerships have been announced in Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and internationally in Canada and Switzerland. Purdue University and Rolls-Royce have announced a $33 million joint research program focused on jet-engine research and development. The intent of the program is to create next-generation aircraft propulsion systems. Building upon a long-term relationship, the program will establish two research centers in the areas of thermal management systems and advanced compressor systems according to the Lafayette Journal & Courier. Northeastern announced a $12 million nanotech consortium comprised of itself, several industry…

Coming off a record setting year, industry analysts contended that there would be a more cautious U.S. venture capital industry (VC) in 2016 with discussion of a VC bubble. However, in Q1 of 2016, venture capitalists invested more than $10 billion for the ninth consecutive quarter with little concern over a bubble. In total, VCs invested $12.1 billion in 969 deals in the Q1 of 2016, according to the MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). At the same time, U.S. venture capital firms raised $12.0 billion for 57 funds during Q1 of 2016, making it the strongest quarter for funds raised since Q2 of 2006, according to the Fundraising Report by Thomson Reuters and NVCA. A review of the data indicates continuation of trends in where venture capital is being invested, the decline of investment in seed stage companies, and increasing corporate venture capital activity with 20.6 percent of funds invested in Q1 of 2016 coming from corporate venture capital. Concentration of dollars invested In the face of criticism for the “relentless pursuit of unicorns,” the top 10 deals of Q1 accounted for 25…

On April 20, the Virginia General Assembly sent three economic development-focused bills (HB 1343, HB 846, and HB 834) to Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The bills include the creation of a new research fund and the creation of a network of regional economic development councils. Although the bills have yet to be signed, Gov. McAuliffe has publicly supported each of them. This package of economic development initiatives was originally proposed in the governor’s economic development strategy as well as his recent budget proposal. However, it took some compromise between the governor’s original proposals and the General Assembly to reach a final package. The General Assembly passed HB 1343 to establish the Virginia Research Investment Committee to administer grants and loans from the Virginia Research Investment Fund – that also is created by the bill. The intent of the fund is to promote research, development, and commercialization in the Commonwealth. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) is tasked with developing the guidelines related to administration and award of grants from the fund. Once applications are submitted to SCHEV, the…

In its first passage of a broad energy bill since the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the U.S. Senate included provisions in the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016 (S.2012) that would: increase the authorization level for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science by 5 percent per year to $7.1 billion; increase the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program’s authorization level to $375 million in 2020, up from $291 million this year; help remove barriers for technology transfer at the federal laboratories; and, authorize the DOE to establish “microlabs” in close proximity to federal labs in support of regional innovation. The bipartisan legislation was approved by a vote of 85 to 12. The Energy Policy Modernization Act would set policy and nonbinding funding levels for a variety of government programs, including research, according to Science. Two sections in the bill would also create DOE technology transfer programs. One of these programs would permit the use of funds authorized to support DOE technology transfer activities to be used to carry out early stage and pre-commercial technology demonstration…

Last month, the Department of Energy (DOE) released its first United States Energy and Employment Report (USEER) in an effort to articulate in clearer terms the sector’s wide-ranging impact on the national economy. While this report covers the entirety of the energy spectrum, a related report released just weeks after, Clean Jobs America: A Comprehensive Analysis of Clean Jobs in America, looks only at those jobs related to the clean energy economy. Based on SSTI’s analysis, Clean Jobs America suggests that there are more than 2.5 million clean energy jobs in the United States, or 44 percent of the 5,729,882 energy jobs highlighted in the DOE report. A recommendation included in the Department of Energy’s Quadrennial Energy Review was to establish an interagency working group – including the Departments of Labor and Commerce – to reform existing data collection systems, and to provide more consistent definitions and quantification of energy jobs across every sector in the economy. In late March, the DOE released the first annual USEEER, addressing three of the major gaps that had existed in previous energy employment data. These include an…

Only 8 percent of partners with the authority to invest at 2,300 micro- and venture capital (VC) firms are women (and only 7 percent of the top 100 firms), according to CrunchBase Women in Venture, a new report providing a detailed snapshot of the state of female investors and founders. The report finds of 54 corporate VC divisions and 101 accelerators, 12 percent of partners were female. The report did find some possible signs of improvement; among 826 VC firms with “deep teams,” 22 percent of lower-titled employees are women, suggesting that opportunities for promotion to partner may yield better balance, and among new micro- and VC firms in the last three years, 16 percent, or 20 of 125, had at least one female partner—double the rate among existing firms. Women in Venture also examined the amount of funding going to companies with at least one female founder and reports that from 2010-2015, 10 percent, or $31.5 billion, of VC funding went to companies with at least one female founder, compared to 17 percent, or $2.4 billion, of seed funding. The report examined whether firms with female investors were more likely to invest in startups with female founders…

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) released the Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) and began accepting applications for the 2016 round of Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) Program funding. In this round of funding, the EDA has made $15 million in federal funding available to create and expand cluster-focused proof-of-concept and commercialization programs and early stage seed capital funds through the i6 Challenge and the Seed Fund Support (SFS) Grant competition, respectively.  Managed by EDA’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE), EDA has made $13 million available for i6 Challenge grants and $2 million available for SFS grants. The deadline for the 2016 RIS FFO is 11:59 P.M. ET on June 24. Read the FFO…   On May 5 at 2:00 P.M. ET, SSTI will host the post-launch webinar for prospective applicants. During this webinar, EDA staff will present a detailed overview of the 2016 RIS FFO as well as take questions from participants.  This webinar will be made available online after the event. Register here…

The Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it will commit up to $90 million for the newly established ApprenticeshipUSA initiative with the intent to double and diversify the number of apprenticeships by 2018. Through the ApprenticeshipUSA program, the DOL will coordinate efforts with industry and education leaders, nonprofits, and local governments to accelerate and expand state apprenticeship strategies and grow the use of apprenticeships in new industries. Over $60 million in grants will help support state strategies that expand and diversify apprenticeship opportunities with the remaining $30 million targeted at catalyzing industry partnerships in fast-growing and high-tech industries. Through these high-tech apprenticeship programs, the DOL intends to support organizations focused on increasing diversity and to launch national efforts to make it easier for employers to start and for workers to find apprenticeship opportunities. Key industries include health care, IT and advanced manufacturing. In the program’s first round of funding, DOL is accepting applications for the ApprenticeshipUSA State Accelerator Grants Program – an initiative to expand and…