SSTI Digest

Last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a Request for Applications (RFA) for cities seeking economic revitalization through the National Resource Network (The Network), a public-private initiative that works with national experts and strategic partners to increase the economic competitiveness of cities and reverse population decline, job loss, and high poverty rates. The Network, which was created out of demand from cities across the country, was funded by $10 million from HUD and is a component of the Obama administration’s Strong Cities, Strong Communities Initiative. Through The Network’s direct technical assistance program, local governments and their partners in economically challenged communities will receive support in developing and implementing strategies for economic recovery.

On Tuesday, 36 states held gubernatorial elections. Though it was a good night overall for incumbents, 10 new governors will take office next year. Republicans picked up four governorships that are currently under Democratic control, including Arkansas, Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts, while Democrats managed a win in currently Republican Pennsylvania. New governors will also take office in Arizona, Hawaii, Nebraska, Rhode Island and Texas. Several of these new candidates have made technology-based economic development a part of their platform, including new funding for research, STEM initiatives, workforce development and manufacturing.

Arkansas

On November 20, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) will hold its annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation in Washington, D.C. The forum will include a morning panel session and four afternoon breakout groups. During the morning panel, the SEC panel will kick off the event by tackling several topics including the hot-button issue of defining accredited investor. In the afternoon, attendees can register to attend one of four topic-specific breakout groups:

Definition of Accredited Investor; Disclosure Effectiveness for Smaller Reporting Companies; Exempt Securities Offerings; and, Secondary Market Liquidity for Securities of Small Businesses.

The intent of these small breakout groups is to encourage public discussion between attendees and formulate specific policy recommendations.

Over the last year, the SEC has indicated they may raise the economic thresholds for accredited investor. Currently, the economic thresholds are:

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder recently signed a new law (HB 5273) that will allow for the creation of secondary markets through which intrastate crowdfunded securities can be listed, sold and resold. Under the new securities exemption, broker-dealers interested in establishing an exchange (online or in person) must apply and be registered with the state as well as follow rules of operation laid out in the legislation. They also must take steps to ensure that both businesses and investors are protected from fraud and are located in the state. The bill is intended to complement legislation passed earlier this year that will allow Michigan businesses to raise up to $2 million from non-accredited Michigan investors (Read related Digest Article). The creation of secondary markets provides a solution to one of the primary issues stalling intrastate crowdfunding across the country, a lack of liquidity due to the difficulty of connecting buyers with sellers.

The federal government should invest in strategic technologies and multi-agency initiatives to iincrease U.S. advanced manufacturing capabilities, according to a new report from the President’s Council of Advisors in Science and Technology. The Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) Steering Committee “2.0” is a cross-sector, national effort to secure US leadership in emerging technologies that create high-quality manufacturing jobs and enhance the nation’s competitiveness. The committee released its second and final AMP report, Accelerating U.S. Advanced Manufacturing, this week as part of the White House’s rollout of new actions and initiatives intended to strengthen U.S. manufacturing.

On November 4, 42 states will vote on 146 ballot issues across a wide array of issues. In addition to initiatives on gun control, bear baiting, and the minimum wage, several initiatives relevant to the TBED community are also up for decision. SSTI has gathered information on many of these and will discuss their results after next week’s elections.

November 3, 2014, is the last day to submit an application for FY14 grants through the Economic Development Administration’s Regional Innovation Strategies program.  The current solicitation includes three different types of awards: i6 Challenge grants, Science and Research Park Development Grants; and, Cluster Grants to support the development of seed capital funds. See previous Digest article for details or watch SSTI’s webinar with EDA officials about the program.  View the solicitation (EDA-HDQ-OIE-2014-2004219)…

The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will administer two new initiatives to bring clean energy technologies to market. Lab-Corps, a $2.3 million pilot program, will build on the National Science Foundation’s iCorps model to accelerate the development of cleantech discoveries and train lab researchers. Wells Fargo launched the Innovation Incubator (IN2) program, a $10 million environmental grant for clean technology startups funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by NREL and the foundation to foster the development of early stage clean technologies for commercial buildings. Read more…

 

On the heels of a recent memo from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) highlighting the difficulty middle-skill workers are having finding a route into the modern economy, reports from two tech hotspots suggest that local action is needed to ensure that tech success translates into widespread economic prosperity. San Francisco and Austin are leaders in the nation’s innovation economy and fared better than most of their peer cities through the Great Recession. However, rising housing prices and a lack of resources for middle- and low- wage workers have led to rising inequality and less robust economies in both cities.

Purdue University, the University City Science Center, and Washington State University announced the creation of new investment funds to support the growth of university-affiliated startups in their respective communities. These three recently announced commercialization funds all share a common trend – they will be managed or assisted in the management process via public-private partnerships. In Baton Rouge, LA, the Research Park Corporation also announced the creation of a fund to assist Louisiana State University researchers compete for commercialization funding from the university.

Purdue UniversityIn partnership with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, the Purdue Foundry announced the creation of the Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund, a three-year, $2 million fund to support qualified Purdue-affiliated startups. The funds are intended to support a startup venture that will commercialize licensed Purdue University intellectual property or that will leverage other Purdue assets such as research collaborations. It will offer two levels of support:

Commercial knowledge and technology-intensive (KTI) industries produced nearly one-fourth of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012 ($3.8 trillion), according to a recently released National Science Foundation (NSF) Infobrief using Bureau of Economic Analysis and Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Nearly 90 percent of KTI GDP came from knowledge-intensive (KI) services industries that employed 18 million workers in the United States, while the high-technology (HT) manufacturing industries employed 2 million workers and produced 2 percent of the nation’s GDP in 2012, with both industries paying more than $20,000 higher than the private sector average. Although a considerably smaller portion of KTI, HT manufacturing industries have a greater concentration of workers in science and engineering occupations and perform a larger proportion of the nation’s research and development – the six HT manufacturing industries performed nearly one-half of U.S. business R&D.

As part of Next Century Cities, a new bipartisan, city-to-city initiative, 32 cities and their elected leaders from across the United States are uniting to recognize the importance of leveraging gigabit-level Internet for economic development. The initiative enables participating cities to work together to learn about best practices in engaging and assisting communities in developing and deploying next-generation broadband Internet so that every community has the resources needed to succeed. Next Century Cities was launched at a co-working space in Santa Monica, CA, featuring remarks from the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and the mayors of Santa Monica, Chattanooga, and Lafayette, LA, and panels featuring leading civic technology and innovation officials. The first group of cities features large municipalities such as Boston, Kansas City, Portland, and San Antonio, in addition to a variety of smaller cities across 19 states. 

Read more here…