SSTI Digest

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. Technology 2020 2007 Winner for the Building Entrepreneurial Capacity category Listen to this 12-minute clip of SSTI's interview with former Technology 2020 President and CEO Tom Rogers and Shawn Carson, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Growth. Technology 2020 is a public-private partnership established in 1995 in the East Tennessee Valley Region. Leveraging the assets of the region's federal technology resources with its own business development program, access to capital through three distinct equity programs, and the support of an innovation technology council, Technology 2020 has…

The need for state and local support for tech-based economic development grows more critical in the current recession, based on recent unemployment reports for key technology sectors. Layoffs at high-tech companies during the first quarter of 2009 were at their highest point since 2002, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. Reported job losses at tech companies totaled 84,217, up 27 percent over the fourth quarter of 2008 and up 485 percent over the first quarter last year. The job loss figures for the first quarter of 2009 already exceed the first two quarters of 2008 combined. Though the report does not take new hires into account, the news is discouraging for the high-tech sector, which has now endured its fifth consecutive quarter of increasing layoffs. Only the automotive sector and retail incurred more job losses in the first months of 2009. The Challenger, Gray and Christmas report includes computer, electronics and telecommunications companies in its definition of the high-tech sector. Telecom companies actually had fewer layoffs compared to the previous quarter, but electronics and computer companies experienced large losses. The…

Congress has been debating the need to revise U.S. patent law for years, and, while the debate certainly is not over, a significant hurdle was passed last week when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 15-4 to move S.515, as amended, for full Senate consideration.  Several provisions in the bill as introduced had met opposition from vocally significant groups, such as the biotech and academic communities. On the other side of the issue have been equally powerful players such as large information technology & communications companies. S.515, the Patent Reform Act of 2009, amends federal patent law to rewrite provisions concerning the conditions for patentability. Foremost among the changes is the adoption of a first-to-file patent system that defines the "effective filing date of a claimed invention" as the filing date of the patent or the application for patent containing the claim to the invention. By abandoning the first-to-invent system, the move brings the U.S. patent system in line with the rest of the developed world. Other provisions of the bill revise various rights and requirements related to patents regarding: damages; post-…

With a $25 million funding opportunity currently on the streets for manufacturing and infrastructure research projects, the Technology Innovation Program (TIP) has added three more locations and dates for proposers' conferences next week. The free public meetings will provide general information regarding TIP, guidance on preparing proposals, and the opportunity for questions and answers. NIST/TIP staff will answer questions about the TIP eligibility and cost-sharing requirements, evaluation and award criteria, selection process, and the general characteristics of a competitive TIP proposal at the Proposers' Conferences and by phone and email. Monday, April 13, 2009 Boston Massachusetts 1PM - 5PM Eastern Time Marriott Boston Cambridge Wednesday, April 15, 2009 Detroit Michigan 1PM - 5PM Eastern Time Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center Friday, April 17, 2009 San Jose California 9AM - 1PM Pacific Time San Jose Marriott Pre-registration is not required to attend any of the three meetings. The points of contact at TIP for information are: Margaret Phillips, 301-975-4350 or Donna Paul, 301-975-…

Growth is most noticeable in dogs, cats and humans when they are puppies, kittens and infants. A new analysis by the Kauffman Foundation looking at the Census Bureau's Business Dynamics Statistics reveals the same phenomenon in businesses: growth, as measured by net employment, is most significant for younger companies compared to their more mature counterparts.  Infant mortality of young firms is very high, though - nearly 20 percent of all jobs at very young startups are lost due to the businesses failing within the first year. Nevertheless, net employment growth in the firms that survive their first birthday is 15 percent. The net employment growth gradually tapers off as firms mature, but so, too, does the risk of failure and closing.  The Kauffman Foundation terms this an "up or out" pattern. The findings suggest TBED policies and investments that help to increase the survivability of young startups can lead to sustained employment growth, although at a lower incremental rate. Another possible implication for TBED programs could be to influence the importance of metrics that look at jobs sustained as much as annual job creation by client…

In 2006, three Arizona CEO groups joined forces to create Science Foundation Arizona (SFAz), a nonprofit public-private partnership charged with making strategic investments to support university research, new high-tech businesses, K-12 STEM education and to leverage outside investment. The state provided public support for these efforts through the 21st Century Fund, which in its first year included $35 million for SFAz's grant programs. Recently, however, Arizona has begun cutting back their TBED investments through SFAz. Originally, the state had planned to allocate $25 million a year to the 21st Century Fund through FY10, but reduced the allocation in its second year and eliminated funding for FY09 (see the February 4, 2009 issue). Legislators are now considering omitting SFAz funding from the FY10 budget. To demonstrate the value of the organization, SFAz has released a new report detailing the contribution the state's investments have made and the additional work needed to build a competitive high-tech economy. SFAz's new report is being promoted as the first in a series of annual report cards measuring the state's progress in building an innovative economy…

Last week the South Carolina Higher Education Study Committee, formed by the General Assembly in 2007, released its action plan to improve postsecondary education and economic opportunity within the state. Leveraging Higher Education for a Stronger South Carolina outlines more than 100 recommendations distributed among the following four goals: making South Carolina one of the most educated states in the nation; increasing innovation and research; improving workforce training and educational services; and, realizing the state's potential. The recommendations target workforce improvement for industry sectors expected to grow by 15 percent by 2016. The report identifies these sectors as information, health care, utilities, administrative support, waste management and remediation, educational services, real estate, and management of companies. The fiscal environment for making the investments to implement the plan presents a formidable challenge. According to recent press coverage of the report's release by the Charleston Post and Courier, South Carolina's support for higher education dropped by 17.7 percent from 2007/08 to 2008/09 - the greatest one-year decline in…

Karl Fooks, a past managing director for J.P. Morgan & Co. in Asia, is the new president of the Hawaii Strategic Development Corporation. Fooks replaces John Chock who retired last year. The U.S. Senate confirmed by unanimous consent President Barack Obama's nomination of Karen Gordon Mills as the 23rd Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation has named Stephen M. Hourigan executive director of the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund. He also will oversee the state's entrepreneurship efforts. Hourigan replaces Bruce Kidd who resigned in December. Innovate Texas Foundation was launched to enhance Texas' competitiveness in bringing promising technologies to the marketplace and creating high-value jobs in the state. David Guajardo Nance will become the Foundation's first executive director. Northern Kentucky University and their alliance partners have formed the Northern Kentucky Entrepreneurial Alliance to promote entrepreneurship in the region. Bill Taylor, the longtime head of Mercedes-Benz's Alabama operations, will become president of the Economic Development Partnership of…

Virginia lawmakers passed a bill last month supporting the state's bioscience industry and providing incentives to investors for bioscience and advanced technology commercialization. The legislation comprised all of the top recommendations from the 2008 Joint Legislative Subcommittee on the Biosciences. The bill changes the existing Commonwealth Technology Research Fund to the Commonwealth Research Fund to better focus on key areas of R&D, emphasize the importance of commercialization of R&D through matching funds programs, and to provide a loan program for the construction of facilities used in commercializing research. The Innovative Technology Authority would continue to administer the fund and establish and maintain specific guidelines for awarding funds. Specifically, the bill: Establishes the Bioscience Investment Tax Credit, limiting the existing qualified equity and subordinated debt investment tax credit, known as the Angel Investor Tax Credit, to bioscience and other advanced technology startups, and reserves up to 50 percent of the available credit for tech-transfer spin-outs from universities; Makes changes to Virginia's Technology…

Vermont Governor James Douglas has released a plan to spend some of the state's share of funds from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on building a stronger base for technology-based growth. The $17.1 million SmartVermont suite of proposals includes funding for technology company loans, lending to small businesses, seed capital for entrepreneurs and support for regional economic development projects. Governor Douglas' office estimates that the investment would attract another $140 million in private capital to support the state's economic development goals. The Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) would house most of the new and expanded programs covered in the SmartVermont plan. A new Technology Loan program at VEDA would use a $1 million investment from the ARRA funds to secure up to $6 million in loans and attract an additional $4 million in private capital for high-tech companies. These loans would target strategic industries and expansion projects to further the state's economic development goals. A new VEDA seed capital fund would help seed and startup stage companies obtain early-stage capital. The plan calls for $4 million in…

The Technology Innovation Program (TIP) in the National Institute of Standards and Technology is using its FY09 award competition to support high-risk, high-reward research in civil infrastructure and manufacturing. The program has $25 million available to support as many as 25 new awards. TIP is open to individual small-sized or medium-sized businesses or to joint ventures that also may include institutions of higher education, nonprofit research organizations and national laboratories. TIP awards are limited to no more than $3 million total over three years for a single company project and no more than $9 million total over five years for a joint venture. Approximately $15 million in first-year funding is allocated for R&D projects in manufacturing that would enable better, more cost-effective use of advanced materials in innovative products. The competition is limited to the three classes of materials considered most critical to potential growth areas for manufacturing: technologies for nanomaterials; composites and superalloys, alloys; and smart materials. TIP is seeking proposals for new technologies for predictive modeling to enable improved material…

On March 30, the National Institutes of Health announced a new funding opportunity to use up to $100 million of Recovery Act funds to enable academic institutions "to hire, provide appropriate start-up packages, and develop pilot research projects for newly independent investigators, with the goal of augmenting and expanding the institution's community of multidisciplinary researchers focusing on areas of biomedical research relevant to NIH."  Sounds worthy enough, right? It is like an eminent scholar, endowed chair, or centers of excellence program at the national level. Just recently SSTI wrote about Canada having a $2.3 billion decade-long program that is supporting nearly 2,000 university research chairs in several disciplines (see Feb 25, 2009 Digest). At least 25 percent of the Canadian Research Chairs were recruited from the United States. A similar program dedicated to biomedical research should be good for the U.S., However. Without the goal of recruiting faculty from outside the geographic area targeted for benefit means some areas of the United States could lose - not only be unsuccessful in the competition for this new pool of NIH funds…