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“Disinvestment in public education and increasing costs are pricing low-income students out of an education,” according to a new report from Demos.org — The Great Cost Shift: How Higher Education Cuts Undermine the Future Middle Class. Over the last two decades, the authors highlight a trend of state disinvestment has shifted the cost education from state governments to students and their families. The result of this trend is students and their families are paying and/or borrowing a significantly more for a college.

Prize competitions have played a prominent role in the Obama administration's innovation policy since the launch of the federal challenge.gov site in 2010. By announcing national Grand Challenges and allowing federal agencies to create their own prize competitions to encourage work in strategic areas, the administration has been able to generate interest and valuable contributions from a wide variety of untapped sources of innovation.

Following the passage of the JOBS Act (see the March 28 Digest), the Securities and Exchange Commission posted answers to some frequently asked questions regarding the confidential submission process for emerging growth companies. Under the JOBS Act regulations, an emerging growth company may submit a draft registration statement for confidential review prior to public filing.

The European Union (EU) launched the Technology Transfer Offices — Connecting Innovation and Research Centers and Laboratories in Europe (European TTO CIRCLE ), a network of tech transfer offices at Europe's 25 largest public research organizations. With the goal of increasing the market and societal impacts of publicly-funded research, the European TTO CIRCLE members already have adopted a set of several initiatives including:

PCAST provides several recommendations that will continue the success of NNI and translate the benefits of investments in nanotechnology to the public. Individual recommendations are given in four categories of key importance: strategic planning, program management, metrics and EHS research. Specific recommendations for 2012 and beyond include, but are not limited to:

While touting broad support from lawmakers for his 2012 legislative agenda during the regular session, Gov. Bob McDonnell also expressed concern about several economic development and education initiatives left out of the 2012-14 biennial budget passed by lawmakers during a special session that ended last month. Just in time for the deadline, Gov. McDonnell submitted $43.9 million in budget amendments, which include restoring funds for research, life sciences and teacher recruitment.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is now accepting the first stage of the licensing process for the new five-year $1 billion Early Stage Small Business Companies (Early Stage SBICs) initiative. In 2012, the SBA may commit up to $150 million to support eligible investments funds focused on early/seed stage investments.

Three federal agencies (Departments of Commerce, Defense and Energy) are accepting applications for the establishment of a $45 million pilot Institute for Additive Manufacturing. The federal agencies intend for the Institute for Additive Manufacturing to accelerate research, development and demonstration in additive manufacturing and transition technology to manufacturing enterprises within the United States.

The National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a request for information (RFI) on the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. Responders to this RFI should address one or more of the 21 questions found in the document. NIST intends for these comments to help shape the new program that will be funded in 2013. Comments are due October 25, 2012.

A new $15 million pilot program at the University of Michigan (UM) hopes to make a big impact in the research world by letting professors follow their instincts and allow breakthroughs to happen more naturally. Under the MCubed initiative, three researchers from different disciplines agree to work together or "cube" on a high-risk, high-reward idea. They also receive funding to hire students or a postdoctoral researcher. The university expects to fund research in the exploratory phase that could eventually lead to larger traditional grants.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad announced the first major initiative of the Governor's STEM Advisory Council, a public-private partnership of six regional STEM network hubs to promote STEM education and economic development. Each of the hubs will be housed at one of the state's universities or community colleges, and will coordinate local programs with businesses, nonprofits and other institutions in their regions.

A large majority of U.S. manufacturing jobs are located in large metropolitan areas, according to a new paper from the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program. In 2010, about 79.5 percent of manufacturing employment was centered in large metros and in central metropolitan counties. Over the past two years, however, there has been a slight shift in manufacturing activity back towards non-metro areas, as U.S. manufacturing has experienced a small resurgence.

The pace of business startups in the U.S. has exhibited a long-run decline that started in the early 1980s and has continued through 2010, according to a new report — Where Have All the Young Firms Gone? — from the Kauffman Foundation. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS), the report found several other long-run declines in the business activity of U.S.

Registration is now open for the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) 14th Annual SBIR/STTR Conference in Louisville, KY, May 30-June 1. This year's event, titled "The Changing Face of SBIR/STTR," will provide insight into NIH funding opportunities and program changes.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NSCES) has released a series of InfoBriefs that track U.S. R&D spending from 2009-10, as the country endured and began to recover from the recession. In 2009, U.S. R&D spending suffered its first decline since the 1950s, though that decline was minimal (0.6 percent) and much smaller than the drop in U.S. GDP (2.5 percent). After adjusting for inflation, the $400.5 billion spent on R&D in 2009 represents a slightly larger decrease (1.7 percent) than in current dollars.

With a new approach to supporting innovation by pursing business-led initiatives focused on better meeting private sector needs, Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty presented Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2012, providing $1.1 billion CAD ($1.1 billion USD) over five years for direct R&D support. The budget also includes $500 million CAD ($502 million USD) to increase private sector investments in early stage risk capital and support the creation of large-scale venture capital funds led by the private sector.

Since the Great Recession, Government agencies in partnership with universities, for-profit and nonprofit other organizations have undertaken new efforts and developed new initiative to increase the number of small businesses in their region or state that are exporting and increase the value of exports for those small businesses that are currently exporting. The Small Business Administration announced the second round of funding for its State Trade and Export Promotion Grant (STEP) Pilot Grant Initiative. The Development Corporation announced Pure Michigan Export Now pilot program.

Established last year to help entrepreneurs develop business plans and launch companies, Tennessee's nine regional accelerators also will play a key role in the state's new five-year strategic plan through partnerships to create and expand angel capital networks and mentoring for new startups. The LaunchTN initiative was unveiled last week by Gov. Bill Haslam, who charged the Tennessee Technology Development Corporation (TTDC) with implementing the plan and serving as the lead advocate for the state's innovation agenda.

Proposals introduced in Florida and Ohio would have changed the funding model for universities that meet certain benchmarks to elevate their standing for research and innovation. Both proposals ultimately were rejected, however. In Ohio, the state's plan for enterprise universities is on hold, and in Florida Gov. Rick Scott recently vetoed a bill to establish preeminent universities.

A briefing on the planned Pilot Institute on Additive Manufacturing will be held May 16, 2012, in Arlington, Va. The pilot institute is envisioned as the initial step in building the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) proposed by President Obama earlier this year. The meeting will acquaint potential candidates with the NNMI Pilot Institute concept and the associated technology needs in the areas of additive manufacturing. Attendance at the May 16 event is not a prerequisite for submitting a proposal.

MaRS Discovery District, Toronto's innovation and entrepreneurship center, has launched a $30 million early stage clean tech fund, the first of its kind in Canada. This week, the group announced that it had raised its fundraising goal entirely from private sources, and that released information about its first two investments. The MaRS Cleantech Fund LP portfolio companies will be encouraged to seek maximum support from MaRS. Read the announcement... Interested in how U.S. states and regions are catalyzing clean tech innovation?

This week, both the U.S. House and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Commerce, Justice, Science and related agencies (CJS) approved FY13 funding legislation supporting several key TBED agencies.

Lawmakers last month approved a $19.3 billion state budget for FY13, which includes funding for many of the recommendations from a task force convened by Gov. Nathan Deal to enhance the state's innovation economy. Specifically, the budget boosts funding for the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) to recruit researchers and allocates $5 million for cancer-related research. The legislature also passed a measure expanding the Georgia Jobs tax credits and R&D tax credit.

An increase in tax receipts driven mostly by sales and income tax has improved the fiscal outlook for state and local governments in the near term. However, a new report from the Government Accountability Office warns of a widening gap between revenue and spending that is expected to grow significantly over time due to projected increases in health-related costs. Substantial policy changes at the state and local level are needed to maintain fiscal balance over the long term, the report finds. Read the report...

Amid the great debate over which metrics matter, most practitioners agree that consistently measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of economic development programs is critical for success and sustainability. A new report by the Pew Center on the States found that half of the states with tax incentive programs do not take the basic steps needed to know whether or not they are effective. The study identified 13 states with good assessments, 12 with mixed results, and 26 not meeting any criteria for scope or quality of evaluation.