SSTI Digest

The Manufacturing Institute, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, has released an inaugural roster for the “M-List,” which includes academic institutions training workers up to industry standards in advanced manufacturing. M-List schools have designed their curriculums to compliment industry standards and provide their students with credentials through the NAM-Endorsed Manufacturing Skills Certification System. The M-List will help connect workers and employers by identifying schools that prepare their students for the globally competitive standards of U.S. advanced manufacturing. In support of the program, the NSF's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program provides grants to M-List schools to support the connection between workers and employers. Read the press release...

Two projects, one in the United Kingdom and another in Africa, are working to improve the information economy, university training and research in their respective regions. A new United Kingdom strategy includes a partnership between the national government, industry, and academia in support of the information technology sector. In Africa, the World Bank will engage in an international effort to promote education and research, supporting regional economic development across the continent.

In 2010, almost one-quarter of every dollar spent on R&D by U.S. businesses was spent in the state of California, according to data from the National Science Foundation. Together, the top seven states for business R&D spending (California, New Jersey, Texas, Massachusetts, Washington, Illinois and Michigan) were host to almost 53 percent of private research investment. While California leads in total business R&D, the state of Washington has the greatest concentration of private research spending in the state economy, with $3.92 spent on business R&D for every $100 in state gross domestic product (GDP).

SSTI has prepared a table of funds spent by businesses on R&D by state in 2010. The table also includes the percent of total U.S. business R&D spending represented by each state. In order to gauge the volume of business R&D spending with respect to total economic activity, the table provides 2010 state GDP levels and a ratio of business R&D spending to state GDP. View the table...

SSTI Online Events: Every Third Thursday at 3:00 PM ET

Major research universities are an invaluable asset in building thriving high-tech regions, but institutions of all sizes can play a key role in local innovation economies. Our July webinar will feature two successful regional networks connecting smaller colleges and universities to maximize their contribution to the high-tech economy. These networks are promoting inter-institutional collaboration, while also providing entrepreneurs with easy access to research services and commercializable technologies.

Presenters:

Barb Eccles, Manager, Technology Transfer at Lakehead University Jill Edwards, Executive Director, Innovation Transfer Network

Date: Thursday, July 18Time: 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 member, $69 non-membersRegistration Deadline: Thursday, July 18 12:00 PM ET

Nevada legislators recently approved $10 million in funding for the state's Knowledge Fund, a technology development and commercialization support program first introduced in 2011. The fund, modeled on Utah's USTAR program, received no allocation for its first two years due to a lack of state funds, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal (also see the July 20, 2011 and January 23, 2013 issues of the Digest). Knowledge Fund dollars may be used to support research teams at Nevada state universities and the Desert Research Institute, to launch a technology outreach program to connect researchers with entrepreneurs, to build new research facilities and to fund technology commercialization activities. Read the bill...

Since 2011, three states (Kansas, Georgia and North Carolina) have enacted securities exemptions that allow their state's entrepreneurs and small businesses to raise up to $1 million dollars via the sale of securities to residents of the state — Washington lawmakers introduced similar legislation in 2013 session where it is still pending. These exemptions, commonly referred to as crowdfunding exemptions, are intended to increase the pool of investors for small businesses by allowing them to publicly offer securities without having to spend the significant time and cost associated with registering a sale of securities with the state

The enacted exemptions from Kansas, Georgia and North Carolina as well as the proposed legislation in Washington share several similarities including:

Rice University's Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship has been named the top university business incubator in the world by the University Business Incubator (UBI) Index based in Sweden. The group reviewed 550 university business incubators and studied 150 incubators to determine the top incubators in the world based on their value for the ecosystem, their value for clients, and their attraction rate and past performance. Other U.S. incubators that made the UBI Index Top list include VentureLab, the University of Buffalo Technology Incubator, and Tech 20/20.

While policymakers often tout workers in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as a critical element of U.S. competitiveness in the global economy, the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program claims that a narrow definition of STEM occupations neglects vital employees in these technical fields. In a recent report entitled The Hidden STEM Economy, the authors examined knowledge requirement scores for STEM fields obtained from O*NET (Occupational Information Network Data collection Program) to assess the knowledge, education, and wage needs of the various STEM occupations. They determined that redefining STEM occupations based on knowledge and skill requirements rather than solely educational requirements provided a more comprehensive understanding of the STEM economy and revealed that many economies across the nation benefit from the presence of non-professional, sub-bachelor degree STEM workers.

A new series of briefs from the National Institute of Standards and Technology lays out the argument for federal, state and local intervention in the high-tech economy. Authors Gary Anderson and Gregory Tassey suggest that U.S. economic policy places too much emphasis on macrostabilization efforts at the expense of policies targeted to promote technology development and entrepreneurship. They make the argument that one effective approach to federal intervention is through the support of research consortia and regional cluster development programs. Read the briefs...

While public debate rages over the role of surveillance in our society, one particularly infamous government surveillance technology, drones, is being prepared for private sector deployment in the U.S. Drone-related technologies are predicted to revolutionize commerce in the U.S., with industry projections valuing their initial deployment as an $82 billion boost to the national economy. In preparation for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rollout of drone-use regulations in 2015, entrepreneurs, multinational corporations and state governments are scrambling to be in a competitive position to benefit.

Seventy-one percent of the rural population had access to basic broadband service compared to 98 percent of the urban population according to a report from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The report examines the disparity of broadband availability between rural and urban areas based on 2011 broadband availability data. However, as broadband speeds increase, the access gap between these populations grows. When breaking down the population into five groups, the densest population geographies have greater availability at or above maximum advertised speeds, with suburbs surpassing central cities overall.

Compiling SBIR Phase I awards and proposal statistics by state for FY12, SSTI finds the 10 states with the most awards in FY12 were California (724), Massachusetts (415), Virginia (207), Maryland (154), Ohio (138), Texas (138), New York (137), Colorado (129), Pennsylvania (124), and Florida (85). Maryland gained two spots rising to fourth place. Ohio and Texas tied for fifth place, while New York and Colorado both fell from their prior year positions.

Notably, total SBIR Phase I awards granted to small business entities in FY12 increased by 1.4 percent, while proposal numbers were down from 2011 across nearly all of the participating agencies. In FY12, agencies granted a total 3,314 awards, up from 3,268 in FY11. Overall, agencies that reported proposal statistics received 20,305 in FY12, a 12.8 percent decrease from the prior fiscal year.