SSTI Digest

Complete descriptions of these opportunities and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm. CTC Tampa Bay is seeking a venture lab manager to establish and build its Venture Lab program. This postion involves bridging relationships with government, private sector, and university entities in order to support the growth of selected early-stage technology-based companies. The selected companies must offer innovative products and services that can potentially generate significant revenues from the defense/homeland security market and other dual-use markets. A BA/BS degree in science, engineering or business, plus at least 10 years of directly related experience (or an MA/MS degree, plus at least eight years of directly related experience), are required. The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's John Adams Innovation Institute is seeking a director of innovation policy. This position will participate in and support the conceptualization, development and implementation of a rationale and intellectual framework for the Innovation Institute's project and investment activities. The position will oversee the division's research and analysis activities…

Summer camps focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields are typically designed to spark youth interest and introduce students to career options in these critical areas. However, a vital component of these programs is exposure to scientific challenges that many classroom settings cannot provide. Recognizing this exposure as beneficial to both teachers and students, several programs are targeting educators with the goal of enhancing instructional methods in the classroom in order to increase student achievement in the STEM fields. The following are examples of professional development programs for science teachers from across the country offered over the summer months.   Kansas Middle school science teachers in Kansas are moving out of the classrooms and into University of Kansas (KU) laboratories this summer to participate in university-level research with the goal of enhancing their content backgrounds and ability to apply research-based instruction. The Middle School Science Academy Research Experiences program is a three-year, multi-phase initiative funded by the Kansas Board of Regents that targets two school districts…

Venture investors are increasingly turning to overseas markets for promising investments in key high-tech industries, according to the 2008 Global Venture Capital Survey conducted by Deloitte and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). The annual poll of 400 international venture capital investors found that the U.S. is still perceived as the strongest technology economy in all sectors, but other countries are developing industry specializations that allow them to be competitive with the U.S. in one or two particular areas. While no single country is likely to overtake the U.S. high-tech venture investment overall, cumulatively, these niche specializations in other countries are beginning to mitigate U.S. dominance.   For example, the survey reveals that several countries within the European Union are now recognized as hotspots for investment in both clean technology and the life sciences, with individual countries having strong niches in specific sectors. Forty-three percent of respondents felt that Germany had the greatest expertise in clean technology, second only to the U.S. Germany's stable alternative energy policy environment and a strong…

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley recently announced a plan to launch an advanced robotics research, training and education center to prepare workers for the robotics industry and attract high-tech employers to the state. Calhoun Community College in Decatur will host the $71 million center, in partnership with the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Gov. Riley first proposed the robotics campus in 2006 and believes the center will help increase the state’s profile as a leader in the robotics industry. In addition to training facilities, the center will also provide support for the applied research activities of Redstone Arsenal, which houses several U.S. Army directorates, and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.   The Advanced Technology Robotics Research and Development Complex will be a collaborative project, supported by the state of Alabama, the state’s community college system, Alabama Industrial Development Training (AIDT) and partners from the private sector. Current plans call for a Robotic Maintenance Training Center, an Advanced Technology Research and Development Center, and an Integration and Entrepreneurial Center to be rolled out over the…

This summer, 12 former CEOs with substantial experience in raising venture capital and no particular ties to clean energy will participate in an extensive curriculum-based fellowship program designed to rapidly transition them into a leadership role, in order to help grow the cleantech cluster in the New England region. The announcement from the New England Clean Energy Council follows a recent report identifying strategies for the region to capitalize on $1 billion in incremental investment over the next four years in clean energy and prevail as a nationally recognized cleantech cluster. Through interviews with area venture capitalists, the report finds that of the three factors that go into creating a cluster, lack of entrepreneurial talent in the field is the most significant barrier in New England. Currently, New England holds the number two spot nationally for venture-backed cleantech companies. However, increasing competition from Silicon Valley and the Midwest threaten this position, the report suggests. New England’s share of venture-backed cleantech companies is far lower than its share of overall venture capital backed-companies -- 9.7 percent…

Despite a growing national demand for their skills, the number of engineers graduating from American colleges went down in 2007, according to latest edition of Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges, prepared by the American Society for Engineering Education.   The decline in engineering bachelor’s degrees was the first since the 1990s, ending seven years of growth. Although the drop was small ­ 1.2 percent from the previous year ­ ASEE fears it is the beginning of a trend that may continue for several years. That’s because undergraduate enrollment dropped both in 2004 and 2005.   Engineering master’s degrees show an even sharper drop than bachelor’s degrees, having declined 8.8 percent since 2005. Ph.D. degrees, by contrast, have been growing an average of 11 percent since 2004.   The pain is not being felt uniformly across all sectors of engineering; aerospace and biomedical engineering have shot up in popularity while electrical and computer engineering have fallen.   The fall in the number of engineering graduates comes at a time of growing technological…

While California and Massachusetts may overshadow much of the venture capital (VC) activity going on around the country, other states have made significant progress in developing venture industries that serve the needs of their economy. Though larger investments in later-stage companies are becoming more prevalent in the U.S. venture industry, some states are seeing increases in smaller, early-stage investments that, if successful, should lead to significant growth in their total VC investment in years to come. Breaking down per capita venture investment by stage reveals states like Maryland, Washington, Colorado and the District of Columbia are building capital industries that service the needs of early-stage entrepreneurs. In the April 30, 2008 issue of the Digest, SSTI examined states’ VC intensity - measured by per capita venture capital investment - uncovering a few states that have not been recognized for their success in attracting investment due to the size of their VC pool relative to the overall VC market. From the per capita perspective, the District of Columbia, Maryland and New Hampshire entered the top five with Massachusetts and California. SSTI…

As a group, the country’s metropolitan areas face substantial long-term challenges as large gaps in issues such as productivity growth, environmental sustainability, and social inclusion separate the leaders from the laggards. Earlier this month, the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program released the second of its “core” reports from its Blueprint for American Prosperity initiative to lay out an economic agenda for U.S. metro areas.   In MetroPolicy: Shaping a New Federal Partnership for a Metropolitan Nation, Brookings outlines how leaders are driving gains in prosperity in their regions and how other countries are nurturing metro areas. Brookings kicked off its Blueprint initiative last November (see the Nov. 7, 2007 issue of the Digest), exactly one year before the date of the upcoming presidential election.   The report synthesizes various policy recommendations, some of which have emerged from other recent briefs included in the Blueprint initiative. A matrix of these recommendations to promote federal government leadership, empower states and localities, or maximize the performance of government are…

SBIR Phase II awards with additional personal and/or internal business funding are more significant predictors of a technology reaching commercialization than SBIR awards with venture capital, external private equity or foreign investment, and funding from state and local governments or universities, new research shows.   In Bringing Science to Market: Commercializing from NIH SBIR Awards, Albert Link and Christopher Ruhm of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro present the results of their analysis, considering the long-term results of 405 National institutes of Health (NIH) SBIR Phase II awards over the 10-year period 1992-2001.   Of the 405 projects, which were taken from nearly 2,500 SBIR Phase II awards NIH funded during the period, 59 percent received some additional form of funding. Upon further examination, 74 percent of commercialized projects received some type of additional development funding at some point, whereas only 42 percent of the non-commercialized projects received funding.   Besides examining the source of funding, the researchers used additional control variables to predict if a project would…

NorTech is inviting all SSTI conference attendees to an opening reception at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Tuesday, Oct. 14, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Just like the music it pays homage to, inside and out, the Rock Hall exudes coolness. From the adventurously wide-open architecture and eye-popping displays to the sing-along soundtrack of continuously streaming rock and roll hits, this is one museum experience that really gets your heart pumping. Adding to the excitement, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, director of the Ohio Department of Development, will provide brief remarks on the importance of state government investments in technology-based economic development (TBED) and Ohio’s model for investing in TBED, including the $1.6 billion Ohio Third Frontier project. Lt. Gov. Fisher also will highlight Ohio’s Thomas Edison Program, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and address how the Ohio Third Frontier and Edison programs have helped the state evolve a broader set of TBED strategies and programs to move Ohio’s economy forward. And yes, there's more. This celebratory event provides a wonderful pre-conference opportunity to reconnect with…

Complete descriptions of these opportunities and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm. The University of Kentucky is seeking an executive director for its new Office of Technology Transfer (OTT). This position is responsible for the oversight of the university’s growing intellectual property and data base system. The executive director provides the overall leadership, management and administration of OTT, executing its assessment, negotiating and licensing functions. The position requires an M.B.A. (preferred), J.D. (desirable) or other advanced degree, with at least 10 years of experience in industry and in a university setting dealing with patent protection, licensing and compliance. The Oak Ridge Economic Partnership is seeking a director of technology. This position is responsible for leveraging the East Tennessee region’s technology resources to help foster new private sector investment and job creation in the region. Working with a consultant team, the incumbent will identify the core technology strengths at leading research institutions and in the region as a whole, and develop and execute a new technology-driven economic…

President Bush announced he will nominate Assistant Secretary of Commerce Sandy Baruah to serve as the administrator of the Small Business Administration. The Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce has created the Economic Development Partnership to help businesses relocate to or expand in the county. Barbara Fleisner has been hired as executive director of Centergy, the Central Wisconsin Alliance for Economic Development. Dr. Lee Herron has joined the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) as vice president of commercialization. Herron previously was general manager, Biosciences, for the Advanced Technology Development Center. Linden Rhoads was named vice provost of the University of Washington's TechTransfer department. Rhoads replace Jim Severson, who left to join a start-up company. Gary Rose announced he will step down as chief of New Jersey's Office of Economic Growth. Angie McGuire, the office's deputy chief since March 2006, will serve as acting chief until a replacement is found.