The circumstances leading to SSTI's 13th Annual Conference make this year's event critical. We encourage you to join us in Overland Park, Kansas October 21 - 23, 2009 to Seize the Moment. As you scan the conference website, you'll discover we're putting together our most complete and complex conference yet.
Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle recently allowed a significant revision to the state's High-Technology Investment Tax Credits program become law without her signature. The program, which has provided a 100 percent credit on high-tech investments since 2001, now will cap its credits at 80 percent. Investors also will no longer be able to transfer their credits to other investors. The revisions will apply through December 2010, when the tax credit program is scheduled to expire.
Over the past few months, several states have enacted spending plans for the upcoming fiscal year and passed legislation to support renewable energy initiatives and tax credits for R&D. While some TBED programs will face dramatic cuts in FY10, others are slated for slight decreases or will receive level funding. The following synopsis provides an overview of the 2009 legislative sessions across the following states:
The growing need for a skilled workforce in the U.S. has prompted policymakers, educators and industry leaders alike to explore a wide range of options for ensuring a pipeline of qualified workers with specialized skills to fill both new economy jobs and those that will be vacated by the aging population. Two recent examples include grants awarded to states to help re-train older generation workers for jobs in high-growth industries and legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate to provide resources for high-school students to secure high-wage careers in their regions.
As the U.S. has experienced rising unemployment rates during the recent economic downturn, larger numbers of individuals with technology-based skills are finding themselves out of work. One policy option to seize the moment is to engage the unemployed, assisting them on a path to starting their own business. But what are the characteristics and family backgrounds of the general population who have become successful tech-based entrepreneurs?
Historically viewed as an important contributor to job creation in emerging fields and a revenue generator for cities and states, science and technology parks serve an essential role in driving high-tech economies.
Over the five-year period from 2004 to 2008, 124 of the 366 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas experienced a change in per capita income at a greater rate than the U.S. as a whole, according to statistics released last week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). In 2008, per capita personal income in the U.S. was $39,582, a 19.4 percent increase since 2004. To further examine all 366 metro areas in the U.S., SSTI has prepared a table showing the amount and change in per capita income for each MSA from 2004 to 2008.
The complete description of this opportunity and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.
After near unanimous passing in both chambers of the state legislature, the "Tennessee Small Business Investment Company Credit Act" was sent this week to Gov. Phil Bredesen for his signature. The legislation, designed to create a pool of at least $84 million in capital, utilizes a competitive process to select several venture capital funds to make direct investments in small business headquartered in Tennessee.
Gov. John Baldacci signed two major bills this session supporting renewable energy R&D and creating a path for building private sector jobs in clean energy businesses. Lawmakers also passed a $150 million bond package, which includes funding for ocean and wind energy demonstration projects and support for Maine technology entrepreneurs. Voters will have the final say on the bond package in three separate ballot measures presented over the next two years.
Using $62.5 million earmarked from the state energy program federal grant provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Tennessee will create a solar institute, a solar farm five-megawatt power generation demonstration project, and implement additional renewable energy activities as part of the Volunteer State Solar Initiative approved last month by lawmakers.
Mark your calendar for Oct. 21-23 to attend SSTI's 13th annual conference Seize The Moment in Overland Park, Kansas! Past attendees know SSTI's conference is the premiere professional development event for the TBED community. And 2009 will be no exception.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick recently announced plans to develop a $100 million high-performance computing center powered by clean and renewable energy in the small city of Holyoke. The center will be managed by a consortium of state agencies, universities and technology companies including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Massachusetts, Cisco Systems and EMC Corp..
Minorities receive fewer approvals and lower cash awards through the Department of Treasury's New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), according to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.
The methods of measuring the "innovativeness" of a region take many forms, including metrics which gauge the concentration of those inventing new ideas though patents. From data made available through the Office of the University Economist at Arizona State University, one can track over time the number of patent inventors per capita by metro area.
The Piedmont Triad Research Park laid off Bill Dean, director of the park, and Nancy Johnson, marketing director. Park officials said that the park's project manager and executive assistant also were laid off.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has released new information about its stimulus-funded grant program for state-based broadband mapping and planning initiatives. The State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program will provide approximately $240 million in grants to assist states or their designees to develop state-specific data on broadband deployment and adoption. The competitive, merit-based awards will require funding matches with applications due by August 14.
Gov. Jim Doyle signed the 2009-11 biennial budget last month, providing funding for university-based research and enhancing tax credits for angel and venture investors supporting high-tech R&D.
While maintaining a $1 billion reserve over the next biennium, the 2009-11 budget signed into law by Gov. Mitch Daniels reduces by half funding for the state's 21st Century Research and Technology Fund and appropriates only a fraction of the requested $70 million for the Indiana Innovation Alliance, an initiative to grow the state's life science industries.
Venture capital (VC) kept up a steady pace in the first three months of 2004, according to the latest PricewaterhouseCoopers/Thomson Venture Economics/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree™ Survey. Investments in the first quarter of 2004 totaled $4.6 billion going into 618 companies, the data show. The figure is below the $5.2 billion invested in the fourth quarter of 2003, but above the first quarter total of a year ago, $4.2 billion.
Amid criticism from taxpayers, legislators in Hawaii agreed to renew the widely debated bill that extends high-technology tax credit for another five years, without a provision requiring the disclosure of companies that receive the credits, the Honolulu Advertiser recently reported.
Competition for state, federal and industrial funding to support university research is increasingly fierce in the U.S. Growing interest in developing academic research capacity, eroding state support for higher education and federal R&D budgets barely keeping pace with inflation, let alone absorbing the growing percentage dedicated to Congressional earmarks, are some of the reasons.
Washington State remains poised to capture more benefits from its technology-driven economy, according to the Index of Innovation and Technology released last month by the Washington Technology Center (WTC). As the state's lead organization to support science and technology, WTC publishes the Index to provide the state's decision makers with annual benchmarks for setting policy and public investments to promote technology-based economic development.
The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) recently held its 18th International Conference in Atlanta, honoring excellence in business incubation programs, graduates and client companies. NBIA, a nonprofit organization, works to advance incubation and entrepreneurship. This year’s recipients include: