SSTI Digest

With a recent request for information (RFI), the National Science Foundation began soliciting comments on the potential establishment of a national network of big data regional innovation hubs. These hubs will help to continue and scale up the activities and partnerships launched under the National Big Data R&D Initiative and also serve as a catalyst for economic prosperity by supporting the growth of the U.S. big data industry. Hub activities include acting as a matchmaker to support emerging big data research partnerships, coordinating regional big data clusters, sharing best practices, accelerating the commercialization of big data solutions, and support education and workforce training focused on growing the country’s big data workforce. Public comments are due November 1. Read the RFI…

The U.S. Department of Commerce released a solicitation (EDA-HDQ-OIE-2014-2004219) for Regional Innovation Grants via the 2014 Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program. Under the RIS program, Commerce is soliciting applications for three separate Regional Innovation Strategy funding awards, including:

These awards are intended to help develop regional innovation ecosystems that provide support and funding to startups engaged in the commercialization process that ultimately lead to high-growth companies – the drivers of regional economic prosperity and job creation.

The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) announced that it received state-backing for its Cybersecurity Investment Fund (CIF) – a fund that helps companies across the state develop and commercialize new cybersecurity products. TEDCO will make investments of up to $100,000 to help companies achieve early technical milestones that are critical to the commercialization process. Technologies eligible for CIF funding include devices and software that protects networks and components of networks from unintended or unauthorized access, vulnerabilities, attacks, use, change, or destruction. Additionally, computer and critical infrastructure security includes protection from unplanned events and natural disasters. Read the announcement…

The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan area is home to the largest number of manufacturing jobs in the country, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Approximately 510,900 people are employed by manufacturing firms in the Los Angeles metro, about 100,000 more than in the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville area, which is ranked second for manufacturing employment. Other top metros include New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. Of the top 10 metros in which manufacturing jobs represent the highest percentage of total employment, seven are in the Great Lakes region, with several in both Indiana and Wisconsin. Read the release…

An Aug 22 Readwrite post drew our attention to a potential “peak app” period arising. That wasn’t the intended conclusion of the ComScore, Inc. according to the authors of the white paper, The U.S. Mobile App Report. The report’s focus is on how much of the digital media market is dominated by mobile devices so companies should direct more of their advertising budgets here. There are a few compelling stats, though, that should have many in the accelerator, co-work, and weekend/bootcamp/competitions wondering about the future viability of all of the new app-oriented startups we’re encouraging people to create. 

Most R&D expenditures are concentrated across just a handful of states, according to recent NSF data on how research and development is funded in the United States.  In 2011, nearly two-thirds of all research and development expenditures came from private sources. In the wake of the nation’s federal stimulus package that saw an upswing in government spending on research and development, most states are beginning to rely more on innovation that stems from R&D conducted and paid for by private sources rather than the federal government.

Minnesota’s economic future may well be rooted in its historic leadership in agricultural production, according to a new report prepared by Battelle, Agbioscience as a Development Driver: Minnesota Agbioscience Strategy. The report includes an assessment of Minnesota’s key capacities and opportunities in agricultural research and a suggested strategy for the state with a specific focus on growing the state’s agricultural bioscience (agbioscience) research infastructure. After interviewing more than 100 researchers and research administrators, the authors identified four agbioscience research platform areas to target:

U.S. state tax revenues declined for the first time since the recent economic crisis, according to reports from the Rockefeller Institute of Government and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The small drop in revenues is not being viewed as a sign of another fiscal collapse, but does indicate that the recovery may be slowing. For the 26 states in which revenues still have not returned to 2008 levels, the slowdown may suggest that a full recovery could still be years away.

The Rockefeller Institute notes that state tax collections began to soften in the second half of 2013, leading revenues to decline in the first quarter of 2014 for the first time since the end of 2009. After four years of uninterrupted quarterly growth, states reported an overall revenue decline of 0.3 percent. Preliminary data suggests that revenues may drop again in the second quarter, due to declining collection of personal income tax.  The decline was anticipated by many because of a scheduled increase in federal capital gains tax rates, according to Pew and Rockefeller.

Bloomberg Philanthropies will award $45 million in grants to large U.S. city governments to help improve urban life. Specifically, the foundation hopes to encourage the adoption of the “Innovation Delivery” model in big cities, an approach that relies on in-house innovation consultancy within city halls to deliver data-driven solutions to urban problems. Bloomberg and Nesta released a report on the model earlier this year. The foundation has invited 80 cities to apply. Eligible applicants must have more than 100,000 residents and mayors with at least two years left in office. Awardees will be selected in the fall and will receive $250,000 to $1 million annually over three years. Learn more…

As a wave of new freshmen begins to enter the halls of college campuses, a new trend is emerging – students staying. While the idea of students staying an extra year or two might make some parents cringe, in reality, college towns have proven to be an ideal environment not just for young people, but for young companies as well. Student entrepreneurs are becoming a critical component of regional innovation ecosystems, and as a result, universities and their respective cities throughout the country are focusing not only on growing and cultivating their companies, but also on retaining them.

Recent memoranda issued by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology policy include the support of lab-to-market technology commercialization as a key pillar of cross-agency spending for the upcoming fiscal year.  The White House instructs agencies to explain how resources are being redirected from low priority efforts to multi-agency collaborations in specific fields, including advanced manufacturing, clean energy, earth observation, global climate change, information technology, life sciences, homeland security and research policy-making. The memos encourage the expansion of efforts to boost the economic impact of federally funded research. Read the memos…

About 70 percent of 2011 U.S. business R&D spending occurred in 10 states, according to a report from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). California leads the country in overall business R&D, and nearly every top industry.  Both the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland and Los Angeles-Long Beach area rank in the top three areas for business research.  Other top states include Washington, with high spending on software R&D, and Texas, a leader in semiconductor and mining research. Read the InfoBrief…