Building the Arkansas Innovation Economy Summary of a Symposium (2012) / Chapter Skim
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II PROCEEDINGS
II PROCEEDINGS
Pages 47-142
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From page 49... ...
Session I: The Global Challenge and the Opportunity for Arkansas Moderator: Mary Good University of Arkansas at Little Rock Mary Good, a member of the National Academies Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy, opened the symposium at the William J Clinton Presidential Library and welcomed the distinguished participants.
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From page 50... ...
He pointed to the example of China, which "does all of these things with enormous focus and commitment," especially by making strong investments in education and training; a strategy to move rapidly up the value chain; effective requirements for training and tech transfer; and making productive use of a critical mass in R&D to generate autonomous sources of innovation and growth. "They are focused, committed, and willing to spend," he said.
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Other features include: · New programs to support university research · Research and experimentation tax incentives for businesses · Attracting star faculty by offering special "Canada chairs" · Reforming immigration rules to attract and integrate highly-skilled workers and pay them well · A more direct focus on commercialization through centers of excellence, a Sustainable Development Technology Fund, and efforts to develop innovation clusters around federal laboratories. Finally, he said, Flanders (a region of Belgium with a population 6 million)
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From page 52... ...
The wind energy initiative, for example, extends the tax credit for wind-generated electricity through 2012. It provides $6 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects and transmission projects, grants of up to 30 percent of the cost of building a renewable energy facility, and $11 billion in spending and loan guarantees to advance the "smart grid." Similarly, ARRA funding is directed toward research on other forms of "clean" energy, including $117 million to expand the development, deployment and use of solar energy in the United States, and $2.4 billion in new grants for advanced battery makers.
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From page 53... ...
"We think the concept is right," he said, "and that not enough money is being put into it." He noted that previous Academies' studies have shown that science and technology parks can jump-start the development of innovation clusters by bringing companies into closer collaboration with each other and with a university or federal laboratory. A cluster can also enrich the activities of universities by facilitating joint work with industry.
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, the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)
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If an application is rejected, the firm can apply again without prejudice. MEP Arkansas can also leverage the federal Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)
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It is a central mission of government at every level and our children's future depends on it." INNOVATION INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE STATE AND REGIONAL LEVEL: SOME SUCCESS STORIES Richard Bendis Innovation America Mr. Bendis, President and CEO of Innovation America, began by commenting on the high level of innovation activity in Arkansas.
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From page 57... ...
He said that within the process of innovation, the role of industry was essentially to create wealth. He quoted Joseph Schumpeter, who wrote in 1942: "The interaction of technological innovation with the competitive marketplace is the fundamental driving force in capitalist industrial progress." 6 For a region to have its own driving force, he said, requires a "threelegged stool": first, it has to attract companies from other regions; second, it has to retain companies already in the region; and third, it has to create new companies.
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From page 58... ...
Some angel investors and angel networks do work with firms of this size, and some funding is available from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
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From page 59... ...
It is related to a life cycle of commercialization from proof of concept to reinvestment of profits back into new companies as they emerge." He posed the question of why so many SMEs underperform, and listed ten primary factors to consider: "passion, physical and mental strength, selfdoubt, belief, foresight, guts, failure, self-discipline, fairness, and integrity." He said that of 150-200 small firms that develop business plans, only about 10 draw the interest of venture capitalists, and only one is actually funded. At the moment, he said, SMEs had encountered a "perfect storm" of negative economic conditions blocking success.
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From page 60... ...
He said that the state needed to be proactive and "take control of your own destiny," because "unless you find a way to get companies to a stage where they can attract venture capitalists to your state, they're not going to come." He emphasized that the programs being developed in the state were laying a firm foundation at home to support Arkansas' innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem. "You can't be dependent on the national VC market." He then turned to best practices in financing.
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From page 61... ...
"So states are all over the board on their commitment to innovation," he said. "You just have to stay the course." Job Creation and Economic Growth Among the most important metrics for small firms were job creation and economic growth.
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A strategy of some states is to support state innovation councils, as seen in Idaho, Hawaii, Colorado, North Carolina and Iowa. Others use regional economic innovation intermediaries.
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"The key to success for a company," he said, "is that it must become sustainable by increasing revenues. If you don't create wealth you don't attract capital." `Venture Capital is Not Risk Capital' His view of the valley of death, he said, was that "venture capital is not risk capital; it is expansion capital." Oklahoma, through i2E, had been able to broker about two to six venture capital-funded deals every year for the last six years.
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Thomison. "We want to grow them 20 employees at a time." Another i2E activity was to promote commercialization services, and it had formed a company called Seed Step Angels, a member of the American Angel Capital Association.
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As the company approaches commercialization, it must also hire a chief financial officer to position the firm to seek venture capital. This positioning includes demonstrating credible resources and creating a capital plan.
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From page 66... ...
how medical decision-making can be improved by building a new knowledge-based model for decision support · A Qualitative Examination of the Preparation of Elementary School Teachers to Teach Science in California: A report that demonstrated how poorly elementary school teachers are prepared to teach science, and how little science is actually taught · California STEM Learning Network: a blueprint for transforming California's STEM education structure into a 21st-century system where more students are college-bound or workforce ready 12 University of California, California State University, California Community Colleges, Stanford University, University of Southern California, and the California Institute of Technology. 13 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory/California, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, NASA Ames Research Center, and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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From page 67... ...
The 20th-century business plans, she said, were based on a "closed innovation" model, whereby "targeted R&D leads to targeted new product or process development within a discrete organization." Toward an Open Innovation Model The traditional closed innovation model, which had provided great successes in the past, was shifting due to five "erosion factors" that include 14 Quotation from the San Francisco Chronicle, February 16, 2010.
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"A bi-partisan, bi-cameral group of legislators had asked CCST to conduct a comprehensive assessment of California's "science and technology (S&T) innovation ecosystem," Dr.
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From page 69... ...
In addition, health care is being transformed by an explosion of new tools and technologies, she said, and doctors are overwhelmed by large amounts of data. The revolution in hand-held devices, connected to data, is bringing "an extra brain to help them make decisions." `Other People are Running Faster' Another area of emphasis, she said, is the growth of technology innovation at global scale.
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From page 70... ...
Without solutions to develop a state budgeting process that sustains this leadership, she concluded, "we risk becoming the sunset state." EVOLUTION OF INNOVATION IN ARKANSAS Watt Gregory Accelerate Arkansas Mr. Gregory, chair of the Executive Committee of Accelerate Arkansas, offered a brief history of innovation in the state, beginning with the creation in the early 19th Century of the Bowie knife, which he called "Arkansas' first innovation." He said that the knife, known colloquially as the "Arkansas Toothpick," was popularized by Jim Bowie and was innovative 16 Chronicle of Higher Education, February 7, 2010.
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This scheme also reduced the company's significant shipping costs. Today, Wal-Mart is recognized as the world leader in managing supply chain logistics.
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The Arkansas Capital Corporation Group (ACCG) , founded in 1957 as a private, non-profit business development company to contribute to economic development, "today bears little resemblance to its original operations, which focused solely on small business asset-backed loans." Since 1988, the ACCG has led initiatives on entrepreneurship and innovation in all sectors by creating and promoting venture capital funds, SBA lending, multi-state university student business plan competitions, and a statewide Internet initiative known as Connect Arkansas.
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From page 73... ...
By 2007, Accelerate Arkansas was ready to firm up its strategic plan by focusing on five core strategies that have led to significant state-sponsored initiatives focused on building a knowledge-based economy: · "Support research that is likely to lead to job creation; · Develop risk capital for all stages of the business cycle, especially for the funding gap between discovery and commercialization; · Encourage entrepreneurship and new enterprise development; · Increase the education levels of Arkansans in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) ; and · Sustain successful existing industry through advancing technology and competitiveness." Mr.
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He noted that this Task Force's recommendations aligned closely with Governor Beebe's objectives. They began with human resource development, especially STEM education at all levels, and more specifically with workforce education.
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He said that he would address four subtopics: (1) the future energy economy, (2)
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But does our current utility model allow us to promote energy efficiency, and how will we pay for it? " The second quotation was from the Brattle Group: "The United States will need to spend $1.5 to $2 trillion by 2030 to upgrade its electricity system.
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These behaviors can be rewarded, but they require a new model. "How do we keep this historical model," he asked, "that has worked so well and electrified America and provided natural gas to most of it, and now turn it around to promote investments in energy efficiency and renewables?
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Chu's view, he said in conclusion, "The challenge we face is how to change our model to maximize that." FEDERAL-STATE SYNERGIES Gilbert Sperling Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
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Change FY 2009 FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 10 Biomass & 214,245 777,136 220,000 220,000 0 0% Biorefinery R&D Vehicles 267,143 2,795,749 311,365 325,302 +13,937 4% Technologies Hydrogen and Fuel 164,638 42,967 174,000 137,000 -37,000 -21% Cell Technologies Geothermal 43,322 393,106 44,000 55,000 +11,000 25% Technology Solar Energy 172,414 115,963 247,000 302,398 +55,398 22% Water Power 39,082 31,667 50,000 40,488 -9,512 -19% Wind Energy 54,370 106,932 80,000 122,500 +42,500 53% Buildings 138,113 319,186 222,000 230,698 +8,698 4% Technologies Federal Energy 22,000 22,388 32,000 42,272 +10,272 32% Management Prog. Industrial 88,196 261,501 96,000 100,000 +4,000 4% Technologies Weatherization & 516,000 11,544,500 270,000 385,000 +115,000 43% Intergovernmental RE-ENERGYSE 0 0 0 50,000 +50,000 N/A Program Direction 127,620 80,000 140,000 200,008 +60,008 43% Program Support 18,157 21,890 45,000 87,307 +42,307 94% Facilities and 76,000 258,920 19,000 57,500 +38,500 203% Infrastructure Congressional 228,803 0 292,135 0 -292,135 -100% Directed Activities Use of Prior Year -13,238 0 0 0 0 N/A Balances Total, EERE 2,156,865 16,771,907 2,242,500 2,355,473 +112,973 5% SOURCE: Gilbert Sperling, Presentation at March 8-9, 2010 National Academies Symposium on "Building the Arkansas Innovation Economy." The EERE budget, he said, normally totals about $2 billion.
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Dollars 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000 500,000 0 d) 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 te 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 es qu (re 11 20 FIGURE 1 Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Budget History SOURCE: Gilbert Sperling, Presentation at March 8-9, 2010 National Academies Symposium on "Building the Arkansas Innovation Economy." The total EERE budget has risen from about $1.2 billion in 2006 to about $2.3 billion (requested)
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He spent years improving the technology development and research process for the oil and natural gas pipeline industry and then creating new strategies to bring that technology to market quickly. Just before joining DoE, he said, he worked with a start-up renewable energy company.
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Aligning the Goals of Utilities with the Goal of Energy Efficiency He said that the program placed heavy emphasis on building efficiency because some 50 percent of the electricity used in buildings is wasted. Technology to reduce this waste is available today, but is used only when supportive policies and services are in place, such as national energy efficiency markets that are properly financed and created at full scale.
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From page 83... ...
, by which "we have to lead by example." He said that the federal government is the single largest energy user in the world, and an executive order from President Obama compels agencies not only to develop plans to reduce their carbon footprint, but refuses to allow approval of budget requests unless the agency's budget includes sufficient funds to implement that plan. OMB had already worked with cabinet secretaries, he said, "who had great goals but didn't put any money in them, and their budgets were "kicked back." He then reviewed the major renewables being supported by EERE.
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From page 84... ...
Potential Contribution of Wind Energy In the field of wind energy, he said that a report had just been issued that forecast a potential contribution four times larger than the total use of electricity in America.22 "The challenge is to realize this potential through innovative technologies that reduce cost but, more importantly, deal with intermittent generation and variability, solve the storage problem, and improve durability, cost, and reliability. Some of the technical advances already made, he said, come close to "science fiction," such as the discovery that technologies developed for other uses turned out to reduce friction of the leading edge of the blade.
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From page 85... ...
Arkansas is surely part of that innovation ecosystem." He emphasized that a "wind rush" had suddenly arrived in the United States, with 35,000 MW of capacity installed in fewer than 10 years. He said that the United States would probably be one of the largest wind energy markets in the world, along with China.
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From page 86... ...
At the same time, he noted that "ecosystems can be fragile," and that the best way to support growth was to cultivate demand. He showed a map of the state and the new wind-technology plants in Little Rock and Fort Smith, saying, "It's in our interest and Arkansas' interest to be aligned now because of this map, because of the industry represented here and the economic ripple effect from those jobs." A Renewable Energy Standard He acknowledged the effects of the economic slowdown on the industry, including lost jobs and hiring delays, and suggested steps to promote demand.
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From page 87... ...
"There are challenges to finding the right locations in some parts of the state," he said, "but siting specialists are quite sure that Arkansas can provide wind energy." "Arkansas has placed a wise bet on one of the fastest-growing industries in the country and in the world," he said, "and cultivated an innovation ecosystem for wind energy. In the right locations, with the right people and skill sets, and the right leadership, this state will see jobs created, talent developed, and local economies grown." ARKANSAS' ROLE IN ENERGY TRANSMISSION MANAGEMENT Nick Brown Southwest Power Pool Mr.
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From page 88... ...
The reason research is cut is the focus on cost, as opposed to value." He singled out the need for more R&D on carbon capture and storage, renewables, and efficiency/demand response technologies. The `Saudi Arabia of Wind' On the need for more renewable sources, he said that the western portion of the SPP footprint had been called the "Saudi Arabia of wind." He said that most of the states in the footprint had an RES mandate, and Oklahoma was
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From page 89... ...
This is one conceptual idea of how to deliver wonderful amounts of wind resources from the western portion of the SPP footprint to load centers in the East and potentially in the West as well." He said that the SPP had identified numerous benefits of expanding the transmission network in and around SPP, including better ability to accommodate fuel diversity; improvements in market liquidity; ability to idle high-cost, high-carbon and high-pollution resources; and increased energy capacity. Unfortunately, he said, the tools for assessing the benefits of transmission are crude, but both quantitative and qualitative indicators did show that "building transmission makes sense." He said that the indicators used so far were very conservative.
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90 BUILDING THE ARKANSAS INNOVATION ECONOMY Day 2 The State of Technology and Innovation in Arkansas The Honorable Mike Beebe Governor of Arkansas Governor Beebe began by saying that "we are probably in as tough a situation as this country has seen in my lifetime." Notwithstanding the terrible numbers, however, he said that his own state of Arkansas was doing relatively well. "We've lost jobs, more than we've gained about 24,000 created, 27,000 lost but compared to other states, it's better." The numbers from across the country were "staggering," he said.
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From page 91... ...
Nothing is more important when companies decide where they're going to start or where they're going to stay." But even improving the quality of education is not sufficient, he said, without an economic development plan that allows those educated people to find work. Otherwise, "all you are is a farm club for someone else.
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From page 92... ...
With new money, which is what the tobacco settlement was, it was proper and perfect to take a huge portion of that and set it aside. In doing that, we required collaboration among our institutions of higher education.
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From page 93... ...
"And I can tell you that our best here are as good as the best anywhere." He said that one of his objectives was to recruit and retain in Arkansas the best intellects to work on this new opportunity in the electric power industry. The National Center for Reliable Power Transmission, NCREPT, was founded in 2005 as a center for industrially relevant research and education in future energy systems, including power electronics.
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" Dr. Mantooth said that an average power electronics system is about 80 percent efficient today, which means that about $60 billion worth of energy is wasted annually.
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"Electric power, the grid, and companies like Nordex, Mitsubishi, LM Glass Fiber, Arkansas Power Electronics, Baldor, and Caterpillar. This is where these people will go work for $60,000-$100,000 a year to start." A Test Facility as a Tool for Economic Development He said that the new test facility was primarily a tool for economic development, a way to move new technologies out of the lab and into field testing so they can be adopted.
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From page 96... ...
"Power electronics today is very fragmented," he said, "and Arkansas has an opportunity to take a leadership role and create the center of gravity that we need." REGIONAL INNOVATION CLUSTERS (RIC) Ginger Lew National Economic Council The White House Ms.
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From page 97... ...
DoE had already begun to develop its Energy Efficiency Hub, funded at $22 million in the first year and up to $25 million per year for four additional years. It will develop systems-based approaches to designing commercial and residential buildings that integrate windows and lighting, natural ventilation and HVAC, thermal inertia, on-site energy generation, and other efficiency technologies.
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From page 98... ...
We believe that the EDA money can promote a vibrant regional economy by supporting the necessary strategic planning, governance, and infrastructure of the cluster." She said that examples of participating entities include the following: · Under DOE, the national energy labs, universities, and private industry labs; · Under EDA, state and local governments, universities, regional government coalitions, non-profits, and native American tribes; · Other stakeholders in the region who might not necessarily be consulted when forming a technology hub, such as neighborhood associations , community-based organizations, labor organizations, venture capitalists, and business councils Including these stakeholders is essential, she said, "because we see this as an opportunity to increase the well-being of the entire community and region." "At the end of the day," she said, "our goal is to integrate the effort of the energy hub with sister federal programs so there is a broader benefit not only for the DoE, but for all the federal, state, county, and local agencies so that we can achieve a multiplier effect." Regional Innovation Clusters is still a pilot project. "Our goal is to roll out several other pilot projects this fiscal year.
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From page 99... ...
The economic impact of agriculture, including processing and distribution, amounts to some $15 billion, providing 268,000 jobs, or more than one in every six jobs held by Arkansans. Overall, the contribution of the agricultural sector as a percentage of GDP was greater than any of the six contiguous states and higher than the national average.
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A current emphasis was on bioengineering, including lean manufacturing techniques and nanomaterials. Another cluster was led by the Arkansas Biosciences Institute, featuring interfaces with both agriculture and medicine, and the NSF EPSCoR P3 Center, or Plant-Powered Production.
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From page 101... ...
It employs 76 IT professionals in its offices in Dallas, San Diego, Northwest Arkansas, and Little Rock, where it's Network Operations Center is located. Since 2005, ClearPointe has grown by at least 30 percent per year, and expects to more than double in 2010, creating 20 to 25 new jobs as it does so.
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From page 102... ...
It has also allowed us to keep 100 percent ownership of the company, which will give us more flexibility with fund raising in the future." The firm was well aware that traditional bank financing can work for only so long. The next big barrier will be to find "cash flow" financing vs.
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From page 103... ...
This creates great opportunities in helping companies ready their product for hosted delivery. Microsoft is already working to deliver key services such as email over the web much more efficiently then can be done internally.25 2.
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"With programs like the EIT College at UALR," he said, "hiring the right people to fuel our growth has become less of a problem. And the changes in how IT will be delivered in the future mean that the opportunities for new startups in Arkansas are tremendous." NANOTECHNOLOGY Greg Salamo and Alex Biris University of Arkansa, Fayetteville University of Arkansas at Little Rock Dr.
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From page 105... ...
27 He said that new materials have inspired innovation throughout history, and that "we make the best nanoscale material in the country." He said that state-of-the-art nanoscale imaging tools "allow us to see single atoms, and that this changes the ball game." His group is a collaboration of both experimentalists and theorists. The Potential of Nanomaterials He cited a series of examples where nanomaterials have the potential to create new technologies in health care, energy efficiency, and renewable energy.
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He closed by noting a consequence of all this activity: The Arkansas university system, he said, now leads the nation in supplying nanomaterials to research organizations across the country.
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From page 107... ...
He also said that the department was about to announce the Technology Commercialization Enterprise Development Alliance, a group of business accelerators like "incubators without walls." These would provide resources to help firms move from an idea to commercialization and help them locate the funding they need to cross the valley of death. In addition, he described plans to staff the EDA's regional offices with people dedicated to Regional Innovation Clusters (RICs)
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From page 108... ...
Defining RICs He offered a formal definition of RICs as "geographically bounded, active networks of similar, synergistic or complementary organizations that leverage their region's unique competitive strengths to create jobs and broader prosperity." He said that, on average, jobs within clusters pay higher wages, and regional industries based on inherent place-based advantages are less susceptible to off-shoring. Because RICs are locally led, they are able to stabilize communities in various ways: by re-purposing idle manufacturing assets, engaging underutilized human capital, contributing to improvements in the quality of life.
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From page 109... ...
A recent EDA Technical Assistance Grant helped establish the Center for Regional Innovation at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and a $1.75 million public works grant to Arkansas State University at Jonesboro helped establish the Arkansas State Biosciences institute Commercial Innovation Center. He concluded by commenting on a $2 million EDA award that had recently been approved to convert the old Rock Island Railroad bridge into a pedestrian and bicycle crossing to link the river market areas of Little Rock and North Little Rock, completing the Arkansas River Trail.
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From page 110... ...
For example, we partner with community colleges and universities in training human resources, and in many cases we are located at universities to strengthen the linkage between the human resource side and the small to medium-sized manufacturers." A Portal to Connect with Solutions He said that in Arkansas, the best portal to connect with the resources of the program is Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions (AMS)
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From page 111... ...
AMS services had also helped clients obtain good results in Arkansas, he said, including $592 million in new and retained sales, $25 million in capital investment, $12.7 million in cost savings, and 3,335 jobs retained and created. Because manufacturing techniques and challenges are changing so rapidly today, the MEP is having to move beyond its historical focus on productivity.
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From page 112... ...
A case study was that of a Wyoming company called Precision Analysis, which makes hot water testing kits. With MEP advice, the company was able to re-vamp its marketing message, create a new home water testing kit in line with EPA regulations, develop and release the new product in five months, and double sales within five months.
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From page 113... ...
This is called the Arkansas Innovation Marketplace (AIM) , which seeks to provide a window into all the intellectual property and requests and capabilities of its entrepreneurs, inventors, and companies in the state.
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From page 114... ...
The first slide showed an accelerating divergence since 1953 of industry spending on basic research, which has been remained nearly flat, and industry spending on development, which has risen rapidly in the past two decades. The second chart, spanning the same period, showed that the percentage of industry R&D funding allocated to long-term university research has also remained about the same.
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From page 115... ...
PROCEEDINGS 115 Need: Restore international innovation leadership 5 4.5 4 R&D Intensity 2006 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Source: OECD, Main Science and Technology Indicators Need: Increase the intensity of federal R&D efforts 0.03 Total R & D/G DP 0.02 Indus try R & D/G DP 0.01 F ederal R & D/G DP 0 Source: National Science Foundation FIGURE 2 Problem: There are disturbing trends in R&D investment SOURCE: Marc Stanley, Presentation at March 8-9, 2010 National Academies Symposium on "Building the Arkansas Innovation Economy."
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From page 116... ...
SOURCE: Marc Stanley, Presentation at March 8-9, 2010 National Academies Symposium on "Building the Arkansas Innovation Economy." He said that despite much discussion at the federal level about increasing support for R&D, virtually no legislative changes have moved to the appropriations stage. On a policy level, he said, the most significant need was for federal agencies to move beyond their restricted silos of activity to more
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From page 117... ...
The third objective was to expedite the transition of scientific findings into commercial products. This may involve several approaches, such as helping companies find support as they cross the valley of death, and seeking to create a framework of support from state governments, regional organizations, and venture capital firms.
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From page 118... ...
The partnerships invested about $25 million per year: $2.75 million from NIST, $15 million from the states, and $5 million from industry, including venture capital and direct investment. For this investment, the partnership realizes more than $200 million per year in business start-ups, development, and commercialization.
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From page 119... ...
"And that's why I think we're seeing a big change at the NSF." He said that this year the Administration and Office of Management and Budget had put money into the NSF budget for innovation partnerships, intended to strengthen the innovation ecosystem. The important elements of that ecosystem, he said, included the universities, which were the source of new knowledge, but it also included other elements that were essential in promoting translational research.
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From page 120... ...
, Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRCs) , Partnerships for Innovation, and the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
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From page 121... ...
And over all, he said with enthusiasm, they deserve to share the same goal: "Educate to innovate." He closed by saying, "If I seem excited about what I'm doing, I am." FROM UNIVERSITY RESEARCH TO START-UPS: BUILDING DEALS FOR ARKANSAS Michael Douglas UAMS BioVentures University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Dr. Douglas said that the objective of his organization was "building deals for Arkansas," and that he would offer a picture of UAMS BioVentures by touching on "the numbers, the process, best practices, state incubators, and results." He defined UAMS BioVentures as a "biomedical and biotechnology incubator" for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
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From page 122... ...
The Arkansas incubators, he said, perform that function through a number of mechanisms, including: · Entrepreneurial training for the life scientist, · Programs to train students to write and present business plans, · Start-up advisory resources for early stage companies, · A private equity roundtable network that extends over a seven-state area, 32 http://www.uamshealth.com/. 33 Also known as the University and Small Business Patent Procedures Act, Bayh-Dole was notable in reversing the presumption of intellectual property control from the federal government to individuals, small firms, or non-profits wishing to commercialize the results of their own federally funded research.
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From page 123... ...
"We have a small but well informed overlap," he said, "and cooperation among the various networks within the State." A Profile of UAMS BioVentures He then gave a profile of UAMS BioVentures as of 2009. The firm had two primary missions: (1)
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From page 124... ...
Some challenges were to do a better job in "branding the region," building proof-of-concept funding resources, and expanding entrepreneurial networks. In particular, he noted, the state was "lacking" in adequate space for commercialization of research and technology parks to accelerate and recruit additional further technology development.
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From page 125... ...
Gealt University of Arkansas at Little Rock Dr. Gealt, dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics and president of the Arkansas STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)
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From page 126... ...
The goal of his organization, and of the Arkansas Research Alliance and Accelerate Arkansas, was to raise the per capita income to 100 percent of the national average. Increasing Capability in STEM He showed a graph illustrating a close relationship between a person's level of education and annual earnings.35 "The more education you get, the more you'll be a lifelong learner." As state programs attempt to accelerate the economy, he said, it will be necessary to strengthen worker expertise in several ways.
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From page 127... ...
3 status and secure permanent funding.36 Other objectives included a series of initiatives for the 2011 legislative session, elimination of the "opt out" option for the Smart Core Curriculum, securing differential pay for STEM educators, creating an elementary Science STEM Education degree program, and enhancing the technology infrastructure in Arkansas schools, including the educational portal for STEM educators. At the core of the STEM coalition activities, he concluded, is an effort to better understand how to teach students and how to train teachers so their graduates have stronger STEM skills.
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From page 128... ...
Harris, president and CEO of Science Foundation Arizona (SFAz) , began with praise for Arkansas' approach to innovation, saying that it is "almost the model of what we need in our states." He highlighted the quality of its executive leadership, commitment to excellence in K-12 STEM education, and the ability to motivate people to work together toward a common objective.
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From page 129... ...
PROCEEDINGS 129 The Value of an Outside Perspective "One of the lessons from our SFI experience translates well at the U.S. state level," he said.
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S&T strategies, he saw a series of challenges. First, he said, the times had changed radically since the Cold War era when Vannevar Bush helped create the U.S.
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These included solar and wind energy, sustainable mining, 38 Committed and actual funds as of January 2010. 39 Greater Phoenix Leadership (GPL)
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From page 132... ...
It also found other outcomes: a "STEM education impact" on 54,000 students and 680 teaches, 11 spin-off companies, 757 jobs created or retained, 50 patents filed or issued, and 292 scientific publications. STEM K-12 Education "While the federal government has the prime responsibility for our research infrastructure, the states and localities have prime responsibility for the K-12 system.
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From page 133... ...
PROCEEDINGS 133 but we need to suit up and compete in the 21st Century global system and not accept mediocrity. The nation would be well served by a Federally initiated series of competitive pilot programs perhaps in 10 to 15 states to encourage innovation by linking the business community with the universities and other strategic assets of the states in new ways.
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From page 134... ...
"One area is complex data analysis using emerging technologies to analyze data much more rapidly." She added that there is an 80 percent correlation between a state's level of federal funding for computation and the state's ranking in computational capacity. Another field in which computation is central is the accurate description of large molecules.
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From page 135... ...
Another computing challenge is found in nanotechnology, where scientists have already reached fundamental limits in computer technology. Research by Laurent Ballaiche has the potential to create nanotechnology devices that can build memory 10,000 times denser than anything currently manufactured, and his research requires 70 million hours of compute time per year.
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From page 136... ...
There were currently two science parks: the Arkansas Research and Technology Park, adjacent to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and the Arkansas Bioscience Innovation and Commercial Center at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, which is completing its Phase I business incubator. A new park was being constructed in central Arkansas.
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From page 137... ...
ARTP affiliates, he said, continue to advance the frontier of product development in many specialty areas. The reason that is important, he said, is that "what's going on up there in northwest Arkansas permeates the state, and provides a sense of innovation for folks in the other universities." In central Arkansas, a group had engaged a consultant to review activities at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
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From page 138... ...
" Battelle did a qualitative review based on field interviews with 85 of the top researchers in the state, and a quantitative review based on the journal publications and research grants of faculty members during the last five years. "In other words, by looking in the rear-view mirror."41 Core Competencies and Economic Benefits Nonetheless, he said, the study turned out to be a living document that revealed more than a dozen core competencies in Arkansas.
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From page 139... ...
" He noted that the Arkansas Biosciences Institute already engaged in three of the core competencies, but that "we're not in competition with ABI, we're a partner with them." He said that nine areas would eventually be too many to focus on, but that "we needed an evidence-based roadmap like Battelle's, as opposed to hearing researchers tell us how terrific their research is. Self-reported results have bias." A `Crucial Roadmap' for Recruiting Talent He said that the ARA had found the Battelle study to be a "crucial roadmap" to use in recruiting talent into the state, and into the core focus areas.
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From page 140... ...
My hope is that we will use it as our investment roadmap going forward." CLOSING REMARKS John Ahlen Arkansas Science and Technology Authority Dr. Ahlen closed the symposium by exhorting his audience to go beyond the discussion stage and move into action.
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