Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic announced the plans to form the "Akron Development Corporation Seed Fund" in his State of the City address on Tuesday. The fund, with backing from corporate sponsors, aims to attract biomedical companies to the region. Companies receiving investment would locate in the Akron Global Business Accelerator. Read the announcement...
After declining last year for the first time since 1949, U.S. personal income rose three percent in 2010 to more than $12.5 trillion, according to a release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). U.S. per capital personal income, which had also dipped in 2009, rose 14.6 percent to $40,584 last year. Both U.S. total and per capita personal income, however, remained below their peak levels in 2008.
Much like Travelocity's Roaming Gnome, SSTI's Excellence in TBED vase is known to get around. Recently, it was spotted on the campus of the University of Maryland, posing with Kermit the Frog and UM grad Jim Henson, at the Maine State House in Augusta, proudly on display in the offices of JumpStart in Northeast Ohio, and posing with the staff of the Washington Technology Center. Where will it turn up next? Follow us on facebook to find out! http://www.facebook.com/ssti.org. The 2011 awards kick off May 17.
With the Senate in recess, debate over SBIR/STTR reauthorization has been temporarily put on hold for the week. The reauthorization act has landed at the center of a larger congressional debate over federal spending, due to the more than 80 amendments that have been submitted for consideration. Most of these amendments propose spending cuts unrelated to SBIR. The main text of the bill would extend the SBIR and STTR programs through 2019 and increase award levels for Phase I and Phase II awards.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich named James Leftwich as the director of the Ohio Department of Development, effective March 25. Leftwich has worked at the Dayton Development Coalition for six years, including three years as president and CEO. Leftwich will take the post previously held by Mark Kvamme, a California venture capitalist named the state's development director in January. Kvamme was appointed director of Job Creation within the governor's office, effective immediately.
The Department of Commerce (DOC) is interested in receiving nominations for a 15-member innovation advisory board comprised of business leaders, policy experts and state/local government officials. Board members will contribute in the development of a study on U.S. economic competitiveness and innovation capacity. The board's primary responsibilities will include development of an extended outline of the report and review of the final report's draft. Individual members also may be asked to participate in events across the country related to economic competitiveness and innovation.
A new prototype website allows users to track R&D grants and awards from federal agencies. The current version provides publicly reported federal agency data from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health from 2001 to 2010. It also provides output data on patents, patent application and publication. Future updates will integrate the site with all federal agency databases and additional output data. Visit the site...
Metropolitan areas with population densities of about 4,000 people per square mile tend to produce the highest rate of patenting, according to a recent article in the American Journal of Economics and Sociology. In a study of U.S. metro areas over a ten-year period, the authors found that metro population density has a significant positive correlation with patenting rates.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy named ING executive Catherine Smith to lead the Department of Economic and Community Development.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo nominated Julie Shimer, the president and CEO of Welch Allyn, a medical diagnostics equipment manufacturer, to chair the Empire State Development Corp. She would join Kenneth Adams, ESCD's president, at the agency.
The U.S. economic crisis spurred more Americans to become entrepreneurs than at any point in the last 15 years, according to the 2010 edition of the Kauffman Foundation's Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. The study found that 340 out of every 100,000 Americans started a new business each month in 2010, approximately the same rate as 2009, but an increase over the pre-recession period. Many of these new entrepreneurs, however, are not creating new jobs through their startups.
In a recent speech in front of China's National People's Congress, China's Premier Wen Jiabao outlined the country's 12th five-year plan (2011-2115). The plan will focus heavily on boosting consumption through sustainable growth fueled by renewable energies and state support of strategic, emerging industries. Expenditures on R&D should reach 2.2 percent of GDP. Much of this R&D investment will be targeted in three sectors — healthcare, energy and technology.
Basic biomedical research has a greater academic impact and clinical research a greater societal impact over a 15 to 20 years timescale, according to the findings of Project Retrosight — a multinational, four-year study from RAND Europe and the Health Economics Research Group (HERG) at Brunel University. This study was based on data collected from 29 case studies on basic biomedical and clinical cardiovascular and stroke grant-funded, research projects in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Fifteen years ago this week, the SSTI Weekly Digest launched with two pages faxed to a distribution list of 56. We faxed it on Fridays because, at the time, Sprint offered free faxing on Fridays. When we started the Digest, one of our board members expressed concern about not having enough material to produce a weekly newsletter; as it turned out, that's never been a problem. As technology has changed, so has the Digest, and we're always looking for the best ways to communicate and get out the news.
Recognizing the value in supporting companies that innovate to create high-quality jobs, governors in New Jersey and Louisiana recently outlined proposals to enhance tax incentives for R&D, technology commercialization, and transferable tax certificates during the upcoming legislative sessions. In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie proposed increasing the R&D tax credit to 100 percent and restoring full funding for the Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer program as part of his FY12 budget recommendations. Louisiana Gov.
National recognition for your organization's achievements is priceless. Past recipients of SSTI's Excellence in TBED Award tell us the recognition has helped to generate positive publicity, raise funds, and attract the attention of key stakeholders and legislators. SSTI's 2011 awards program kicks off May 17 with an open call for applications.
Bob Crowley, president of the Massachusetts Technology Development Corp., will step down June 30. Crowley has held the position since 2002 and has been with the quasi-public agency since its beginning in 1978.
Mitch Adams, executive director of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative is resigning after leading the agency for nearly a decade.
In the “2011 Global R&D Funding Forecast,” researchers from Battelle and R&D Magazine project consistent and positive global R&D spending in 2011. Global R&D (including public, private and nonprofit spending) is projected to increase by 3.6 percent from $1.15 trillion to almost $1.2 trillion. However, 2011 R&D as a percentage of global GDP will remain constant at 1.9 percent. This increase is attributed to a shift in the geographic distribution of investment.
SSTI recently reported on two important bills passed by lawmakers in Michigan late last year and in New Jersey earlier this year that would provide incentives for taxpayers who invest in emerging technology companies. As an update to the Dec. 8, 2010 and Jan. 12, 2011 stories, both former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have taken action on the bills with opposing outcomes. Gov.
Gov. John Kitzhaber recently unveiled a two-year spending plan that includes an additional $3 million for the Oregon Innovation Council's (Oregon InC) efforts to facilitate research and technology transfer. The governor's budget also recommends enhancements to the Strategic Reserve Fund used to expand and retain businesses and attract new companies and additional funding for the Industry Competitiveness Fund, a resource for industry clusters, statewide and regional economic development groups, and international trade-oriented businesses.
Alabama then-Governor-elect Robert Bentley on January 3 named former House Speaker Seth Hammett as director of the Alabama Development Office, replacing Interim Director Linda Swann. He also appointed the president of the Birmingham-based Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, Bill Taylor, to lead efforts to grow and retain existing Alabama industries, while at the same time recruiting new businesses to the state.
Starting in the spring, a new Small Business Association (SBA) loan program — the Community Advantage loan program— will increase the availability of loans (up to $250,000) to: 1) small businesses, 2) firms that are less than two-years old or 3) those owned by veterans. The program specifically will target businesses in low- to moderate-income communities. Currently, small businesses face difficulty receiving loans of this size due to perceived risk involved (historically high default rates).
Sixteen percent of all high-impact, high-tech companies include at least one immigrant, according to a new report by the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings. They survey and consequent case studies found significant trends among immigrant entrepreneurs in the high-tech field. Respondents were found to be heavily rooted in the U.S. — 77 percent of them have become American citizens and almost 75 percent have lived in the U.S. for more than 15 years.
Citing the need to ensure a competitive edge in the weak economic climate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is asking lawmakers to continue investing in the state's economic development tools by providing an additional $15 million for the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) and retaining funding for the Texas Enterprise Fund in the coming biennium. The governor also is proposing $50 million for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) scholarships and $32 million to increase STEM academies.
U.S. venture capitalists invested $21.8 billion in 2010, a 19.4 percent increase over 2009 and the first increase in venture investment since 2007, according to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and PricewaterhouseCoopers Moneytree Survey. The growth in activity affected nearly every industry, particularly clean energy software and Internet-specific companies. Early stage investments, though not seed stage investments, grew by double-digits as did first-time financings. In addition to the gains in venture dollars, VC deals grew to 3,277, a 12 percent increase over 2009.
Massachusetts continues to be the country's most successful high-tech economy, according to the 2010 edition of the Milken Institute State Technology and Science Index: Enduring Lessons for the Intangible Economy. The Index uses 79 indicators to evaluate and rank state performance in five categories: R&D inputs, risk capital and entrepreneurial infrastructure, human capital capacity, technology and science workforce, and technology concentration and dynamism.