SSTI Digest

"Fast-growing economies in emerging markets are outpacing more developed countries with respect to investment in innovation," according to Encouraging and Protecting Innovation — a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). A PwC researcher compiled the report utilizing survey data collected from over 200 global executives who attended the annual meeting of The Wall Street Journal CEO Council. The report points out that Asia's emerging markets, mostly due to China, already invest more on R&D than the EU and Japan, respectively.

In the near future, respondents believe U.S. companies and companies from other advanced economies will face a competitive challenge from aggressive, cash-rich firms from emerging economies due to sustained commitments to national R&D spending. Twenty percent of global executives also report finding China and India as the most attractive countries for their businesses to invest in innovation.

TBED organizations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island recently published comprehensive reviews of their respective state innovation economies. Both studies employ metrics of the general economy, as well as indicators of STEM education, research, venture investment and technology industry activity. They also use data from other state economies to track their progress in creating a vibrant and sustainable innovation ecosystem. The reports provide a useful set of innovation metrics that can be applied in other regions.

Massachusetts

With increasing pressures from state and local policymakers to show a return on investment, universities and colleges across the country are stepping up their efforts to transform innovative ideas into ready-for-market products and develop a new generation of entrepreneurs that will spur regional and state economic growth. Recently, several universities announced new initiatives to foster innovation and build entrepreneurial capacity including: Auburn breaking ground on a new $28.8 million science center; Harvard's Innovation Lab opening its doors; and, The LaunchPad Ohio announcement at four universities in Northeast Ohio.

Auburn Science Center

Louisiana and Texas voters approved measures to provide funding sources for student loans while voters in Colorado rejected a measure that would have temporarily increased taxes to offset cuts for public schools and colleges. Meanwhile, Ohio voters repealed a bill passed earlier this year limiting collective-bargaining rights of state employees. Official results are outlined below:

Just three months after unveiling a statewide regional economic development plan, Gov. John Hickenlooper released a new version of the document that speeds up timelines and adds more specific measurable outcomes to the plan's 24 job creation strategies. The governor also submitted a budget proposal for FY13 that calls for additional funds to help the Economic Development Commission attract high-wage jobs and support initiatives that address distinct market barriers in the energy sector.

President Obama announced the Health Care Innovation Challenge — a $1 billion initiative to support the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improve care and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and/or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The objectives of this initiative are to:

Gov. Chris Gregoire outlined a series of proposals to boost Washington's competitiveness in the aerospace sector, including support for university research and funding to expand high school workforce curriculum and enroll more university students in engineering fields. By investing in education, research, and expanding tax incentives, Gov. Gregoire hopes Boeing will select the state to build and manufacture its 737 MAX, which the governor calls a once-in-a-generation opportunity expected to support up to 20,000 jobs. The $9.8 million plan centers on enhancements to the state's education system to ensure a prepared and skilled workforce. Proposals include:

This week (Nov. 14-20, 2011), more than 25,000 organizations in 123 countries will host events celebrating entrepreneurship and connecting entrepreneurs to potential mentors, inventors, collaborators and peers. Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) activities include Startup Weekends, in which groups come together to create a new business in three days, startup competitions and showcases, social entrepreneurship forums and venture capital summits. First organized in 2008 with support from the Kauffman Foundation, GEW activities have spread around the globe and will this year include the participation or support of U.S. President Barack Obama, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and many other international heads of state.

To leverage the state's opportunities, Nevada needs to upgrade its diffuse economic development system to empower its regions more fully and set a statewide platform for new growth, finds a report commissioned by the state. Building on legislation passed earlier this year to reorganize and elevate the importance of the state's economic development activities, the report calls on the state to unify its operating system for 21st century economic development, support smart sector strategies in the regions, and set a platform for higher-value growth through innovation and global engagement. Seven major industries poised for economic growth also are identified, including clean energy and aerospace and defense.

Read the press release...

The Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) released a new report that uses real-time labor market information data (web-based job advertisements) to analyze the U.S. manufacturing sector for the first half of 2011. Using Labor Insight, a web tool that aggregates data about web-advertised job openings, co-authors Lauren Gilchrist, Ken Poole and Mark White highlighted several important characteristics of anticipated manufacturing hiring:

The U.S. Senate has passed an FY12 funding bill encompassing appropriations measures for the Department of Agriculture; Commerce, Justice and Science; and Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. The bill includes funding for NASA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Science Foundation, as well as other technology agencies and programs. By combining the separate appropriations bills, the Senate hopes to increase its leverage in conferences with the House. The American Institute of Physics publication FYI has prepared a breakdown of technology-related agency funding in the bill.

In Technology Transfer in Southeast Wisconsin, a new report from the Public Policy Forum, researchers call for a "full-fledged collaborative infrastructure" that is adept at transferring technologies developed at the region's research institutions to entrepreneurs that will use them to create businesses and jobs in the region. The report does tout some efforts to develop a collaborative infrastructure for the knowledge economy including the recently established Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin (CTSI) — a collaborative dedicated to using research to inform and improve medical practice that includes the region's prominent research and academic institutions. However, according to the report, "many more dollars are spent on research and development than are recouped in licensing royalties or equity positions in new companies" in southeastern Wisconsin. To remedy this problem, the report provides three models that could enhance regional collaboration in technology transfer and potentially augment the effectiveness of existing efforts: