Accelerating Innovation

$26M Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Cluster Development Challenge Announced

The White House has released details on this year's $26 million Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, a multi-agency initiative to assist in the development and implementation of regionally-driven economic development strategies that support advanced manufacturing and cluster development. The challenge will fund approximately 12 new awards, each with a project period of up to three years. The deadline for applications is July 9, 2012. An informational webinar for the Advanced Manufacturing Jobs Accelerator will be available in approximately two weeks at www.manufacturing.gov/accelerator/index.html.

GOVERNORS LOOK TO ARTS, CULTURE AND DESIGN TO BOOST ECONOMIC GROWTH

With concerns over job creation and business growth holding a prominent—and persistent—position on policy agendas today, governors are increasingly finding innovative ways to support economic growth, according to a new report out today from the National Governors Association (NGA). New Engines of Growth:  Five Roles for Arts, Culture, and Design focuses on the role that arts, culture and design can play in governors' policies to create jobs and boost their economies in the short run and transition to an innovation-based economy in the long run. In particular, arts, culture and design can assist states with economic growth because they can serve the following roles: 

• Provide a fast-growth, dynamic industry cluster;
• Help mature industries become more competitive;
• Provide the critical ingredients for innovative places;
• Catalyze community revitalization; and
• Deliver a better-prepared workforce.

Washington Business Roundtable ‘Benchmarks’ show modest improvement in some areas, failing grades in others

Washington State Wire – By Erik Smith. The Washington Roundtable has given the state a second report card, and you can definitely say there's room for improvement. The state has slipped in key measures regarding education, it remains toward the bottom of the heap when it comes to transportation, and business taxes are among the highest in the country. That's according to the Roundtable's "Benchmarks for a Better Washington," a rather ambitious statistical grading project the group launched last year. But the state gets high marks in other categories. Among other things, Washington has moved into the top-ten states in the country for private sector job growth. "We clearly have some work to do," says Roundtable President and CEO Steve Mullin. The Roundtable is the state's leading business association for large private-sector employers.

The benchmarks project, now in its second year, is rather different than the "report cards" frequently issued by the associations and advocacy groups active in the state's public arena. Most of those are really a subjective assessment of whether the Legislature did right or wrong in passing or opposing legislation, and they are measured against that group's particular position. Instead, the Roundtable's benchmarks take publicly available statistical data and measure Washington's performance against the other 49 states. The idea is to show how the state is doing nationally, over time – whether it is slipping or improving.

Playing Well With Others

There is a subjective element, of course. The Roundtable chose the statistics it wanted to measure. But most would agree that they are among the key indicators of the state's economic health, Mullin argues. They measure things like quality of education, the condition of roads and bridges, and business tax burden. The report keeps it simple, by comparing against other states. The Roundtable argues that Washington ought to be one of the nation's 10-best performers in each category. So not only should it play well with others, it ought to be above average in every respect.

Mullin says the Roundtable hopes the measurements will become an element in the political debate in Olympia. "Partly because it has taken us such a long time to emerge from the 2008 downturn, we felt that Washington needed a common vision for economic vitality, and we felt the Roundtable could help by putting out what its vision was for the future and then have a vision for measuring it," Mullin said. "We went through a process of looking at all sorts of areas of measurement and decided that we really wanted to get down to a discrete few. If you have 100 benchmarks, it is sort of hard trying to come to a particular conclusion. So we went through a pretty deliberate process of narrowing it down to what our board thought were the most important ones, and we got down to 12."

So how's the state doing? For the first time, it's possible to see progress – both the positive and negative sort.

12 Key Indicators

• Washington ranks 5^th in the number of patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. That's down slightly from last year, when it ranked fourth, but Washington is still among the top 10.
• Washington ranks 8^th in private-sector job growth. That's up from 15^th last year.
• Washington ranks 37^th in high school graduation rates. That's down from 35^th last year.
• Washington misses the mark on student math and science scores – and here a word of explanation is in order. The Roundtable is comparing performance of 8^th-grade students on the National Assessment of Student Progress (NAEP), which some have called the "Nation's Report Card." On last year's tests 40 percent of students ranked "proficient" or better, putting the state in a four-way tie for 12^th place. Last year, based on 2009 results, the state ranked 9^th. No new data was available for science scores, so the state continues to rank 21^st.
• Washington ranks 38^th per capita in the number of bachelor's degrees awarded by the state's public and private higher education institutions. It has slipped from 35^th.
• Washington continues to rank first in the nation for lowest electricity rates, due largely to cheap hydropower.
• Washington ranks 42^nd for the lowest percentage of bridges deemed to be "functionally obsolete" – 20.3 percent – an indication of aging road infrastructure. In the percentage of roads deemed to be in "good" or "very good" condition, the state ranks 16^th. Here no new statistics were available, so the rankings remain unchanged.
• Washington ranks 37^th in average commute travel time – 25.3 minutes – a measure of highway congestion. Last year it ranked 39^th.
• Washington ranks 36^th in lowest combined state and local business tax burden. In other words, it's the 15^th highest. Last year it was 37^th. So it has improved one notch. The key thing, the report says, is that Washington's business tax burden is higher than in most Western states, particularly as compared to Oregon and Idaho – and it is a disincentive to employers looking to relocate.
• Washington ranks 46^th in lowest unemployment insurance tax rates – in other words, the 5^th highest in the country. A word of caution is appropriate here. This ranking is based on 2011 rates, and changes in the rate-setting procedure adopted by the 2011 Legislature are not reflected. National trends in unemployment insurance are likely to improve this number in future years, as many states were forced to borrow from the federal government to maintain solvency, and now must repay those loans; Washington did not. Last year Washington ranked 44^th.
• Washington ranked 50^th in lowest worker-compensation payouts – in other words, the very highest – up from 49^th in 2011. Another word of caution here. The Roundtable is using 2009 data, the latest available, when payouts were an average $857.32 per covered worker. The national average was $448.94. Reforms adopted by the 2011 Legislature are aimed at reducing those figures, but it may take time to see results.

For more background see: www.waroundtable.com

 

 

 

Next50 Celebration of Seattle World’s Fair kicks-off today

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SEATTLE CENTER | THE NEXT 50 | APRIL 21 - OCTOBER 21, 2012

Visit Seattle Center and surrounding attractions from April 21 – October 21, 2012 as we celebrate The Next Fifty: the 50th anniversary of the 1962 World's Fair.

   

Click here to view our Next 50 Guide, and discover a sampling of the incredible events to enjoy across the Seattle Center grounds and throughout this Golden celebration.

The Next Fifty is six action-packed months of hundreds of spectacular experiences:

• Exhibits
• Attractions
• Festivals
• Concerts
• Conferences
• Arts Performances
• Film and Lecture Series
• Sporting Events
• Demonstrations
• Family Activities
• Much more!

The Next Fifty also re-introduces our region to the world, and challenges our community to engage in eight focus areas of importance to our regional leadership and future development:

• Arts, Culture and Design
• History
• Sustainable Futures
• Science and Technology
• Global Health
• Learning
• Commerce and the Innovation Economy
• Civic Action

Over 600 volunteers will have donated over 12,000 hours by the time The Next Fifty is complete.

Clean-technology winners awarded $22,500 in 2012

University of Washington engineering and business teams won all five prizes at the 2012 UW Environmental Innovation Challenge, with 23 teams from 5 Pacific Northwest universities competing. Teams displayed prototypes and plans for clean-tech ventures that address market problems with forward-thinking, scalable solutions. The UW Environmental Innovation Challenge is sponsored by the UW Foster School of Business Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, UW College of Engineering, UW College of the Environment and UW Center for Commercialization. The Washington Economic Development Commission was one of the sponsors. WEDC executive director Egils Milbergs also served as a judge for this year's competition.

 

$10,000 Grand Prize = GIST
An alternative to concrete highway jersey barriers, Green Innovative Safety Technologies (GIST) is a start-up that revolutionizes a transportation sector with recycled technology. They take used tires that otherwise get dumped into landfills and convert them to highway barriers. Judges viewed a full-size prototype and 3-D animation demo of how their barriers increase safety. The team consists of three UW engineers who specialize in chemical, mechanical, environmental and civil engineering and a Foster School of Business MBA student. "Last year alone in this country there were 300,000,000 used automotive tires thrown away with no good secondary purpose. That's where we come in. The GIST solution uses proprietary, rubber-recycling technology," says MBA student Ricky Holm. "We have designed a recycled alternative to concrete lane separation devices. Not only is our product environmentally friendly, it is more aesthetically pleasing, safer for vehicle occupants and it increases the safety of people living near highways." Wiancko Family Foundation's Brad Parker, a judge, says, "GIST caught my attention from the beginning; anybody who can take discarded waste material and turn it into something productive is doing something fabulous."

$5,000 Second Prize = Barrels of Hope
Replacing post-disaster relief transitional housing with sturdy, long-lasting, sustainable shelter, Barrels of Hope, improves the lives of natural disaster victims. "We've developed a safe, affordable, environmentally friendly house that can fit inside of a small rain barrel. Organizations such as USAID, American Red Cross, World Vision International and Habitat for Humanity raised nearly $4.5 billion for the relief efforts to Haiti after the earthquake struck in 2010. Unfortunately, there were no truly transitional and scalable shelter solutions at the time. Stuck with the next best option, nearly half of the 200,000 families who lost their homes in the earthquake are still living in the tents that they received nearly two years ago. Our houses are earthquake and hurricane-resistant. With disasters continuing to occur… it's time that we change the way that we approach post-disaster response," says Ryan Scott, MBA student. The UW team of entrepreneurs consists of four MBA students and a civil engineering student and two consultants.

Three $2,500 Honorable Mentions = LumiSands, OmniOff, UrbanHarvest
Ambient-pleasing LED household lighting (invented by UW team LumiSands), a non-toxic alternative to Teflon cookware (invented by UW team OmniOff) and rooftop urban greenhouses (invented by UW team UrbanHarvest). Those are the product innovations designed by three University of Washington teams that each won $2,500.

 

Higher education attainment rates must be accelerated to improve Washington state and the nation’s prospects

As college completion rates continue to climb in other parts of the world, a new report released today by Lumina Foundation shows that we must do significantly more to build on the modest gains in higher education attainment seen here at home. According to the report, A Stronger Nation through Higher Education, 38.3 percent of working-age Americans (ages 25-64) held a two- or four-year college degree in 2010. That rate is up modestly from 2009, when the rate was 38.1 percent and 2008, when the rate was 37.9 percent. The report measures progress toward Goal 2025 which is a national movement to increase the percentage of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025. The Stronger Nation report shows that if we continue on our current rate of production, only 79.8 million working-age Americans (46.5% of those aged 25-64) will hold degrees by 2025. Since this will leave us more than 23 million degrees short of the national 60 percent goal, the need to rapidly accelerate degree attainment levels is clear. More »

Washington state situation. The Lumina study showed that the higher-education attainment rate of young adults in Washington — ages 25 to 34 — was 40.7 percent, slightly better than the national average of 39.3 percent for that age group (using 2010 census date). "If the current rate of degree production continues, nearly 49 percent of Washington's adult population — about 2 million people — will hold a college degree in 2025," the report says. "To reach 60 percent, Washington will need to add more than 471,000 degrees to that total." The report says that college attainment is especially low in Washington's rural counties. The lowest was Franklin County, where only 22 percent of adult residents have at least an associate degree. Other counties with college attainment rates under 30 percent include Adams, Cowlitz, Douglas, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Klickitat, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Wahkiakum and Yakima. Report: College enrollment growing too slowly (Seattle Times)

 

"More people are graduating from college, but the current pace is not sufficient," said Jamie P. Merisotis, president and chief executive officer of Lumina. "America is grappling with how to grow jobs, skills and opportunity, and this report highlights the economic imperative of getting a postsecondary degree. This issue can't be wished away by fanciful talk about higher education 'bubbles' and whether college is worth it. Education is the only route to economic prosperity for both individuals and the nation. That should matter to policymakers. It should matter to business leaders. And it certainly should matter to our education leaders."

In a recent Gallup-Lumina Foundation poll, the vast majority of Americans said that they believe economic well-being is tied to holding a college degree. But there are barriers to moving the country to a 60 percent attainment rate. Many state universities and community colleges face both financial constraints and a lack of space. A majority of Americans in the Gallup-Lumina poll also raised concerns about tuition increases and questioned whether college and universities are able to deliver the job-relevant learning that is required today. These realities have experts increasingly exploring ways to focus on productivity and quality in the system.

Stronger Nation App: The Stronger Nation Report app can be downloaded through the iTunes store by using the search term "Stronger Nation 2012."

Video Compilation: Leaders from Lumina Foundation talk about the report and how to increase degree attainment in America

 

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An Evaluation of Public-Private Investments in South Lake Union--Request for Proposals (RFP)

The City of Seattle's Office of Economic Development (OED) is seeking an evaluation of the impacts of public sector investments and public-private sector partnerships in South Lake Union (SLU). The study should quantify the value of SLU's public and private investments and identify benefits associated with public-private partnerships, including:

• how public investment supported private investment (and vice versa), and
• how public policies encouraged private investment, including new commercial and residential development and employment

This analysis should incorporate previously conducted economic impact analyses for a complete understanding of the economic activity in SLU in recent years. The study should also provide guidelines on how to evaluate future public-private partnership opportunities. This evaluation must completed by May 15, 2012. Click here for details on the Request for Proposals.

Proposals are due to the Office of Economic Development by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 30, 2012.

Does Silicon Valley have a secret sauce?

When it comes to innovation, the San Francisco Bay Area has unique assets that enable it to excel in the world economy. According to a new report released today by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute and Booz & Company, one of those assets is a distinct culture of innovation that can be found in many Bay Area companies. The "secret sauce" these companies have combines an unusually high level of alignment and integration among their corporate, innovation, and business strategies and goals. It blends in a strong focus on connecting early and continuously with customers about their spoken and unspoken needs. It also engages chief technology officers directly in business strategy. This organizational culture combines with the region's venture capital firms, its world-class universities and research institutes, and an entrepreneurial workforce that is highly educated and embraces risk, to drive innovation. LINK to full report: http://www.bayareaeconomy.org/media/files/pdf/CultureOfInnovationFullWeb.pdf

Rewriting the rules for start-up investing

Legislation to make it easier for growth companies to raise capital cleared a procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate. The Senate voted 76-22 to limit debate on the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, easily clearing the 60-vote mark needed to move the bill forward. This vote came the day after the Senate blocked a Democratic alternative to this bill. The JOBS Act passed the House by a 390-32 margin March 8. President Obama has indicated support for the legislation. More details on the Startups Act at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpstart_Our_Business_Startups_Act

Paul G. Allen commits $300M to understand how the brain works

The Allen Institute for Brain Science announced today that Paul G. Allen has committed an additional $300 million to the Institute to significantly expand its scientific programs. Bringing his total commitment to date to $500 million, Allen has charged the Institute with tackling some of the most fundamental and complex questions in brain science today. The answers to these questions are essential for achieving a complete understanding of how the brain works, what goes wrong in brain-related diseases and disorders, and how best to treat them.

"The accomplishments of the Institute have been truly remarkable," said Paul G. Allen. "With its disciplined, mission-focused approach, the Institute has successfully tackled big-science projects, delivering tangible results that are helping to advance brain research around the world every day. I am excited to expand the scale and scope of the Institute's efforts, and I look forward to seeing what we will accomplish in the future."

Allen's contribution will support the first four years of an ambitious 10-year plan developed by the Allen Institute for Brain Science. The plan calls for a doubling of the Institute's staff to launch three new and complementary scientific initiatives that address critical questions that are central to understanding how the brain works:

• How does the brain store, encode and process information?
• What are the cellular building blocks that underlie all brain function, and are often targets of disease?
• How do those cells develop, and then create the circuits that drive behavior, thought and brain dysfunction?

These three complementary initiatives are designed to yield knowledge of fundamental principles governing brain function, publicly sharable data, and new tools and technologies that will further accelerate progress across the global research community.

"Paul Allen's generosity and bold vision have allowed us to build a unique organization and advance brain research in ways that wouldn't be possible otherwise," said Allan Jones, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the Allen Institute for Brain Science. "This new funding enables us to apply our structured, industrial-scale approach to science to tackle increasingly complex questions about how the brain works—questions that must be answered if we are to understand and treat autism, Alzheimer's disease, depression, traumatic brain injury and the myriad other brain-related diseases and disorders that affect all of us either directly or indirectly."

View/download PDF

Announcement event page

Disney coming to Seattle by ship

Seattle Business reports that beginning May 28, the Disney Wonder—a 964-foot-long, 83,000-ton temporary home to as many as 2,700 travelers—will launch the first of 14 seven-night cruises from Seattle in 2012, steaming north to the scenic Tracy Arm Fjord and the Alaskan cities of Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan, as well as Victoria, British Columbia. Disney becomes the seventh major line—joining Holland America, Princess, Carnival, Norwegian, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean—to dock its behemoth waterborne megahotels in Seattle. The Port of Seattle reports that each ship sailing from Seattle to Alaska leaves about $1.9 million in its wake, as passengers shop here, eat here and stay at local hotels. Additionally, in 2011, the cruise industry created more than 4,400 jobs and generated $18.9 million in state and local taxes, according to the Port. more » 

National security and US educational performance are linked

The United States' failure to educate its students leaves them unprepared to compete and threatens the country's ability to thrive in a global economy and maintain its leadership role. This often noted observation finds another home in a new Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)–sponsored Independent Task Force report on U.S. Education Reform and National Security. "Educational failure puts the United States' future economic prosperity, global position, and physical safety at risk," warns the Task Force, chaired by Joel I. Klein, former head of New York City public schools, and Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. secretary of state. The country "will not be able to keep pace—much less lead—globally unless it moves to fix the problems it has allowed to fester for too long," argues the Task Force.

Download report link:

http://i.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/TFR68_Education_National_Security.pdf

The report notes that while the United States invests more in K-12 public education than many other developed countries, its students are ill prepared to compete with their global peers. According to the results of the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international assessment that measures the performance of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics, and science every three years, U.S. students rank fourteenth in reading, twenty-fifth in math, and seventeenth in science compared to students in other industrialized countries. The lack of preparedness poses threats on five national security fronts: economic growth and competitiveness, physical safety, intellectual property, U.S. global awareness, and U.S. unity and cohesion, says the report. Too many young people are not employable in an increasingly high-skilled and global economy, and too many are not qualified to join the military because they are physically unfit, have criminal records, or have an inadequate level of education. "Human capital will determine power in the current century, and the failure to produce that capital will undermine America's security," the report states. "Large, undereducated swaths of the population damage the ability of the United States to physically defend itself, protect its secure information, conduct diplomacy, and grow its economy."

The Task Force proposes three overarching policy recommendations:

• Implement educational expectations and assessments in subjects vital to protecting national security.
• Make structural changes to provide students with good choices.
• Launch a "national security readiness audit" to hold schools and policymakers accountable for results and to raise public awareness.

Obama Administration Proposes New National Network to Support Manufacturing

President Obama announced the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, a proposed $1 billion initiative to build a network comprised of up to fifteen Institutes for manufacturing innovation across the country. The proposed fifteen member institutes will serve as regional hubs of manufacturing excellence that will help make U.S. manufacturers more competitive and encourage investment. The administration also announced that it would take immediate steps to launch a $45 million pilot institute for manufacturing innovation.

The Institutes will bring together industry, universities and community colleges, federal agencies, and our states to accelerate innovation by investing in industrially-relevant manufacturing technologies with broad applications to bridge the gap between basic research and product development, provide shared assets to help companies – particularly small manufacturers – access cutting-edge capabilities and equipment, and create an unparalleled environment to educate and train students and workers in advanced manufacturing skills. Each Institute will serve as a regional hub of manufacturing excellence, providing the innovation infrastructure to support regional manufacturing hubs and ensuring that our manufacturing sector is a key pillar in an economy that is built to last. This model has been successfully deployed in other countries and represents a gap in the U.S. manufacturing innovation infrastructure that the proposal will address.

The Institutes will each have a well-defined technology focus to address industrially-relevant manufacturing challenges on a large scale and to provide the capabilities and facilities required to reduce the cost and risk of commercializing new technologies. While the Institutes would be competitively selected, several areas of innovation illustrate the opportunities that this proposal could help to realize:

• Developing lightweight materials, such as low-cost carbon fiber composites (CFC's), that will improve fuel efficiency, performance, and corrosion resistance of the next generation of automobiles, aircraft, ships and trains.
• Refining standards, materials, and equipment for "3-D printing"(also known as additive manufacturing) to enable low-cost, small batch production using digital designs that can be transmitted from designers located anywhere.
• Creating a smart manufacturing infrastructure and approaches that lets operators make real-time use of "big data" flows from fully-instrumented plants in order to improve productivity, optimize supply chains, and improve energy, water, and materials use.

The new National Network for Manufacturing Innovation will work to leverage new investment from industry, state and local government, and the research community. This initiative will be collaboration between Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy.

The President also announced the launch of a pilot institute with an initial federal investment of $45 million from the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, and the National Science Foundation. The pilot will demonstrate the type the collaboration planned for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. The pilot will be selected through a competitive process that uses existing resources and fits within the agencies' statutory missions, using current funding and authorities, while addressing key challenges faced by the U.S. manufacturing sector.

Press release link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/09/president-obama-announce-new-efforts-support-manufacturing-innovation-en

 

 

Governor’s Aerospace Office gets director

Gov. Chris Gregoire today announced she has appointed Alex Pietsch to head the new Governor's Aerospace Office. Pietsch currently leads the Department of Community and Economic Development in the city of Renton. "Alex comes highly recommended and brings to the role extensive experience in economic development and in working with the aerospace industry," Gregoire said. "He knows the importance of keeping our state economically competitive, and I look forward to his guidance and expertise as we continue to build our important aerospace sector." The Governor's Aerospace Office will be responsible for coordinating the various state agency efforts to support the state's aerospace industry, as well as guide the development and implementation of strategies to promote expansion of Washington's aerospace sector. As director, Pietsch will chair the Washington Aerospace Council and lead state government efforts to coordinate with private state aerospace industry associations. He will also be responsible for defining state government's aerospace industry strategy, identifying priorities, and evaluating the effectiveness and impact of current and proposed aerospace economic development investments. In addition, Pietsch will serve as executive director of the Washington Aerospace Partnership, the partnership between government, labor, and business that lead the successful efforts to secure the Boeing 767 Tanker contract and 737 MAX production opportunities for Washington state. "This is an incredibly exciting time for Washington's aerospace cluster," said Pietsch. "We have achieved a tremendous amount and, yet, there is significant work to do. I am excited about the opportunity to work with Governor Gregoire and our public and private partners across the state to preserve and enhance Washington's position as the worldwide center of aerospace."

Special legislative session begins to wrangle over budgets

The WA House and Senate did not reach an agreement last Thursday on a supplemental budget to close a $1 billion shortfall, so the Governor Gregoire called for a special session starting today. The Governor and legislative leaders are hoping to close on a deal sooner than 30 days.  The special session will also consider a supplemental capital budget dubbed a “jobs package,” which includes up to $1.3 billion worth of capital project funding. The March 9^th Legislative Scorecard that tracks bills related to the Washington Economic Development Commission priorities (www.wedc.wa.gov)  can be found at Download WEDC Priorities and Legislative Scorecard.

Global Innovation Policy Report Ranks 55 Nations' Capacities for Economic Growth

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation released today one of the most comprehensive assessments ever undertaken of countries' innovation policies. The Global Innovation Policy Index benchmarks the effectiveness of the innovation policies of 55 countries - including virtually all EU, OECD, APEC and BRIC economies - and provides a framework for making effective policies. The Policy Index assesses the countries against 84 indicators grouped across seven core innovation policy areas: 1) trade and foreign direct investment; 2) science and R&D; 3) domestic market competition; 4) intellectual property rights; 5) information technology; 6) government procurement; and 7) high-skill immigration.

The Index ranks countries as either upper tier, upper-mid tier, lower-mid tier or lower tier on each of the seven policy areas and overall, and highlights best practices in policy development among these countries that other nations can learn from. Only Canada and Singapore placed in the upper tier on all seven innovation policy indicators, while the United States placed in the top tier in every category except openness to high-skill immigration. "Countries are engaged in a fierce race for global innovation advantage," ITIF President Robert Atkinson said, "but they can compete in ways that either maximize their innovation capacity while producing positive spillovers for the world, such as by investing in research or education, or compete by less effective policies that often distort global markets through 'innovation mercantilism.' The Index highlights countries' 'good' innovation policies and provides a scorecard of how effectively leading countries are adopting them."

Read the full report at www.kauffman.org/innovationpolicy or www.itif.org/globalinnovationpolicy.

Washington is hosting the Aerospace & Defense Supplier Summit in Seattle March 12-14

The aerospace industry is facing significant growth in the coming years, and we need to be prepared to meet the demand. "Washington State is delighted to host Aerospace & Defense Supplier Summit Seattle 2012. With our rich history in the aerospace industry, we are pleased to partner with Boeing, BCI Aerospace and the hundreds of aerospace suppliers," stated Washington Governor Chris Gregoire. The first of its kind in the United States, the Aerospace & Defense Supplier Summit Seattle is an opportunity for leaders in the aerospace industry to meet with potential industry partners.

LINK: Aerospace & Defense Supplier Summit Seattle 2012.

Over 600 companies, 7000 one-to-one meetings and 30 countries are expected. Washington state leads the global aerospace industry. Washington based companies are driving innovation in avionics, composites and advanced materials, aero-structures, aviation biofuels, design and engineering, tooling and interiors. Washington boasts more than 82,000 skilled workers directly employed in aerospace and a cluster of 650 companies making our industry one of the most dynamic in the world.

Innovation priorities and long term job creation reflected in proposed operating and capital budget

The Washington State Senate has released their proposed operating and capital budget. Below are the prepared remarks for Egils Milbergs delivered before the Senate Ways and Means Committee February 28, 2012.

"Senator Murray, Senator Kilmer and members of the committee. Thank you for the courage to set priorities. Across the board budget cuts is not a strategy. It does not inspire, it does not stir public support and it does not provide a pathway to prosperity. The capital budget proposal is smart and strategic. This is not about short term temporary jobs. It is about long term benefits. It aligns with our plan to make Washington the innovation hotspot of the world by 2020. It gives priority to talent, innovation partnerships, infrastructure and international trade—the fundamental pillars upon which an innovation economy depend. It also reflects local priorities. We believe in leadership at the local levels. These investments will strengthen local innovation ecosystems accelerating economy recovery from the bottom-up. This conversation will need to continue after this legislative session. Do not be afraid to lead. We will be a partner, we will there with you."

LINKS:

Senate Chair's Proposed 2012 Supplemental Operating Budget

Senate Chair's Proposed 2012 Supplemental Capital Budget

The operating budget (Chair, Sen Ed Murray) does not rely on new taxes and makes no cuts to current K-12 or higher education funding. Maintaining investments in talent development are an important priority for the WEDC. To reduce K-12 class size, consistent with the state Supreme Court's McCleary decision, the budget will tap revenue from legislation to end the tax exemption on interest on mortgages for national banks and end an exemption on sales tax on wind power generation equipment ahead of schedule. Senate budget writers are also relying on $330 million delayed payment to schools that typically get a major payment at the end of June will instead get it in early July. There is no cut to the WEDC budget allowing the commission to continue strategy, implementation and evaluation work with an adequate level of resources.

The $1.3 billion capital budget proposal (chair, Sen. Derek Kilmer) is not just about temporary public sector job creation. This aligns with the WEDC four innovation pillars and job creation strategy. It gives priority to investments in talent, innovation partnerships, infrastructure and international trade. In other words these are projects will generate longer-term growth benefits by investing in emerging innovation clusters, remove critical bottlenecks in freight mobility, modernize education/training facilities in high demand occupations, and assist small enterprises to export more.

Innovation Partnership Zones see a significant investment in locally designed innovation initiatives ($15 million); $36 million in port and export assistance grants; $31 million for clean-up and development of brownfield sites with economic development potential; $335 million for workforce development, including skills centers and high demand facilities at community and technical colleges and research universities. Investments in higher education facilities will make a significant difference—for example, $63 million for UW Bothell to support STEM degrees.

Capital Budget Highlights

$477 million is provided for Economic and Workforce Development including:

· $35 million for economic development, Innovation and Export grants administered by the Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB),

· $15 million for Innovation Partnership Zones,

· $26 million for Main Street Improvement grants

· $36 million in port and export assistance grants,

· $31 million for clean-up and development of brownfield sites with economic development potential,

· $335 million for workforce development including skills centers and high demand facilities at community and technical colleges and research universities.

$76 million is provided for Skills Centers including:

· $23 million for the Puget Sound Skills Center,

· $6 million for the Sunnyside Satellite of the Yakima Valley Technical Skills Center,

· $10 million for the Tri-Tech Skills Center - Walla Walla Branch Campus,

· $10 million for the Wenatchee Valley Skills Center

· $19 million for the Grant County Branch of the Wenatchee

· $2 million for the WA-NIC Skills Center - Snoqualmie Valley SD/Bellevue Community College

· $2 million for the Spokane Area Professional - Technical Skills Center

· $750,000 for the Clark County Skills Center addition

$249 million is provided for major higher education facilities and equipment for high demand occupations including:

· $31 million for Skagit Valley College - Academic & Student Services Building

· $$39 million for Lower Columbia College - Health and Sciences Building

· $39 million for Tacoma Community College - Health Careers Center

· $3.6 million for Olympic College Instruction Center

· $23 million for North Seattle Community College Technology Building

· $37 million to complete the second phase of the WSU Spokane Riverpoint Biomedical and Health Sciences Building

· $63 million for the University of Washington - Bothell Phase 3 supporting degrees in Science, Technology, engineering and Math.

 

UW Launches Technology Start-up Incubator, aims to double start-ups over three years

The University of Washington today unveiled a new business incubator that will provide startup businesses access to critical lab and office space on the UW campus for their work. The incubator is one key element in a larger commercialization initiative announced by President Michael Young today that will double the number of startups produced by the UW – from an average of 10 a year to 20 – during the next three years.

The UW Center for Commercialization New Ventures Facility, opened today, showcases the UW's commitment to spinning out an increasing number of companies built around UW research. The incubator will be led by the UW Center for Commercialization New Ventures program and is located in UW's Fluke Hall. The space will initially host 15 companies and when finished will have space for 25 startups, providing 11,500 square feet of lab space and 11,500 square feet of office space.

Among the first UW startup companies occupying the space will be:

• Nexgenia – A company using polymer-based nanotechnology that improves the speed and sensitivity of clinical laboratory tests for the diagnosis of infectious diseases, cancer and metabolic disorders.
• Envitrum – A startup with a process that converts low-value waste glass into versatile green building materials.
• VIxim – A company developing scalable simulation software for cloud environments including SimX for computation-based encryption and WaveSearch for accelerated graph diffusion.

"The opening of this new incubator signals our commitment to strengthening entrepreneurship at the UW," said Young. "We've been providing the mentorship and are now going the next step in providing the space for faculty and students to work alongside highly successful and experienced Washington entrepreneurs on UW spin-outs."

The UW has fostered university-based innovations to help create more than 260 companies in Washington state. Young hopes to strengthen that position in the future with a renewed focus on fostering the entrepreneurial spirit.

"We all want to see National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health research result in tremendous new therapies and treatments," said Young. "The reality is that commercialization is a major undertaking that requires space, capital, expertise and passion. We want UW to be the best place in the world to do research. We want researchers doing the important work in key translational areas to choose to come to UW and stay here."

The UW is dedicated to maximizing its contribution to the Washington state economy by spinning out innovations in life sciences, clean technology, alternative energy and information technology. The UW incubator will help increase the quantity and quality of Washington technology companies by priming some of the most promising UW early-stage startups for outside investment and success.

"An on-campus facility is just critical," said Linden Rhoads, UW vice provost for commercialization. "Housed here, a startup's product development team has a much better chance of interacting with the UW faculty and graduate students who originally conceived the core technology or concept. In addition, a major goal is lowering the overall cost of product development by leveraging university expertise and infrastructure." UW technology startups are a major driver for the state's economy. These startups have the potential for high growth. They create jobs and offer careers to Washington citizens. Moreover, they pay state taxes, attract outside investment, increase exports and spawn even more entrepreneurial activity both inside and outside the university.

Senate Democrats lay out priorities for job creation

Senators Derek Kilmer and Jim Kastama held a press conference today to give an update on their legislative priorities, citing a number of bills that survived today's policy cutoff deadline.

Washington state doesn't have a jobs shortage, "we have a skills shortage," said Sen. Kastama. He said 60,000 jobs are going unfilled because of a lack of skilled workers. One bill that Democrats say would help address that shortage is 6289, which provides training for unemployed people to become entrepreneurs. Another bill would help the spouses of military members obtain professional licenses. A handful of other bills are aimed at expanding the state's aerospace industry. Kastama said one of his top priorities is 5808. If an industry earns more revenue than projected, then industry groups could apply for a rebate that could be used for research and training workers. The rebates would be capped at $5 million a year. Post from TVW The Capitol Record.

LINK: You can watch the full half-hour press conference here.