SSTI Digest

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski called for all 50 states to be outfitted with at least one gigabit-speed community by 2015 in an op ed piece run by Forbes earlier this month. Approximately 42 communities in 14 different states already fit the bill and more are joining the effort in what Genachowski termed the “Gigabit City Challenge.”

The fifth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Connecticut, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Utah. Our first four installments were in the Jan. 9, Jan. 16, Jan. 23 and Jan. 30 issues of the Digest.

ConnecticutGov. Dan Malloy, Biennial Budget Address, Feb. 6, 2013“... Even as we find savings, even as we continue to support our towns and cities — we have to work to grow jobs.

“To start with, I am proposing the Bioscience Innovation Act. This new program will establish a 200 million dollar fund to strengthen Connecticut's bioscience sector over the next ten years. ...

A culmination of twelve months of data measuring the Illinois innovation economy finds improved economic growth in four sectors: dynamism, capital, talent, and business climate. Positive indicators include record growth in university startups and a significant increase in invention disclosures and patents awarded to Illinois universities. Additionally, venture capital funding reached a ten-year high of $1.4 billion in 2012. The state also recognizes room for improvement, including increasing the number of STEM degrees awarded to Illinois graduates and better aligning workforce skills with labor market demands. The report and accompanying video will be unveiled today at: http://www.illinoisinnovation.com/innovationindex/.

The Illinois Science & Energy Innovation Foundation, a $72.5 million investment fund approved by the state's General Assembly last year, debuted this week. While 70 percent of the fund will be used to educate consumers about smart grid technology, another $22.5 million, provided by utility companies, will support grants, loans and contracts to groups working on smart grid technologies, according to the Chicago Tribune. Read more about the fund...

llinois Gov. Pat Quinn has announced the details of a $10.3 million planned partnership to develop "STEM Learning Exchanges" across the state. Eight organizations will be awarded contracts to work with regional, educational and business networks to aggregate curricular resources, assessment tools, professional development systems, work-based learning opportunities and problem-based learning challenges. Funding for the initiative will be drawn from $2.3 million in federal Race to the Top funds, with another $8 million leveraged from private partnerships. Learn more...

Argonne is a Department of Energy national laboratory located in Lemont, IL, a southwest suburb of Chicago, with over 1,500 scientist and engineers performing world-class research aimed at solving the nation's energy, environmental and security challenges. ANL is seeking to fill the three positions listed below:

Deputy Director of TDC and Manager of Industrial Partnership Development Business Development Executive Technology Transfer and Commercialization Business Systems Manager (IT Implementation Manager)

While many state programs provide periodic reports on their activities and impacts, a few states provide regular data on their innovation economy as a whole. These reports can be useful in assessing a state's overall approach to TBED and in finding new areas for strategic intervention. Recently, groups in Massachusetts, Maine and Illinois separately released innovation indices that provide quantitative guides to their state's progress in fostering innovation. Massachusetts The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's John Adams Innovation Institute has released its 2011 Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy, an annual review of the Commonwealth's high-tech economy through 25 indicators. Each year, the index tracks Massachusetts' progress in these indicators, along with comparisons to other U.S. states and national economies. In addition to Massachusetts, the 2011 edition provides indicator data for comparison from seven leading technology states, including California, Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

his week Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel released the first draft of a long-term plan for the city's economic growth and job creation. The plan provides ten over-arching strategies to guide Chicago's economic development efforts, the first of which is a focus on advanced manufacturing. The plan also calls on the city to support entrepreneurship and innovation in emerging technology sectors. Read the full announcement...

The fourth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs' series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Illinois, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Rhode Island. The first three installments are available in the Jan. 11, Jan. 18 and Jan. 25 editions of the Digest. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, State of the State Address, Feb. 1, 2012 "Today, I'm announcing a $2.3 million dollar investment in '1871,' a new technology center at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago to foster and launch digital start-ups. "Today, I'm also announcing a $6 million dollar statewide competition to build ultra-high speed broadband in neighborhoods across Illinois. "Through this challenge, we want our neighborhoods to become Gigabit communities with Internet connections more than 100 times faster than today! Our goal is to build smart communities that will foster the job engines of the future." New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, State of the State Address, Jan. 31, 2012 "There are tax reductions that can spur job growth here in New Hampshire. Innovative companies create jobs and lay the foundation for a stronger future for our state.

A newly established policy academy providing guidance and technical assistance will help seven states improve their environment for innovation and align state R&D investments, workforce development and education systems with current and future needs of advanced manufacturing industries. The policy academy will help each state develop a plan or overcome barriers for putting a plan into action through a highly interactive team-based process that includes input from NGA, MEP, EDA, SSTI, private sector consultants, and research organizations. Participating states include Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. Ideas and strategies resulting from the academy's work will serve as models for all states. NIST, MEP and EDA are providing funding, leadership and technical assistance to the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. Learn more...

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn recently released details about Advantage Illinois, an initiative that will provide financing and assistance to entrepreneurs and small businesses. Initial funding for the initiative will be provided by the federal government through the U.S. Treasury's State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity will administer the program, will use the $78 million in federal funding to spur private lending to small- and medium-sized businesses.

Advantage Illinois will incorporate four individual programs, including:

From undertaking a joint regional initiative to improve two cities' competitiveness in advanced manufacturing to launching an effort for engaging venture capital companies and bringing in top university students to showcase area opportunities, mayors in Lexington and Louisville, Boston and Chicago recognize the value in promoting their cities as top destinations for growing tech-based economies. While each of the three recent announcements detailed below target different sectors of the innovation economy, they share the same mission of making their region more desirable for startups.

Boston