SSTI Digest

A revamped version of the $8 billion Universal Service Fund (USF) could be used to expand broadband access in underserved areas. On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed a plan to redirect the portion of the USF that provides incentives to extend phone service to high-cost areas to instead support high-speed data networks. A new program, the Connect America Fund, would consolidate several USF programs, eliminate some of the programs' inefficiencies and increase the availability of affordable broadband service. The proposal is the latest step in a series of changes planned by the FCC to implement its National Broadband Plan.

Starting in the spring, a new Small Business Association (SBA) loan program — the Community Advantage loan program— will increase the availability of loans (up to $250,000) to: 1) small businesses, 2) firms that are less than two-years old or 3) those owned by veterans. The program specifically will target businesses in low- to moderate-income communities. Currently, small businesses face difficulty receiving loans of this size due to perceived risk involved (historically high default rates). Nonprofit institutions and banks that participate in the SBA's Preferred Lender Program will be the providers of these SBA guaranteed loans. To incentivize lenders, loans will guarantee up to 85 percent. SBA will accept applications from interested lending institutions starting March 15. Read about the program ...

Sixteen percent of all high-impact, high-tech companies include at least one immigrant, according to a new report by the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings. They survey and consequent case studies found significant trends among immigrant entrepreneurs in the high-tech field. Respondents were found to be heavily rooted in the U.S. — 77 percent of them have become American citizens and almost 75 percent have lived in the U.S. for more than 15 years. In comparison to their domestic peers, immigrant entrepreneurs have much higher educational achievement (almost twice as likely to hold a doctoral degree). These individuals have a similar amount of work experience to their successful domestic counterparts (roughly 10 years). Finally, the number of immigrant entrepreneurs is roughly equal to the total immigrant population (13 percent). However, since 1990 the number of immigrants with a bachelors degree or above in a STEM related field has increased significantly.

With support from the Greater Cleveland Partnership, NorTech (the Northeast Ohio Technology Coalition) is accepting applications for the two positions below:

The Energy Enterprise Senior Consultant, reporting to the vice president and director, Energy Enterprise, is a key member of the NorTech Energy Enterprise team. NorTech Energy Enterprise is leading a collaborative regional effort to drive growth across all sectors in advanced energy and develop a thriving advanced energy industry cluster in which public, private and academic partners create and grow new technologies. The FlexMatters Senior Consultant is a key member of the NorTech FlexMatters team. NorTech FlexMatters is the regional innovation cluster emerging around the flexible electronics industry in Northeast Ohio. Flexible electronics is a new science and manufacturing opportunity for printing electronic devices on flexible plastic materials.

Following up on President Barack Obama's State of the Union pledge to focus on American competitiveness and innovation, the White House announced the Startup America initiative, a program to support and celebrate U.S. entrepreneurs. On Monday, a panel of cabinet members, White House officials, executives and economic development leaders provided an outline of the public/private effort, which has already generated $400 million in private commitments. Startup America aims to expand a number of federal programs to provide capital and mentoring services to entrepreneurs, and to create a nationwide partnership that will leverage private sector partners to provide entrepreneurial support resources. The initiative also will support the expansion of several existing TBED-related initiatives across the country.

Focusing on job growth and promoting the state for new business development, Gov. Brian Sandoval announced his plans to reorganize the Commission on Economic Development into a public-private partnership and increase funding for the state's economic development efforts by an additional $2.2 million in general fund appropriations each year. The governor also included in his 2011-13 biennial budget $10 million in FY12 for a proposed Nevada Catalyst Fund designed as a closing fund to bring new businesses to the state.

Although details on the proposed public-private partnership called Jobs Unlimited have yet to emerge, the governor said in his State of the State address that collaboration and tighter performance indicators would be the metrics of the new system. Many of the economic development proposals touted by the governor build on recommendations from the New Nevada Task Force, convened last year by the lieutenant governor.

Deep cuts to higher education and reorganizing economic development efforts are common themes in executive budget proposals across most of the country as governors seek to both reduce spending and create jobs. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad recently introduced legislation to replace the state's existing economic development agency with a public-private partnership. Meanwhile, his budget eliminates the Iowa Power Fund, established by the legislature in 2007 to invest in private sector renewable and alternative energy industries. In Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick recommends $10 million to continue state support for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, but also plans to collect $25 million from the state's quasi-public agencies and defer $5 million in tax credits slated for life science companies to help fill a projected deficit totaling up to $2.5 billion.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) intends to award $20 million in grants to support the construction of new or expanded scientific research facilities. The NIST Construction Grant Program (NCGP) provides competitively awarded, cost-shared grants (non-federal cost sharing of at least 20%) to support construction and expansion projects including laboratories, test facilities, measurement facilities, research computing facilities and observatories. Proposed projects should complement the research goals of one or more of the Department of Commerce's three science agencies — NIST, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Only institutions of higher education and nonprofit research organizations are eligible to receive funding. Awards will range from $5 to $10 million. The money will be distributed up to five years. Applicants must submit a letter of intent by February 24, 2011 to be included in the competition. Read the press release ...

The Technology Innovation Program (TIP), a program within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), released its Three-Year Plan covering proposed grant competition topics through FY 2014. Future TIP grant competitions may target specific research topics within eight areas of critical national need: civil infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, health care, water resources, complex networks and sustainability. For additional information regarding these topic areas or to comment on TIP's authored whitepapers visit http://www.nist.gov/tip/wp/index.cfm. Program officials emphasize that the three-year plan is not a formal solicitation for proposals. There are no current TIP competitions. Specific competitions related to these topics will be announced in the Federal Register, on grants.gov and on the TIP website. Read the plan ...

In March, Canada's Advanced Research and Innovation Network (CANARIE) will begin a pilot program designed to reduce the time and cost of bringing new information and communications technology (ICT) products, services and protocols to market. The Digital Accelerator for Innovation and Research (DAIR), a virtual research and development environment, will enable small and medium-sized ICT firms to create complex, large-scale products and demonstrate them to customers without building a costly, in-house R&D infrastructure. ICT researchers at universities across the country also will have access to the program allowing them to investigate next-generation Internet technologies. During the pilot program, DAIR will run on a dedicated portion of CANARIE's advanced research and education fiber-optic network. Read more about DAIR ...

U.S. venture capitalists invested $21.8 billion in 2010, a 19.4 percent increase over 2009 and the first increase in venture investment since 2007, according to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and PricewaterhouseCoopers Moneytree Survey. The growth in activity affected nearly every industry, particularly clean energy software and Internet-specific companies. Early stage investments, though not seed stage investments, grew by double-digits as did first-time financings. In addition to the gains in venture dollars, VC deals grew to 3,277, a 12 percent increase over 2009. Venture capital (VC) returns also have begun to improve for the 3, 5 and 10 year horizons, according to the Cambridge Associates and NVCA.

President Barack Obama called for a renewed commitment to American innovation, education and infrastructure to restore the country's competitive edge in his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday. The administration's "plan to win the future" includes stronger support for research and high-tech businesses in order to maintain leadership in a global economy dominated by technology-intensive industries. In order to encourage innovation, the president set the goal of providing high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of Americans in five years, preparing 100,000 STEM educators over the next ten years and producing 80 percent of the country's electricity from clean energy sources by 2035. Other major proposals include a five-year spending freeze for many domestic programs, which could reduce the federal deficit by an estimated $400 billion over the next ten years, and an end to congressional earmarks.