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Week of February 4 - 10, 2008 |
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The State of the Union and Beyond
President Bush presented his final State of
the Union address last Monday. While pundits deemed the speech to be a
fairly bland affair, Bush did lay out some markers for how he hopes to
support the innovation economy in his last year in office. On this
front, the biggest headline probably resulted from Bush’s continued call
for expanded federal R&D budgets. This position represents something of
a shift, as his tough budget stance in late 2007 was a primary cause of
last year’s R&D budget decline. Bush also continued to advocate for
efforts to reform US immigration laws, pushed for increased spending on
alternative energy technologies, extension of his previous tax cuts, and
also continued his recent fight against Congressional earmarks. In fact,
he has directed Federal agencies via executive order to ignore all
earmarks that are not subject to a Congressional vote. |
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New Advisory Council on Financial Literacy Created As part of the White
House response to the sub-prime mortgage lending crisis, President Bush
has created a new White House Council on Financial Literacy. The Council
will be headed by Charles R. Schwab, founder of the Charles Schwab
brokerage firm. John Hope Bryant, founder of Operation HOPE, a national
network of inner city banking centers, will serve as Vice Chair. The
Council has not yet outlined a detailed agenda, but it is expected to
provide the White House with a new set of strategies for expanding
access to financial literacy training and affordable financial services. |
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For years, the Small Business Investment
Research (SBIR) program has been a key component in ensuring that
entrepreneurs can provide critical products, services and technologies
to America’s government agencies. This year, the program, which requires
Federal agencies to set aside a portion of R&D funds for contracts with
small business, is up for reauthorization. Last week, the House
Committee on Small Business held its first hearings on the future of
SBIR. While the debate has just begun, Congress will be reviewing many
different aspects of the SBIR program. Key points of debate include: |
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The State of Innovation in Maine
The latest edition of the Maine Innovation
Index shows that Maine is making progress in building a strong base for
future innovative and entrepreneurial activities. The index, prepared
for the Maine Office of Innovation by PolicyOne Research, assesses state
performance and capacities in five broad categories: Research and
Development, Innovation, Employment and Output, Education, and
Connectivity. In recent years, the Maine economy has performed quite
well in key areas such as entrepreneurial activity, education skills of
middle schoolers, and connectivity. It has performed less well in R&D
performance, attraction of venture capital investments, and the critical
metric of per capita income improvements. Maine has been tracking its
innovation performance for more than ten years, and most trends appear
to moving in a positive direction. However, as Maine’s Governor John
Baldacci notes in the report’s introduction, the state’s leaders must
still work hard on “transforming our tradition of Yankee ingenuity into
innovation-based economic strategies.” |
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The Power of Business Incubation in Maryland A new economic
assessment of business incubation in Maryland shows that these
facilities are important generators of new jobs and new technologies.
The study assessed business incubators operated by the Maryland
Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO). At present, TEDCO operates
18 different facilities across the state. These programs have generated
a large-scale economic impact, supporting more than 14,000 high-quality
jobs generally pay higher than average wages. Maryland is home to
numerous federal research facilities such as the National Institutes of
Health and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Thanks to this strong technology base, the study also suggests that
Maryland consider supporting additional incubator programs to help new
entrepreneurs in key sectors like the life sciences. |
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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. |
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National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship
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stories © 2008 The Public Forum Institute
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