Search

President Obama last week announced several initiatives aimed at spurring technology commercialization following the signing of the America Invents Act, including two new programs to assist biomedical entrepreneurs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The administration also will develop a national plan focused on reforms to speed commercialization and open new markets. A blueprint outlining those efforts is due in January.

SSTI is thrilled to announce that Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee will be the Keynote Speaker. Dr. Gee has held more university presidencies than any other American. He is the co-author of eight books and the author of numerous papers and articles on law and education. He is both an insightful and entertaining speaker that you won't want to miss.

Startup America, the nationwide, White House-endorsed entrepreneurship initiative, officially began operations last week. Young companies may now register to receive support services from more than 25 private partners. Offerings include free and discounted software packages, professional network memberships and market data. Visit the site...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has released the 10th edition of its annual Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard. Each year, OECD examines major trends in the global innovation economy and uses 180 indicators to evaluate the high-tech economies of OECD countries, as well as select non-OECD countries. The overarching theme of this year's release is the increased importance of the non-OECD countries, including Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, Indonesia, the People's Republic of China and South Africa, together dubbed the BRIICS countries.

This year's opening reception will be unlike any other. COSI is designed to enlighten, entertain, and amaze you. Attendees will experience science, technology and innovation at work through more than 300 interactive exhibitions and more than 100,000 square feet of exhibit space, including the country's only high-wire unicycle. One of the newest exhibits is the Labs in Life, a state-of-the-art laboratory where researchers from The Ohio State University conduct studies on physical activity, nutrition, and body composition using cutting-edge equipment.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have announced a new initiative to develop new technologies and applications for high-speed broadband networks. The agencies have posted a request for white papers for the initiative, dubbed US Ignite, to identify potential companies, nonprofits, agencies and individuals that can provide resources and infrastructure to facilitate collaboration. Participating organizations will help develop next-generation applications for high-speed networks that cannot yet run on today's Internet infrastructure.

The five-campus University of Massachusetts System is seeking a dynamic and entrepreneurial professional to become the associate vice president for economic development to help develop the university's role in generating innovation and talent to support the Innovation Economy of Massachusetts. The position will report to the vice president for economic development and be housed at the president's office in Boston, MA.

Jill Kline has been named the State director of the Wyoming Small Business Development Center.

Daniel Hasler has been named the Indiana Secretary of Commerce, effective Sept. 16. He will replace Mitch Roob who is leaving the post to accept a position in the private sector.

The National Governors Association named David Moore as the director of its NGA Center for Best Practices.

No longer limited to a niche group of practitioners, promoting growth through innovation and technology has achieved widespread acceptance as the key to our economic prosperity. You'll find it in blog posts and opinion pages from across the political spectrum, and in virtually every corporate or civic dialogue today on revitalizing America's economy.

A larger number of states are positioned to capitalize on rising employment due to high-growth industries, according to a new report from Wells Fargo's Economic Group — Employment Dynamics and State Competitiveness. These states (i.e., Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Virginia and Texas) have been able to couple several high-growth industries with a skilled workforce to build their competitive advantage.

"Investment in science, technology and innovation is increasingly being seen by African countries as an essential element in responding to the continent's socio-economic development needs and challenges," according to a statement by Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency to announce the release of the African Innovation Outlook 2010.

This week, President Barack Obama announced a new interagency pilot initiative to bolster regional economic strategies in select towns and cities. The Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) initiative will offer federal resources to support ongoing efforts in six pilot communities, including Chester, PA; Cleveland, OH; Detroit, MI; Fresno, CA; Memphis, TN; and New Orleans, LA. Cross-agency teams will assist with mayoral initiatives in the participating cities, while a fellowship program will recruit and train local policy specialists.

The 2012-13 biennial budget signed into law last month by Gov. John Kasich authorizes the state to transfer the liquor distribution system to JobsOhio, a private nonprofit partnership created to assume the business-incentive and job-creating functions of the Ohio Department of Development. With the transfer, the state expects to generate $1.2 billion in a lump-sum payment, with $500 million deposited into the general fund in FY12 and $700 million used to pay off outstanding bonds supported by liquor profits, according to an analysis by the Ohio Legislative Service Commission.

New research suggests that the current jobs crisis may have its roots in factors that predate the 2007-2009 recession. In Starting Small; Staying Smaller; America's Slow Leak in Jobs Creation, the Kauffman Foundation's E.J. Reedy and Robert Litan find that over the past few years new businesses are starting off smaller and growing less than in previous years. For example, the cohort of firms that started in 2009 are now predicted to contribute one million fewer jobs over the next decade than historical averages would suggest.

During the Clinton Global Initiative's (CGI) America meeting, CGI announced 51 new projects that will create jobs and spur economic growth in the U.S.. On the final day of the conference, former President Clinton discussed the impact that these commitments will have when fully funded and implemented.

The clean economy employs over 2.6 million workers spread across a diverse group of industries, according to a new report from the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Instition in partnership with Battelle's Technology Partnership. In Sizing the Clean Economy: A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment, the researcher developed, analyzed and commented on a detailed database of establishment-level employment statistics related to clean economy industries at the national, state and regional levels.

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) has issued a request for public comments on the structure of Economic Visioning Challenge, part of the recently announced Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) initiative (see the

In an update of their 2009 The Atlantic Century report, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation reports that the U.S. continues to rank fourth in innovation-based competitiveness and second-to-last in innovative progress. Among the 43 nations included in the study, only Italy ranked lower than the U.S. in improving their innovative competitiveness. Certain U.S. regions performed much better than the country as a whole. For example, Massachusetts, if taken as an independent economy, would rank as the most innovative economy in the world.

The Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy and the Navy will invest up to $510 million during the next three years to produce advanced drop-in biofuels to power military and commercial transportation. To accelerate the production of these advanced bio-based jet and diesel fuels, the federal agencies in partnership with the private sector will work to jointly construct or retrofit several drop-in biofuel plants and refineries.

From undertaking a joint regional initiative to improve two cities' competitiveness in advanced manufacturing to launching an effort for engaging venture capital companies and bringing in top university students to showcase area opportunities, mayors in Lexington and Louisville, Boston and Chicago recognize the value in promoting their cities as top destinations for growing tech-based economies. While each of the three recent announcements detailed below target different sectors of the innovation economy, they share the same mission of making their region more desirable for startups.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom hopes that by the fall, lawmakers will enact a comprehensive legislative reform of state economic development entities in order to begin implementing a plan for growth and competitiveness that builds on the diverse strengths of California's regional economies. The lieutenant governor last week presented the first statewide economic plan in more than 10 years, outlining steps to develop a new economic model that "embraces the shift from a consumption-based economy to a production economy focused on global trade."

Steven Chu, Secretary of the Department of Energy, announced $2 million in available funding for the National University Clean Energy Business Challenge — a nationwide network of regional university-based clean energy business creation competitions.

Gov. Pat Quinn this week signed into law two bills in support of tech-based companies and student entrepreneurs. SB 107 builds on the state's Technology Development Account, which allows the state to invest up to 1 percent of its investment portfolio in venture capital firms that in turn invest in technology-based businesses. The new law increases the amount to 2 percent. Companies may use the funding for R&D, marketing new products and workforce expansion. Another bill signed by Gov.

Michigan's InvestMichigan! Mezzanine Fund is slated to become the Small Business Administration's (SBA) first licensed Impact Investment Fund through the agency's new Impact Investment Initiative. The SBA initiative, which is part of the White House's Startup America initiative, uses the existing infrastructure of the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program to encourage small business growth. Participating funds must make place-based investments in small businesses in underserved areas, or investments in the clean energy and education sectors.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently awarded a five-year, $10 million grant to the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) to create a national center for entrepreneurship engineering. STVP will partner with the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) to develop resources for undergraduate entrepreneurship programs at engineering schools across the country. Read the announcement...