SSTI Digest

The U.S. Department of Treasury has released details on its latest funding approvals from the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). Eleven states, and Washington, D.C., are slated to receive a portion of the $360 million that will be used to expand state small business lending and capital programs. In order to qualify, states must demonstrate that their relevant programs will generate at least $10 in new private lending for every $1 in federal funding. As such, Treasury expects the funding to generate more than $3.6 billion in additional small business lending and to create new private sector jobs. Florida is due to receive the largest single allotment of the funds during this set of approvals. The state plans to use its $97.7 million to create a new capital access program to provide portfolio insurance for small business loans. FL-CAP, managed by Florida's Division of Strategic Business Development (DSBD), will operate with separate loan loss reserves for each participating financial institution. DSBD also will partner with Enterprise Florida for two other new programs supported by the SSBCI funding. The first, a venture capital program, will invest…

The Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy and the Navy will invest up to $510 million during the next three years to produce advanced drop-in biofuels to power military and commercial transportation. To accelerate the production of these advanced bio-based jet and diesel fuels, the federal agencies in partnership with the private sector will work to jointly construct or retrofit several drop-in biofuel plants and refineries. The joint plan calls for a substantial cost share commitment from private industry partners — of at least a one-to-one match. The biofuels initiative will be steered by the White House Biofuels Interagency Work Group and Rural Council. Read the press release...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that it will award $74 million total for the creation of four interdisciplinary research and education centers as part of the third generation of NSF Engineering Research Centers. In addition to their primary focus on commercialization and education, these centers will emphasize innovation, entrepreneurship, small business collaboration, and international partnerships. For the first time, two of the ERCs will be co-funded by the Department of Energy. One, led by Arizona State University, will investigate quantum energy and sustainable solar technologies. A second at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville will develop more reliable and efficient electricity transmission networks. The other two ERCs will focus on research into urban water infrastructure and mind-machine interface at Stanford University and the University of Washington, respectively.

E. William (Bill) Colglazier, recently retired executive officer of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council, has been selected the Science and Technology Advisor to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. Florida Gov. Rick Scott named Doug Darling to head up the newly formed Department of Economic Opportunity. He also named Cynthia, Lorenzo, who had been interim director, to head up the Agency for Workforce Innovation. Steve Jenkins has left his position as senior vice president for economic development at Go Topeka. Denyse Ferguson has been named vice president of economic development at the Cincinnati USA Partnership, the chamber's economic development arm. Ferguson previously served as the president and CEO of the Lansing Area Economic Partnership, Inc. (Leap, Inc.) in Michigan.

  “You've got to have a commitment to and a track record of willingness to be an aggressive partner with companies in your region.”  -- Randy Berridge   Click Here to Listen to SSTI's Interview with Randy Berridge of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council Through exclusive interviews with Excellence in TBED award recipients, find out first-hand how these nationally recognized initiatives successfully responded to a critical need by applying innovative approaches to generate substantial economic gains for their region. 2010 Winner in the Improving Competitiveness of Existing Industries category for the Matching Grants Research Program Leveraging the strengths and resources of the three Florida High Tech Corridor universities, the Matching Grants Research Program expands the innovation capacity of companies and high-tech industries in the region by providing research dollars for companies seeking solutions in product development, intellectual property and contracting R&D. More than 2,600 faculty and students have conducted research through this program with 350 companies, resulting in an economic impact of more…

From undertaking a joint regional initiative to improve two cities' competitiveness in advanced manufacturing to launching an effort for engaging venture capital companies and bringing in top university students to showcase area opportunities, mayors in Lexington and Louisville, Boston and Chicago recognize the value in promoting their cities as top destinations for growing tech-based economies. While each of the three recent announcements detailed below target different sectors of the innovation economy, they share the same mission of making their region more desirable for startups. Boston Launching a venture capital initiative, opening an innovation center, and designing a solar challenge are among Mayor Thomas Menino's plans for the city's Innovation District in the upcoming year. Boston's Innovation District was launched last year as a home to startup, research-based and other innovative companies on the South Boston Waterfront. Adding to the strategy, the city will establish Venture Boston, an effort to encourage more venture capital companies to move to the area. Many of these firms are now located in Waltham or Cambridge and the idea is to cluster the companies…

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) recently announced the recipients of $25 million in awards from Michigan's 21st Century Jobs Fund. Each of the eight organizations receiving the awards will use the funding to support Michigan entrepreneurs and technology commercialization. The largest single allotment, $10.8 million, will benefit Ann Arbor SPARK, which plans to replenish its Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund with the award. Other recipient organizations will be offering capital and business assistance around the state. The 21st Century Jobs Fund is a program of the Michigan Strategic Fund, which is administered by MEDC. Since its creation in 2005, the fund has promoted the commercialization of new technologies and provided capital for startup companies. The current round of awards will support programs at the eight recipient organizations for the next two to three years. Ann Arbor SPARK is slated to receive $10.8 million, $9.17 million of which will replenish the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund. The four year-old program invests in pre-seed stage companies all over Michigan in collaboration with the state's SmartZones. Another $600,000 will…

The New Jersey Economic Development Agency currently is accepting comments from the state's science and technology (S&T) community on the development and implementation of a new "technology accelerator program." The mentor-based program is intended to create a competitive environment for S&T companies and entrepreneurs to showcase their products, ideas and business acumen for an opportunity to receive funding. Over the next three years, Governor Christie's administration intends to commit approximately $450,000 to the program. Read the press release...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced a $27.5 million, five-year grant to the University of Maryland for a multi-disciplinary research center focused on the interplay of human activity and healthy ecosystems. The grant is the largest ever received by the university and will provide funds for research in environmental sciences, public policy, engineering, computer science and economics. Additional funding will be provides by the University of Maryland, College Park, the university's Center for Environmental Science, Resources for the Future (a nonprofit research organization) and the state of Maryland. Read the announcement...

Women are still vastly underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs and have been for the past decade, even as their share of the college-educated workforce has increased, finds a new report from the Commerce Department's Economic and Statistics Administration. Women occupy only 24 percent of STEM jobs today, compared to 48 percent of all jobs, and although the gender wage gap is smaller (14 percent in STEM fields compared to 21 percent in non-STEM occupations), a clear gender disparity exists nonetheless. While the report does not explain the gender differences in STEM, it does urge greater support of women in STEM fields to help build a skilled workforce to support the nation's competitiveness. This is the second in a series of reports on STEM. Read the report...

The Kiva City program will extend small business access to microloans in U.S. cities facing the greatest small business stress. Kiva, a nonprofit organization, offers personal microlending services. Building upon Kiva's Internet-based lending model, the goal of the Kiva City program is to spur job growth and economic recovery through microfinance by building connections between Kiva's global network of 592,000 individual lenders and small business owners across the country. Kiva also intends to reach out to credit unions or other financial institutions partners at a local level to facilitate the loans and community groups and civic leaders to build awareness among small business owners and refer them to the program. Kiva.org, in partnership with Visa Inc., will administer the program. Read the press release... Kiva Detroit, a partnership between Kiva and the Michigan Corps, is currently operating as the first Kiva City program recipient. According to Anuja Jaitly, co-founder and executive director of Michigan Corps, Detroit already has established a strong network of lenders and small businesses by leveraging community engagement. "Through local networking…

Spending time at a technology or business incubator may be the key to learning about entrepreneurship. Some universities, seeking to ramp up entrepreneurship programs, are turning to incubators as real-world teachers. A recent Washington Post article points to several business schools pairing traditional education, such as courses and lectures, with less-conventional approaches, including incubators and business competitions to prepare students for opportunities outside the classroom. Recent announcements of new and emerging technology incubators from across the U.S. and Canada are included below. The city of Livermore, CA, celebrated the grand opening of i-GATE National Energy Systems Technology incubator last month, created to stimulate large-scale, high-tech business development around the region's two national labs. In addition to physical workspace, the 15,000-square-foot hub also will coordinate public-private collaboration with academia and the Department of Energy, reports The Mercury News. The region around the national labs was selected in 2010 as one of six future iHubs, a statewide initiative to improve competitiveness by stimulating partnerships,…