SSTI Digest

In 2014, Angel groups in the Great Lakes region invested more dollars than anywhere else in the country, 17.2 percent of the U.S. total, including angel groups in California (17 percent). This marks the first time a U.S. region other than California led in dollars invested by angel groups since the Halo Report has started to track angel investments.  Rob Wiltbank, an author of the report, indicated that the Great Lakes region’s activity was driven by several large investments made by angel groups. The Angel Resource Institute’s 2014 Annual Halo Report data is based on 870 deals totaling $1.65 billion in total rounds including co-investors.

Increase was the key word used in the 2014 Annual Halo Report. The authors found that 2014 was a busy year for Angel groups across the country:

Following a lively debate over education funding, state worker pay and pensions, Maryland legislators approved a $40 billion budget. Under the approved legislation, $68 million would be available to support the state's most expensive school districts. Gov. Larry Hogan, however, had favored using those funds, and an additional $132 million, to shore up the state's pension fund, according to the Washington Post. Gov. Hogan will not be able to spend these funds for any other purpose than that approved by the legislature, but has expressed an interest in letting the funds go unspent.

The approved budget provides $3.8 million for the Office of Business Development, $3 million for Maryland's Office of Strategic Industries and Innovation, and $1.8 million for the Small Business Development Financing Authority.

Even after equity crowdfunding reached a milestone earlier this month with new Securities Exchange Commission proposed rule changes, state legislatures across the country continue to pass intrastate crowdfunding bills. In April, governors from Arizona (HB 2591) and Colorado (HB 1246) signed bills that will allow startups and other businesses in their respective states to raise capital via equity crowdfunding exemptions. Arizona and Colorado joined Massachusetts (Read more in the SSTI Digest) as states that have passed exemptions since the start of the year. The next state most likely to pass crowdfunding legislation is Minnesota – once they are able to finalize compromise between lawmakers and state regulators.

The Illinois Accelerator Research Center (IARC) is a new research facility for scientists and engineers from Fermilab, Argonne, and Illinois universities to work alongside industrial partners to develop breakthroughs in accelerator science and apply them to areas such as computing, health, industry, and homeland security. Using electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles at high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams, accelerator technology allows for the investigation of many aspects of particle physics and application in a variety of industries.

Throughout the United States, policymakers continuously call on entrepreneurs to be an important cog in the economic engine. One of the key barriers to entrepreneurship, however, has grown largely as a result of state policies: burdensome student loan debt.  In the United States, the total amount of student debt is estimated at $1.2 trillion, a record high, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Purdue University President Mitch Daniels, who previously served as Indiana’s governor, discusses the many ways that persistent student loan debt is a long-term threat to the inventiveness and innovation that has long been dependent on solving the nation’s economic problems.

The rise of advanced manufacturing has opened the door to a resurgence of New England's manufacturing economy, according to a new report from The New England Council and Deloitte Consulting LLC. In Advanced to Advantageous: The Case for New England's Manufacturing Revolution, the authors suggest that the existing network of universities, private manufacturers and government partners give the region a competitive advantage in advanced prototyping, additive manufacturing and the Internet of Things. Leveraging that advantage, however, will require cross-state cooperation to build comprehensive educational pathways, rebrand the local industry and secure an Institute of Manufacturing Innovation. Read the report...

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that it will commit $4 million to the second round of the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition. Launched in 2014, the competition makes awards of $50,000 each to help fund operating budgets for accelerators and other entrepreneurial ecosystem models in parts of the country where there are fewer conventional sources of access to capital (e.g., venture capital and angel capital investors). For this round of funding, applications are encouraged from manufacturing accelerator models. Applications are due June 1. Read the announcement…

Although the percentage of college graduates with science and engineering (S&E) or S&E-related majors has increased, the proportion of college graduates employed in an S&E occupation has remained relatively unchanged at 10 percent since 1993, according to a recently released InfoBrief from the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Engineering Statistics. In the brief, authors John Finnamore and Beethika Khan use the most recent data from the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) to identify the distinguishing characteristics of the United States’ college-educated population.

In order to build a prosperous, globally competitive economy in Louisiana, state universities must take on a greater role as hubs of regional innovation, according to a report from the Public Affairs Research (PAR) Council of Louisiana. The report includes 46 recommendations to transform the state's economy by revamping existing innovation programs, and boosting university research. PAR's strategic plan is based on a review of innovation policies in other states, particularly Georgia and the work of the Georgia Research Alliance.

PAR focuses on how existing state support for Louisiana R&D is spread too thin among the state's programs and allocated in inefficient ways. In particular, the Board of Regents Support Fund has been designed in such a way that funding is inconsistent and has not been targeted toward industries and operations that could have the greatest economic impact.

Highlights from the recommendations include:

Pennsylvania’s economic development strategy should focus on building businesses rather than poaching, according to a new report from the Keystone Research Center (KRC) – All Pennsylvanians Prospering Together (APP): A Pennsylvania Economic Development Strategy for the Long Term. KRC’s Executive Director Stephen Herzenberg contends, “Pennsylvania needs to renew its historic bipartisan commitment to economic development,” and “create a national model of an economic development strategy in which all the people contribute to a joint effort to expand the economic pie and benefit from the growth of that pie.” In the report, KRC identifies four core principles to guide the state’s efforts:

Only 17 companies had initial public offerings (IPOs) in the first quarter of 2015, the lowest number since the beginning of 2013, according to data from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). This is a significant drop from the 37 IPO exits in the first quarter of 2014. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) were also down, with 86 exits, compared to 115 in Q1 2014. While 2014 was an unusually active time for venture-backed exits, the current data appears to be a return to recession-era levels of deals and disclosed values.

In their release, NVCA noted that a large number of venture-backed companies already have publicly filed for IPOs and there is no reason for concern yet about the future health of the venture market. However, the lull in activity could indicate that the burst of exits in all four quarters of 2014 was an anomaly.

Companies in the biotechnology and medical sectors dominated IPO activity. Of the 17 companies that achieve IPOs, 13 were in these sectors.

Working groups at The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and The Association of American Universities (AAU), two membership organizations of higher education institutions, have released statements on the role of universities in managing intellectual property and technology transfer alongside their core missions and interest in maximizing public benefit. The two sets of recommendations differ slightly, yet both groups emphasize the importance of clearly defining and communicating the principles that guide their work and ensuring that discoveries made on their campuses can be developed for the benefit of the consumer.