SSTI Digest

Steven Chu, Secretary of the Department of Energy, announced $2 million in available funding for the National University Clean Energy Business Challenge — a nationwide network of regional university-based clean energy business creation competitions. The intent of the initiative is to "inspire, mentor and train students from across the country to develop successful business plans to create a new generation of American clean energy companies." Participating teams of students will work with experienced mentors from the energy industry and startup community, along with university and national lab-based researchers, to develop the business plans. The winning teams from the regional competitions will compete for a National Grand Prize at a competition held in Washington, D.C., in early summer 2012.

Gov. Pat Quinn this week signed into law two bills in support of tech-based companies and student entrepreneurs. SB 107 builds on the state's Technology Development Account, which allows the state to invest up to 1 percent of its investment portfolio in venture capital firms that in turn invest in technology-based businesses. The new law increases the amount to 2 percent. Companies may use the funding for R&D, marketing new products and workforce expansion. Another bill signed by Gov. Quinn creates the Higher Education Technology Entrepreneur Center Act. This allows the board of trustees at the state's public universities and community colleges to establish a technology entrepreneur center. The centers will offer mentors, workshops, a structured course of work study to bring an innovation from concept to market, and provide contacts with potential private-sector investors.

Michigan's InvestMichigan! Mezzanine Fund is slated to become the Small Business Administration's (SBA) first licensed Impact Investment Fund through the agency's new Impact Investment Initiative. The SBA initiative, which is part of the White House's Startup America initiative, uses the existing infrastructure of the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program to encourage small business growth. Participating funds must make place-based investments in small businesses in underserved areas, or investments in the clean energy and education sectors. SBA will provide $80 million to the Michigan fund, along with another $15 million from Dow Chemical Company and $35 million from Michigan Growth Capital Partners. Read the announcement...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently awarded a five-year, $10 million grant to the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) to create a national center for entrepreneurship engineering. STVP will partner with the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) to develop resources for undergraduate entrepreneurship programs at engineering schools across the country. Read the announcement...

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper unveiled the Colorado Blueprint: A Bottom-up Approach to Economic Development, "a document that responds to outlines the steps that will be taken by the Hickenlooper Administration over the next few years to support and promote economic development across Colorado. "The plan consists of six focus areas and 24 action items to spur the state's economic development. The six areas are: Making Colorado more business friendly; Recruiting and retaining businesses; Increasing access to loans for businesses; Increasing tourism; Workforce training; and, Cultivating innovation and technology.

The diversity and scope of a federal laboratory's mission, congressional support and oversight, and the centralization/decentralization of technology transfer functions at the agency and laboratory levels are among the factors that affect technology transfer and commercialization at federal laboratories, according to a recent report sponsored by the Department of Commerce. Findings are based on literature review and discussions with technology transfer personnel at federal agencies and laboratories.

In conducting a review on peer-reviewed publications and texts and through interviews, the authors found that underfunding of technology transfer that leads to commercialization is still a significant problem today. When asked what barriers prevented them from doing more technology transfer that leads to commercialization, the most common answer from researchers was a lack of dedicated and sustained resources.

About 60 percent of U.S. academic R&D spending support research in the life sciences, according to data released by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Engineering R&D, the second largest target of spending, accounted for 15.7 percent of total academic research expenditures. While California leads the country in total spending in every science and engineering field, the District of Columbia leads in per capita spending in life sciences, physical sciences, psychology and social sciences. Other leaders in per capita spending include Maryland (math and computer sciences, and engineering) and Alaska (environmental sciences).

SSTI has prepared a table showing total and per capita academic R&D expenditures by state and by field of study. The Excel version includes tabs for each field, which include state rank, per capita spending and rank of per capita spending. (See the June 20, 2011 issue for total 2004-09 expenditures and spending by funding source.)

The High Technology Development Corporation, an agency of the State of Hawaii, is responsible for promoting and advancing technology-based economic development in Hawaii. They are currently seeking applicants for two positions:

HTDC Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program Coordinator will mainly provide project support and assistance to the HTDC MEP center director and MEP project manager, reviewing documents to ensure state and federal regulatory compliance plus assisting with tracking, compiling and enter project progress data. HTDC Economic Development Specialist will work closely with the HTDC executive team to plan, organize, staff, implement, and track projects as well as provide support for programs and innovation centers across the state.

Lawmakers in several states wrapped up their 2011 sessions in time for the new fiscal year, which begins on July 1 for most states, allocating funds and passing bills in support of tech-based economic development. Read more...

Delaware lawmakers established a new Job Creation Tax Credit and extended the scope to include clean energy technologies. Read more...

Maine Gov. Paul LePage signed a bill expanding the state's Seed Capital Tax Credit. Read more...

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed Iowa House File 590 into law, establishing a new economic development public-private partnership. The Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress (IPEP) will be comprised of two separate entities — the Iowa Economic Development Authority and the Iowa Innovation Corporation. IPEP replaces the embattled Iowa Department of Economic Development. The passage of the bill achieves one of Gov. Brandstad's top campaign priorities to shift the state's economic development efforts away from government and more toward the private sector. The Iowa Business Council (IBC), a nonprofit organization, also released a new report that looks at the Iowa competitive advantage relative to other states over a 10-year period.

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) has issued a request for public comments on the structure of Economic Visioning Challenge, part of the recently announced Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) initiative (see the 07/13/11 issue for details). EDA will administer the challenge, which will competitively select six cities to receive $1 million grants so that those cities can offer an "X-prize style" competition to develop economic and community development proposals. Read the request...

In a Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts and Core Ideas, an 18-member committee comprised of experts in education and scientists proposes a foundation for new national K-12 science education standards. The report identifies core ideas in four areas that students should understand by the time they finish high school. The four areas include: