SSTI Digest

Iowa legislators adjourned the 2009 session last week after voting in favor of Gov. Chet Culver's multi-million dollar I-JOBS initiative, providing $35 million for broadband access and alternative energy projects. The compromise plan approved by lawmakers allocates $715 million for investments in infrastructure, jobs, the environment, and flood relief through the issuance of bonds paid for with gaming revenue and existing tax revenues, according to the governor's office.

To improve the state's telecommunications infrastructure, $25 million will be leveraged with up to $500 million in federal funding for improved broadband access. The goal is to put in place a system worth about $1 billion when combined with private investments to replace the current system of low- and high-speed connections scattered throughout the state, according to a Des Moines Register article.

The Montana Legislature adjourned last week after passing an $8 billion biennial budget for FY10 and FY11. The state Department of Commerce was allocated $74.9 million over the biennium, $1.7 million more than the governor's request. Newly funded initiatives within the department include $3.7 million over the biennium for workforce training grants through the New Worker Training program, $1.6 million for tribal economic development projects, $2 million for high-performance computing and $2.5 million in FY10 for biomedical research grants. No funding was provided for the Montana Fund-of-Funds, which was created under the 2005 Montana Equity Capital Act but has yet to be funded.

Because fewer than 100 legislators voted in favor of the appropriations bill, Governor Schweitzer retains line item authority for the budget.

The first report from Canada's new Science Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) concludes in the State of the Nation 2008 that the status quo is not good enough and more has to be done to sustain the country's innovation system.

Established by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2007, Canada's STIC is the equivalent of the President's Council of Advisors for Science & Technology, or PCAST, in the U.S. Most of State of the Nation 2008 presents a statistical case for why Canada must be more aggressive in its innovation policies through comparison with other industrialized countries using more than 50 indicators of performance. In addition, the report profiles several regional and national efforts within Canada that are supporting innovation.

On a per capita basis, R&D obligations from the federal government to U.S. universities and colleges increased by 16 percent from FY 2002 to 2006, rising to $85.30 per person in FY06. Total U.S. federal R&D obligations to academia increased by 17.4 percent over the same five years, suggesting federal R&D did not keep pace with population growth during the period (see the April 15, 2009 issue of the Digest).

Using population to standardize federal obligations to academia on the state level is less than ideal as the data don't have much to do with each other. But it provides a starting point for comparison. Toward that end, SSTI has prepared a table listing the academic obligations per capita from FY 2002 to 2006, the percent change of these obligations per capita over this period, and the relative rank of this change.

W. Steven Burke is the new president of Biofuels Center of North Carolina.

Bill Gimson has been named executive director of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Gimson recently retired as the chief operating officer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jeremy Hill has been named the director of the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University. Hill replaces Janet Harrah, who left the post for Northern Kentucky University.

President Obama announced earlier this week that the U.S. would increase its investment in basic and applied research and science and mathematics education to match the historic levels reached during the height of the space race. The president pledged to raise total government and industry spending on R&D to 3 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), equal to the record set in 1964. In addition to the increases in R&D spending already included in the Recovery Act, President Obama committed to finish the doubling of funds for federal science agencies and create several new programs to encourage students to pursue careers in STEM fields.

The technologies developed at the nation's 700 federal laboratories and research centers impact the health, energy, security, and agricultural needs of the country. They have a substantial effect on the economic growth of the U.S., especially as these technologies are commercialized. Improving efforts for commercialization from federal laboratories is a central focus of the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC), as they are tasked by federal legislation to assist state and local governments and regional organizations with the transfer of technologies.

The State and Local Government Committee of the FLC highlights several productive partnerships with TBED organizations in their Federal Laboratories & State and Local Governments: Partners for Technology Transfer Success publication. Through these kinds of partnerships, organizations with an abundance of federal labs nearby or those lacking proximity to the labs can access the technologies and know-how at the labs.

Recent Obama Appointments Related to TBED and Research Not all of the new appointments to the Obama Administration make headlines, but many are as important for influencing the direction and administration of federal TBED policies and programs as well as the focus of federal science and technology investments. Since March 13, President Obama has announced the following nominations for positions that might influence state and regional TBED practice during the Administration:

The budget agreement passed by Maryland lawmakers earlier this month includes funding for several initiatives in support of Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to invest more than $1 billion over ten years in Maryland's biotechnology industry. Declining state revenues as a result of the recession were not without their impact, however.

A key component of the Bio 2020 Initiative is the state's investment in stem cell research. To this end, lawmakers approved $15.4 million for the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund administered by the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO).  This appropriation is $2.6 million less than the total funds available in FY09 and $3 million less than the governor's recommendation. TEDCO also will receive the governor's full recommendation of $3.7 million ($600,000 less than last year) for technology development, transfer and commercialization.

The most recent annual report of Ohio's Third Frontier initiative announced $3.52 billion in non-state resources has been provided for affiliated projects and companies - a nine to one ratio of state dollars leveraged. Since the Third Frontier's creation in 2002, $893 million in state funds have been awarded, with $403 million of that amount expended to date.

The Third Frontier Initiative is a statewide effort administered by the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) and is comprised of a diverse set of programs focused in areas such as research faculty recruitment, commercialization assistance, direct research funding, internship assistance, entrepreneurial development, and regional seed fund growth, among others.

As credit and early-stage investment capital become increasingly scarce, more state, regional and local governments and organizations are stepping in to help local entrepreneurs get their companies off the ground. In many cases, offering equity investments is not always an attractive option to the public organization.

Pittsburgh's Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), for example, recently announced a new low-interest loan fund to provide the early-stage capital needed to start new high-tech businesses in the midst of a troubled economic situation. The Pittsburgh Entrepreneur Fund will award up to $200,000 to high-tech entrepreneurs and companies, as well as pair awardees up with organizations that can offer guidance and technical assistance. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl noted that the program is not just for existing companies, but also is targeted toward young entrepreneurs and researchers who might otherwise take their intellectual capital elsewhere.

The NSF's Federal Funds for Research and Development series illustrates trends in the U.S. government's funding obligations for science and engineering R&D. Federal funding is distributed to government agencies, academic institutions, research centers, state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, as well as private companies.

SSTI has prepared a table presenting federal R&D obligations to industry in each state for the five fiscal-year period of 2001 to 2005. In FY05, $44.03 billion, or 41.2 percent of total federal R&D obligations, went to industry.

The FY05 figure for industry represents a 63.7 percent increase from FY 2001. From year to year, many states' figures vary sharply, making trends across years harder to characterize and potentially misleading. Consequently, the SSTI table includes only the percentage of each state's total federal R&D obligations that went to industry in 2005 and the state's relative rank.