SSTI Digest

After the last American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) obligations ran out in FY10, federal obligations for science and engineering at U.S. universities and colleges fell by 11 percent, according to the National Science Foundation (NSF).  Between FY2010-11, federal agency obligations fell by $31.4 billion in current dollars, though excluding ARRA funds, obligations actually rose by $1.2 billion. R&D obligations fell 10.6 percent, a decline that had its largest impact on funding for R&D-related equipment, facilities and land. Read the report…

External validation through an Excellence in TBED award certifies the superior quality of your initiative, lending independent credentials to your program as stakeholders and funders consider future investments. SSTI’s open call for applications for the 2014 awards program is April 16. Share with us the important work you are doing to support regional economies through efforts to: expand and commercialize research, increase access to capital, build entrepreneurial capacity, and improve the competitiveness of existing industries. We’ll also recognize a newer initiative for a creative approach in design or implementation.

Investments and policy to support innovation-focused agendas have flourished with the close of the 2014 legislative sessions in several states. Crowdfunding legislation, incentives for attracting talent, higher education affordability, punishing patent trolls, and encouraging greater accountability are some of the areas where lawmakers focused their efforts.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a new round of funding for the Innovation Corps Sites (I-Corps Sites) Program. NSF will commit up to $1.5 million to establish up to 15 new I-Corps Sites at institutions of higher education. Applications are due June 27.

Just three years ago, lawmakers in Washington put into place a research and commercialization initiative designed as a public-private model to build on the work of two longstanding agencies and better serve the state’s innovation community. The program, Innovate Washington, was eliminated in the legislature during the 2014 session with the passage of HB 2029 and its responsibilities transferred to the state’s Department of Commerce. Funding to support research grants under the Life Sciences Discovery Fund is reduced in the supplemental budget agreement passed by lawmakers. Gov. Jay Inslee has until April 5 to act on the legislation.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott recently provided details on his $80 million plan to bolster cancer research and treatment in the state. Of that amount, $60 million would be aimed at building a statewide network of federally designated National Cancer Institute centers, while the remaining $20 million would support peer-reviewed research grants. Currently, Florida only has one National Cancer Institute center, the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. Gov. Scott’s effort would help centers in Orlando, Miami and possibly other parts of the state, upgrade their programs to pursue the designation.  Read the announcement…

North Carolina universities receive a larger share of research dollars from businesses than higher education institutions in any other state, according to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey. The most recent survey provides data on research expenditures by source for each state and territory for FY12. Wisconsin and the District of Columbia received the greatest share of R&D funding from nonprofits, while Wyoming, Maryland Guam and the Virgin Island receive the largest share of funding from the federal government.

Corporate-sponsored research resulted in licenses and patents much more frequently than federally sponsored projects at the campuses of the University of California system, according to findings published in Nature. A 20 year study found that industry support was more likely to produce patents, licenses and future citations in all fields of research. Projects that received both corporate and federal support were even more likely to generate useful intellectual property.

Increased scrutiny for public investments has grown in recent years amid tight budget conditions. Returns on innovation-focused efforts often take time, and as a result TBED groups are always looking to improve metrics and reporting to meet greater demand for transparency. In Utah, lawmakers recently passed a bill providing more oversight for the state’s signature innovation-capacity building program following a critical audit last year. At the same time, lawmakers continued to embrace the concept of the agency they established eight years prior, and appropriated level funds to continue USTAR’s efforts in research and commercialization. The legislature also passed a bill dedicating $20 million to the STEM Action Center created last session.

A bill providing $35.4 million in workforce training grants to expand Wisconsin’s Fast Forward program was signed into law on Monday by Gov. Scott Walker. Funding will be available in the form of grants to technical colleges to reduce waiting lists for enrollment and for programs and courses that train students in high-demand fields. The funds also will support collaborative projects among school districts, technical colleges and businesses and for employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The measure, Act 139, was approved during a special session, which convened in January.    

In an effort to help spur economic prosperity, several universities recently have unveiled new initiatives to connect potential entrepreneurs with university resources and help integrate the entrepreneurs into their region’s innovation ecosystem. The Blackstone Charitable Foundation also announced it will expand LaunchPad, a university-led entrepreneurship program, to a partnership that includes three universities in Southern California.

Between FY2007-12, research and development (R&D) spending at U.S. universities grew 27.5 percent, from about $51.6 billion to $65.8 billion, according to the latest edition of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey. The survey provides a look at R&D spending at U.S. universities, with data broken down by state, institution, research area and funding sources. California remained the leader in university R&D spending, but spending in the state grew at a slightly lower rate than the national average. Most of the other top 20 states experienced gains that exceeded the national average.