SSTI Digest

Now in its 14th year, SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series has returned as governors across the country formally convene the 2014 legislative sessions. The series highlights new and expanded TBED proposals from governors' State of the State, Budget and Inaugural addresses. The first edition includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Idaho, Kentucky, New York, Virginia, and West Virginia.  Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, State of the State Address, Jan. 6, 2014 “We also must continue investing in the strong collaborative relationship between our universities and the Center for Advanced Energy Studies. That's why my budget calls for adding $1 million to our annual investment in that facility, which consistently yields incredible returns and value to Idaho's asset portfolio. … “… Partnerships also are at the heart of efforts to improve our Workforce Development Training Fund program. You can expect to see more targeted use of grants for training employees not just for individual businesses, but for the market-driven growth of industry sectors that add value to Idaho's economy. “My focus on…

U.S. R&D spending began to rebound in 2011 and 2012 after several years of stagnation, according to new survey data released by the National Science Foundation. During the economic crisis of 2008-10, R&D expenditures froze at just over $400 billion. Newly revised data for 2011 and preliminary data for 2012 indicate that R&D spending began to recover in those years, outpacing U.S. GDP growth. This resurgence, however, has not materialized for all stages of research. While spending on applied research and development have bounced back, basic research spending decreased in 2011 and grew only slightly in 2012. The long-term U.S. shift in focus away from basic research appears to have accelerated in the aftermath of the economic crisis. In an InfoBrief accompanying the survey data, NSF notes that in six out of eight years during the period from 2000-08, R&D spending grew at a higher rate than GDP. That trend stopped over the next three years as current dollar spending hovered around $406 billion. Both R&D spending and GDP actually declined in 2009, but as GDP began to recover in 2010, R&D remained static. In 2011-12, however, R&D growth…

Following a national economic development trend toward regionalism, governors in Iowa and Nebraska announced a partnership to provide more investment and talent opportunities for area businesses, and increased exposure for the region. Under the multi-county collaboration, Advance Southwest Iowa will join the Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership. The group plans to implement a five-year regional economic development program focused on establishing a recognized brand and image for the region, growing and recruiting businesses, and retaining a trained workforce. The partnership is funded by public and private investors throughout the region, according to a news release.  

As the outlook for general revenue funds improves in many states, governors are looking to boost investment in higher education and STEM as a means for growing the economy and enhancing the workforce. Universities' economic return to states can be quite impactful. A recent study commissioned by the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan, found the state's 15 public universities have a $23.9 billion economic footprint — collectively supporting more than $12 billion in earnings in 2012. Governors in Alaska, Missouri, Utah, Virginia, and Washington recently unveiled budget recommendations for the upcoming fiscal year or biennium calling for additional funds to support university-based initiatives including research, infrastructure, tuition freezes, and funding to graduate more students in STEM fields. In Alaska, Gov. Sean Parnell proposed a $5 million digital teaching initiative for middle- and high-school students as part of the FY15 budget plan. The three-year demonstration project begins with funding to expand capacity of digital teaching already underway in three school districts during year one. The project will continue by adding two more…

The European Union is investing € 15 billion ($20.5 billion) over the next two years toward the Horizon2020 project, an initiative designed to boost Europe's knowledge-driven economy, increase global competitiveness, and address key societal challenges. The European Commission has declared funding priorities for the project and opened submissions for the 2014 budget. Funding will be directed toward the three pillars of Horizon2020, which are: Basic Science — with around € 3 billion ($4.1 billion) being invested through the European Research Council to provide fellowships for top scientists and young researchers; Industrial Leadership — with € 1.8 billion ($2.5 billion) being invested to support leadership infrastructure in key sectors including advanced manufacturing, nanotechnology, biotech, aerospace, robotics, and IT; and, Addressing Societal Challenges — with € 2.8 billion ($3.8 billion) being invested to support projects that advance innovations in areas including health, security, agriculture, transportation, energy, and climate change. Horizon2020 is the largest EU innovation program to date, with a projected…

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced more than $715 million in funding for 824 projects across the state as part of the third round of funding for the Regional Economic Development Councils initiative. Established in 2011 to improve the business climate statewide, the 10 regional councils support projects tailored to maximize resources and competitive advantages. Many of the new projects to receive funding are tech-focused, including $5 million for the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering to establish a digital data training center and $1 million for SUNY Buffalo to expand its high-performance computing and data analytics center. Read the press announcement...

Battelle Memorial Institute and R&D Magazine have released their annual Global Funding Forecast, an assessment of global political and economic impacts on worldwide industrial research. The report notes that although global R&D spending by leading countries has remained virtually unchanged since the Great Recession, the flows of innovation research have changed substantially. Research collaboration between countries has increased markedly and the scope of research partnerships, particularly between Southeast Asia and the U.S. and European Union, has broadened significantly. The result is a growing global innovation ecosystem that leverages national advantages in tech commercialization and industry engagement to increase the economic return on public and private R&D investments. The globalization of R&D has been driven by R&D spending growth in the developing world, the offshoring and out-sourcing of portions of Western R&D, and the growing need for large-scale scientific collaboration to address major challenges. The report also notes that while national budget constraints in the West will most likely continue to stifle investments in innovation…

In a report letter to the president this week, the U.S. President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) advocated the expansion of massive open online courses (MOOCs) to boost U.S. competitiveness, STEM learning and economic mobility. PCAST recommends that the federal government avoid setting technology standards for these programs at this point, as online education is still in its infancy. Instead, they call for accrediting bodies to become more flexible in response to educational innovation and institutions to improve their sharing of effective practices. Read the report letter...

A record number of U.S. students received doctorates in 2012, according to new data from the National Science Foundation. For the first time, the number of doctoral recipients broke 50,000, with a final tally of 51,008. Total doctorates awarded grew by 4.3 percent over the previous year, the largest increase since 2007 and a significant improvement from the previous four years in which the numbers remains fairly steady. The NSF data shows large increases for doctorates in STEM areas, including life sciences, physical sciences and engineering between 2002 and 2012, and little growth in other major fields, including the social sciences, education and humanities. New U.S. life science doctorates grew to 12,045 in 2012, an increase of 5.2 percent over the previous year and 42 percent over 2002. Life sciences remains the top area of study for doctorates. Almost half of these doctorates (8,440) were awarded in the biological and biomedical sciences, the largest sub-area of study within life sciences. The increase in biological and biomedical science and health sciences doctorates drove the rapid expansion of life sciences awards over the previous decade, growing by 48.2…

As we plan for 2014, Dan Berglund, SSTI president & CEO, will provide us with an in-depth view of the latest trends affecting tech-based economic development (TBED), new developments in the field, opportunities for the year ahead, and the implications and issues for TBED policymakers and practitioners. This webinar will be a good opportunity to reflect on 2013 and look forward to 2014. Presenters: Dan Berglund, SSTI president & CEO Date: Thursday, December 19Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM ETLocation: Online — Gather your colleagues around the conference table or log on from your comfy couch at homeCost: $49 members, $69 non-membersRegistration Deadline: Thursday, December 19, 12:00 PM ET Register today...

University-industry collaborations need a paradigm shift from the traditional one-way knowledge transfer model to a two-way knowledge co-creation model, according to a new report from the Big Innovation Centre (BIC) — Collaborate to Innovate. The authors propose that a shift toward a knowledge co-creation paradigm focused on holistic relationships between university and industry, specifically small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), will have more significant economic and societal impacts than the traditional one-way knowledge transfer that relies primarily on patents, licensing and startup formation. Although focused on the innovation ecosystem in the UK, the paper addresses four universally important questions on how to achieve successful university-business collaborations via a co-creation model: What practices and institutional support structures ensure successful collaborations? What interaction channels work well and which need support? What is the role of different intellectual property protection strategies in creating value for the partners in the interaction? How can the initiation of university business interactions be promoted? To address these…

In the evolving American economy, TBED is increasingly looked to as a potential driver of inclusive competitiveness, expanding and deepening economic opportunity for communities that suffer from poverty and unemployment. The Regional Federal Reserve Banks have been leading efforts to study the linkages between economic and community development and this week hosted a Connecting Communities webinar on Redefining the Rust Belt: The Role of Anchor Institutions and the Arts. Anchor institutions, the "Eds and Meds" that are usually the largest employers in metro areas, are the foundation of local economies, producing an estimated annual expenditure of over $1 trillion in purchasing of goods and services and providing philanthropic investment in local missions that benefit the community goods. Ted Howard of the Democracy Collaborative argues that anchor institution procurement of local goods and services creates local jobs that cannot be outsourced and, paired with their philanthropic investment, can play a strong role in stabilizing neighborhoods and supporting job creation for struggling communities. Anchor institutions, which according to Federal Reserve…