Accelerating Innovation

University of Washington at Seattle ranked as #2 greenest university

The University of Washington at Seattle grabbed the number two spot in Sierra Club's third annual ranking of greenest U.S. Universities. Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington was ranked 6^th. The survey covered eight categories: efficiency, energy, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, and administration. Schools could earn up to ten points in each category and up to five bonus points if they had additional green initiatives. See the final rankings, calibrated to create an out-of-100 rating system. According to a survey by Princeton Review, two-thirds of university applicants look to planet preserving attributes on whether they'd enroll.

Get the top 20 or the full list of 135 schools.

Fastest growing private companies in Washington state

John Cook reports on TechFlash that 107 Washington state companies are in the Inc. 5,000, list of the country's fastest growing privately-held companies. That compares to 612 California companies (the leading state), 74 Oregon companies and 14 Idaho companies.

Revel Consulting took home the top honors in Washington state with a 3-year revenue growth rate of 3,531 percent. Click for the full list of Washington companies are here.

Link to article: http://www.techflash.com/Seattle_area_companies_on_the_Inc_5000_53075542.html

Bellevue cited as best small city in Washington state to launch a business

Entrepreneurs will be an important driver of economic recovery for Washington State. In 2001, during the last recessionary period, 569,750 new companies were launched in the US, which is about one every 55 seconds.  During a recession many who are laid off start their own companies instead of working for someone else.  To launch their businesses many entrepreneurs look to small and midsize cities for a variety of reasons, including inexpensive office and laboratory space, proximity to universities and quality of life. A research project by BusinessWeek in partnership with GIS Planning with went on a hunt to find the best small cities (with populations between 20K and 200K) for startups in each state. To determine the list used ZoomProspector.com, to research and rank by a variety of demographic, business, and geographic variables that impact the probable success of a business start-up.* With that data in hand, BusinessWeek asked entrepreneurs in each city what people should know about starting a business there. Many said factors such as affordability, availability of talent, existence of a thriving business community, and quality of life helped them choose where to open shop. What emerged is a picture of 50 dynamic cities, each with its own draw for new businesses. Bellevue ranked on top in Washington State.

 

For detailed metrics link to: Bellevue

Population: 113,060
Labor force: 62,549
Startups per 1,000 people: 3.78
Small business per 1,000 people: 71

*ZoomProspector selected the best small city on a formula weighing the following 11 factors: workers with at least a bachelor's degree (2008); white-collar workers (2008); "young and educated" population (2005-07); workers in "creative" professions (2005-07); international talent (2005-07); universities (2007); patents (2007); venture-capital funding (2006); small businesses per capita (2008); sole proprietors per capita (2005); and startups per capita (2004-05).

 

Links: Business Week article: "The Pros of Planting Startups in Smaller Cities" For a look at the top small city in all 50 states, go to this slide show. ZoomProspector Web site GIS Planning Web site

Obama jump starts electric car initiatives. Are there jobs down the road?

President Obama announced $2.4 billion in new grants for the development of electric cars. He linked it to an innovation agenda that will create tens of thousands of jobs all across America. He spoke at an RV plant in Elkhart County, Indiana (a place he has visited 4 times since 2008). The unemployment rate there is 16.8%. Interesting historical point is that Elkhart was the home base for an electric car company start-up in the 1970s called ELCAR.

Companies in Indiana and Michigan are getting the bulk of the Department of Energy grants, which are going to makers of batteries and other components of electrically powered vehicles. Warrenville, Illinois-based Navistar will get a $39 million grant to manufacture 400 electric-powered trucks. The grants will go to companies in more than 20 states, including $299 million to Johnson Controls and $249 million to A123 Systems for battery projects at facilities in Michigan and Oregon. GM, Ford and Chrysler will get parts of more than $400 million in grants to Michigan based auto makers. The funding includes $1.5 billion for battery manufacturing and $500 million for U.S.-based companies making electric motors and drive-train components, according to a White House news release. An additional $400 million will be used to purchase hybrid and electric vehicles for testing and training and for creating systems to charge vehicle batteries. A lot of the funding is going to established incumbents. Some of the action needs to go to the entrepreneurs and upstarts with promising technology to enter the field down the road. Click here (pdf) for a full list of the grant winners.

 

Egils Milbergs commented: "We are perceptibly lagging our global competitors in the burgeoning market for electric cars and related infrastructure. We are sourcing much of the latest developments from overseas. The federal government is spending more on the Cash for Clunkers program then on electrifying our transportation system. Which is the more strategically important? Let's strive to do more than R&D projects and test demonstrations. Innovation is not just about invention. It is about bring value to the customer. We need to build a strong US based electric car design, manufacturing, financing, distribution and infrastructure support system as well. If we understand this principle we will create jobs once again in the US auto industry and beyond."