r&d

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine announced the creation of The Ignite Institute, a nonprofit medical research institute to be housed initially at the Center for Innovative Technology. The state will provide $3 million from the Governor's Opportunity Fund and $22 million in incentive grants, subject to General Assembly approval. The institute expects to draw $200 million in initial financing and create 415 jobs. Read more at: http://www.ignitehealth.org/.

Since the 1990s, Maine has done an excellent job investing in R&D to establish a robust research capacity, but little has been done in terms of building a capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship, according to the 2010 Science and Technology Action Plan. The report identifies three main strategies to position the state as a global competitor and create high-paying jobs and economic prosperity.

Marking the first decline in a decade and despite a then-healthy economy, federal R&D for the Department of Energy (DOE) declined from FY05 to FY06. The percentage of total federal R&D obligations dedicated to DOE R&D also declined from FY05 to FY06.

Texas leaders have fully embraced the importance that strongly supported top-tier research universities can serve for attracting and retaining high-wage technology companies and as drivers for future economic growth. With Tuesday’s passage of Proposition 4 by a solid 56.7 percent majority, it is evident the voting population of the Lone Star State gets it as well.

On a per capita basis, federal R&D obligations to U.S. universities and colleges increased by 7 percent from FY 2003 to 2007, rising to $83.80 per person in FY07, according to the National Science Foundation. Total U.S. federal R&D obligations to academia increased by 11.1 percent over the same five years to $25.3 billion in FY07.

SSTI has prepared a table listing the academic obligations per capita from FY 2003 to 2007, the percent change of these obligations per capita over this period, and the relative rank of this change.

The Obama administration's interest in directing more federal support to innovation and research was evident very early in the President's first weeks in office with more than $100 billion of the Recovery Act funding going toward innovation, education and research infrastructure. Earlier this week, the National Economic Council and Office of Science & Technology Policy released a brief report presenting the guiding principles and priorities for the administration's innovation agenda.

In 2008, the U.S. ranked 17th in R&D tax generosity out of the 21 OECD countries that offered some form of R&D tax credits to businesses, according to a recent brief put out by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF). In U.S. Continues to Tread Water in Global R&D Tax Incentives, authors Rob Atkinson and Scott Andes state even though the U.S.

The Montana Department of Commerce has announced that it will provide $2.5 million in grants to support bio-medical research. Montana-based, private nonprofit research institutions are eligible to apply for the funding, which may be used to expand, renovate and purchase equipment for biomedical research. The grants also may be used to expand infrastructure that will enhance scientific collaborations within the Montana University System.

SSTI has prepared a table displaying the amount companies spent on R&D in each state from 2003 to 2007, the state's rank in 2007, the percent change over this five-year period, and the rank of that percent change. For the U.S. as a whole, industry-funded R&D was $204 billion in 2003 and rose to $269.3 billion in 2007 - a five-year jump of 32 percent. Note, the amounts in the chart are not indexed to a single year, but reflect values from when the data was released.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) last week published the final version of its guidelines regarding human stem cell research, in part determining which human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are eligible for research with NIH funding. The final guidelines contain adjustments from the draft version of the guidelines released on April 23 for public comment, from which the NIH received approximately 49,000 statements from advocacy groups, scientists, medical organizations, religious groups, members of Congress, and private citizens.