SSTI Digest

With the opportunity presented by a $732 million budget surplus, Gov. Linda Lingle wants Hawai`i to shift its public investment philosophy away from land development and toward encouraging, nurturing and rewarding innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship and risk-taking. Most of Gov. Lingle's State of the State Address on Jan. 22 and her 56-page 2007 Initiatives booklet is dedicated to explaining how she wants the public sector to lead realignment of the state’s economy toward “one fueled by innovation and new ideas generated by our universities and a highly-trained workforce.”

 

Facing a legislature controlled by Democrats, the Republican governor’s plan embraces several proposals first advanced by legislative leadership last session, including a $100 million Hawai`i Innovation Fund. The privately managed technology-based equity fund would be capitalized from the State Employees Retirement System, under Gov. Lingle’s proposal. 



Other proposals include:

Earlier this month, Gov. Janet Napolitano presented Arizonans with a three-part plan to prepare for the 21st century economy in her annual State of the State Address. The One Arizona Plan would support state economic growth by investing in education, physical infrastructure and innovation. During her address, Gov. Napolitano emphasized the need to increase Arizona’s innovation capacity and to build a technologically-savvy workforce. The One Arizona Plan would approach these goals by increasing curriculum requirements for K-12 students, creating incentives to attract and retain high-quality educators, build new academic research facilities, and offer financial support for high-tech researchers and entrepreneurs.

 

The governor’s Executive Budget Proposal for fiscal year 2008 provides more details about the plan and its implications for state TBED. Under the governor’s plan, the state would dedicate over $75 million in new funding to science and technology initiatives, according to the Arizona Republic.

 

The Cleantech Venture Network (CVN) announced last week that U.S. venture investment in clean technologies fell 34 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006. Investment in cleantech, which includes products and services that reduce or eliminate environmental impacts, declined to $613 million last quarter -- down from a record-breaking peak of $933 million in the previous quarter. The drop brought to an end nine consecutive quarters of gains for cleantech, but still capped a record-breaking year for VC investment in the sector.

 

On Jan. 17, the U.S. Department of Labor announced 13 regions across the country will share $65 million in the second round of Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grants.

 

While the 13 original 2005 WIRED awardees split a pool of $195 million, each 2nd Generation WIRED region will receive an award of $500,000, with the ability to access a $4.5 million balance contingent upon completion of a regional implementation blueprint. Each of the second WIRED regions already received $100,000 after the 2005 competition to prepare talent development strategies.

 

The 2nd Generation WIRED regions are: Eastern & Central Puerto Rico; Southwestern Connecticut; Northern New Jersey; Delaware Valley Tri-State Area (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware); Appalachian Ohio; Southeast Michigan; Northern Alabama and Southern Tennessee; Southwestern Indiana; Southeast Wisconsin; Arkansas Delta; Rio Grande Valley, Texas; Wasatch Range, Utah; and Northern California.

 

A recent report by the Florida Legislature’s Office of Program Policy and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) recommends the state’s next steps to develop its biotechnology industry should include the creation of a privately managed early-stage capital fund for investing in start-up companies, to be financed by the Legislature. The report also contends that the state should consider the creation of an “early seed gap” fund to assist university researchers in the commercialization of their discoveries, and it should improve accountability for the performance of state-supported biotech initiatives.

 

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