|
If you have problems viewing this email go to http://www.publicforuminstitute.org/nde/news/nde-news.htm |
|
|
|
|
Week of January 21-27, 2008 |
|
|
Final 2007 Venture Capital Numbers
While venture capitalists (VCs) are focused
on finding new investments for 2008, their trade association, the
National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), is compiling and releasing
the final statistics for 2007. Over the past several weeks, NVCA and
Thomson Financial have released several compilations of 2007 VC data. In
general, 2007 was a decent year, showing slight increases from 2006
figures. On the fundraising end, VCs raised $34.7 billion (for 235
funds) in 2007. This total represents a slight increase over 2006 (up
2.6% in dollar value), but the total is the highest level since the
dot-com era in 2001. In addition, the market for exits--via mergers and
acquisitions (M&As) or initial public offerings (IPOs)--also seemed to
pick up. The total number of IPOs in 2007 was the highest since 2004.
Eighty-six venture-backed firms went public last year, raising a total
of $10.3 billion. Meanwhile, there were 305 venture-backed M&A
transactions, which raised a total of $25.4 billion. This dollar value
was the highest reported total since 2000. Industry observers expressed
satisfaction with these trends, while also expressing hope that the
industry can enjoy a similar performance in 2008. |
|
|
Infrastructure Needs for the Biotech Industry As biotechnology
advances and a major biopharmaceutical industry evolves in the US, these
firms and the industry at large will generate unique infrastructure
demands on Federal, state and local governments. New research sponsored
by the National Institute of Standards and Technology takes a closer
look at the future needs and the present state of the biopharmaceutical
industry’s technological infrastructure. Technology infrastructure is a
broad concept that includes equipment, tools, data, and methods needed
to develop new technologies and products. The new research indicates
that the industry now spends a whopping $1.2 billion each year on its
technology infrastructure. Within this total, $884 million supports
drug-related R&D and $335 million supports commercial manufacturing and
other activities. To their credit, the researchers did not simply seek
to tally up these costs. They also sought to estimate the benefits of
major efficiency gains in this technology infrastructure. While the
projections differ depending on specific individual circumstances, the
researchers estimate potential savings in the range of 10-40% thanks to
major improvements in key areas such as gene expression analysis,
biomonitors, and bioinformatics. |
|
|
Like many Midwestern states, Iowa faces
some major demographic challenges. Its workforce is rapidly aging, and
future workforce shortages loom. Meanwhile, many of Iowa’s younger and
more educated workers leave the state for opportunities in larger
metropolitan areas. Iowa’s leaders have been thinking about how to
address these challenges. As part of this effort, the Iowa Legislature
created the Generation Iowa Commission, composed of young leaders
between the ages of 18 and 35, to offer recommendations on how Iowa can
better nurture, attract and retain young professionals. The Commission
has recently published its final report that contains lots of useful
ideas for how Iowa--or other communities--could make itself more
attractive to Generations X, Y, and beyond. The Commission’s
recommendations include proposals to raise wages for younger workers
(via revised tax incentives for the creation of higher paying jobs),
reduce student debt loads (through a higher education tax credit, and a
student loan repayment assistance program), expand local job
opportunities (through a state job and internship exchange, and
government procurement preferences for young entrepreneurs), and to
improve the quality of life for young Iowans through expanded arts,
culture, and recreation initiatives. |
|
|
Globalization and the European Union: Who Can Cope Best?
A new Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) research paper examines how various European
Union countries are equipped to cope with globalization through flexible
labor market policies, effective innovation frameworks, and high quality
education and workforce systems. The study includes some interesting
findings. Western European countries, especially the Scandinavian
nations, are well-situated to prosper from globalization. Italy is one
exception to this generalization, as its export mix competes with (as
opposed to complementing) the mix found in China and other developing
economies. Southern and Eastern European countries will be similarly
challenged as they will compete with developing economies for low-wage
assembly jobs in global supply chains. The research also indicates that
intra-European trade might fall in coming years, as more established
European economies opt to trade with the developing world as opposed to
their less competitive European neighbors. Finally, several large
European economies, namely France and Italy, are poorly equipped to
adjust to globalization-related shocks. This results from weaknesses in
labor and product markets. Southern and Eastern European countries will
also be challenged on this front due to poor human capital development
capacity. |
|
|
Science and Technology Earmarks Return with a Vengeance A Government
budgets in fiscal year 2007 were relatively earmark-free, thanks to
agreement between Congressional budget negotiators. The same cannot be
said about the recently passed FY 2008 appropriations bills where
earmarks and pork barrel spending are clearly back in fashion. A new
analysis from the American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS) examines the impact of earmarks on Federal research and
development (R&D) budgets. It identifies a total of $4.5 billion in
Federal R&D earmarks, supporting 2,526 different projects, in various FY
2008 appropriations bills. Spending patterns seem to differ across
federal agencies. Both the Departments of Energy and Agriculture have a
great deal of earmarks in their research budgets. Meanwhile, the
National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health budgets
are relatively earmark-free. Not surprisingly, earmarks also follow a
distinctive regional pattern. Ten states--led by California,
Mississippi, and Pennsylvania--receive 44% of all R&D earmarks. These
states tend to be a mix of the most populous and those who are
represented by key Appropriations Committee and Subcommittee chairmen.
|
|
|
The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship is an initiative of the Public Forum Institute made possible by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City. Through NDE-news, we bring you short summaries and analyses of various trends driving entrepreneurship around the world. Subscribe now to receive your weekly copy. Archived issues are available online. |
|
|
|
National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship
|
|
All
stories © 2008 The Public Forum Institute
|
|
