regions

The Obama administration announced the $40 million "Make it in America" Challenge to accelerate the growing trend of reshoring, attract more foreign direct investments (FDI) and create well-paying domestic jobs. The multiagency competition will award up to 15 grants to regions from across the country to develop and implement regional economic development strategies that encourage reshoring, foster increased FDI, incentivize companies to expand U.S. operations and establish industry-focused training programs. U.S. states, local governments, institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations are eligible for awards. Applications are due May 31, 2013. More information is available at the challenge's website...

Two important and timely topics for regional innovation strategies will be the topics explored through a series of hour-long webinars SSTI will be offering in April: 1) improving the partnership between regional innovation programs and the nation's foundation community; and 2) the role the private/nonprofit accelerator model plays in tech-based economic development. Participation in these and selected other SSTI webinars to be announced in the coming weeks will be free thanks to generous funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration for the Regional Innovation Acceleration Network (RIAN). Four to add to your calendar today include:

Americans need to rethink their view of manufacturing and the role it plays in regional economies across the country, according to a new report issued by a special Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) commission on innovation. The MIT commission found that many U.S. policymakers and citizens still view manufacturing as a small group of traditional, shrinking industries. However, the commission contends manufacturing is a diverse, evolving group of industries in which new products and knowledge frequently emerge from firms of all sizes throughout the country.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) intends to launch a $10 Million Strong Cities, Strong Communities National Resource Network (SC2 Network) — a pilot program to align federal resources and coordinate technical assistance programs to help distressed U.S. communities make more effective local investments. The focus of the SC2 Network will be to strengthen the foundation for economic growth and resiliency in these communities including local technical capacity, comprehensive planning and regional collaboration.

Fostering regional innovation is imperative to strengthening our national economy and crafting public-private partnerships (PPPs) are a key strategy for catalyzing regional economic growth. While states should continue to lead regional innovation efforts, the federal government can play a critical supporting role. The Brookings Institution proposes the establishment of a PPP unit within the White House to coordinate Federal assistance. Examples of effective federal-regional PPP units already are active within the Department of Transportation and the White House Startup America Initiative.

The Obama administration announced winners of the Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge on Tuesday. The challenge — publicized earlier this year — is one of the key initiatives of the interagency Taskforce for the Advancement of Regional Innovation Clusters and is sponsored by a partnership between the U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Departments of Energy and Labor, and the Small Business Administration. Winners include programs in AZ, CA, MI, OK, TN, NY, PA, and a WA and OR bi-state partnership, each receiving approximately $2 million in grants. See the complete list of challenge winners and their reward amounts here. This is the third in a series of multiagency Jobs and Innovation Accelerator challenges administered since 2011. Learn more...

The 10 regional councils established earlier this year to stimulate economic development and improve the business climate statewide are tasked with five primary responsibilities, and can compete for funding from a pool of $1 billion to support projects they determine to be a part of their regional strategy. Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently unveiled a blueprint for how the councils will operate with information regarding resource allocation, structure and leadership, and performance measurement.

During the campaign trail and in speeches delivered during their first few weeks in office, governors in Florida and Nevada announced plans to overhaul economic development efforts without providing many details on how the new systems would operate. Draft legislation recently was introduced in the respective states, providing some insight on the structure and governance of the proposed agencies.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a new pilot program that will to support more than 1,000 startup and earlystage firms across the country. The goal of the Entrepreneurial Mentor Corps' (EMC) is to mobilize members of the current generation of successful business owners to mentor and support startups and entrepreneurs to help them become the next generation of great American companies. In February, SBA Administrator Karen Mills announced one of the EMC's first initiatives to match approximately 100 clean energy startups with mentors. Four regional ‘accelerators’ will identify and match mentors with the clean energy startups. The four accelerators funded in the initial stage of the EMC's clean energy project include:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to direct $200 million in existing funds to establish 10 regional economic development councils to allocate funds and provide business assistance programs across the state. At the same time, the governor would consolidate programs supporting high-tech companies currently administered by the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) with the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) — a move he says will eliminate duplicative functions and save the state $1.9 million in the coming year.