SSTI Digest

On June 24 from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. in Washington, DC, SSTI is co-hosting a meeting with officials from the Technology Innovation Program (TIP) and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) that we encourage you or one of your colleagues to attend. TIP and MEP are two of the most market-driven programs operated by the federal government. Both programs have launched new investments and innovative services in the last year. The meeting will give you a chance to learn about: New federal funding opportunities; New resources to support early-stage research; New products and services to expand manufacturing; New tools to help foster growth and innovation in companies you work with; New models to accelerate technology commercialization and translation; and, New ideas about ways to integrate state, local,and federal investments. Who should attend? Company officials responsible for new product development; Local and regional economic developers interested in innovation; University technology transfer officials; Managers from non-profits interested in commercialization of new technologies; and, State agency technology program managers.…

Earlier this year, Congress and President Obama, seeing an opportunity to stimulate the economy while improving the nation's digital infrastructure, set aside $7.2 billion for broadband programs in the 2009 Recovery Act (read SSTI's analysis of the Recovery Act in the February 19 issue). Citing the need for a modernized digital infrastructure to ensure U.S. competitiveness, the act included funding for broadband mapping and deployment to help make sure that all Americans have access to high-speed Internet services. A controversy, however, has grown in the wake of the Recovery Act over how that money should be spent. The federal Recovery Act allocates $350 million for a new program called the State Broadband Data and Development Grant program, which is intended to help develop and maintain a national broadband inventory map. The program, to be administered jointly by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will help develop and maintain a national broadband inventory map. Last week, the Wall Street Journal published a story examining the controversy over Connected Nation Inc., the…

Seven emerging research universities in Texas would receive funding and incentives to help advance their status to nationally-recognized tier one schools following passage of HB 51, awaiting Gov. Rick Perry's signature. The bill would create three funding pools and establish methods to achieve tier one status, which generally is referred to as a high-performing research university having at least $100 million in federal research grants annually, selective admissions, and low student-faculty ratios. The following funds would be established under the bill and require the universities to increase research, raise private funds, and meet benchmarks required for tier one distinction: The Research University Development Fund would provide funding to support recruitment and retention of highly-qualified faculty and enhancement of research productivity. The Texas Research Incentive Program would provide matching grants based on the amount of donations from private sources. The National Research University Fund, a fund outside the state treasury, would provide funding incentives based on a point system to reward universities that meet certain criteria, such as the value of…

During the last week of the legislative session, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed two bills into law - one dealing with R&D tax credits and the other authorizing the development of a statewide biotechnology strategic plan. The biotech plan, as outlined in LB 246, calls for the creation of a nonprofit corporation to provide research assistance and recommendations to the Legislature's Natural Resources Committee by June 30 of next year. A finalized plan must then be presented by the committee to the Legislature. LB 555 maintains the state's R&D tax credit for companies at 15 percent of the federal R&D tax credit, but raises the state credit to 35 percent of the federal credit if a company's research activities take place on the campus or any other facility owned by a Nebraska college or university. While the bill as introduced in January doubled the tax credit across the state regardless if a company engaged a postsecondary institution, the amended and signed version did not. The law is designed to improve university-based collaborative research, especially at university owned research parks such as the new Nebraska Innovation Campus (see the April 30, 2008…

As the Nevada Legislature concluded its biennial session last week, Gov. Jim Gibbons signed several bills relating to renewable energy. In particular, SB 358 creates the position of Nevada Energy Commissionerwith responsibilities - among other duties - to review policies related to the R&D of geothermal energy in Nevada and to work with renewable energy developers in identifying suitable sites for their needs. As the Associated Press reported in their coverage of the bill's passage, the process of attaining land in Nevada is sometimes a cumbersome process because 86 percent of the state is controlled by the federal government. The signed AB 522 also sets the duties of this new position, allowing the Energy Commissioner to grant abatements of property and local sales and use taxes for up to a 40-year period for facilities that generate, process, or transmit renewable energy. This bill additionally renews tax abatements for renewable energy that were going to expire in July. Gov. Gibbons also signed SB 152, which steers federal stimulus dollars from the 2009 Recovery Act to training programs in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy, especially in the…

Over the past few decades, state and local policymakers have approached the task of increasing regional innovative activity from a number of directions. Leaders have deployed plans to increase the amount of available capital, to train entrepreneurs, to attract research-based companies and other strategies to create a thriving innovation economy. A key issue in this pursuit is how to keep the beneficial results of these efforts local. Investing in commercializing new technologies at a local university can lead to new companies that then leave the region, undermining the local effort to support and keep those new firms. So, what kinds of strategies produce local results? A recent working paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia finds that local human capital is the most important variable in explaining why some regions patent at higher rates than others. Authors Gerald Carlino and Robert Hunt conclude that the education level of the local workforce is directly related to its innovative activity. While the paper itself does not connect patents to economic growth, it comes on the heels of another article, published last year by Carlino and Albert Diaz…

Last week the Bureau of Economic Analysis released advance 2008 and revised 2005-2007 statistics concerning GDP by state. Using these updated statistics, SSTI has prepared a table showing the real GDP for each state from 2004 to 2008 (in chained 2000 dollars), the percent change from 2007 to 2008, the five-year percent change, and the rank of each state's five-year change. From 2007 to 2008, U.S. real GDP by state increased by 0.7 percent. Over that same one-year span, 12 states had a decrease in real GDP. Alaska had the steepest decline at 2 percent, followed by Delaware and Florida both declining by 1.6 percent. On the other end of the spectrum, North Dakota's real GDP rose by 7.3 percent from 2007 to 2008, followed by Wyoming at 4.4 percent and the District of Columbia at 3 percent. Twenty-seven states over the one-year period had a larger percent increase than the U.S. as a whole. Looking at the five-year window, U.S. GDP grew by 8.9 percent from 2004 to 2008. North Dakota led the country in this time interval as well, with its real GDP growing by 21.6 percent. Rounding off the top five by percent increase were Utah (20.2%), Oregon (16.8%), Arizona (16.4%), and…

Listen to SSTI's Interview with Jim Poulos of the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) 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. Maryland Technology Transfer Fund 2008 Winner for the Commercializing Research category Listen to a four-and-a-half-minute clip of SSTI's interview with TEDCO Director of Technology Transfer and Commercialization Jim Poulos or the full conversation (10 minutes). The primary goal of the Maryland Technology Transfer Fund is to grow a technology-based economy in the state of…

With less money to spend on risky endeavors, many states are taking more targeted approaches toward economic development, seeking out sectors of the economy they consider most likely to grow and be sustainable beyond current conditions. In Hawaii, for example, lawmakers established an Aerospace Advisory Committee this session seeking long-term growth in aerospace-related industries. Missouri legislators, meanwhile, passed an "emergency jobs bill" expanding tax credits for technology business projects, and North Dakota lawmakers increased funding for agricultural research and infrastructure. The following overview provides highlights of approved budgets and legislation from the 2009 sessions in Hawaii, Missouri and North Dakota. Hawaii Lawmakers agreed to a scaled-back restructuring plan for the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), separating one division from the department and transferring two attached agencies to other departments. A proposal introduced earlier in the session called for the removal of several programs from DBEDT, including transferring the state's lead TBED organization, the High Technology…

In a special session on Tuesday, the Vermont Legislature enacted the state's FY10 budget, overriding last week's veto by Governor Jim Douglas. The budget eliminates or reduces funding for many programs related to economic development and TBED, cutbacks which were cited as concerns by Gov. Douglas in his veto announcement. The $4.5 billion budget includes $4 million in economic development incentives to be administered through the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA), significantly less than the $11 million proposed by the governor. The Vermont Telecommunications Authority (VTA) will receive only $500,000, which the governor says will effectively shut down the organization by September. VTA has played an integral role in the state's unfinished plan to provide border-to-border cell phone and wireless data access. Funding has been zeroed-out for the Next Generation program, which provided support for college scholarships and workforce training, including technology-related internships. Also left out of the final bill is Gov. Douglas' SmartVermont plan to leverage federal stimulus funds, which would have provided $17.2 million for…

Can you afford to miss out on valuable publicity for your organization's outstanding accomplishments, particularly as legislators look for places to cut spending? SSTI's Excellence in TBED Award can help you build recognition for your organization and gain support to continue your critical tech-based economic development efforts. Every group working toward building a tech-based economy has a story tell, and we want to hear yours. There is still time to apply for the most prestigious recognition in the TBED field. Simply submit a five-page narrative describing your organization's most successful efforts by the June 16 deadline. Your application will be evaluated by a committee of distinguished policymakers and practitioners serving as judges. Winners will be recognized during a highly-anticipated ceremony at SSTI's annual conference Oct. 22-23 in Overland Park, KS. More information about the awards is available at: www.sstiawards.org. Download or subscribe to podcasts featuring exclusive interviews with past Excellence in TBED Award Winners: http://www.ssti.org/Awards/podcasts.htm.

Gov. Charlie Crist signed Florida's $66.5 billion 2009-10 budget into law last week, providing a mixed bag of funding outcomes for the state's existing economic development programs. The two main components of the Florida Biomedical Research Programs administered by the Florida Department of Health emerge with large funding increases. The James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program will be given $27.2 million from the state biomedical research trust fund in FY09-10, up from $9.9 million in the previous year. Similarly, the Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program will receive $25.0 million, an increase from $9.0 million last year. Enterprise Florida, the state's main economic development organization, will receive $12.4 million - up from $11.9 million in the previous budget. Space Florida, concentrating on aerospace development, will receive $3.8 million - down from $4.0 million in the previous budget. Just over $21.1 million will be used for the Qualified Target Industries Tax Refund Incentive, Qualified Defense Contractors Tax Refund Incentive, and the High Impact Performance Incentive programs, collectively a decrease of $500,000 from the previous fiscal…