The Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance is seeking a new president who will play a leading role in developing strategy for modernizing Oklahoma's industrial base. The successful candidate will possess strong leadership skills, demonstrated administrative ability, entrepreneurial management skills, organizational awareness, political sensitivity, and the ability to establish rapport with numerous constituencies.
Legislative control will shift from Democratic to Republican majority in eleven states and Republicans now control the legislature and governor's office of 20 states, up from nine, after adding more than 675 seats in last week's midterm elections, reports the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). The GOP gained control in one or both chambers in the following states: Alabama, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
With the end of federal stimulus funding for higher education on the horizon, states are considering proposals to retool current funding formulas for colleges and universities and looking to alternative funding sources to sustain their programs and services in the coming years. Ahead of the 2011 legislative session, groups commissioned by governors in Colorado and Virginia recommended a voter-approved tax and more stable funding streams from the state, respectively.
Angel investors continue to move their focus from seed stage startups to later stage deals, according to recent analysis by the University of New Hampshire's Center for Venture Research. During the first half of 2010, 26 percent of angel capital was invested in seed and startup stage companies, down from 35 percent in 2009 and 45 percent in 2008. Meanwhile, overall angel funding fell to $8.5 billion, a 6.5 percent decrease from the first half of 2009.
U.S. jobs in solar energy could increase by 26 percent by this time next year, according to the first nationwide solar census from The Solar Foundation. The census estimates that there are currently 93, 000 solar workers in the U.S., and 50 percent of solar firms plan to add jobs in the next 12 months. Solar workers are defined as employees who spend more than 50 percent of their time supporting solar activities. Read the census at: http://www.thesolarfoundation.org.
Academics and policymakers should "be more careful with the assumption that technological knowledge spillovers and networks occur automatically in innovative clusters," according to a recent article on the Cambridge IT cluster. The report, Do Clusters Really Matter for Innovation Practices in Information Technology? Questioning the Significance of Technological Knowledge Spillovers, examines the impact that a cluster has on R&D workers in IT field with an emphasis on territorial learning and knowledge spillovers.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released the list of projects approved for Qualifying Therapeutic Discover Project grants and credits. Introduced in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed earlier this year, the program supports projects that show a reasonable potential to create new therapies, lower health care costs or advance the cause of curing cancer within the next 30 years. The credit or grant covers up to 50 percent of the cost of qualifying biomedical research at firms with no more than 250 employees.
The Tennessee Biotechnology Association has changed their name to Life Science Tennessee.
Ann Arbor SPARK recently added Bill Mayer as director of their business accelerator team.
After months of closed-door negotiations, the chairs of National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has released a draft list of proposals to reduce the growing federal deficit. The proposals include drastic cuts to the federal government's economic development agencies, including the elimination of the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Program (MEP), as well as the merging of the Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration (SBA).
Massachusetts remains the state best prepared to navigate the changing economy, according to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation's (ITIF) 2010 State New Economy Index. ITIF uses 26 indicators in five categories to evaluate the economic structure of states and assess their capacity to drive innovation-based growth. Massachusetts ranked number one in economic preparedness by a wide margin, as it has since the first index was released in 1999.
Facing the largest budget deficit in the European Union, British Prime Minister David Cameron will not to cut spending on S&T. The European Commission predicts the UK will face a 12 percent budget deficit in 2011. To combat this deficit, the Cameron led Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition took drastic measures to reduce the deficit by 2014.
The Department of Defense (DoD) lacks complete data on the number of technologies commercialized and therefore cannot determine the return on its space-related SBIR investment, finds a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). To meet space-related technology needs, DoD invested $5 billion, or approximately 11 percent of its total SBIR budget, on space-related Phase I and Phase II contracts over fiscal years 2005-09.
This week, millions of people in more than 100 countries across the globe will participate in activities, forums and competitions geared toward helping young people develop the skills and knowledge needed to grow innovative companies as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2010. The third annual celebration co-founded by the Kauffman Foundation and Enterprise UK boasts participation from students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and government officials. In tandem with the global celebration, President Obama proclaimed Nov.
"Despite the clear limitations of existing federal innovation programs, they remain important to our national economic competitiveness," according to a new report from the Center for American Progress. In Silos of Small Beer, authors Maryann Feldman and Lauren Lanahan examine the efficacy of federal innovation programs on the regional economic development of the eastern Midwest region that includes Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania; and Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown in northeast Ohio.
Michigan lawmakers last week passed a measure aimed at increasing access to capital for small businesses by allowing taxpayers to collect an income tax credit worth 25 percent of a qualified investment in emerging industries such as advanced manufacturing and life sciences. Under HB 5921, the investment must be at least $20,000 and certified by the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF). MSF can certify up to $9 million in credits in a single year with up to $250,000 for each business. Gov.
In Growing the ICT Industry in Canada, David Wolfe and Allison Bramwell present an overview of the current state of the global Information and communications technology (ICT) industry with a predominate focus on Canada's ICT industry. A detailed discussion of the current state of the ICT industry and the impact of the recession on the sector is covered in the first section of the report.
Two economic development reports, one outlining strategic initiatives to transform the state's economy and the other making recommendations for reforming the state's tax programs, were delivered last week to Gov. Jay Nixon. The governor's Strategic Initiative for Economic Growth, launched in May, submitted initial job-creation proposals focused in the areas of advanced manufacturing, energy solutions, bioscience, health science and service, information technology, financial and professional services and transportation and logistics.
Sacramento's Green Capital Alliance reports that the six-county region is now home to 13,000 clean technology jobs and 98 clean energy companies. In a five-year progress report on Sacramento's clean energy cluster roadmap, the group document's Sacramento's rise as one of the country's key hubs for clean energy technology development. The report provides a detailed look at the alliance's efforts to leverage regional partners over the past few years and its immediate plans to expand the region's data gathering and smart grid infrastructure.
The Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation announced its first Women in Science and Engineering Business Idea Competition to encourage female scientists and engineers to pursue entrepreneurial ventures. The competition's goal is totap into the "growing pool of highly educated women who have the potential to start scalable science and engineering-related ventures".
The District of Columbia leads the country in science and engineering (S&E) doctorates awarded per capita, according to the latest data from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Though California awards more S&E doctorates overall, Washington, D.C., has consistently outpaced all states in per capita awards. While 11.47 S&E doctorates were awarded per 100,000 people in the U.S. last year, D.C. institutions awarded 62.54. Other top states include Massachusetts, Delaware, Rhode Island and Maryland.
It is imperative that the Obama administration create a more coordinated and robust federal energy policy focused on advancing energy innovation, according to a new report by the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). They argue the U.S. must be at the forefront of energy technology to increase economic competiveness, protect the environment and improve national security. In Accelerating the Pace of Change in Energy Technologies Though an Integrated Federal Energy Policy, PCAST outlines several recommendations that could position the U.S.
In Growing New Mexico's Clean Tech Economy, the Clean Technology Commercialization Working Group examines steps that must be taken for New Mexico to capitalize on the state's clean technology opportunity by bridging the funding "valley of death." In a report commissioned by the New Mexico Economic Development Department, the advisory group asserts four high-priority recommendations will accelerate New Mexico's clean technology commercialization.
A survey of medical technology companies and venture capital firms with a presence in the life sciences field revealed that the U.S. is at risk of losing its global leadership position in medtech innovation because of unpredictable, inefficient, and expensive regulatory processes within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Further, survey data indicate that innovators and medical device companies are relocating to other countries in greater numbers to take advantage of more streamlined regulatory processes and lower costs.
Nationwide downturns in durable-goods manufacturing and construction led to declining real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 39 states last year, according to a recent release by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The largest declines were seen in the Great Lakes region, where Michigan, Ohio and Indiana suffered considerable losses in manufacturing. Meanwhile, Oklahoma, Wyoming and North Dakota posted the highest percentage GDP gains. Read the BEA release .
Encouraging university researchers to bring their discoveries to market is a key component of many regional innovation strategies, but entrepreneurial activity by faculty may come at a cost, according to several recent scholarly articles by Andrew A. Toole and Dirk Czarnitzki. Toole and Czarnitzki examined the publication and commercialization histories of U.S. university-based life scientists and found that engaging in entrepreneurial activities tends to lower their publication rate, even after returning to the university full-time.