SSTI Digest

The White House released a "progress report" for Startup America—a White House and interagency initiative to "celebrate, inspire and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation." The report looks at public and private sector commitments in several key areas that will improve the environment for high-growth entrepreneurship. The report also provides status updates for current and future Startup America related initiatives.

According to the report, the Obama administration already has made several commitments and intends to make several more in five key areas:

Last week, the World Economic Forum released its annual Global Competitiveness Report, and once again, the U.S. fell in the rankings one more position to fifth place, representing a four-year decline from fourth place in 2010-11, second place in 2009-2010 and first place in 2008-2009. Switzerland held the number one spot for the second year in a row. The report indicates that while many structural features continue to make the U.S. economy extremely productive, a number of escalating weaknesses, such as distrust of politicians, concerns regarding the federal debt, and a lack of macroeconomic stability, have lowered the ranking.

This year's report points to a seemingly growing trend in the global economy. Emerging markets in Asia experiencing relatively strong growth and attracting capital are contrasted with decelerating growth of advanced economies such as the U.S., Japan, and many European countries.

Most American (86 percent of survey respondents) believe manufacturing is "either important" or "very important" to our national economy, according to a new survey from the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte. Topped only by the energy industry, manufacturing finished as the second most important industry to the national economy. Manufacturing also was the preferred industry for regional job creation through the establishment of a new manufacturing facility—ahead of energy production facilities, technology development centers, retail centers, banks or other financial institutions, and a host of other facility types. The report also found that Americans believe the U.S manufacturing sector has several competitive advantages upon which to build including:

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have announced a new initiative to develop new technologies and applications for high-speed broadband networks. The agencies have posted a request for white papers for the initiative, dubbed US Ignite, to identify potential companies, nonprofits, agencies and individuals that can provide resources and infrastructure to facilitate collaboration. Participating organizations will help develop next-generation applications for high-speed networks that cannot yet run on today's Internet infrastructure. Read the announcement...

The five-campus University of Massachusetts System is seeking a dynamic and entrepreneurial professional to become the associate vice president for economic development to help develop the university's role in generating innovation and talent to support the Innovation Economy of Massachusetts. The position will report to the vice president for economic development and be housed at the president's office in Boston, MA.

Jill Kline has been named the State director of the Wyoming Small Business Development Center.

Daniel Hasler has been named the Indiana Secretary of Commerce, effective Sept. 16. He will replace Mitch Roob who is leaving the post to accept a position in the private sector.

The National Governors Association named David Moore as the director of its NGA Center for Best Practices.

Phillip Halstead has been named executive director and CEO of the West Virginia Regional Technology

Park Corporation.

James Watson has been appointed as the president and CEO of CMTC (California Manufacturing Technology Consulting).

SSTI is pleased to announce that John Fernandez, Assistant Secretary for Economic Development at the U.S. Department of Commerce, will participate in a plenary session on the changing role of the federal government in TBED at this year's Annual Conference. SSTI's Annual Conference is the only economic development conference this fall with the senior leaders of the Economic Development Administration (EDA), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) speaking. Find out more about the plenary session and the full schedule at: http://www.ssticonference.org.

Governors in several states are bringing lawmakers back into session this fall with a more focused agenda on job creation. During a one-day special session on Friday, lawmakers in Mississippi approved a $175 million incentive package to bring two high-tech manufacturing facilities to the state. Meanwhile, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon will try again to enact the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act (MOSIRA) to support science and tech companies and the Compete Missouri Initiative, both which failed to pass during the regular session. In New Mexico, lawmakers will consider legislation clarifying language in the state's high-wage tax credit statute — a measure Gov. Susana Martinez says will make it easier for employers to retain and hire workers.

Governors in Alabama and Connecticut also may bring legislators back into session, but have yet to make an official announcement.

Temple launched the Pennsylvania Math Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) initiative designed to increase the number of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematics (STEM)-related professionals graduating from two- or four-year institutions and to build a diverse, national STEM workforce necessary to compete economically in a global environment.

As MESA's lead institution in Pennsylvania, Temple will be tasked with developing public/private partnerships with industry, other academic institutions and government agencies to implement the goals of MESA and provide outreach efforts to the state's students to achieve their full potential — regardless of background, gender or economic status. Last summer, Temple in partnership with the U.S. Navy launched three MESA summer academies related to health and medicine, engineering and technology. Other institutions of higher education that operate their state's MESA program include Johns Hopkins, the University of Washington and UC-Berkley.

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices invites applications from U.S. states to participate in a Policy Academy on "Making" our Future: Encouraging Growth Opportunities in Manufacturing through Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Investment to Assist States in Developing and Implementing Economic Development Strategies aimed at spurring innovation and entrepreneurship in ways that encourage the growth of advanced manufacturing industries. The Policy Academy is designed to assist states in developing and implementing economic development strategies aimed at spurring innovation and entrepreneurship in ways that encourage the growth of advanced manufacturing industries.As part of the application process, states are expected to identify a core team of five to eight members who represent a cross-section of policymakers from relevant state agencies and stakeholder groups. Multiple awards are anticipated. Applications must be submitted to the NGA Center through the governor's office by September 15, 2011 in order to be considered.

Even through the enduring global economic downturn, nations across the world have targeted technology-based economic development initiatives to build their respective country's science and technology (S&T) sectors. The governments contend that building their respective country's Next Economy is necessary to compete in a globalizing world and increase quality of living for their citizens. Canada, India and the European Union have announced initiatives that could help grow their respective countries S&T sectors.

In Canada, the Honorable Bernard Valcourt, the Minister of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and La Francophonie, announced approximately $8.5 million in federal investments in Springboard — a regional commercialization and industry network made up of Atlantic Canadian post-secondary institutions — to support several current activities and the creation of a new program. The funding will be used to:

The University of Kansas' Center for Technology Commercialization is seeking a director that will be responsible for effectively managing faculty-generated intellectual property across all the University of Kansas campuses and deploying it for the greater social good. The KUCTC director's responsibilities include positively representing the University as a member of national professional societies, articulating KUCTC's contributions to the Kansas economy for diverse constituencies that include the Kansas Legislature, industry associations, and the general public, and working effectively within the University's system of shared governance with faculty, the University's administration, the KU Medical Center Research Institute and the Kansas University Center for Research.