SSTI Digest

David Onley, Ontario's Lieutenant Governor, announced earlier this month a plan to add space in colleges and universities for 20,000 students this year with the goal of raising Ontario's postsecondary enrollment rate to 70 percent. The plan also includes the creation of a new Ontario Online Institute and the development of a strategy to improve the quality of Ontario's postsecondary education system with input from leaders in education and business. The announcement is part of the five-year Open Ontario Plan that also includes a new Water Opportunities Act, targeting the clean-water technology sector among other initiatives. Read the press release.

The United Kingdom's new space agency will begin operations on April 1. The UK Space Agency will consolidate the U.K.'s civil space efforts and spur activity within the aerospace technology sector. A new $60.3 million International Space Innovation Centre within the European Space Agency facility also was announced. More information is available at: http://www.bnsc.gov.uk

The Minnesota legislature has passed a 25 percent tax credit for individuals and pooled funds that invest in early-stage high-tech businesses as part of a new jobs bill. Up to $17 million in tax credits will be available in FY11, with $12 million a year available in FY12 and afterward. The credits apply to investments in companies with fewer than 25 employees and less than $2 million in private capital.  Read the complete bill.

SSTI's interview with Bob Starzynski of Innovation Works' Innovation Adoption Grant Fund, 2009 recipient of the Excellence in TBED Award in the category Improving Competitiveness of Existing Industries, provides an honest, in-depth account of best practices and lessons learned that earned this program national recognition. Click here to listen to the interview and learn more about the program.

Bryan Allinson has joined Ohio University as director of technology transfer.

Martha Connolly, director of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute Maryland Industrial Partnership program (MIPS) at the University of Maryland, was given the President's Award at the Greater Baltimore Committee's fifth annual Bioscience Awards ceremony. In 2007, the MIPS program received an SSTI Excellence in TBED Award in the Improving Competitiveness of Existing Industries Category.

Stephen Cross has been selected as Georgia Tech's executive vice president for research. Cross has served as vice president and director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute since 2003.

Friday March 26, 2010 > Web Version   > Unsubscribe "By setting this up as a grant, we hope to help companies make that leap of faith with their R&D efforts." - Bob Starzynski

"By setting this up as a grant, we hope to help companies make that leap of faith with their R&D efforts." - Will Indest

Click here to listen to SSTI's Interview with Will Indest of TechColumbus SSTI has an effective new learning tool for TBED policymakers and practitioners seeking guidance in approaches to building and sustaining tech-based economies. Through exclusive interviews with Excellence in TBED Award recipients, find out first-hand how these award-winning initiatives successfully responded to a critical need by applying innovative approaches to generate substantial economic gains for their region.

The $29.3 billion total spending plan for FY11 outlined last week by Gov. Chris Christie eliminates or significantly reduces funding for business incentive programs, including InvestNJ and funding for high-tech business tax credits. In place of the programs, the New Jersey Partnership for Action would be established as a new one-stop-shop to assist businesses in relocation, retention and incentive development.

First announced by the governor in his State of the State address, the New Jersey Partnership for Action would serve as a collaborative public-private partnership to focus on job creation and economic growth and is envisioned as an umbrella organization for New Jersey business incentive programs. Gov. Christie's proposal eliminates FY11 funding for InvestNJ, redirecting $22 million from the program to the Main Street Program, a revitalization initiative that promotes the historic and economic redevelopment of traditional business districts in New Jersey.

Between 2003 and 2007 R&D spending at U.S. small businesses increased by 38.8 percent, according to a recent National Science Foundation InfoBrief. During that period the share of U.S. R&D done by firms with fewer than 500 employees increased from 17.9 percent to 18.7 percent. R&D intensity at small firms also increased from 3.1 percent of company sales revenues to 8.6 percent. Read the NSF InfoBrief "Indicators of U.S. Small Business' Role in R&D" at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf10304/?org=NSF

Gov. Chet Culver last week signed legislation creating the Iowa Innovation Council to advise the state's Department of Economic Development on policies that enhance innovation and entrepreneurship in high-growth industries such as advanced manufacturing, bioscience, and information technology. The council will be led by a group of volunteer private business leaders with expertise in the targeted industry sectors and charged with creating a strategic plan for implementing specific policies and coordinating state government applications for federal funds related to R&D. Three of the state's existing councils, the Bioscience Alliance, Advanced Manufacturing Council, and Information Technology Council are consolidated within the new policy group. The enrolled version of HF 2076 is available at: http://www.legis.state.ia.us

For the first time in more than a decade, U.S. patent activity did not increase in 2008 over the previous year, according to IEEE Spectrum's Patent Power rankings. The annual report, which ranks companies, universities and research institutions by the quality of their U.S. patent portfolio, also finds that the number of U.S.-based organizations that placed within the top tier of IEEE's rankings-by-industry had fallen by 30 percent. Japan-based organizations, on the other hand, had a strong showing in the most recent report and now dominate the top spots in the automotive, electronics, chemical and semiconductor industry rankings.

The Governors' Wind Energy Coalition, a group of 29 U.S. governors, recently released a list of recommendations for Congressional action to spur the development of the wind energy industry. Recommendations include a renewable electricity standard, funding for an interstate electric transmission system and an expansion of the Department of Energy's support for state programs. The group notes that these goals line up closely with the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, which passed in the House of Representatives last year and is now under review in the Senate. Read the full report at: http://www.governorswindenergycoalition.org/assets/files/10GWEC-003_GreatExp_lores.pdf