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On Feb. 1, SSTI staff, members and The Sheridan Group participated in a Capitol Hill Day for SSTI’s Innovation Advocacy Council. Groups visited more than two dozen congressional offices, including appropriations committee members and freshman Senate offices, and the White House Office of Management and Budget. The message for these visits was to increase federal funding for the Regional Innovation program and to protect science and innovation spending during any broad budget reform or sequestration that may be forthcoming.

While equity crowdfunding has received widespread attention since the 2012 JOBS Act, another SEC rule change (named Regulation A+) that allowed companies to offer “mini-IPOs” has flown largely under the radar. However, it has shown early promise as a new method for startup financing since it was passed in 2015. In this feature, SSTI addresses three important questions related to Regulation A+ (Reg A+) including:

What is Reg A+?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the offering?
What impact has it made so far?

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivered his state of the state address over three days and six different speeches, and released his proposed FY 2018 budget following the talks. Some of his major proposals affecting the technology-based economic development field include proposals he had revealed earlier and have previously been covered in the Digest, including his proposal for free tuition as well as a major investment in the life sciences.  In keeping with our Tech Talkin’ Govs series and budget reviews, some excerpts from his various speeches are detailed here, as well as a closer analysis of his proposed budget.

Online-education provider Coursera has announced a new program that allows governments and nonprofits focused on workforce development to curate massive open online course (MOOCs) that align with labor market needs, and then make these courses instantly available to their constituents. Initial partners of Coursera for Governments & Nonprofits include the United States and six other nations:  Egypt, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Singapore.

With job growth for middle-skill level jobs slowing, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and Austin-based nonprofit Center for Public Policy Priorities studied the nation’s best practices and surveyed regional workforce boards in Texas to determine how communities there are addressing the challenge. Their findings are detailed in the report, Regional Talent Pipelines: Collaborating with Industry to Build Opportunities in Texas, released last month.

SSTI has reviewed another mix of state budgets as governors across the country continue to release their proposals. Some states, like California and North Dakota, are seeing cuts in the amount of money designated for TBED-related work, while others like Minnesota are in a more favorable fiscal situation and continue to fund such initiatives. Still others, like Rhode Island, are proposing new initiatives.

Approximately 6.2 percent of U.S. employment (nearly 8.6 million people) worked in STEM jobs in May 2015, according to STEM Occupations: Past, Present, And Future from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  Of those nearly 8.6 million people, nearly half (45 percent) are employed in computer occupations. In addition, seven of the 10 largest STEM occupations were related to computers and information systems including the largest STEM occupation – applications software developers (750,000 people).  STEM occupations provide nearly double the wages of non-STEM occupations.

SSTI’s latest Tech Talkin’ Govs installment excerpts TBED highlights from governors’ speeches in Alaska, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada and Rhode Island. Education and workforce are focal points in this latest round of the state of the state addresses, as they have been in the two previous posts. Varying issues are factored into the speeches, from the $3 billion fiscal gap in Alaska to the proposed free college tuition in Rhode Island.

Alaska

While some researchers contend that university-industry collaboration may corrupt the academic ideal of open sciences and reduce academic productivity, researchers from the London Business School (LBS) and University of Southern California (USC) found that university-industry research collaborations – in certain situations – can lead to more publications but fewer patents than similar academic studies without industry partners. These findings would indicate that such collaboration can actually stimulate open science and increase academic productivity, rather than weaken it.

Earlier in the month, Maryland Gov. Lawrence Hogan announced the 2017 Maryland Jobs Initiative, a legislative package that would eliminate all state taxes for 10 years for new manufacturing employers that create jobs in high unemployment areas, as well as incentives for current employers who expand their workforce in those areas.

SSTI has analyzed more recently released state budgets for TBED-related initiatives, and this week we present findings from our review of AZ, GA, IA, IN, UT and VA.

More governors delivered their state of the state addresses and this week we bring you TBED news from governors around the country. Areas of focus include tech infrastructure needs, diversifying economies, cybersecurity and education. While some governors are giving their inaugural addresses, Gov. Nikki Haley used her time to bid farewell. Following are excerpts from the past week’s addresses.

Tuesday’s ceremonial groundbreaking on a new building in Philadelphia marks the foundation of a new collaboration between a number of players that are hoping to accelerate the innovation community in the city.

Pittsburgh will be home to the Advanced Robotics Manufacturing (ARM) Innovation Hub, the newest member of the Manufacturing USA network. The U.S. Department of Defense announced that American Robotics, Inc., an independent nonprofit spun out of Carnegie Mellon University will receive roughly $80 million in federal funding to launch the institute, matched with $173 million in support from the university and a consortium representing approximately 120 industry partners, 40 academic institutions and 60 non-profit and government entities.

The Angel Resource Institute (ARI) is looking for angels and angel groups to provide data for the 2016 Annual Halo Report to be presented at the Angel Capital Association’s Summit in April. ARI aggregates and analyzes data for reports regarding investment trends and opportunities. Data can be uploaded directly to the database, or users may download the ARI spreadsheet and send it to ARI. To be included in the 2016 annual report, data must be submitted no later than Jan. 25. More information can be found here.

The Department of Homeland Security has amended its regulations surrounding its discretionary parole authority in order to increase and enhance entrepreneurship, innovation, and job creation in the U.S.

In an attempt to make college more affordable and accelerate the number of students completing degree programs in Rhode Island, Gov. Gina Raimondo has proposed a new program guaranteeing two years of free college for Rhode Island students. The program, Rhode Island’s Promise, would cover the entire cost of tuition and mandatory fees for full-time students who qualify for in-state tuition earning an associate’s degree and graduating on time from the Community College of Rhode Island. At Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island, the scholarship would cover tuition and fees for a student’s junior and senior years.

SSTI again presents its latest round of Tech Talkin’ Govs, where governors’ comments about TBED issues are excerpted from their state of the state and inaugural addresses. Today’s roundup includes STEM spending and workforce development in Idaho, education in Arizona, manufacturing in Connecticut and a nod to technological change in North Dakota, inaugural addresses from new governors in Vermont and Indiana, and more reports from governors who gave their addresses on the 10th. Next week the Digest will continue with Part II of Tech Talkin’ Govs featuring news from the next round of addresses.

The U. S. House of Representatives wasted no time at the start of the new Congress, passing seven bills Tuesday that had been approved by the chamber in a previous session but had not received consideration in the Senate. Four of these bills with particular relevance to the innovation community are the HALOS Act, TALENT Act, Leveraging Emerging Technologies Act of 2017  and Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act.

As governors around the country are releasing their proposed budgets, SSTI is examining the proposals for TBED initiatives and will be presenting the findings here. This week Idaho, Maine and Washington are reviewed. Check back in the coming weeks for updates.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) released a solicitation committing up to $8 million to support between one and seven Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Nodes. The nodes are part of I-Corps’ National Innovation Network that builds upon fundamental research with the goal of dramatically reducing the period of time necessary to bring a promising idea from its inception to widespread implementation.

SSTI encourages its member organizations to sign onto a letter to Congress organized by NDD United, a broad coalition advocating for parity under sequestration for non-defense discretionary (NDD) funding and defense funding. The current leadership in Congress has made clear its priority to increase defense department spending at the expense of nondefense domestic spending, which includes programs under the EDA, SBA, NIST, NIH, NSF, the Department of Education, and more.

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and the Brookings Institution recently proposed 50 ideas to bolster American innovation and technology transfer. Join SSTI’s president and CEO, Dan Berglund, at an ITIF and Brookings Institution event on January 11 from 10-11:30 a.m. in Washington, DC, to discuss how the incoming administration and Congress can make these improvements.