SSTI Digest

North Carolina's $1.2 billion dollar investment in bioscience over the past decade has helped to build a $45 billion dollar a year industry in the state, according to a new study released by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. The report finds that North Carolina's bioscience employment numbers have grown 18.5 percent since 2001, the fastest in the nation. Much of this growth has been fueled by increased activity in research, testing and medical labs and in the agricultural feedstock and chemicals subsector. 

Incubators may take on magnified importance in regional innovation strategies for the coming years given the continued decline in seed and venture capital available to early-stage companies, the need for startups to reduce costs, and the increased opportunities presented for innovation through collaboration and sharing of knowledge.

So it isn't too surprising to see the wave of incubator launches increase during this financial slowdown.

A new incubator can take several tacks toward filling its walls. Often the strategy toward defining target tenants depends on the assets of the community. A generalized incubator could be well suited to an area short on affordable space for start-ups in need of shared general business services.

On December 9, two NIST programs will be hosting a meeting to explain how businesses can better take advantage of them. Officials from the Technology Innovation Program (TIP) and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) will provide an overview and discuss future directions for the programs. SSTI is co-hosting the meeting because we see it as an excellent opportunity for TBED organizations and their clients to learn more about and provide input on programs that could see dramatic increases in funding in an Obama administration.

The meeting will explore important topics, including: funding opportunities for businesses and joint ventures through TIP, explaining what "areas of critical national need" are and how companies and TBED groups can contribute, and exploring the Next Generation MEP including growth services, technology acceleration, supplier development, and sustainability.

Gov. Bill Ritter announced his administration's plan to inject $12 million into initiatives that promote job training, provide small businesses with access to capital, and invest in the state's New Energy Economy and bioscience sectors.

The proposals were outlined as part of the governor's fiscal year 2009-10 budget recommendations earlier this month, which includes nearly $5 million for economic development initiatives in the upcoming fiscal year and another $7 million contingent upon budget reserves in 2010.

While which states top the list in the 2008 edition of the State New Economy Index will capture the attention of the media and therefore the majority of decision makers, the most important contribution of the 2008 Index in the current fiscal environment is its overview and final chapter. The Index, released Nov. 18 by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the Kauffman Foundation, goes beneath and well beyond the results of the 29 indicators to explain the need for fundamental change to how states and regions approach economic development. The final chapter goes a step farther and identifies key strategic shifts required to address the challenges of the New Economy.

As state budgets reel from the fallout of the financial crisis, the authors warn:  "If states are going to meet the economic challenges of the future, they will need to make the promotion of innovation a larger part of their economic development policy framework."  

To attract and grow high technology businesses and streamline its economic development efforts, a task force created in 2007 to study economic competitiveness in Arkansas recommends the state remove its constitutional prohibition on state equity investments in private companies and co-locate its three economic development agencies.

The final report of the Task Force for the 21st Century released its recommendations to Gov. Mike Beebe and the legislature last month, which complement the 2008 Accelerate Arkansas strategic plan.

This week an estimated five million people will celebrate the first annual Global Entrepreneurship Week by taking part in one of the 13,000 events planned worldwide. Founded by the United Kingdom's Mark Your Mark campaign and the U.S.-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Global Entrepreneurship Week is designed to foster innovation and ambition in people under 30 to encourage them to participate in the innovation economy and start new businesses. The initiative has found support from several high-profile world leaders like U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicholas Sarkozy, Singaporean President S.R. Nation, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group.

Earlier this year, the Council on Competitiveness released a report on the nature and extent of high-performance computing in the private sector. This investigation, conducted by the council's High Performance Computing (HPC) initiative, found that while international best-in-class firms often make use of high-performance systems to solve complex problems, leading U.S. firms and their suppliers underuse these resources. It would greatly benefit the U.S. innovation economy to expand cooperation between private sector firms and supercomputing centers, according to the report.

Oregon Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has unveiled a suite of policies to address global climate change and support the state's renewable energy and clean technology industries. His proposals include instituting a cap and trade system for carbon emissions, improving the energy efficiency of commercial and residential construction, and tax credits for energy-conscious investments. The governor hopes to see the climate plan passed by the legislature in the coming year.

Venture capitalists invested $7.1 billion in companies during the third quarter of 2008, according to the latest Moneytree survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Though this figure represents a nine percent decline from the same period last year, investment levels still show little evidence of the current drought in venture-backed exits. Many expect investment to decline in the fourth quarter and next year, particularly for seed and early stage companies, as investors become more cautious and begin shifting their focus to the later-stage companies in their portfolio.

The University of Utah (U of U) announced last month two significant investments in TBED supported by USTAR, the state-funded initiative to grow Utah's knowledge economy.

Following a recent $15 million donation from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation, U of U officials said they would begin construction next year on the 193,000-square-foot anchor facility for the new Interdisciplinary Quadrangle, which encompasses 11 acres bridging the upper and lower campuses. The Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building will be the first of four multidisciplinary facilities and will house advanced imaging and nanotechnology laboratories.  USTAR is investing $100 million in the facility, which is slated for completion in 2012. The goal of the Interdisciplinary Quad is to bridge the university's health professions, engineering, science, business and law sections of the campus.

Universities in Canada are a major component of the country's science and technology ecosystem, and as gauged by funding, they performed 36 percent of Canada's R&D activities in 2007. In the U.S. comparatively, universities accounted for 13 percent of the R&D performed in the country. A breakdown of both the performing sectors and sources of R&D funding are included in two recent publications: Momentum: The 2008 Report on University Research and Knowledge Mobilization by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) and an August InfoBrief by the National Science Foundation.

At 54 percent, private industry performed $15.8 billion (Canadian) of Canada's R&D in 2007. This was followed by universities performing $10.4 billion, or 36 percent. The Canadian federal government performed 8 percent ($2.3 billion) and non-profit organizations contributed to 1 percent ($324 million) of R&D efforts.