SSTI Digest

U.S. venture firms invested $4.9 billion in clean tech companies last year, nearly the same as in 2010, according to a year-end report from Ernst & Young. Approximately 57 percent of all clean tech investment was directed toward California companies. The overall cleantech market was bolstered by five IPOs and 79 M&As. Read the release...

On Tuesday, President Obama announced details of a new initiative to support rural innovation. The Rural Jobs Accelerator will award $15 million for projects that promote innovation-fueled regional job creation in rural parts of the country with funding from the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Economic Development Administration, the Delta Regional Authority and the Appalachian Regional Commission. USDA's Rural Community Development Initiative will support the program and offer technical assistance and training funds to qualified intermediary agencies. A Federal Funding Opportunity will be released in the next few weeks. Read the announcement...

Lawmakers in several states will consider legislation this year aimed at solving the workforce disconnect as states continue to struggle with unemployment and look for ways to attract industries in emerging fields. Many of the recent proposals, including those in Connecticut and Massachusetts, focus on revamping oversight of higher education and workforce training to offer better tools and a quicker path to a degree and skills matched with the needs of businesses. In Missouri, a new Innovation Campus will allow high school students to train for high-tech careers while they earn college credit and, in South Dakota, the governor wants to recruit 1,000 skilled workers from outside the state. Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy earlier this month proposed legislation making changes to the Connecticut Technical High School System (CTHSS) in order to tailor programming to the needs of employers. In addition to programmatic changes, the governor wants to change the governance of CTHSS to an independent, 11-member board whose members are made by appointment, removing oversight from the State Board of Education.

With a greater focus on jobs training and arts and cultural programs, Michigan's budget for economic development would increase by more than 10 percent in FY13 under Gov. Rick Snyder's proposal. Universities and community colleges would receive a 3 percent boost under a new performance formula based on degree completion — particularly in critical skills areas such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and health care. The Michigan Economic Development Corp (MEDC) is slated to receive $195 million in FY13, up from $175 approved for the current year. This includes $100 million for business attraction and economic gardening. Another $25 million would support innovation and entrepreneurship programs established last year (see the June 1, 2011 issue of the Digest). To address economic development in distressed cities, the governor recommends an additional $15 million in general fund support for the Talent Fund for Job Training and Skills Development. The budget also increases funding by $3.6 million for arts and cultural grants programs ($5 million total).

The Obama Administration announced the launch of BusinessUSA, an online platform to help small businesses and exporters of all sizes find information about available federal programs. The website combines information and services from 10 different government agencies through one consolidated website and coordinates telephone support through a single 1-800 number. Visit the website...

"While U.S. manufacturing performs well compared to the rest of the U.S. economy, it performs poorly compared to manufacturing in other high-wage countries," according to Why Does Manufacturing Matter? Which Manufacturing Matters? — a new report from the Brookings Institute. For U.S.

SSTI Board Member and University of Akron President Luis Proenza has been appointed to serve on the Board of Science, Technology and Economic Policy (STEP) at the National Academies. David Monkman has resigned as the president and CEO of the National Business Incubation Association. Tracy Kitts, the current NBIA vice president and COO, has been named acting CEO. Len Heller, vice president of the University of Kentucky Office for Commercialization & Economic Development has announced he will retire March 1. Larry Lee has joined Northwest Missouri State University as director of business development and tenant relations for the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Previously, Lee served as the director of technology development and commercialization for the University of Missouri-Kansas City SBTDC. Jamie Grooms has been appointed chief executive officer of the Florida Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research. Grooms has co-founded two successful University of Florida spin-off companies.

Each year, SSTI provides Digest readers with a comprehensive review of technology-based economic development spending in the the president's federal budget request. The year's edition includes proposed FY13 spending on R&D, STEM education, manufacturing, broadband, small business support, technology transfer, entrepreneurship, innovation workforce initiatives and more. The full report is available for download in pdf format (561 kb).

President Barack Obama's FY13 budget request includes few major changes from FY12 due to the spending cap agreed upon in the Budget Control Act. Funding for most, but not all, TBED-related programs would maintain nearly level funding. The White House is accentuating the budget's generous support for advanced manufacturing, clean energy and STEM education, and again is asking that the R&D tax credit be made permanent.

Comparisons to the previous year's funding level are made against the FY12 budget as enacted, unless otherwise noted.

The fifth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs' series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Ohio, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. The first four installments are available in the Jan. 11, Jan. 18, Jan. 25, and Feb. 1 editions of the Digest. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, State of the State Address, Feb. 7, 2012 "And today I want to tell you about the best technology resource that you've never heard of. It's buried underground in Ohio. This will set us apart from every other state in America. "It's beyond high speed Internet. And I'm announcing today we're going to increase the speed of OARnet, from 10 gigabytes per second to 100 gigabytes per second and what does that mean? It's not Back to the Future with gigabytes. I mean, this really means something. ... This allows our research hospitals and universities to compete more successfully for the research grants that create breakthroughs in jobs. ... "We're also saying that it's not good enough to do research. If you don't commercialize and create jobs, what's the point? I can find you research on a top shelf in a building 140 years from now. Commercialize. Create jobs. Spinoff companies.

In response to an economic development study calling on the state to diversify its operating system, support regionalism and invest in innovation, Nevada's newly established Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) released a plan of action to align resources and establish partnerships for meeting those goals over the next three years. The statewide plan builds on legislation passed last session to unify economic development efforts through a regional approach and private sector engagement. To this end, lawmakers allocated funds for GOED and the governor appointed an executive director, elevating the position to cabinet-level. During the first half of 2012, GOED will work to establish its organizational structure and designate Regional Development Authorities (RDAs) tasked with developing plans for their regions. RDAs can be local government organizations, private organizations, or a combination of the two. The RDAs will serve as the central point of contact for economic development within the regions focusing their efforts on creation and retention of new businesses, expansion of existing companies, and attracting companies from outside the state.

This week at the second annual White House Science Fair, President Obama announced a new $80 million Department of Education competition to support STEM teacher preparation programs. The investment will support innovative programs, such as those that allow prospective teachers to simultaneously earn a STEM degree and a teaching certificate. Another $22 million from philanthropic and private sources, including the Carnegie Foundation, Google and Dell, will complement the administration's STEM effort. A separate $60 million Department of Education/National Science Foundation initiative also was announced to reform U.S. mathematics education. Read the White House release...

Seventy-five percent of states (38 states) received grades of "C" or lower for their science education curriculum and instructions, according to a new report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. In contrast, only seven states received an "A-" or an "A." California and the District of Columbia were the only "As." Indiana, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Virginia received "A-s" for their excellent state science standards. New York was the only state to receive a "B+." Another six states were able to achieve a "B" — Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio and Utah. In The State of State Science Standards 2012, researchers reviewed and analyzed the guidelines that inform K-12 science curriculum and instruction in every state and the District of Columbia. States were evaluated on the clarity, content, completeness and scientific correctness of their standards.