SSTI Digest

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the creation of the Power Electronics Manufacturing Consortium, a 100-member public-private partnership between public research universities, private sector companies, and other research partners to develop next generation of materials and processes used in the manufacturing of wide band gap semiconductors. According to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, the state will commit up to $135 million to help establish the new consortium and private sector partners will commit the remaining $365 million over five years. The partnership also is supported by the START-UP NY tax free initiative.

As Congress continues negotiations over the FY15 federal budget, SSTI is hard at work trying to secure additional funding for the Regional Innovation program. The Regional Innovation Program was authorized under the American COMPETES Act and is designed to provide funding to support regional innovation activities. The Senate has approved $20 million for the program for FY2015, while the House did not provide any funding for the program. SSTI has prepared a support letter to Congressional leaders and is seeking organizations to sign on to the letter. The more organizations that sign will increase our chances to secure funding. The deadline for signatures to this letter is Thursday, July 31.

To add your organization to the list, please email Caroline Wagner at cwagner at sheridangroupdc dot com. The letter follows:

Over the next three years, the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) plans to hold open competitions for MEP center cooperative agreements in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The process will begin with a demonstration program this summer, in which competitions will be held in six to 10 states in each of MEP’s six regions. MEP notes that the recompetition is being undertaken to comply with guidelines calling for new competitions at least every 10 years, and will allow MEP to reduce the variation in funding levels across the country.

Though MEP plans to hold new competitions in every state, no list or timeline of competitions has been released.  Current MEP center operators will be eligible to reapply for cooperative agreements, but the competition will be open to other applicants as well. NIST’s associate director of Innovation and Industry Services will be responsible for the selection process.

About 74 percent of U.S. residents with a bachelor’s degree in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields are not employed in STEM occupations, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. While STEM graduates are less likely to be unemployed, they generally find careers outside of science and technology. As detailed in a recent SSTI Digest article, many employers are having difficulty filling STEM positions, with the average STEM job posting lasting twice as long as other jobs before being filled. An update to the ongoing Pathways to Prosperity project describes some successful efforts around the country in improving the pipeline of students headed into STEM jobs.

In addition to the recent announcement of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Incubator program, several other countries announced initiatives that will provide financial and other resources to support innovation incubator and accelerator programs that help cultivate new tech startups and increase economic growth. Nations that made recent announcements include Canada, United Kingdom, and New Zealand.

STEM degrees lead to higher salaries and more employment opportunities than other degrees, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Despite these economic advantages, only 16 percent of 2008 graduates received a STEM degree. The lack of workers with STEM skills has created a difficult hiring environment for many U.S. firms. A recent Brookings Institution study reveals that the lack of STEM graduates has meant that STEM job postings take twice as long to fill as other postings.

An NCES survey of 2008 bachelor’s degree recipients found that, as of 2012, 5 percent of STEM graduates were unemployed, compared to 7.1 percent of other graduates. STEM graduates also were  more likely to be employed full-time, to have just one job and to have spent fewer total months unemployed. Average salary for STEM graduates was $65,000, compared to $44,500 for other respondents.

Download the National Center for Educational Statistics report Baccalaureate and Beyond: A First Look at the Employment Experiences and Lives of College Graduates, 4 Years On…

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced it is accepting applications for the SBA Clusters Program. Under the SBA Clusters Program up to four contracts may be made to lead organizations of innovation cluster initiatives from across the country. The awards are intended to help the lead organization bring together regional assets to support the cluster and provide services and resources to small businesses involved in the cluster. Applications are due July 31.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the launch of the National Incubator Initiative for Clean Energy (NIICE).  NIICE will serve a national support network for the nation’s clean energy startup community and the incubators that support them. The network will provide technical assistance and training services to help clean energy startups move their products closer to market readiness. It also will help establish a suite of technological and training resources, bring together energy industry partners, enhance incubator best practices, and increase access to information about industry resources to advance innovative clean energy technologies with commercial viability emerging from institutions of higher education and federal laboratories.

DOE will commit most of the $3.2 million to support three clean energy-focused incubators to run their programs and commercialization services for clean energy startups and develop best practices for clean energy incubators that can be replicated nationwide. Awardees include:

In recent decades as many countries have developed sophisticated national innovation strategies, the U.S. has generally avoided attempts to introduce a coordinated innovation policy system. Instead, U.S. leaders have placed their trust in the market, rather than the government, to generate knowledge, products and businesses. A new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) suggests that this approach ignores a major factor in the success of innovation economies. Modern, competitive nations rely on three elements that comprise an “Innovation Success Triangle” – business environment, regulatory environment and innovation policy system.

While the promise of federal legislative reform for 2014 dims, as many as 21 states may have patent troll laws on the books before the end of the year. Although most of the power to curb patent trolling is held by the federal government, these state laws provide mechanisms to allow for action to be taken against any person that makes a bad faith assertion of patent infringement and other abusive patent litigations.

Several states announced new or expansions to existing capital programs during the 2014 legislative session. The proposals targeted increasing the availability of venture/risk capital for job creation and establishing or expanding angel tax credits to spur investment in targeted sectors. Nebraska lawmakers allocated $50,000 to support and increase venture capital in the state. In Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton extended the state’s Angel Tax credit for two more years and added additional funds.

To continue the growing trend of intrastate crowdfunding, six states passed exemptions including Alabama, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Tennessee, and Washington.

With an eye toward long-term payoffs associated with investments in research, lawmakers dedicated funds and strengthened ties with industry partners. Some states made significant investments in facilities and R&D to grow cancer research capabilities, while others looked to universities to establish new avenues for discovery or attract star researchers. In Washington, the life sciences community banded together to save a nine year-old grant fund that invests in R&D and helps the state remain competitive.