SSTI Digest

In support of his New Energy Economy Initiative, Gov. Bill Ritter introduced last week a statewide action plan to expand renewable energy opportunities and reduce the impact of climate change.   Two key components of the plan include R&D for coal, natural gas and renewable energy and fostering an educated workforce. Under the plan, the state will partner with research institutions and industry to expand R&D in these areas and develop clean-coal technologies. No additional funding is requested in the governor’s fiscal year 2008-09 budget proposal for these initiatives; however, the key departments involved in the action plan have committed to using existing funds to implement the action items.   The plan also calls for promoting the R&D of new energy resource technologies through the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory -- a partnership between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Colorado’s three science research universities established in 2006. Gov. Ritter signed HB 1322 last year, allocating up to $2 million per year for three years to the partnership.    The…

Hawaii's research and investment tax credits for high-tech companies have been a issue of debate for nearly a decade. In a survey conducted earlier this year, 45 percent of a sample of high-tech business owners said these credits played a "major influence" in their decision to grow and expand in Hawaii. Opponents, however, claim that the program's generous tax breaks overstep their bounds by extending incentives to movie and television companies.   A new report from the Hawaii Department of Taxation suggests that, despite these concerns, the two credits have been successful in generating greater technology investment. The department claims that participating businesses attracted more than $821 million in investment, paid out $506 million in salaries, and have been a major driver of technology business in Hawaii since the credits were introduced.   Hawaii residents claimed $195.6 million in investment tax credits between 1999 and 2005. The tax department reports that qualifying businesses spent $1 billion on salaries and infrastructure and created more than 5,300 jobs in Hawaii. The most frequent applicants have been…

Despite pioneering the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web, the U.S. for years has lagged behind other industrialized countries in offering broadband services to its citizens. The U.S. ranks 16th in per capita broadband subscribers, and even when Americans do receive high-speed Internet services, they frequently pay more for lower speeds that their counterparts in Asia and Europe. A new report from the Alliance for Public Technology, the third in a series of reports on U.S. broadband, calls attention to the need for improved broadband services and provides some examples of states and regions that have stepped in to make sure that their economies benefit from the Internet revolution. The group offers several policy recommendations to frame a national broadband strategy that could help the U.S. bridge its substantial gaps in broadband adoption. These include establishing national goals for deployment, setting standards for reporting broadband data, fostering private investment and competition, requiring Universal Service Fund recipients to offer broadband, providing new incentives for providers, and creating a federal Office of Broadband…

Over the past several months, universities, city and state governments, and private companies alike have announced the creation of high-tech incubators that will serve as springboards for developing specialized companies to help grow the regional economy. Following is a sampling of recent incubator news from across the nation.   In September, U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) announced a $50,000 Rural Business Opportunity Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be used toward the creation of a high-technology incubator in Grant County. In partnership with Taylor University’s Center for Research & Innovation, Grant County Economic Growth Council will receive the bulk of the money to develop the Grant County Innovators Network Center, providing space for one anchor tenant and up to 20 incubator clients.   The Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. is in the development phase for its planned Emerging Venture Center of Innovation. The goal is for the center to become a satellite of Kentucky’s Central Region Innovation and Commercialization Center. The second phase of the plan includes incubator and accelerator…

At $453.28, the District of Columbia led the nation in federal R&D obligations per capita to colleges and universities in 2005, according to recent National Science Foundation (NSF) report. For the U.S. as a whole, the per capita amount rose 25.8 percent from 2001 to 2005. The District of Columbia was followed by Maryland ($261.49), Massachusetts ($214.11), California ($136.62), and Hawaii ($133.94) in 2005, based on the NSF data. The national average in 2005 was $84.35 per person. At the other end of the rankings, Puerto Rico experienced the lowest average at $16.29 per capita. This ws followed by Maine ($23.06), West Virginia ($27.27), Oklahoma ($30.97), and Florida ($33.12). States experiencing the largest increase per capita from 2001 to 2005 were North Dakota at 107.2 percent, Idaho at 67.7 percent, Nevada at 66.5 percent, Hawaii at 61.7 percent, and Louisiana at 59.8 percent. SSTI has prepared a table illustrating the NSF data for every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico for each of the five years from 2001 to 2005. Additionally, the percent change in obligations per capita over…

The 2007 state elections resulted in two newly elected governors, both promoting TBED strategies as a means to grow the states’ economies. In both cases, the new governorships reflect a change in party affiliation. A third gubernatorial race resulted in the re-election of Gov. Haley Barbour to a second term in Mississippi.   Kentucky Democratic candidate Steve Beshear defeated Republican incumbent Ernie Fletcher by a 59-41 percent margin. The former lieutenant governor, attorney general and state representative unveiled an economic development platform during his campaign that consists of three major components -- the Kentucky Jobs First Plan, Fueling Kentucky First and Putting Opportunity First.   Under the Kentucky Jobs First Plan, the state will focus on high-wage job growth through business attraction and retention. The plan will redirect some of the funds now spent on recruiting out-of-state businesses to helping existing businesses grow and expand. Other components of the plan include creating an R&D tax credit to cover a portion of Kentucky businesses’ research expenses and increasing the current venture…

For the better part of the year, lawmakers in Michigan have faced the daunting task of balancing both a budget shortfall for fiscal year 2007 and a nearly $1.6 billion deficit for FY 2008. An agreement between Gov. Jennifer Granholm and lawmakers was reached in the early morning hours of Oct. 31, following a one-month extension of the deadline and a brief government shutdown. The agreement allocates $75 million in remaining tobacco settlement revenue to continue 21st Century Jobs Fund programs, which invest in four competitive-edge technologies to grow and diversify the state’s high-tech economy. The Michigan Small Business and Technology Centers will receive $1.4 million from the funds appropriated to be used for the SBIR and STTR matching grants program. Earlier this year, lawmakers considered a proposal to cut a significant amount of funding from the 21st Century Jobs Fund to deal with the state's impeding deficit. To help businesses obtain certification in aerospace manufacturing, the budget allots $500,000 for Aerospace Certification Grants. Half of the funds are dedicated to the Michigan Aerospace Manufacturers Association for…

On Tuesday, exactly one year before the U.S. goes to the polls to choose its next president, the Brookings Institution launched a national competitiveness initiative titled Blueprint for American Prosperity: Unleashing the Potential of a Metropolitan Nation. The central premise of the Blueprint is that the “health, vitality, and prosperity” of the major cities and metropolitan areas in the U.S. will be the drivers of the country’s ability to compete globally and meet future economic, social, and environmental challenges. During the next 12 months, Brookings will release a series of reports geared towards the next presidential administration and Congress to address various competitive and economic issues.   At the official rollout, vice president and director of Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program Bruce Katz made the case as to why the nation’s metro areas are critically important to the nation’s well-being. During his presentation, Katz noted that although the top 100 metropolitan areas (gauged by number of people employed) comprise 12 percent of the country’s land mass and 65 percent of the U.S. population, these top metro areas also are…

In an effort to streamline economic development strategies and market the state as a globally competitive place to pursue new business ventures, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano recently announced the creation of a new model for economic development last month.   A year-long study on the overall economic health of the state resulted in the creation of the Arizona Economic Resource Organization (AERO) and a newly expanded Arizona Global Network (AGN). AERO will serve as an umbrella organization for all economic development activity in the state to coordinate and leverage assets, set workforce strategies, and provide policy leadership and branding.    The partnership will operate as a nonprofit board, combining the efforts of government agencies, private businesses and universities. Gov. Napolitano will serve as AERO chair, which includes the integration of the following entities: Commerce and Economic Development Commission, Greater Arizona Development Authority, the Arizona Department of Commerce, Science Foundation Arizona, and a formalized Arizona Global Network. Directors and board members were announced last…

The federal government made obligations of $25 billion in R&D to colleges and universities in fiscal year 2005 ­- a 4.8 percent increase from the FY 2004 total of $23.8 billion, according to new National Science Foundation (NSF) data. In its report, Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions: Fiscal Year 2005, NSF details all categories of direct federal science and engineering support to institutions of higher education in the U.S.   Delving deeper into the data, SSTI has prepared a table showing the state rankings for total federal academic R&D obligations and percent change over the five-year period from 2001-2005. During this time, federal R&D obligations grew by 29 percent but some states experienced much larger changes. North Dakota showed the largest increase in federal R&D obligations at 106.7 percent, followed by Nevada (91.6 percent), Idaho (81.4 percent), Hawaii (68.6 percent) and Louisiana (61.4 percent). For fiscal year 2005, California led the nation with $3.56 billion in federal R&D obligations. This is followed by New York, which broke the $2…

A complete description of this opportunity and others is available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm. The Maine Technology Institute (MTI) is seeking someone to serve as manager of cluster and commercialization support programs. This position is primarily responsible for managing MTI's programs supporting the development of vibrant technology-intensive clusters and its activities supporting awardee commercialization and capital access.

Sally Bilancia was selected to replace Sally Bates as the development director in the City of Bangor, Maine. Jeff Coney was named Northwestern University's first director of economic development. Dr. Paul Kedrosky has joined the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation as a senior fellow. Peter Longo was appointed president and executive director of Connecticut Innovations. Longo previously served as the organization's deputy director and acting executive director. Hamid Ghandehari and Marc Porter, two prominent scientists in the field of nanotechnology, recently were hired by the University of Utah as part of the state's new Utah Science Technology and Research initiative. Ghandehari comes from the University of Maryland, while Porter comes from Arizona State University. Carlos Romero, a University of New Mexico employee who previously oversaw the university's governmental affairs office, is now its associate vice president for research administration. Frank Sabatine has been appointed to…