SSTI Digest

Using $62.5 million earmarked from the state energy program federal grant provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Tennessee will create a solar institute, a solar farm five-megawatt power generation demonstration project, and implement additional renewable energy activities as part of the Volunteer State Solar Initiative approved last month by lawmakers.

Mark your calendar for Oct. 21-23 to attend SSTI's 13th annual conference Seize The Moment in Overland Park, Kansas! Past attendees know SSTI's conference is the premiere professional development event for the TBED community. And 2009 will be no exception. Back by popular demand, we will be offering an array of pre-conference workshops on Oct. 21.

The challenges facing the economy reveal the need has never been greater for universities, companies, and government working together to spark innovation and seize the opportunities presented by the current economy.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick recently announced plans to develop a $100 million high-performance computing center powered by clean and renewable energy in the small city of Holyoke. The center will be managed by a consortium of state agencies, universities and technology companies including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Massachusetts, Cisco Systems and EMC Corp.. Universities and high-tech businesses will be able to access the center's resources, which local leaders hope could boost the local high-tech economy.

Minorities receive fewer approvals and lower cash awards through the Department of Treasury's New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), according to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. From 2005-2008, non-minority Community Development Entities (CDEs) were successful with 26.8 percent of their applications, with 14.7 percent awarded the dollar amount requested, whereas application from minority-owned groups were successful with just 9.1 percent and with those successful applications, 4.1 percent of the dollar amount requested was awarded.

Administered under the Department of Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI), the NMTC provides a tax credit for investing in a CDE, which reinvests funds in low-income communities.

The methods of measuring the "innovativeness" of a region take many forms, including metrics which gauge the concentration of those inventing new ideas though patents. From data made available through the Office of the University Economist at Arizona State University, one can track over time the number of patent inventors per capita by metro area.

SSTI has adapted a table made available though ASU Economist Dennis Hoffman that highlights the number of inventors per 1,000 residents in each metro and their relative rank for 357 metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S.

Data identified by a single year in this chart actually refers to an average value in the number of inventors over the preceding five years. According to ASU, "the geographic allocation of a patent granted is determined by the residence of the first-named inventor at the time of the grant."

The Piedmont Triad Research Park laid off Bill Dean, director of the park, and Nancy Johnson, marketing director. Park officials said that the park's project manager and executive assistant also were laid off.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter announced that he has tapped Don Elliman, director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development, to serve as the state government's first chief operating officer.

Listen to SSTI's Interview with Wayne Sumple and Bob Torrani of the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT)

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.

New evidence suggests that venture capitalists increasingly view international investment as the future of the industry. The 2009 Global Venture Capital Survey, conducted by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and Deloitte, finds that 52 percent of venture capitalists around the world are currently investing outside their home country. Most investors also believe that their involvement with international partners will increase in the near future. Fifty-four percent of respondents predict that their number of limited partners outside their home country will increase over the next three years. Overseas investment means new opportunities for venture firms, but for U.S. firms, particularly those in areas without a strong local venture industry, this trend could mean that attracting the attention of investors will soon become even more difficult that it is now.

On June 18, the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship will markup S. 1233, a bill to reauthorize and expand the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Both programs are within weeks of expiring on July 30.

The bill was introduced June 10 by committee chair Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and co-sponsored by ranking minority member on the Committee, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) became a co-sponsor on June 15. Additional senators in both parties are expected to join the list of co-sponsors as the bill encompasses a compromise many analysts see as palatable to address some of the thorniest issues for SBIR's reauthorization.

A new Pew Charitable Trusts report finds far-reaching national benefits to the growth of the clean energy sector. Between 1998 and 2007, clean energy jobs grew by 9.1 percent, while total jobs grew by only 3.7 percent according to data collected by Pew. While the industry is still in infancy, its growth rate over the past decade has outpaced other emerging technology sectors that have been the focus of TBED efforts, including biotechnology.

The Pew report addresses the challenge of defining what the clean energy economy is and what types of jobs can be categorized as green jobs. They define the clean energy economy as being comprised of five categories:

Gov. Deval Patrick announced last week a venture funds competition providing seed money and mentoring to support new business development, adding to a growing number of states seeking to boost entrepreneurial efforts during the economic downturn (see the March 5, 2009 issue of the Digest).

Supported through a $100,000 planning grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's John Adams Innovation Institute, the MassChallenge Venture Funds Competition will solicit startup plans from academics and professionals around the world and select winners to receive funding for immediate launch, according to a press release. Selected companies must be headquartered in the state, create at least five jobs, and secure matching investment funds.

Gov. Bob Riley signed a bill last month extending tax credits and incentives to knowledge-based industries and green employers to encourage growth and expansion in these fields throughout the state.

Touted by the governor's office as a recruitment tool to influence the location decision for thousands of new jobs, the bill extends capital credits and tax abatements currently offered to new and expanding manufacturers to corporate headquarters, R&D facilities, and producers of electricity or natural gas from biomass or renewable energy resources, cellulosic biofuel producers, and other green employers. The bill also extends Alabama's 20-year credit period existing under the corporate income tax Capital Credit program to 30 years and updates the base wage requirement to $15 per hour.