SSTI Digest

Immigrants play a significant role in American innovation, while women and minorities are underrepresented, according to a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). In the report, the authors utilize a survey of more than 900 individuals who have contributed to the development of a notable technological innovation from 2011 to 2014, allowing them to gain additional insight on items such as their gender, ethnicity, education, funding sources, and age. In The Demographics of Innovation in the United States, the authors take a unique approach in attempting to create a sample based toward high-level innovations, focusing on five distinct samples that, when taken together, serve as a good proxy for the most notable innovations in America. First, the authors assess R&D Magazine’s annual R&D 100 Awards from 2011 to 2014, which honor the most innovative technologies brought to market in a given year. The authors also examine “triadic patents” – those patents filed internationally in the United States, Europe, and Japan in order to guarantee worldwide intellectual property protection – across four categories…

While the Department of Commerce’s (DOC) Economic Development Administration (EDA) continues to take steps to implement the Federal Loan Guarantees for Innovative Technologies in Manufacturing (ITM) program, additional steps remain before they can issue loan guarantees according to a new report from the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO). To reduce redundancies across similar programs, GAO recommends that EDA works with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to identify additional gaps in capital access that the program could fill, and conduct outreach to help target those gaps. Under the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (COMPETES 2010), the DOC was directed to establish the ITM program, supporting loan guarantees for small and medium-sized manufacturers for the use or production of innovative technologies. Because debate over the ITM program was originally around potential redundancies, COMPETES 2010 tasks the DOC to ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that the activities carried out under the ITM program are coordinated with, and do not duplicate, the efforts of…

A bipartisan group of 17 governors signed the Governors’ Accord for a New Energy Future – a joint commitment to support the deployment of renewable, cleaner and more efficient energy technologies and other solutions to make the U.S. economy more productive and resilient as well as spur job creation in member states. The multi-state effort will work to implement clean energy policies and initiatives in four areas: clean energy, clean transportation choices, a modern electrical grid, and plan for a new energy future. Although the accord doesn’t provide specific efforts, senior advisors to participating governors are expected to convene shortly to discuss initial steps to pursue their shared priorities and commitments according to solarindustrymag.com. The 17 signatories are: Gov. Jerry Brown (CA); Gov. Dannel Mallory (CT); Gov. Jack Markell (DE); Gov. David Ige (HI); Gov. Terry Branstad (IA); Gov. Charlie Baker (MA); Gov. Rick Snyder (MI); Gov. Mark Dayton (MN); Gov. Brian Sandoval (NV); Gov. Maggie Hassan (NH); Gov. Andrew Cuomo (NY); Gov. Kate Brown (OR); Gov. Tom Wolf (PA); Gov. Gina Raimondo (RI); Gov. Peter Shumlin (VT);  Gov. Terry…

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a new Federal Funding Announcement (FFA) to award its first national manufacturing innovation institute (NMII). Proposers may solicit a new NMII on any advanced manufacturing technology focus area not already addressed by another institute or competition. NIST intends to make one award in the form of a cooperative agreement that will provide up to $70 million in federal support over a five-year period – NIST requires the awardee match federal funds with equal funding from non-federal sources. The solicitation is open to U.S.-owned entities organized and operated in the United States including U.S. states, local governments, institutions of higher education, nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Applications must be submitted by July 22, 2016. To provide information to potential applicants, NIST plans to host one or more public events and informational webinars. The first proposer day event will be held March 8, 2016, at the NIST campus in Gaithersburg, MD (registration required). For those unable to attend in person, the event will be webcast. The full schedule of events will be…

More than three-quarters of U.S. venture capital dollars went to companies in California, New York and Massachusetts in 2015, according to data from the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)/National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) Moneytree Report. California companies received over 57 percent of all U.S. investment, about 0.5 percent down from the state’s peak in 2014. Both New York and Massachusetts received about 10 percent of U.S. dollars. Washington, the state with the fourth highest share, trailed far behind at 2.1 percent. California and Massachusetts also both led in venture capital dollars per capita, taking in about $860 and $841 per resident, respectively. Massachusetts continues to lead the nation in deals per capita, with about 6.5 per 100,000 residents. SSTI has prepared data on venture capital investment by state per capita and by share of the national total based on the PwC/NVCA data. That data, along with state-by-state totals for 2010-2015 are available in Excel format. Access last week’s analysis of venture capital activity in top U.S. metros at: http://ssti.org/blog/useful-stats-venture-capital-investment-capita-metro-2015. Over the last…

The National Science Foundation (NSF) released a solicitation to establish and sustain Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Nodes as part of I-Corps’ National Innovation Network that builds upon fundamental research to guide the output of scientific discoveries closer to the development of technologies, products, processes and services that benefit society. NSF will commit up to $8.5 million to support seven I-Corps Nodes to foster understanding on how to: Identify, develop and support promising ideas that can generate value; Create and implement tools, resources and training activities; Gather, analyze, evaluate and utilize the data and insight resulting from the experiences of those participating in regional programs; and, Share and leverage effective innovation practices on a national scale. Eligibility is restricted to institutions of higher education including community colleges as well as other nonprofit organizations. NSF requires that potential applicants submit a letter of intent by March 10. Read the FOA…

In the last month, several international countries and Hong Kong have made significant monetary contributions to establish investment funds that will make strategic investments in their country’s startups. These investment funds have a two-fold focus. First, they want to help provide early stage capital to companies that have the potential to spur economic prosperity within their borders. Second, they want to help make their companies more appealing to foreign investors. Hong KongIn January, Hong Kong’ s chief executive Leung Chun-ying announced the launch of a new $2 billion HKD (256.9 million USD) innovation and technology venture fund during a policy address. The fund will focus on making strategic investments to grow Hong Kong-based startup ventures with the intent of increasing funding from private venture funds through a matching process. In addition to the new investment fund, the city will commit an additional $2 billion HDK to boost university scientific research. The funding is intended to support the commericlization of university technologies by earmarking funds to Hong Kong’s Innovation and Technology Bureau for universities to…

SSTI’s analysis of gubernatorial addresses, strategic plans and budget proposals continues this week with highlights from Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Governors are facing difficult fiscal situations in several of these states, often scaling back tech-based economic development efforts. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, however, is using a fiscal surplus to invest in higher education and regionally focused economic initiatives. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley rolled out his Great State 2019 plan during his State of the State address earlier this month, with many aspects included in his proposed fiscal year 2017 budget. Education and workforce efforts plan a key role in the plan and include the FUTURE scholarship program to provide every student with the chance to attend a state community college, and a consolidation of the state’s regional workforce development councils. The governor instructs the Office of Broadband Development to step up its efforts to expand access to high-speed data services, particularly telemedicine. Last year, Gov. Bentley permanently established the Alabama Small Business Commission and Advisory Committee,…

Despite a small decrease in venture capital deals last year, the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metropolitan area remains the most active investment regions on a per capita basis, according to data from the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)/National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) MoneyTree Report. San Francisco led all other MSAs in both total dollars and per capita activity, with its $21 billion in 2015 investment averaging about $4,500 per metro resident. NVCA notes that 133 metros were home to deals in 2015, an encouraging sign that opportunities are opening up in areas outside of the known hotspots. San Francisco continues to be the U.S. VC metro by a large margin, but several other areas stand out from the pack. In San Jose- Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, the per capita average was around $3,200 per resident, and in third-ranked Boston, that figure was around $1,200. No other cities achieved per capita average over $1,000, though on a total dollars basis, New York and Los Angeles had similar levels of activity to San Jose and Boston. Though the Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, CA, metro ranks only 33rd in total dollars, it made the top five in per capital investment,…

State economic development policies that focus on deep income tax cuts or tax breaks to lure companies from other states ignore fundamental data points about job creation, and as a result are more likely to fail, according to a recently released report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. While alluding to the importance of encouraging entrepreneurship and firm survival more broadly, the authors also argue that public investments should be targeted at helping build a skilled workforce and improve the quality of life for residents. Written by Michael Mazerov and Michael Leachman, two researchers from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, State Job Creation Strategies Often Off Base uses data from new databases developed by the federal government to track the job-creation record of specific businesses of various sizes and ages over time to shape their argument. The authors use this data to detail two fundamental points about job creation that are critical to their argument. The first point illuminated by the data is how startups and young, fast-growing companies are responsible for the most new jobs during periods of healthy economic growth. The…

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) announced that it will commit up to $20 million for the first round of the DOE’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) – a matching fund that helps bring promising energy technologies developed at DOE-funded national laboratories to market. In addition to helping advance promising energy related technologies with commercial potential, the TFC is intended to strengthen partnerships between the national labs and private-sector companies that can deploy energy technologies to the marketplace. Proposals solicited from all 17 of DOE’s national laboratories will be submitted this spring for review by DOE personnel and independent evaluators. The strongest proposals that show both a promising energy technology as well as a proposed funding match will be selected for TCF funding. TCF funds will be used to match 50 percent of non-federal funds from private partners. Learn more: http://energy.gov/articles/doe-s-office-technology-transitions-issues-first-call-launch-new-energy-technologies. 

Enacted FY16 funding levels are used for comparisons unless otherwise noted.The administration’s FY17 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is $82.8 billion in discretionary spending, reflecting a 0.8 percent decrease from FY16 enacted funding levels. Discretionary spending accounts for only 7.5 percent of the total proposed HHS budget. Mandatory spending for programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program account for the balance. Total FY17 budget authority for HHS would be $1.2 trillion (3 percent increase over FY16 enacted).   The Budget provides $680 million to NIH for the Vice President’s Cancer Moonshot Program to expand clinical trials for health disparity populations, pursue new vaccine technology, and fund exceptional opportunities in cancer research.  These investments are intended to drive scientific advances that aim to understand the causes of cancer, discover new prevention strategies, improve early detection and diagnosis, and cultivate effective treatments. The majority of the funding will go to the NIH to support efforts across all of its…