SSTI Digest

To ensure funding is available in future years for students who complete a more rigorous high school curriculum focused on math and science, the legislature set aside $400 million for performance-based scholarships in the capital budget. The FY12 operating budget also includes $6 million in first-year funding for the program, which will be available to high school students graduating in 2011. Lawmakers last year passed legislation establishing the Alaska Merit Scholarship Program, but failed to provide a funding source (see the April 28, 2010 issue of the Digest). High-performing students, including those taking four years of math and science, are eligible for the scholarships, which provide up to $4,755 annually for postsecondary education and job training. The educational endowment was first proposed by Gov. Sean Parnell in 2009.

The Slovenian parliament recently approved the Resolution on the Research and Innovation Strategy of Slovenia 2011-2020, a comprehensive strategy to establish "a contemporary research and innovation system that will ensure a higher quality of life within the country." According to the UNESCO Science Report, Slovenia is drastically ahead of their counterparts in Southeastern Europe. However, Slovenia still intends to double the government's science budget from 0.52 percent of GDP to almost 1.0 percent of GDP (approximately $554.9 million) in 2012 with an expected increase to 1.2 percent in 2020. By 2012, the government expects to exceed the European Union (EU) required gross domestic expenditure on research and development (R&D) established by the Barcelona Objective (3 percent of GDP).

Getting venture capitalists to invest their limited dollars in a particular business is difficult. Entrepreneurs must aggressively pursue potential investors and use every means at their disposal to pitch their business as a future revenue generator. A recent academic article attempts to explain the role that patenting and investment by the entrepreneur's family and friends play in this interplay between investor and investee. The authors of Show Me the Right Stuff: Signals for High Tech Startups examine the meaning that both patents and family and friends money hold for investors. They find that patents serve as a proxy for technology quality. Family and friends' funding (FFF), on the other hand, indicates the commitment level of the company founder. A mix of both signals yield the best results for firms seeking venture support.

Karel Schubert has been appointed executive director of the Bioscience Association of West Virginia. Schubert most recently founded and is the chief executive officer of BioSynectics, a St. Louis-based bioscience firm.

J. Michael Saul, deputy director of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, who served as interim director for a year, is stepping down. Saul had overseen the agency's capital programs such as the Small Business Loan Fund.

Chelsea Burket has joined the team at Fourth Economy as a research assistant.

TechNet and the Illinois Technology Association announced a new strategic partnership to collaborate on a dual state-federal policy and political program for Illinois' fast-growing and emerging technology companies. s

Speaking at the U.S. Economic Development Administration's (EDA) Southwest Region Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Albuquerque, N.M., U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development John Fernandez today unveiled a new website to connect Venture Development Organizations (VDO) in America's regions and accelerate economic development efforts that promote growth and job creation. The Regional Innovation Acceleration Network (RIAN) will bring VDOs together to share best practices and leverage resources that will strengthen regional economic ecosystems.

Developed in partnership with the State Science & Technology Institute, the new website — www.regionalinnovation.org — highlights how VDOs are helping entrepreneurs turn their innovations into businesses by providing direct funding and increasing access to capital.

Florida lawmakers approved legislation to reorganize economic development efforts by establishing a new government-run agency to coordinate programs and adding divisions to the public-private partnership, Enterprise Florida. Within the newly created Department of Economic Opportunity, lawmakers established a trust fund and approved $125 million for strategic investments.

The Department of Economic Opportunity will coordinate services and programs related to economic development, workforce development, community planning, and affordable housing. Gov. Rick Scott proposed an economic development overhaul in his State of the State address to consolidate and streamline services related to job creation. Enterprise Florida will remain the state's primary organization for economic development and continue to lead efforts to recruit and expand businesses, according to Florida Trend. The Black Business Investment Board and the Florida Sports Foundation will become divisions within Enterprise Florida and Space Florida and Visit Florida will contract with Enterprise Florida, but remain independent, the article states.

Lawmakers added another five years to the life of a bioscience program established in 2008 to encourage bioscience research and speed technology commercialization (see the May 14, 2008 issue of the Digest). Gov. John Hickenlooper this week signed into law HB 1283 extending the state's Bioscience Discovery Evaluation Grant program through July 2018. The enacted budget includes $5.5 million in FY12 from gambling tax revenues for the program to distribute proof-of-concept grants and provide support for early stage bioscience companies and infrastructure.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a five-year strategic plan for the agency, focused on education and research impact. Under the goals set in the report, NSF would weigh intellectual merit and the broader impacts of research more heavily when evaluating research proposals. The agency also would increase its use of resources, such as the STAR METRICS project, which provide a clearer assessment of the impact of science investments. Read the plan...

Over the last three years, 87 percent of companies have grown their product portfolio through incremental innovations, according to an Ernst & Young report — Competing for Growth Approximately 75 percent of new products developed are intended for consumers in the established markets of the developed world. Respondents, however, envision the new global shifting its focus away from these established markets towards the emerging markets. Seventy percent of respondents indicated that their companies are becoming more global due to the recession.

"Productivity growth is below the average rate of growth that has historically been recorded 39 months after a business cycle started," according to Growing Concerns About Future U.S. Competitiveness — a policy brief by the Center for American Progress. In this report, researchers examined several short-term economic trends (e.g., business investments and innovation) that help to stimulate long-term competitiveness. The brief contends that sagging productivity growth partly can be attributed to business investment that is at its lowest level in four decades and barely is keeping pace with the rates of depreciation on existing capital. Though, according to data, businesses have sufficient funds to finance more investment. The report also found that the U.S. innovation is lagging behind foreign innovation. According to utility patent data, the share patents granted to U.S. entities (49.1 percent) by the U.S. Patent Office is at an all time low. This continues a 15-year-long slide. Read the brief...

U.S. average venture capital deal size rose by 6.7 percent in 2010, after having fallen to its lowest point in a decade in 2009. While California leads in average deal size, Iowa has run a close second over the past five years. Iowa, Minnesota and Nevada are all among the middle ranks of states in terms of overall venture activity, but rank near the top in average deal size. These states depend on larger deals to sustain their competitiveness in capital access. Illinois, Colorado and Pennsylvania all ranked in the top 10 for venture activity in 2010, but have lower than average deal sizes. This indicates that activity in these states is driven by a high volume of smaller deals. SSTI has prepared a table of average venture capital deal size by state, 2005-2010. View the table...

Included below are recent development plans and groundbreaking news for research parks announced by officials in Connecticut, Colorado, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

Lawmakers last week advanced a bill to provide $25 million for a new research park at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as part of the Innovation Campus. The Innovation Campus includes a life sciences research center and a U.S. Department of Agriculture Research facility, reports Bloomberg.

University of Connecticut officials announced a plan to build an $18 million tech park financed with state bonds. The tech park will house large, flexible-use laboratories with specialized equipment for research and will provide space for business incubators and individual companies. The plan also includes $2.5 million in state funds to create the Innovation Partners Eminent Faculty program designed to attract top scientists.