SSTI Digest

A pilot collaboration between the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will offer a nine-week boot camp to help biomedical researchers bring their discoveries to market. Academic researchers and entrepreneurs who have received SBIR/STTR Phase One awards from participating NIH institutes may apply to the I-Corps at NIH™ for training in building scalable business models around their technologies. The list of participating NIH institutes includes the National Cancer Institute, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.  Learn about the program…

Two recent reports highlight volatile state fiscal conditions on the revenue and spending side of state budgets. Preliminary data for April 2014 show large and widespread declines in overall personal income tax revenues, thus creating challenges for many states with resulting shortfalls, particularly those that rely most heavily on personal income taxes, according to a state revenue special report from the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. Meanwhile, on the spending side of state budgets, NASBO’s latest Fiscal Survey of States reports increased spending in 42 states, which is attributed mainly to K-12 education and Medicaid. 

This is part two of a two-part series on the effects of policy dynamics on university innovation and focuses on state polices in three Southern U.S. states; part one focused on national policies from OECD nations.

A growing number of metropolitan areas are incorporating urban density and connectedness into their innovation strategies by fostering innovation districts devoted to research commercialization, entrepreneurship and housing for highly skilled workers, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution.  The districts combine the concentrated research activities of science parks with the accessibility and economic ties of city neighborhoods. These districts, which have emerged in the heart of Detroit, Houston, Pittsburgh and others, offer desirable work and living environments for talented workers, valuable connections for researchers and entrepreneurs, and strong potential for regional economic transformation for metro areas.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration and Harvard Business School have unveiled a new website that provides easy-to-navigate, granular data on U.S. economic clusters. The project aims to strengthen regional and national competitiveness by providing up-to-date, high-quality data on the economic performance of regions across the U.S. Users can browse a cluster dashboard, which maps out the strength of specific industries by region, or receive in-depth economic data on a particular region. In addition, the site provides a guide to organizations and businesses that are supporting cluster growth in their local economies. View the project…

Tuesday, June 17 is the final day to submit your application for the 2014 Excellence in TBED awards. Awards are presented in six categories representing the various approaches found in thriving, innovation-based economies. Tell us how your work to encourage economic growth is impacting your region, and you may be invited to share your success and present best practices to a national audience in Chicago, September 14-16. Learn more and apply: http://www.sstiawards.org/.

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…