SSTI Digest

Between December 2007 and February 2010, the manufacturing sector loss 2.3 million jobs, according to the Department of Commerce. This drastic decline accounted for about one-quarter of the negative shock experienced during those 26 months and the loss in manufacturing represented one-half the decline in U.S. GDP. In the aftermath of this decline, both public and private sector leaders began to search desperately for ways to stop the bleeding. A new Commerce report, Manufacturing Since the Great Recession, indicates that we may have found some success in halting the hemorrhage.

With nearly $10 million in additional funding for the upcoming year, the public-private Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC) will receive a boost in support for core programs and new resources to administer early stage business grants. MTC invests in emerging high-tech companies with a focus on bioscience industries.

Building on the success of the Arch Grants program, MTC will administer a pool of funds ($4.5 million total) to support similar initiatives across the state. Lawmakers included the funding for early stage business grants under HB 2007. A bill introduced earlier in the session would have earmarked up to $9 million per year over the next four years to MTC for investment in up to six Early Stage Business Development Corporations. These are described as nonprofit corporations that provide grants to winners of competitions for early stage business development – similar to Arch Grants. That bill failed to pass in the legislature, however.

Massachusetts continues to reign as the U.S. state best prepared to meet the challenges of the current and future global economy, according to the sixth edition of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s (ITIF) State New Economy Index. The Index, which has been released periodically since 1999, ranks state economies using 25 indicators in five categories to evaluate the degree to which they are knowledge-based, entrepreneurial, globalized, IT-driven and innovation-based.  Delaware, California, Washington and Maryland round out the top five states.

Tasked with taking the Small Business Administration (SBA) to the next level, Maria Contreras Sweet, the new head of the agency, envisions a modern SBA with a greater focus on inclusion. Contreras Sweet outlined steps to achieve her vision earlier this week in a speech at the Center for American Progress.

An immigrant from Guadalajara, Contreras Sweet spoke about her humble beginnings as a child in the U.S., and her climb to a leadership position in the president’s cabinet. Referring to the changing demographics of the American entrepreneur, she said more faces today belong to women, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, veterans, seniors, and the socially or economically disadvantaged. Several initiatives discussed during her speech are geared toward making the agency work better for the diverse population it serves.

Contreras Sweet outlined three initial efforts to advance SBA’s work on behalf of entrepreneurs, promote inclusion and modernize the agency.

NASA is looking to U.S. universities to explore transformative space technologies and help the agency advance its plans for exploration to deep space and Mars. The agency will make up to 12 awards totaling $500,000 each this fall with R&D efforts taking place over two to three years. Notices of intent to submit proposals are due June 24. Learn more. 

National Institute of Health (NIH) Director Francis S. Collins has accepted recommendations from an NIH working group that call for increased investment in the federal government’s effort to map and understand the human brain. Under the recommended plan, the initiative would receive $400 million each year between 2016-20, which would grow to $500 million a year for 2021-25. The BRAIN Initiative is a multi-agency effort, supported by NIH, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, National Science Foundation and Food and Drug Administration. NIH has announced that BRAIN Initiative funding for FY14 will total $40 million. Read the report…

In a recent Pacific Institute and Vox Global survey, about 80 percent of U.S. companies reported that water availability has become an issue for their business, particularly among firms in the South and Southwestern regions of the country. About 63 percent said water issues would affect their future location decisions, and more than half reported that they expected water scarcity to impact their growth and profitability over the next five years. This year’s Global Risks report from the World Economic Forum, ranked water concerns as the third greatest risk to the global economy, separate from and ranked above climate change and extreme weather events.  In recognition of these developments, Michigan’s University Research Corridor institutions have begun highlighting their work in the water economy.

This is part one of a two part series on the effects of policy dynamics on university innovation and focuses on national polices from developed countries; part two will focus on state policies.

Since the end of World War II, national policymakers have seen the importance of supporting university-led innovation. Driven by the contributions of academic research to military innovation and technology, national policies focused on a linear, science-push model – a model focused on national governments investing significantly in university research including basic and applied research and the development of new technologies and other innovations. In return, industry and the national economy would benefit via the formation of wealth through tech transfer, health and national security.

Last year, 108 unique institutional funders made a total of 260 investments in North Carolina companies, according to a report from the Council for Entrepreneurial Development. The 2013 Innovators Report details the $461 million in equity investments, grants and awards received by firms, including support from venture investors, angel networks, foundations, federal agencies, competitions, crowdfunding and other sources. Life sciences firms generated the most activity with $275 million in 134 deals, driven by the biopharmaceutical industry. Technology firms secured $117 million in 106 deals. The report identifies the location of the state’s funding institutions, with the largest number based in North Carolina (26), followed by the Northeast (24) and the Mid-Atlantic (14). Read the report…

A project underway between IBM and Louisiana State University’s School of Engineering aims to better meet employer needs by tripling the number of computer science graduates in five years. Hoping to generate more partnerships like these, lawmakers approved legislation supported by Gov. Bobby Jindal that allows colleges and universities to compete for funds in an effort to produce graduates in high-demand areas. A smaller percentage of the funds distributed under the new Workforce and Innovation for a Stronger Economy (WISE) Fund will be based on federally funded research expenditures. 

HB 1033 establishes the WISE Fund within the state treasury and outlines responsibilities for a strategic planning council, operating as an independent subcommittee of the Board of Regents. 

This week, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced the first 12 communities to participate in the federal government’s multi-agency Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) initiative. The initiative will concentrate federal economic development spending across agencies and departments on key manufacturing regions with strong economic strategies in place. Eleven federal agencies and programs, managing  $1.3 billion in federal economic development assistance, will coordinate their efforts to support the strategies developed by the 12 designated communities. Federal agencies will use the local plans to make targeted investments in public-private partnerships to strengthen regional manufacturing and the competitiveness of the U.S. economy.

The St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, a group created when the St. Louis County Economic Council and the city’s St. Louis Development Corp. merged last year, has released an ambitious economic strategy for the region. Planners are calling for collaboration between the region’s economic development organizations and startup initiatives, such as Accelerate St. Louis, VentureWorks and the ongoing $100M early stage investment initiative. The plan provides tactics and metrics in six categories, designed to leverage the significant growth the region has experienced since 2010. Plan stakeholders have set the goal of becoming a top 10 region for entrepreneurs and the fastest growing major metro region for foreign born residents by 2020. Download the plan…