SSTI Digest

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin announced that Jonna Kirschner, executive director of the Oklahoma Commerce Department, will serve on a transition team to establish a new workers’ compensation system. Vaughn Clark , the Commerce Department’s director of community development, was named as interim executive director.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper named Mark Sirangelo, who is head of Sierra Nevada Corp., as chair of the Colorado Innovation Network and the state's new chief innovation officer.

John Rhodes has been appointed as president and CEO of NYSERDA.

According to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey the percentage of university R&D funded by private sector investment has remained mostly stable since the late 1970s, hovering between 5 percent and 7 percent of total R&D expenditures. In FY 2011 the private sector invested $3.2 billion, or 4.9 percent of the total $65 billion university R&D expenditures. Sixty-seven percent of surveyed universities reported some level of R&D funding from businesses, with the majority of that funding being directed toward the medical sciences (39 percent) and engineering (26 percent). 

The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) released a five-year report highlighting the progress it has made since its creation in 2007. In that time it has hosted 40 town hall meetings, won a Campaign Excellence Award, released a number of research reports and publications, and has worked with federal, state and local governments to advocate for American Manufacturing. Scott Paul, President of the AAM, Stacey Jarrett Wagner, a speaker at SSTI’s recent conference, and Sridhar Jota are participating in a Google Hangout next week to discuss their recently released book, ReMaking America, and the role of small- and mid-sized manufacturers in the U.S. Innovation Economy.  The dialogue will be held on Thursday, October 3, at 2:00 PM ET. Click here to watch the live discussion…

The Nevada Office of Economic Development, with guidance and funding from the U.S. Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), has launched the Battle Born Venture Program. “Battle Born” is a state venture capital program that makes equity and equity-like investments in early stage, high-growth Nevada businesses. The fund will invest in a wide range of sectors that represent the economic base of the state, and returns on investment will be recycled back into the fund.  The Nevada program is the newest venture capital program established by the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the SSBCI with the intent of enhancing local capital infrastructure. As of this year, the U.S. Treasury has approved 47 state-run venture capital programs across 30 states. Read the announcement…

On the heels of their big win last week in Portland, OR, SSTI’s 2013 Excellence in TBED award winners have announced more exciting news surrounding their programs’ impact and new initiatives to support regional growth strategies. This year’s winner for Most Promising TBED Initiative, ASU Entrepreneurship & Innovation Group (EIG), has attracted a new partner to expand on their model for entrepreneurial support by repurposing existing library space. The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced nearly $200,000 in grants for STEM education as they continue to improve the competitiveness of the life sciences sector, and in Utah, two impact reports have been released by partners of USTAR detailing progress made to expand research capacity.

The agenda for the upcoming legislative session unveiled by Gov. Scott Walker promotes investment in technical schools to provide skill development and quickly fill critical needs of employers. The governor outlined a package of eight workforce development bills, which include funding for youth apprenticeships, tuition reimbursement for apprentices and employers, technical education incentive grants, and scholarships for students to attend technical schools. Much of the new investment would augment funding for existing programs.

Gov. Walker’s plan invests $8.5 million in new state funds and would secure another $14 million in federal funds for vocational rehabilitation programs. Some of the bills are outlined below.

Last week, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Production in an Innovation Economy (PIE) Commission released its findings from two years of research on how to remove the barriers that prevent the U.S. from turning its strengths in science and research into jobs, businesses and products. In order to ensure that American innovations reach the marketplace, the U.S. must rebuild its manufacturing sector, with particular focus on improving the support ecosystem for smaller advanced manufacturing firms, according to the commission. The commission’s recommendations include a variety of public-private partnerships and industry-university collaborations to drive innovation and commercialization across the country.

Earlier this week, the Securities Exchange Commission’s (SEC) final rules allowing general solicitation went into effect. General solicitation broadly means the public advertisement that an entrepreneur or business is raising capital via the sale of securities (e.g., stock, loans, and bonds). The new rules are a major step toward a true U.S. investment crowdfunding market that should dramatically increase the availability of startup capital.

While the conditions of the U.S. economy continue to hinder growth, stability and efficiency in the financial markets and a positive assessment of public institutions have helped improve the nation’s competitiveness and reverse a four-year downward trend. In World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index 2013-14, the U.S. moved into the number five spot, up from seventh last year, overtaking the Netherlands and Sweden. For the second year in a row, Switzerland, Singapore and Finland held onto their first, second and third rankings, respectively.

The report notes that the U.S. continues to be a world leader in bringing innovative products and services to market. An excellent university system that collaborates with the business sector in R&D also is recognized in the report as a key asset of the U.S. However, the business community’s distrust of politicians and perceived wasteful government spending, along with concerns over macroeconomic stability, are cited as weaknesses.

This week, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) hosted a debate between ITIF’s President Robert Atkinson and Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business in the MIT Sloan School of Management and co-author of Race Against the Machine. The lively debate revolved around the impact of technology innovation on the U.S. labor market in an attempt to answer a complex question — is technology innovation a job creator or job killer?

Andrew McAfee argued technology innovation is leading to job loss and the pace will only speed up due to the rapid rate of technology innovation. In their recent book, Dr. McAfee and co-author Dr. Erik Brynjolfsson claim technology-driven productivity, specifically in the information technology and robotic fields, has reduced the need for middle-class workers in the well-paying manufacturing sector and is rapidly spilling over to knowledge-based fields (e.g., law, medicine).

The European Commission is offering a €500,000 (US$655,700) prize to accompany designation of an "iCapital" — the single city in the Union, which is building the best "innovation ecosystem", connecting citizens, public organizations, academia, and business. Should the U.S. federal government follow suit? Probably not without modifications.

Inherent in the competition's design is the belief that all successful geographically based innovation systems have an array of local, publicly backed initiatives and programs that support the creation of an environment allowing others to innovate and public-private interconnections. Whether accurate or not, there is considerable disagreement in the United States as to how active a role the public sector should play in supporting innovation, commercialization and technology-based entrepreneurship. Congressional appropriations for regional innovation initiatives are insignificant when compared to the federal investments made in other forms of development. States and municipalities, however, have led the creation and support of technology-based economic development in America.

The Obama administration is seeking closer economic cooperation with Latin America to enhance opportunities for startups and SMEs in the U.S. and across the hemisphere. This week, the U.S. State Department is launching the Small Business Network of the Americas to promote international cooperation between TBED institutions in the Americas.

The State Department will launch the Small Business Network of the Americas (SBNA) International Sister Center Program on September 11th in Orlando, Florida. The SBNA was established in partnership with the U.S. Association of Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and organized by the Department of State to convene representatives from SBDCs, startup incubators and accelerators, universities, and other organizations from across the Western Hemisphere that promote entrepreneurship and innovation.