SSTI Digest

America is moving back to its cities. A majority of people on this planet live in metropolitan areas with one million people moving to cities and metros every five days. In the U.S., the nation’s top 100 metropolitan areas account for two-thirds of the nation’s population and generate 75 percent of national GDP. This is more than a trend, according to Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley of the Brookings Institution … this is a revolution. In The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy, Katz and Bradley claim that metropolitan areas are leading the nation in reform and innovation, and challenging the traditional federalist hierarchical structure that places federal and state governments on top with local and metropolitan areas at the bottom. The first half of the book examines four case studies in the “living laboratory” of metropolitan innovation economies. They begin with New York City and how the mayor’s office and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) worked together to identify assets within the city to shift toward a technology-based economy after its…

The Stanford Technology Ventures Program has launched a new program for Ph.D. students that provides training in entrepreneurship and innovation. But unlike other entrepreneurship programs the Accel Innovation Scholars Program takes a holistic approach, training students to prepare for roles that support regional innovation ecosystems. The year-long program, housed within Stanford’s School of Engineering, was created to service doctoral program students who are eager to learn how to evaluate the commercial availability of new technology and bring commercially viable products to the marketplace. Stanford’s engineering students traditionally graduate into careers in large companies. The program is designed to provide students with a strong background in entrepreneurship and innovation to contribute to the dynamic growth of large companies or encourage them to join or launch their own startups. The program launched last month with a dozen Ph.D. students from across the Engineering School who are engaged in weekly meetings that focus on opportunity evaluation, technology commercialization, and entrepreneurial leadership. The program includes the use of…

Foundations increasingly are tapping into the unique skills of institutions of higher education by partnering with them to support entrepreneurial growth within their surrounding communities. These foundations view institutions of higher education as the ideal partners to provide education and business services necessary for entrepreneurs to reach their potential. Several foundations recently have announced funding to support entrepreneurship development activities at universities including the Ratcliffe Foundation and the Allstate Foundation. The Blackstone Charitable Foundation also announced that it is accepting applications from institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations to pilot, expand or replicate entrepreneurship initiatives. Through a grant from the Philip E. and Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation, Salisbury University will award grants and loan guarantees to entrepreneurs in Maryland and other mid-Atlantic states. The Ratcliffe Foundation will commit $1 million over the next five years ($200,000 annually). Grant recipients also will receive mentoring and access to other resources. To be eligible, the entrepreneurs must hold an associate’s…

The Great Recession forced a number of U.S. manufacturers and service providers to look outside national borders to not only succeed, but to survive in the face of a weak domestic market. In their latest report, On the Threshold: Refocusing U.S. Export Assistance Strategy for Manufacturers, Stone & Associates argues that the U.S. must focus on bolstering manufacturing exports as a way to lessen U.S. reliance on its domestic market, reduce the trade deficit, and foster job creation. Rather than focus on macro-level strategy, the report centers on firm-level measures that export assistance organizations can take to aid small- and mid-sized manufacturers (SMMs) in increasing their exports. But, why focus on exports? The answer lies in the tremendous opportunity in foreign markets. Manufacturing represented 65 percent of U.S. goods exports and 46 percent of total exports (including service exports) in 2010. Although large manufacturers dominate the export market, SMMs still hold a significant share. They directly account for 19 percent of manufacturing sector export value and indirectly contribute to value produced by larger companies in the supply chain. The authors…

New legislation passed by the California legislature would expand the state’s Innovation Hub (iHub) program, which supports commercialization and entrepreneurship at a regional level. The program initially was launched in March 2010 through the state’s Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. Under the new bill, administration of the current 12 iHubs and any future hubs would formally be moved to the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, which has informally overseen the project in more recent years. The updated legislation also allows the office to issue proposals to designate new hubs, including hubs that would overlap current hubs as long as they have a distinct focus on separate industry sectors. A new state treasury account also would allow the iHubs program to collect funds from private sources. Governor Jerry Brown now has 30 days to sign or veto the bill. Read the legislation...

Typically, marketing efforts for cities and states encompass the promotion of a variety of desirable qualities to attract businesses and creative talent. Lately, it seems the title of Chief Innovation Officer has picked up steam in localities and across states as leaders seek to brand their region as “the” place for innovation. Take Colorado, for example, where last week Gov. John Hickenlooper rolled out a new logo and slogan for the state and, at the same time, appointed a new Chief Innovation Officer charged with leading the state’s efforts to increase competitiveness. Chief Innovation Officers have been around for at least the last decade in some Fortune 500 companies and more recently, the position has been adapted in smaller businesses, higher education and government. A recent CNN Money article reported that municipalities have added the position in hopes of infusing a startup attitude and making the city more cutting-edge by employing someone to find and implement new technologies. Some of those cities include Kansas City, Mo., San Francisco, Philadelphia, Louisville, and Austin. State-level positions also seem to be growing, though perhaps at…

States incentives for biotech research have proven to be an effective tool to attract star scientists, innovative firms and high-quality jobs, according to a recent academic article. Enrico Moretti and Daniel J. Wilson examined the performance of state biotech incentives in 11 states and found that these policies demonstrate an impressive ability to draw in firms and researchers from other states and create related jobs in construction and retail. These incentives, however, have little impact on patenting at academic institutions, and do not seem to increase productivity at established firms in the state. Moretti and Wilson review both biotech-specific R&D incentives and general R&D incentives over the period 1990-2010 to track their impact on employment, wages, firm creation, patents and the presence of star scientists. Star scientists, in the context of the study, includes researchers that rank in the to five percent of biotech patenters nationally over the preceding ten years. In addition to analyzing the effect of new incentives in the state itself, they also examine the impact on surrounding states to find to extent of any competitive advantage over…

The Global Clinton Initiative (GCI) and five partner organizations announced a regional pilot program that will create a manufacturing supply chain network to support small- and midsized-manufacturers in the Hudson Valley region of New York. The goal of the pilot program is to create a scalable model that will ultimately provide a framework for a nationwide supply chain network and grow the country’s manufacturing base. The proposed National Supply Chain Network Initiative’s (NSNI) key components include helping to connect small- and midsized-manufacturers with large manufacturers as suppliers, improving access to innovation in manufacturing, providing direction technical and other assistance through the use of a state-of-the-art online portal that leverages the expertise of existing organizations and addressing other issues related to a healthy manufacturing sector (e.g., capital/financing, green manufacturing practices). According to the press release, the GCI intends to launch an additional two pilot programs – one in the Midwest and another in the West. NSNI and similar programs have the potential to play an important role in sustaining a U.S.…

A new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project cites that 20 percent of Americans do not have broadband access, while an additional 10 percent of Americans have broadband access via smartphones. The report suggests that age, educational attainment, and household income continue to be the defining factors for home broadband adoption. Broadband access is recognized as a driver for economic mobility, and communities across the country are addressing the issue with a range of policies that provide models for increasing affordability and access. The report notes that U.S. Census data from 2011 suggests that 98 percent of U.S. households are located within areas that have access to broadband. For potential broadband users, the cost of access is listed as the most popular reason for not adopting broadband. While nine out of 10 college graduates use broadband, user rates drop to 37 percent for adults who do not have a high school diploma. A digital divide persists for citizens who have potential access to broadband, but cannot afford home usage, driving economic disadvantages tied to educational attainment and household income. Localized studies of broadband…

Electric vehicles may be gaining momentum. In 2013, Tesla has outsold other luxury car makers in California and received high safety ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  To help support this growing industry, ARPA-E has granted a total of $36 million to 22 projects at national laboratories, universities, and private companies around the country as part of its new Robust Affordable Next Generation Energy Story Systems (RANGE) program. RANGE will work to harness this network of research to improve electric vehicle energy storage systems, therefore increasing driving range, through new chemistry and design. The universities receiving funding are: Arizona State University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Penn State University, Princeton University, Purdue University, Stanford University, UCLA, University of California-San Diego, University of Houston, and University of Maryland. Of the 22 projects, eight are at private entities, such as GE and BASF. Read the announcement...

The winding down of the space shuttle program in Florida’s Space Coast by the Obama administration in 2010 spurred a transition in NASA’s areas of focus, including an increased emphasis on commercializing technologies and industry partnerships. NASA recently announced several new initiatives with tech firms, universities, and state agencies geared toward investing in cutting-edge research and technology and developing an educated workforce. In Northeast Ohio, a new nonprofit organization dedicated to commercializing a steady stream of NASA technologies is underway in partnership with TBED organizations and local industry leaders, reports Crain’s Cleveland Business. Called E4T for Effective Entrepreneurship Education and Economic Development for Technology, the group will recruit students tasked with finding profitable ways to use NASA Glenn technologies, the article states. Students from local colleges or high schools would work with current and retired technical experts at NASA Glenn. Organizers hope to raise enough money from foundations or the federal government to launch the effort by the end of the year. Prominent TBED groups JumpStart and…

Well-designed research centers can help bring an innovation ecosystem together through the spillover effects of knowledge dissemination, student learning experiences, local early access to new technologies, and by attracting R&D funding. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced a $30 million initiative led by SUNY’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) to transform and revitalize a vacant building into a hub for smart cities technology companies, research, education and workforce training. The new Smart Cities Technology Innovation Center (SCiTI) is the latest initiative in a continued push by Gov. Cuomo and state legislators toward regionalism to support the state’s high-tech platform (see the April 3, 2013 issue of the Digest). CNSE was awarded $4 million as part of the governor’s Regional Council initiative to spur economic growth in downtown Albany. Funding will be used to leverage another $26 million in private sector support, according to the governor’s press release. Several states have been successful in transforming industrial or underused areas into high-tech hubs through cluster-based initiatives and…