SSTI Digest

Upbeat revenue forecasts and shared economic principles have Republican governors in four states requesting more funds for higher education tied to performance metrics or workforce outcomes. Recent budget proposals introduced in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas focus on competing for talent and jobs through efforts to encourage STEM learning and teaching and incentivizing outcomes such as graduating more students in high-demand fields, conducting research and more. College affordability is addressed through measures that would freeze tuition or cap increases. Highlights from the governors' budget proposals as they relate to higher education and economic development for the upcoming year or biennium are outlined below: FloridaThe FY14 budget introduced this week by Gov. Rick Scott would maintain last year's level of funding for higher education and restore some of the $300 million previously cut from colleges and universities. The increased funds are tied to performance metrics, including a goal to help the University of Florida (UF) achieve a national ranking in the top 10 research universities. With a $393.3 million increase over last year, the…

The Obama administration announced winners of the Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge on Tuesday. The challenge — publicized earlier this year — is one of the key initiatives of the interagency Taskforce for the Advancement of Regional Innovation Clusters and is sponsored by a partnership between the U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Departments of Energy and Labor, and the Small Business Administration. Winners include programs in AZ, CA, MI, OK, TN, NY, PA, and a WA and OR bi-state partnership, each receiving approximately $2 million in grants. See the complete list of challenge winners and their reward amounts here. This is the third in a series of multiagency Jobs and Innovation Accelerator challenges administered since 2011. Learn more...

On Thursday, the Obama administration announced it had selected the TechBelt region, encompassing northeast Ohio, western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia, to host the pilot institute of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). The new National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) will operate as a partnership of more than 60 companies, research universities, community colleges and nonprofit organizations from the region. As the pilot effort of NNMI, the partnership will receive $30 million in initial federal funding, with another $40 million from regional partners. The institute will be housed at Youngstown Business Incubator in Youngstown, OH. The president first announced his proposal to create a network of up to 15 institutes around the country that would bring together industry, universities, community colleges, nonprofits and government to invest in industrially-relevant manufacturing technologies in March (see the March 14 issue of the Digest). The proposed institutes would serve as regional hubs of manufacturing excellence that will help improve U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and commercialize new technologies with…

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has signed off on a series of bills intended to give state-owned universities more flexibility in working with regional businesses and creating new advanced degree programs. The bills are collectively known as the Higher Education Modernization Act and apply specifically to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), which is the nation's tenth largest state university system, incorporating Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned institutions. Under the new legislation, PASSHE universities would be allowed to create new applied doctoral programs to meet the needs of Pennsylvania businesses. Also, faculty, staff and students would be allowed to enter into agreements with businesses, enabling them to participate in entrepreneurial activities, internships and mentoring programs. Read the announcement...

Richard Bendis has been named the first president and CEO of BioHealth Innovation, Inc. a regional private-public partnership focusing on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early stage funding in Central Maryland. RI Gov. Chafee on May 17 accepted the resignation of Keith Stokes, executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. The RIEDC's deputy director, William Parsons, currently is serving in Stokes' place. Although a successor for Stokes has not been named yet, the governor has nominated six people to the board that oversees RIEDC after the vice chair and other members resigned. The nominations are subject to Senate confirmation. In Pittsburgh, PA, The Technology Collaborative is dissolving. Innovation Works will take over some of TTC's programs. Michael Pazzani, vice president for research and economic development at Rutgers, has accepted the position of vice chancellor for research and economic development at the University of California, Riverside, effective July 1. The University of Alabama has named Richard Swatloski the school's new director of the Office…

Two common themes emerged in a trio of reports aimed at growing the bioscience sectors in Indiana, New York and Pennsylvania: the need for a sustained financial commitment from the states and the importance of a shared vision and better communication between policymakers and industry leaders. In all three reports, the authors say the payoff is big for the states. The bioscience and life science industries support high-wage jobs and attract significant federal funds. Indiana The Indiana Health Industry Forum unveiled a five-year strategic plan designed to create a renewed interest in growing Indiana's health sciences sector. Developing an early stage funding mechanism focused exclusively on health sciences and complementing the funding with a statewide support infrastructure geared towards health sciences-specific entrepreneurial support are listed as the top two recommendations. The report includes summaries from five committees charged with implementing the plan. The capital formation committee calls for creation of a new fund that would be managed by individuals with expertise in targeted sectors who can quickly develop teams to evaluate applicant…

The fifth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs' series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Ohio, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. The first four installments are available in the Jan. 11, Jan. 18, Jan. 25, and Feb. 1 editions of the Digest. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, State of the State Address, Feb. 7, 2012 "And today I want to tell you about the best technology resource that you've never heard of. It's buried underground in Ohio. This will set us apart from every other state in America. "It's beyond high speed Internet. And I'm announcing today we're going to increase the speed of OARnet, from 10 gigabytes per second to 100 gigabytes per second and what does that mean? It's not Back to the Future with gigabytes. I mean, this really means something. ... This allows our research hospitals and universities to compete more successfully for the research grants that create breakthroughs in jobs. ... "We're also saying that it's not good enough to do research. If you don't commercialize and create jobs, what's the point? I can find you research on a top shelf in a building 140 years from now. Commercialize. Create jobs. Spinoff companies. "We can get that done, but it's going to…

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...

Maria Haley, the executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission passed way Sept. 13 after suffering a brain aneurysm. The U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration announced Matthew Erskine will join the agency as the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of Commerce for Economic Development and chief operations officer. Tom Palisin has been named the acting deputy director of the Technology Investment Office at the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. The University of Utah selected Bryan Ritchie to be the next director of its Technology Commercialization Office. Paul Washington has been named Denver's director of economic development. John Ryan has been named the director of the Vermont Agriculture Development Program. The new program will provide comprehensive technical support to help the state's value-added food enterprises manage their growth. Two administrators in Workforce Development & Continuing Education at Pennsylvania College of Technology have been appointed to assistant vice president positions. Larry Michael was named assistant vice president…

Temple launched the Pennsylvania Math Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) initiative designed to increase the number of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematics (STEM)-related professionals graduating from two- or four-year institutions and to build a diverse, national STEM workforce necessary to compete economically in a global environment. As MESA's lead institution in Pennsylvania, Temple will be tasked with developing public/private partnerships with industry, other academic institutions and government agencies to implement the goals of MESA and provide outreach efforts to the state's students to achieve their full potential — regardless of background, gender or economic status. Last summer, Temple in partnership with the U.S. Navy launched three MESA summer academies related to health and medicine, engineering and technology. Other institutions of higher education that operate their state's MESA program include Johns Hopkins, the University of Washington and UC-Berkley. The MESA program was founded and headquartered at the University of California. Over the past 40 years, nearly 70 percent of MESA students — many of them…

Spending time at a technology or business incubator may be the key to learning about entrepreneurship. Some universities, seeking to ramp up entrepreneurship programs, are turning to incubators as real-world teachers. A recent Washington Post article points to several business schools pairing traditional education, such as courses and lectures, with less-conventional approaches, including incubators and business competitions to prepare students for opportunities outside the classroom. Recent announcements of new and emerging technology incubators from across the U.S. and Canada are included below. The city of Livermore, CA, celebrated the grand opening of i-GATE National Energy Systems Technology incubator last month, created to stimulate large-scale, high-tech business development around the region's two national labs. In addition to physical workspace, the 15,000-square-foot hub also will coordinate public-private collaboration with academia and the Department of Energy, reports The Mercury News. The region around the national labs was selected in 2010 as one of six future iHubs, a statewide initiative to improve competitiveness by stimulating partnerships,…

Lawmakers approved Gov. Tom Corbett's proposal to restructure the state's economic development efforts by consolidating several programs within the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). Total general fund spending for DCED in FY12 is $212.8 million, down from $327.5 million last year or a 35 percent reduction. Much of this is achieved through consolidating programs. The Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority Fund will receive $14.5 million, down from $16.9 million in FY11. The authority funds the Ben Franklin Technology Partners, which provide access to capital and entrepreneurial support services to promising tech-based companies through its four regional networks. The budget funds a new line item of $9.9 million for the Discovered in PA, Developed in PA initiative to help entrepreneurs connect with state resources. The program seeks to develop and deploy regional experts to reach out to high-growth companies and provide them with access to services and financing to help grow their businesses. An initiative to better coordinate the approach and delivery of economic development services was approved in the enacted budget. Under…