Reserve Thursday, May 31st for a new event that showcases and connects the South’s research assets in the advanced materials of carbon fibers, composites, and light weight metals for transportation industries. Hosted by the Southern Advanced Materials in Transportation Alliance (SAMTA) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the day-long event will consist of presentations by researchers from across the South, and company panels commenting on the presented research and research trends in the industry. For additional information as it becomes available or questions, please contact Scott Doron, director of the Southern Technology Council and SAMTA co-chair, at sdoron@southern.org. The other SAMTA co-chair is Tom Rogers, Director of Industrial Partnerships and Economic Development, ORNL. SAMTA is supported by a grant from the Economic Development Administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce.  

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The United States is known for its innovativeness and entrepreneurial spirit. The spark of technological innovation, however, often begins well before the opportunity is obvious or attractive to the private sector. As a result, the partnership between the U.S. government’s funding of research in the nation’s public and private universities plays a larger role than most observers recognize. The vast majority of economic growth in America arises from technological innovation, which depends heavily on research universities.
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Across the United States, students are teaming up with classrooms around the world, using videoconferencing equipment, social media, and other technologies to learn about current events, historic milestones, economic trends, and cultural norms. Educators say the collaborations, which lend themselves to co-curricular projects, foster deep and meaningful conversations, whet a thirst for knowledge that textbooks cannot offer, and show that people in different countries have a lot more in common than many assume.
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The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) appears to be making technology one of its priorities with the creation of a new task force. Part of the task force’s mission will be to show how technology can foster innovation and transparency in local government. The committee will define mayoral priorities and will advise Congress and the Barack Obama administration.
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Two years ago, President Obama popped a surprise into his State of the Union address: His administration would double American exports in five years, helping to create two million jobs. Two years later, the administration is on track—for now—to meet its ambitious goal. Growing exports have been one of the central drivers of the recovery, accounting for about half the nation’s economic growth since the recession ended. Economists say the administration deserves credit for some of the gains. It has pressured China to increase the value of its currency and open its markets to American businesses. It has worked closely with American companies looking to sell goods and services throughout the world.
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Multinational companies have shifted manufacturing operations and research and development from West to East, taking advantage of low wages and huge Asian markets poised for growth. On the global trade front, countries like France feel battered, and political leaders increasingly toy with protectionism. This YaleGlobal series offers ideas on how nations can optimize globalization’s benefits.
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Throughout the nation, governors and state legislatures and mayors and city councils are crafting innovative solutions to the problems facing their economies. They are joining together with leaders from private industry, philanthropy and advanced research to boost exports, strengthen the clean economy, expand innovation capacity and train the next generation of workers. They are adopting new styles of governance that emphasize collaboration over conflict and partnership over partisanship. Over the next few days, we’ll present ten state and metro-level innovations that we think deserve your attention in 2012.
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The ERS Major Land Uses (MLU) series is the only accounting of all major uses of public and private land in all 50 states. Land use and land-use changes involve important economic and environmental implications for commodity production and trade, open space, soil and water conservation, and other policy issues. This publication presents the results of the latest inventory (2007) of U.S. major land uses and discusses national and regional trends in land use compared with earlier estimates.
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One way communities can re-envision their futures before having to address the political challenges to change is by strategically investing in innovative, nonpartisan, public works projects. One of the most innovative and comprehensive proposals of this type is the Atlanta BeltLine, a 22-mile loop of old railroads being transformed into a linear park with streetcars and bike and pedestrian paths connecting more than 40 diverse neighborhoods, as well as city schools, historic and cultural sites, shopping districts, and public parks.
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Poor children who get high-quality day care as early as infancy reap long-lasting benefits, including a better chance at a college degree and steady employment, according to a UNC-Chapel Hill study that followed participants from birth to age 30. The latest findings, published this week in the online journal Developmental Psychology, are from one of the longest-running child care studies in the United States.
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In their early adult years, it is important for youth to gain additional skills through further educational, training, and work experience. Yet, many of America’s youth are neither enrolled in school nor participating in the labor market—they are not investing in their human capital or earning income. Their disconnection represents a significant loss of economic opportunity for the nation. This report examines the status of these “opportunity youth.”
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The news will come as no surprise to the public college administrators and faculty members who've seen their budgets slashed over the past year. But an annual study of state spending on higher education finds that state appropriations for colleges and students sunk by 7.6 percent in 2011-12, the largest such decline in at least a half century. The annual Grapevine study, conducted by the Illinois State University Center for the Study of Higher Education and the State Higher Education Executive Officers, finds that all but nine states experienced one-year declines from their 2010-11 totals.
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The United States remains the global leader in supporting science and technology (S&T) research and development, but only by a slim margin that could soon be overtaken by rapidly increasing Asian investments in knowledge-intensive economies. So suggest trends released in a new report by the National Science Board (NSB), the policymaking body for the National Science Foundation (NSF), on the overall status of the science, engineering and technology workforce, education efforts and economic activity in the United States and abroad.
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A great deal of economic thinking in the U.S. has become based on fads and popular delusions and the current one that says manufacturing is back and leading the recovery is a prime example. Don’t worry about the United States losing a greater share of its manufacturing jobs in the last decade than we did in the Great Depression, this thinking goes, manufacturing is coming back! The New York Times journalist Floyd Norris’s recent article is emblematic of such thinking.
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Immigrants are increasingly important in driving growth and innovation in America, as evidenced by the role played by foreign-born founders and key personnel in the nation’s breakthrough companies. Immigrants have started nearly half of America’s 50 top venture-funded companies and are key members of management or product development teams in more than 75 percent of our country’s leading cutting-edge companies. The research finds that among the top venture-backed companies, immigrant founders have created an average of approximately 150 jobs per company in the United States.
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An analysis of per capita GDP (income) and employment changes in the 2010 to 2011 period for 200 of the world’s largest metropolitan economies, which account for nearly one-half (48 percent) of global output but contain only 14 percent of world population and employment, reveals that: Ninety percent of the fastest-growing metropolitan economies among the 200 largest worldwide were located outside North America and Western Europe. By contrast, 95 percent of the slowest-growing metro economies were in the United States, Western Europe, and earthquake-damaged Japan.
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The United States lost more than a quarter of its high-tech manufacturing jobs during the past decade as U.S.-based multinational companies placed a growing percentage of their research-and-development operations overseas, the National Science Board reported Tuesday. The rapid expansion of science and engineering capabilities in China and its neighbors pose a more formidable economic challenge to the United States, according to the group, with Asia rapidly boosting the number of engineering doctorates it produces and research dollars it spends.
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Tennessee officials will soon lead a trade mission to China and South Korea, with Commissioner Bill Hagerty of the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development at the helm. The trip, according to an announcement, will focus on medical device manufacturers and other health care companies. Executives can apply for the mission and learn more at the department’s web site, with a deadline of Feb. 1. The delegation will travel from April 15 to 21.
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Can you imagine what the local government profession will look like in the year 2020? Will major job challenges be the same? What will have the most impact—positively and negatively—on the profession? PM asked managers around the world this question: “What do you think local government management will be like in the year 2020?” Here are their predictions.
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As a culmination of NLC’s work over the last decade responding to the challenges of governing democratically, NLC’s democratic governance project presents Planning for Stronger Local Democracy: A Field Guide for Local Officials. This tool kit is designed to assist city leaders in strengthening local democracy by cultivating a culture with their citizens and key allies that is transparent and inclusive with shared responsibilities and mutual accountability for addressing and solving problems.
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What can high technology do to help cities confront their thorniest problems – from police strategies to water systems, traffic control to waste disposal? A group of high technology firms, led by IBM and Cisco, are plunging into the city management business. IBM already reports over 2,000 “Smarter Cities” programs in cities worldwide. A lead example is Memphis.
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The nation and many states face continuing challenges in delivering a high-quality education to all students, according to Quality Counts, the annual report card published by Education Week. The nation receives a C when graded across the six distinct areas of policy and performance tracked by the report, the most comprehensive ongoing assessment of the state of American education. For the fourth year in a row, Maryland earns honors as the top-ranked state, posting the nation’s highest overall grade, a B-plus. Perennial strong finishers Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia follow close behind, each receiving a B. Nearly half the states, however, receive grades of C or lower.
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To many, America’s industrial heartland may look like a place mired in the economic past—a place that, outcompeted by manufacturing countries around the world, has too little work to offer its residents. But things look very different to Karen Wright, the CEO of Ariel Corporation in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Wright’s biggest problem isn’t a lack of work; it’s a lack of skilled workers.
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California may have a 12.1 percent unemployment rate, the worst credit rating of any state in the nation and a structural budget gap that never seems to go away. But when it comes to preventing “brain drain”—the exodus of skilled workers to other states—California is second to none, at least for now. That’s the conclusion of a new study by the Milken Institute, a public policy think tank in Santa Monica. The study, which examines census data from 2000 to 2009, finds that California has outperformed the rest of the nation over the last decade when it comes to keeping its skilled workers in-state.
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The cost of research is rising almost everywhere—but is that because it costs more to do research, or because there’s more research being done? A new study commissioned by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation offers an answer: A bit of both, but especially more research.
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Pour more funds into basic research. Open up federal data stores. Ramp up technical skills education. Open up export markets. And most of all, unshackle and boost the entrepreneur. These are some of the recommendations in a new report on innovation issued by the US Department of Commerce, in consultation with the National Economic Council. The Competitive and Innovative Capacity of the United States outlines 10 key action items that policymakers need to undertake or support.
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Together with the first-ever Consul General of India in Atlanta, Ajit Kumar, Governor Nathan Deal today announced that the Government of India has opened its first consulate office in Georgia as of the start of the new year. “This marks a significant milestone in Georgia’s international evolution,” said Deal. “The Consulate General is the crowning symbol of the dynamic business and cultural connections India shares with our region and state.”
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The amount of funding allocated for U.S. development spending in 2012 as part of the $1 trillion Omnibus spending bill passed by Congress a few weeks ago is a surprising achievement considering the current atmosphere of paralysis and partisan bickering in Washington. The bill gives $2.6 billion—an increase of 37 percent in spending over 2011—for capital increases and replenishments for major multilateral agencies and funds, such as the World Bank and IMF. In addition, funding to U.S. foreign assistance programs will rise slightly from $21.2 billion in 2011 to $21.5 billion next year.
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Goods and services from China accounted for only 2.7% of U.S. personal consumption expenditures in 2010, of which less than half reflected the actual costs of Chinese imports. The rest went to U.S. businesses and workers transporting, selling, and marketing goods carrying the "Made in China" label. Although the fraction is higher when the imported content of goods made in the United States is considered, Chinese imports still make up only a small share of total U.S. consumer spending. This suggests that Chinese inflation will have little direct effect on U.S. consumer prices.
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America has been extremely worried about the loss of manufacturing to China. Seduced by subsidies, cheap labor, lax regulations, and a rigged currency, American industry has made a beeline to China. But the tide may soon turn. New technologies will likely cause the same hollowing out of China’s manufacturing industry over the next two decades that the U.S experienced over the past twenty years. That’s right. America is destined to once again gain its supremacy in manufacturing, and it will soon be China’s turn to worry.
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In this Resilient Communities podcast, Admiral Thad Allen discusses the critical questions confronting the field of community resilience as well as a new toolkit developed by RAND researchers to support community disaster planning.
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A new paper from ICMA, the International City/County Management Association, finds that local governments throughout the nation are dealing with the ongoing effects of the economic recession and have moved past a “business as usual” approach to cutting costs and improving efficiency. As a result, America's cities, towns, and counties are poised to find ways to reinvent themselves now that the most commonly used measures have been adopted and implemented.
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The smartest cities are moving way beyond simple performance measurement. They're weaving together data from sources across local, state and federal agencies to gain unprecedented insight into public conditions and trends. And they're applying the latest technology and predictive analyses to get ahead of the thorniest issues facing their communities.
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Do students in other countries spend more time in school than those in the U.S.? A new brief from the Center for Public Education examines the claim that children in India and China spend 25 to 30 percent longer in school than American counterparts. It then compares the instructional time various states require versus the rest of the world, including high-performing countries such as Korea, Finland, and Japan. The authors find that based on data from the OECD and the World Data on Education, students in China and India are not required to spend more time in school than most U.S. students. This is also the case with countries that typically score high on international assessments, such as Korea, Japan, Finland, and Canada, as well as with economic competitors such as England, France, Germany, and Italy.
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The current unemployment rate of 8.6 percent hides the extent of the economic crisis. The widely quoted rate misses not only the under-employed and discouraged workers, but also major demographic factors. The large demographic shift that has taken place over the last few decades—driven by the maturing of the baby boom generation—now places considerable downward pressure on the unemployment rate, which makes the current malaise look a bit better than it really is.
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The quality of the coursework students take in high school powerfully affects their life options after graduation. School counselors can guide students through the course selection process. They also can help schools identify policies and practices that propel all students toward success, as well as those that hold some students back. The problem? Too many of today’s school counselors do not serve this function. Poised to Lead outlines what states, districts, and schools can do to help school counselors become leaders and advocates in the effort to prepare all students for college and career.
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Governor Bob McDonnell unveiled today a series of recommendations for the 2012 General Assembly session that will advance Virginia's role as the Energy Capital of the East Coast. The governor is leading in the push to develop offshore energy, supporting expansion of renewables, and advocating on behalf of traditional fuels including coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear energy in order to secure an adequate supply of affordable, reliable energy for Virginia's future.
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In the 20 articles that make up this special report, students from the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies explore the many ways that the business community has responded to changes in our global economy. They look at individual companies and industry trends, and analyze how startups as well as established firms are taking advantage of transformative events around the world.
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For the first time in many years, manufacturing stands out as an area of strength in the American economy. When the Labor Department reports December employment numbers on Friday, it is expected that manufacturing companies will have added jobs in two consecutive years. Until last year, there had not been a single year when manufacturing employment rose since 1997.
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The United Kingdom's coalition government wants to transform their cities in to powerful, innovative 21st century cities according to a new economic growth plan. Cities will be tailored with individualized "deals" instead of rolling out blanket policy prescriptions.
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Much like the U.S., China is aiming to address a problematic demographic that has recently emerged: a generation of jobless graduates. China’s solution to that problem, however, has some in the country scratching their heads. China’s Ministry of Education announced this week plans to phase out majors producing unemployable graduates, according to state-run media Xinhua. The government will soon start evaluating college majors by their employment rates, downsizing or cutting those studies in which the employment rate for graduates falls below 60% for two consecutive years.
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Each year, the IFC and World Bank Group release their ‘Doing Business’ report that analyzes regulations that apply to an economy’s businesses throughout their lifespan – from startup to bankruptcy. The 2012 study is out and shows little movement among the leading economies. Singapore stays on top, followed again by Hong Kong (SAR, China), New Zealand, the United States and Denmark.
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Shared services, many of which are public-private partnerships, involves centralizing functions once performed by individual organizations—municipalities, departments, or other entities. In day-to-day operations, problems and opportunities arise that are ideal for this kind of collaboration. The abundance of possible shared services and partnership opportunities can be overwhelming, however, and it can be difficult to identify which projects to try. This article tells how one organization—the North Central Texas Council of Governments—has navigated questions and issues such as this one and discovered the factors that lead to successful service sharing.
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Many predicted the rise of the Internet and of social media would annihilate distance and overcome the constraints of place by allowing people to communicate and build virtual communities. But the fact of the matter is Twitter actually works with and reinforces the power of place.
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Given the discouraging state of affairs at the federal and state levels of government, the creation of by the state legislatures of creative interjurisdictional mechanisms, or revised federal mandates, beyond what is already in place (MPOs and COGs, for example) is a pipe dream. What then can stimulate real progress in affirming the reality, and recognizing the necessity, of regional cooperation? It's a focus on creating clusters of economic development opportunity. Clusters can grow organically, and do not need official action by government to happen.
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States across the South need to take steps now to improve student achievement in the middle grades—considered by many experts to be a critical weak point in public education—or else risk creating a generation of high school students ill-prepared for the 21st century and its changing work force demands, a major new report from the SREB Middle Grades Commission asserts. Although SREB states have made good progress in early grades achievement in recent years, "when students reach the middle grades, they start to lose momentum—especially in reading and also in math—and often reach the ninth grade unprepared for high school," SREB President Dave Spence said. "Too many give up and drop out."
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Too many American workers are ill-prepared for jobs that will provide a path to the middle class. For years we’ve relied on training programs and education to prepare the U.S. labor force for good careers. But, as expert Michael Greenstone, director of The Hamilton Project at Brookings, explains, the marketplace is changing and these programs also have to change in order to keep pace in this global economy.
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In the continuing debate about American competitiveness in the global economy, politicians and educators alike have pointed not to students' test scores, but to their creativity and ingenuity, as models for the rest of the world. Teaching creativity has been a hot-button topic this fall, from the National Academy of Education's annual meeting in Washington to a Learning and the Brain conference in Boston. Yet researchers are just beginning to determine what makes some students more creative than their peers, and how the classroom environment can nurture or smother that ability.
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Construction will begin soon on a $28.8 million science center designed to foster multidisciplinary research collaborations across the Auburn University campus that will generate new knowledge and technology to benefit Alabama. Groundbreaking ceremonies for the 84,000-square-foot Auburn University Center for Advanced Science, Innovation and Commerce, or CASIC, were held Friday, November 18, at the Auburn Technology Park. The CASIC building is being funded by a $14.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology and matching dollars supplied by the state of Alabama along with support from Auburn University and the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station.
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In the summer of 2008, on the heels of the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression, the U.S. economy stumbled badly, eventually contracting more than 5 percent from its peak. Manufacturing, for almost a century the engine that has driven the American economy, fared much worse—contracting more than 20 percent from peak to trough. The good news for policymakers was that, in the initial recovery phase, U.S. manufacturing experienced a dramatic rebound in business, spawned by a huge inventory swing and a boost in exports, providing enough steam to keep a struggling U.S. recovery from backsliding.
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A joint school between the University of North Carolina Greensboro and North Carolina A&T State University has been years in the making, and Wednesday, December 7, it officially opened. With construction finished on a second research facility at Gateway University Research Park's South Campus, the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering became official. A ceremony, which included Governor Bev Perdue marked the grand opening.
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Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University outside of Phoenix, last month ventured into potentially hostile territory 120 miles south in Tucson, home of the University of Arizona, to address 600 civic and business leaders. His message was jaw-dropping: Put aside the rivalry between the universities and the metropolitan areas and join forces to form one giant urban powerhouse to compete globally with an economy larger than that of the United Arab Emirates. "Competitiveness between two communities gets us nowhere," Crow says. "We've been asleep at the switch too long."
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The global knowledge economy demands a new set of skills. How does a school system meet these new demands? One place to look is the top-performing nations according to the The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). PISA measures student critical thinking skills and has demonstrated a direct correlation with individual as well as a nation's economic success. The top-performing countries on PISA have implemented very purposeful reforms to ensure their students are ready for the global economy.
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Europe’s rapid response to the debt crisis may have overshadowed the long-planned negotiations on climate change in Durban, but the contrast throws light on the problem of global governance, explains economist Scott Barrett. Both crises demonstrate the limits of collective action in the face of known dangers. In Europe, poor fiscal discipline by any euro member threatened other countries, he explains, while on climate change, every country’s emissions add to atmospheric concentrations, harmful to all, and yet each nation bears the cost of reduction alone.
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America’s urban reboot is in full swing. The awe-inspiring mega-projects—the High Lines and the Subways to the Sea—are being held up as a sign that cities are back. But look at the crowded roster of schemes being hatched below the radar and it’s easy to believe that the new era is just now getting started.
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Perhaps no theology more grips the nation’s mainstream media—and the planning community—more than the notion of inevitable suburban decline. The Obama administration’s housing secretary, Shaun Donavan, recently claimed, “We’ve reached the limits of suburban development: People are beginning to vote with their feet and come back to the central cities.” Yet repeating a mantra incessantly does not make it true. Indeed, any analysis of the 2010 U.S. Census would make perfectly clear that rather than heading for density, Americans are voting with their feet in the opposite direction: toward the outer sections of the metropolis and to smaller, less dense cities.
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This new report from the Urban Land Institute outlines how every aspect of living, working and connecting will undergo massive changes, driven in large part by the values, preferences and work ethic of Generation Y, the largest generation in American history.
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Two new papers from the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project address important workforce development issues. In his 2011 Hamilton Project Policy Innovation Prize-winning paper, “Raising Job Quality and Skills for American Workers: Creating More-Effective Education and Workforce Development Systems in the States,” Harry J. Holzer of Georgetown University proposes developing sectoral training programs for disadvantaged workers that provide participants with the skills that employers demand by directly linking their education and training with the needs of the labor market. In their 2011 Hamilton Project discussion paper, “Policies to Reduce High-Tenured Displaced Workers’ Earnings Losses Through Retraining,” Louis S. Jacobson of New Horizons Economic Research, Robert J. LaLonde of the University of Chicago, and Daniel G. Sullivan of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago focus on the problem of retraining displaced workers who have experienced significant earnings losses.
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In 2008, The James Irvine Foundation launched the Concurrent Courses initiative, which provided about three years of support for eight secondary-postsecondary partnerships in California offering career-focused dual enrollment programs targeting historically underrepresented populations. The eight Concurrent Courses partnerships implemented programs that differ in a variety of dimensions, including class location, class time, instructor characteristics, course content, student mix, and opportunities for earning credit. This report, informed by qualitative data gathered by the Community College Research Center on the Concurrent Courses initiative, provides detailed information to practitioners who wish to implement or enhance dual enrollment. The report also describes the various program models and the state and local policies and community contexts that shaped them.
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An updated report from the Pew Charitable Trusts, Addendum: A Year or More: The High Cost of Long-Term Unemployment, looks at long-term unemployment using statistics from the third quarter of 2011 (the three month period from July to September). Approximately 31.8 percent of the nearly 14 million Americans who were unemployed had been jobless for a year or more, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That percentage translates into more than 4.4 million people, nearly the population of Louisiana.
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America’s biopharmaceutical research companies are using biotechnology to develop 901 medicines and vaccines targeting more than 100 diseases. Biotechnology medicines are developed through biological processes using living cells or organisms, rather than the traditional chemical synthesis approach. These medicines in development are either in human clinical trials or under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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Some of the Silicon Valley's most important companies, including Intel, Google, and Yahoo, were cofounded by immigrants. Yet America's creaky immigration system makes it difficult for talented young people born outside of the United States to come to the Bay Area. So a new company called Blueseed is seeking to bypass the political process and solve the problem directly. Blueseed plans to buy a ship and turn it into a floating incubator anchored in international waters off the coast of California.
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The Alabama Quality Award (AQA) panel of judges has designated 11 organizations as recipients of the 2011 Alabama Quality Awards, honoring them for quality and performance excellence.
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The National Issues Forum designs handbooks to stimulate public deliberation-- a way of making decisions together that is different from discussion or debate. The purpose of deliberative forums is to inform collective action. The most recent guide is Immigration in America: How Do We Fix a System in Crisis? This 12-page issue guide presents three options for deliberation: (1) Welcome New Arrivals, (2) Protect Our Borders, and (3) Promote Economic Prosperity.
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According to a recent index released by Forbes, many policy changes have made Canada the best country for business. The index evaluates countries on property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance. Canada jumped three spots from the 2010 survey, getting high marks for Personal Freedom (#1), Red Tape (#3), Investor Protection (#5) and Trade Freedom (#7). It also had a noticeable improvement in its tax ranking—thanks largely to a “Harmonized Sales Tax” and reduced corporate and employee tax rates.
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Global power is shifting, particularly in economic matters. Asia’s emerging powers seek enhanced leadership roles in world affairs, yet those roles may not be warranted until the nations take on more responsibility for regional and global governance and security, argues Amitav Acharya of American University. “Asia’s role in global governance cannot be delinked from the question: Who leads Asia?” he writes. The lead candidates—China, Japan and India—each come up short, he maintains. Since the Second World War, the three have made progress in developing economic resources required for such leadership. But each nation lacks regional legitimacy, largely because of rivalries and lingering mistrust.
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Americans are enormously mobile: 37.5 million people moved from one house to another last year, with 4.3 million of them moving between states. This mobility makes us efficient seekers of economic improvement—moving into, and then leaving, cities like Phoenix as their fortunes rise and fall. New interactive visualization maps, based on IRS data, illustrate these patterns by tracing inward and outward moves for every county in the country.
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So is it possible to invigorate meaningful efforts to manage city regions as regions? Last month I spent several days chewing over that question with some two dozen business and nonprofit leaders, academics, writers and former mayors. Pulled together by author and columnist Neal Peirce and his Citistates Group, with a grant from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, we arrived at the fund’s Pocantico retreat center in Tarrytown, NY, with differing viewpoints but a base-level agreement that urban regions are too important to dismiss. But then what?
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Changing the way you do business means changing who is involved in identifying community issues, as well as who is active in taking action toward solutions. Leaders need to engage youth, families and community leaders as organizers, planners and advocates by ensuring ongoing opportunities for leadership and participation. It's important to have strategies that reach all, not just a few. On September 27, 2011, we highlighted the work and tools of three Ready by 21 National Partners—America's Promise Alliance, Search Institute and United Way Worldwide—and discussed ways to ensure that your work is engaging youth, families and community leaders to the fullest. Visit the link below to listen to a recording and view the PowerPoint and Q & A session from the September webinar.
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Ferrie Bailey's job should be easy: hiring workers amid the worst stretch of unemployment since the Depression. A recruiter for Union Pacific Corp., she has openings to fill, the kind that sometimes seem to have all but vanished: secure, well-paying jobs with good benefits that don't require a college degree. But they require specialized skills—expertise in short supply even with the unemployment rate at 9%. Which is why on a recent morning the recruiter found herself in a hiring hall here anxiously awaiting the arrival of just two people she had invited to interviews, winnowed from an initial group of nearly five dozen applicants.
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Successful implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is critical to ensuring the nation’s students have the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in college and the workforce. The National Governors Association (NGA) released a report, Realizing the Potential: How Governors Can Lead Effective Implementation of the Common Core State Standards, to provide governors and other state policymakers with guidance to transition their school systems to the standards.
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A report out today looks at just who is getting a college degree, offering schools insight into the factors that lead to success and ways to better serve students. Completing College: Assessing Graduation Rates at Four-Year Institutions by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, suggests looking beyond raw graduation rates as a measure of quality and take into account the types of students that enroll in various institutions. For instance, students at private schools have better graduation rates compared with those at public schools, but they also tend to be more academically prepared. First-generation college students who often struggle more to complete are more likely to attend a public college.
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SCRA's (South Carolina Research Alliance) Technology Ventures program, SC Launch, announced $167 million in follow-on funding for program-supported companies. Since the program's inception in 2006, SC Launch has supported over 188 companies through their technology-based economic development initiatives. Twelve companies have relocated to South Carolina through the help of the program.
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Biyan Zhou wanted to major in engineering. Her mother and her academic adviser also wanted her to major in it, given the apparent career opportunities for engineers in a tough job market. But during her sophomore year at Carnegie Mellon University, Ms. Zhou switched her major from electrical and computer engineering to a double major in psychology and policy management. Workers who majored in psychology have median earnings that are $38,000 below those of computer engineering majors, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data by Georgetown University.
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Ideas just aren't what they used to be," Neal Gabler observed in a New York Times essay this summer about the end of ideas (which is, paradoxically, an idea). Reviewing The Atlantic's annual ideas issue of 2011—a list that included The Players Own the Game, Wall Street: Same as it Ever Was, and The Rise of the Middle Class (Just Not Ours)—Gabler decided that these headlines were too small to qualify as full-fledged ideas, especially when you stack them up against earth-shaking pronouncements like The Big Bang Theory and The End of History. "They are more on the order of observations," he noted dryly.
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Governor Bobby Jindal and Maritime International President David LeBlanc announced that Maritime is moving production from China to Broussard, LA with an $8 million manufacturing expansion that will create 90 new direct jobs and 150 new indirect jobs in Acadiana. Maritime International makes mooring systems and protective fenders for international harbors and the U.S. Navy. The company will move production now taking place in China to its plant in St. Martin Parish. In addition, the company will invest in robotic welding equipment to perform precision metal work in Broussard, and the company will add 30,000 square feet of manufacturing space to its 65,000-square-foot headquarters. Maritime’s current workforce totals 70 employees. The new jobs will pay an average salary of about $57,000 annually, plus benefits.
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Forty million foreign-born people lived in the United States in 2010, according to the American Community Survey (ACS). The majority (83 percent) of the foreign born reported entering the United States prior to 2005. Using 2010 ACS data on the period of entry of the foreign-born population, this report focuses on the “newly arrived” foreign born, defined here as those who came to live in the United States in 2005 or later. Seven million U.S. residents, or 17 percent of the foreign-born population, are classi¬fied as newly arrived in this report.
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On Monday, November 21, Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland and nonresident senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, released the 2011 Arab Public Opinion Poll, which is produced each year in conjunction with Zogby International. This year’s poll surveyed 3,000 people in Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates in October 2011, assessing attitudes toward the United States and the Obama administration, prospects for Arab-Israeli peace, the impact of the Arab awakening, the outlook for the Egyptian elections, and opinions on where the region is headed politically.
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The HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities and the USDA has just released Supporting Sustainable Rural Communities, a report that discusses how the four agencies are collaborating to support rural communities. This publication highlights how small towns and rural places across the country are using federal resources to strengthen their economies, provide better quality of life to residents, and build on local assets such as traditional main streets, agricultural lands, and natural resources. The report includes 12 case studies.
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Recent demographic data on homeownership declines, delayed marriages, and doubled-up households show that the lives of many young people have been put on hold. The new migration data show something else as well. To the extent they are moving at all, young adults are headed to metro areas which are known to have a certain vibe—college towns, high-tech centers, and so-called “cool cities.”
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With only seven residents, Thurmond, WV, is the smallest incorporated town in the Fifth District. Once bustling and prosperous, Thurmond has become practically a ghost town. Is the fate of places like Thurmond a tragedy or a “monument to American dynamism”?
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Do your employees seem a little—well, lackluster—lately? Have you noticed they just don’t seem to have the enthusiasm they used to? It’s not just your imagination. A recent Gallup poll found that 71 percent of American workers are either “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” from their work. Just 30 percent are “engaged,” or involved in and enthusiastic about their jobs.
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The weak job market of the past few years has brought a wave of applicants to community colleges in search of job training and lower-cost higher education. But according to the results of the second annual Pearson Foundation Community College Student Survey, community college students are having trouble gaining access to courses, with nearly four in 10 students (37%) unable to enroll in a class this semester because the class was full.
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Once Kentucky educators started sharing data about how high school students were doing after graduation, things started to change. University professors and high school teachers began comparing notes about their expectations in class. Rigor was ramped up. Transition courses were developed in high schools to help lagging students avoid remediation in college. Advanced Placement restrictions were lifted to expose more students to college-level courses. As communication lines opened, other changes followed. The percentage of college-going students in Kentucky went up, and the need for remediation in college went down.
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In San Diego, Connect is the non-profit organization that reaches into most corners of the local innovation community. Connect likes to say that it has assisted in the formation of more than 3,000 technology and life sciences companies in the area, and more than 50 cities around the world have emulated its programs for mentoring entrepreneurs and supporting startups.
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In a beleaguered economy, the country needs entrepreneurs—the nation's job creators. Fortunately, a recent poll shows that the so-called millennial generation—those ages 18-34—are an entrepreneurial bunch. A few key barriers are holding them back, especially the economy.
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The Georgia Institute of Technology has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to provide manufacturing education programs to high school students. The base development contract includes about $1 million for the first year, with the potential of $10 million over four years to expand the projects.
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The number of international students at colleges and universities in the United States increased by five percent to 723,277 during the 2010/11 academic year. This represents a record high number of international students in the United States. This is the fifth consecutive year that Open Doors figures show growth in the total number of international students, and there are now 32 percent more international students studying at U.S. colleges and universities than there were a decade ago. Increased numbers of students from China, particularly at the undergraduate level, largely accounts for the growth this past year.
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Kicking-off International Education Week, the Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, reports an increase in U.S. students studying abroad; 270,604 U.S. students studied abroad for credit during the academic year 2009/10, compared to 260,327 the previous year. The report found notable increases in U.S. students going to study in many of the less traditional destinations. Fifteen of the top 25 destinations were outside of Western Europe and nineteen were countries where English is not a primary language.
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The statistical landscape of the housing industry is bad enough: falling home values, crippling mortgage delinquencies, and very little new home construction. But beyond the numbers, financial advisers say, the impact of housing problems is also doing enormous damage to older Americans' belief in their future and the idea that their later years represent any kind of "safe haven." Meanwhile, the nation's strong migration pattern—away from colder climates toward warmer-weather areas—has been frozen in place. People are staying put.
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The slow-motion crisis of the euro seems to have reached a plateau with the formation of new governments in Greece and Italy. But Europe’s debt crisis is complex with far-reaching implications. In this two-part series, YaleGlobal examines the ramification of the crisis, the reform course Europe must take and the lessons that others can draw from it.
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Opportunity-Rich Schools and Sustainable Communities, a webinar cosponsored by U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Cities and Schools, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Urban Institute, will detail steps to align high-quality education with innovations in city and metropolitan planning and development. The webinar will take place Thursday, December 1, from 2:00 to 3:00 ET. Topics include recommendations on coordinating school and development goals, the role of education in HUD programs, and effective joint use strategies. The What Works Collaborative, managed by the Urban Institute, issued a related policy report this spring.
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A new Issue Brief from the National Conference on Citizenship explores the relationship between civic engagement and economic resilience. It finds that five measures of civic engagement—attending meetings, helping neighbors, registering to vote, volunteering and voting—appear to help protect against unemployment and contribute to overall economic resilience.
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Nearly $4 billion was spent by federal, state, and local governments over five years on full-time community college students who dropped out after their first year without completing their certificate or degree programs, according to a new analysis by the American Institutes for Research (AIR). About a fifth of full-time students who enroll at a community college do not return for a second year. For the 2008/2009 academic year, the most recent year for which data are available, nearly $1 billion of taxpayer money was spent on first-year, full-time students who dropped out, about 35 percent more than five years earlier. In addition to the report, The Hidden Costs of Community Colleges, an interactive map of state results is also available.
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Given academia's current failures and inefficiencies it is time to revisit the fundamental assumptions about the optimal method for educating students. Drawing more from the past than unrealistic future expectations, one method that could augment the education experience and address many criticisms of higher education in America would be to implement a system of apprenticeships across campuses nationwide. Valuing practical engagement over stuffy and inapplicable theory, apprentice-based education offers a viable alternative to the status quo that could greatly improve the higher education experience, says Jay Schalin of the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy.
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Middle and high school counselors believe they have a unique and powerful role to play in preparing all students for good jobs or college, but they feel hamstrung by insufficient training, competing duties, and their own schools’ priorities, according to a study released today. The online survey of 5,300 counselors was conducted this past spring for the College Board’s Advocacy and Policy Center. One of the largest-ever surveys of counselors, it paints a picture of a committed but frustrated corps that sees a deep schism between the ideal mission of schools and the work that takes shape day to day.
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Innovation is a key factor in economic growth and economic recovery, especially after the recent Great Recession. The U.S. Economic Development Administration sponsors the Innovation Project, which has created the Innovation Index to measure innovation performance. Twelve counties in the Fifth District have an index value of greater than 100, which means they are considered more innovative than the national average. The counties are located in Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
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Six organizations were named winners of SSTI's 2011 Excellence in TBED award, serving as national models for states and regions investing in science, technology and innovation to grow their economies and create high-paying jobs.
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As part of our overall initiative, everyone gets a ride. For classes that may not be ready to ride to the ISS, STEM SpaceLab will offer a ride for their science project to "near space" via high altitude balloon. We call it DropZone! In our space-themed version of a school fundraiser, teachers and students ask local businesses to support their space science education. Once that school has received 12 commitments of support, they notify DropZone!, which will schedule a high altitude balloon flight to carry the student's research and a special payload to the edge of space.
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Twenty-six S.C. business, university and economic development leaders will visit Tel Aviv on November 26 to begin a weeklong mission to pursue economic, trade and research opportunities with counterparts in Israel. They aim to visit Israel’s major research universities, meet with key government officials, attend economic and political briefings, make presentations on “Why South Carolina?” and discuss pursuing opportunities with Israeli companies.
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With rapid economic growth comes the need for new sources of labor, particularly for jobs that citizens no longer care to do. So, wealthy places like Hong Kong or Singapore turn to Bangladesh, the Philippines and other neighboring states for temporary migrant help, unskilled or low-skilled, in households, restaurants or construction sites. In particular, temporary immigration is on the rise, and so are problems associated with it. A quest by maids from the Philippines for permanent residence in Hong Kong, a privilege granted to other immigrants, has highlighted the pitfalls of uneven policies throughout the Asia Pacific region.
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Spain's economy registered zero growth in the third quarter of the year, latest official statistics indicate. Output between July and September was unchanged compared with the previous three months, and up just 0.8% from a year earlier. It follows a negligible growth of 0.2% in the previous quarter.
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Urban Institute scholars from diverse disciplines tackle a simple-to-state, hard-to-answer question: How can solutions to our national and state budget crises fit the facts about children in the United States? In their responses, the contributors wrestle with recent and approaching economic and demographic challenges in different ways and bring very different experiences to bear. Watch a conversation on this topic, moderated by PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff.
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The wealth gap between younger and older Americans has stretched to the widest on record, worsened by a prolonged economic downturn that has wiped out job opportunities for young adults and saddled them with housing and college debt. The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by someone under 35, according to an analysis of census data Monday. While people typically accumulate assets as they age, this wealth gap is now more than double what it was in 2005 and nearly five times the 10-to-1 disparity a quarter-century ago, after adjusting for inflation.
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Juvenile incarceration is expensive, harmful to kids and ineffective. That’s the conclusion of a new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which argues that major changes are needed in the juvenile justice system to make it more cost effective and reduce recidivism. According to the report, states spend an average of $88,000 per year per youth incarcerated, and about 70 percent of them reoffend within three years of their release. While juvenile incarceration costs continue to rise, prison closures often meet resistance from the communities that rely on them for jobs.
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This report describes key education outcomes and contexts of education in the Group of Eight (G-8) countries—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The report is organized into five topical areas: population and school enrollment, academic performance, contexts for learning, expenditures for education, and educational attainment and income. Results are drawn from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) ongoing Indicators of Education Systems (INES) program, as well as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which is also coordinated by the OECD.
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Everybody's heard the complaints about recruiting lately. Even with unemployment hovering around 9%, companies are grousing that they can't find skilled workers, and filling a job can take months of hunting. Employers are quick to lay blame. Schools aren't giving kids the right kind of training. The government isn't letting in enough high-skill immigrants. The list goes on and on. But I believe that the real culprits are the employers themselves.
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A new Mississippi Department of Education initiative will make it possible for some students to graduate from high school with fewer than the 24 credits currently required. The Pathways to Success program aims to better connect education and the workforce. Beginning this spring, all eighth-grade students must chose one of 16 career clusters that most interests them.
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Living in the Silicon Valley, I have heard this argument for a while now. To be a real creative force in the technological world or to create jobs to better the economy, you have to drop out of college, sometimes the best colleges in America (Zuckerberg and Moscovitz dropped out of Harvard) or not even go at all (Gates and Allen). Many other big names can also be mentioned, Flickr, Twitter and Etsy among them, as being founded by college dropouts.
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A recent report reflects the growing awareness in the South that while the region may be fairly successful in starting companies, it has less of a record in scaling those start-ups into mature companies. “In summary, South Carolina appears to be outperforming other states in small business job creation. While the state has also stimulated employment through high-impact firms, as is true across the United States, it nevertheless appears that the state has had less success in nurturing larger local companies to scale-up sales.”
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Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty announced today nine Regional Entrepreneurial Accelerators will be established throughout the state to assist Tennessee entrepreneurs. The accelerators will provide mentoring, education and training, strategic and technical support, and assistance identifying sources of capital.
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Using words like “uncertain,” “fragile” and “weak,” 96 percent of top economics bloggers now share a gloomy outlook on the U.S. economy. Only half expect employment growth in the next three years while only 2 percent consider the US economy to be ‘strong and growing’ and two-thirds feel the government is already too involved in the economy.
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China’s 12th five year plan, unveiled in March 2011, sets a master agenda for economic development including top-level policy objectives for the next five years and detailed guidelines for key sectors of the economy. One major objective of the plan is to rebalance the economy, primarily by emphasizing domestic consumption over China’s current model of export-led growth.
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Missouri Governor Jay Nixon said he closed today on a third Chinese trade deal, this time a $200 million agreement with the government of Zhejiang Province, bringing the total deals reached this week to $4.8 billion. In addition to the $100 million in export opportunities, the agreement signed today also calls for the provincial government to help facilitate $100 million in direct investment in Missouri businesses, Nixon said. Zhejiang is a province in the southeast corner of China with a population of about 54 million people.
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Strong Towns has released a report titled, Curbside Chat; A candid talk about the future of America’s cities, towns and neighborhoods. The report calls for a dramatic change in America’s approach to growth and development in response to current economic conditions. Just as the building of industrial cities helped end the Long Depression of the 1870’s, and just as suburban expansion helped end the Great Depression of the 1930’s, Strong Towns indicates that we now must change our development approach if we wish to end the current economic crisis. A new approach to growth must emphasize obtaining a higher rate of financial return from existing infrastructure investments, particularly within traditional neighborhoods where large public investments in infrastructure are currently being underutilized.
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Four Southern neighborhoods were among ten nationwide that were honored by the American Planning Association in its recent naming of Great Places in America. These included Birmingham’s Highland Park neighborhood, Atlanta’s Ansley Park, Tulsa’s Swan Lake, and the Hattiesburg Historic Neighborhood in Mississippi.
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Tax-increment financing (TIF) has been a widely used tool for municipalities seeking private investment. TIF allows cities and towns to borrow against an area’s future tax revenues in order to invest in immediate projects or encourage present development. When used properly, TIF can promote enduring growth and stronger communities for blighted neighborhoods; but TIF can also end up wasting taxpayer resources or channeling money to politically favored special interests.
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Leadership is going collaborative. As challenges grow more complex, and budgets tighter, workforce leaders are using new tools to connect in creative ways across sectors, disciplines, jurisdictions, and fields of practice. A recent ETA technical assistance project, titled Enhancing Workforce Leadership documented these changes, most recently in a framework called The Future of Workforce Leadership: WEadership. This framework covers six key practices workforce leaders are using to advance important community goals.
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Over the past three years, a wide variety and unusually large number of organizations have adopted a “college completion agenda.” Spurred by President Barack Obama and funded by major foundations, they are undertaking diverse activities aimed at a common goal: to significantly increase the number of adults in the United States who have earned a postsecondary credential. This paper by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities is intended as a guide to the myriad college completion initiatives that have arisen in recent years.
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Learn about the findings from the Workforce Strategy Center’s new report, What Works: BridgeConnect Stories From the Field, in a free webinar that highlights examples of a new approach to improving employment prospects for the nation’s growing ranks of low-skilled and low-wage workers. This webinar, scheduled for November 15 from 1 – 2 pm ET, features speakers from two of the four highly successful “bridge” programs spotlighted in the report.
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Missouri Governor Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill 7, the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act (MOSIRA) into law on Friday, October 21, 2011, following passage through a legislative special session. Governor Nixon, who hailed the bill as a landmark economic development tool, said MOSIRA will provide a funding source for a wide range of programs designed to create jobs, nurture start-ups and attract technology companies to the state.
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Recognizing that innovation is a leading weapon in the fight for new jobs and companies, the Southern Technology Council has released the Top Ten Policies for the Innovative State. The policies fall into five categories: funding, research, regulations and taxes, workforce, and leadership. Targeting specific industries is a theme running throughout the recommendations. One of the key characteristics of an innovative state is a well-funded organization with responsibility for promoting innovation.
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West Virginia University leadership, partnered with the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, helped plant the seeds of a statewide innovation jobs initiative that recently attracted a $250,000 grant. U.S. Senators Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin and U.S. Representative Nick Rahall, all D-W.Va., announced that TechConnect WV would receive a $250,000 grant from the Economic Development Administration to continue its efforts to diversify the Mountain State economy and create high-wage jobs.
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Pierre Du Jardin has infused his office at Suffolk University with the flavor of Senegal. Wooden masks hang on the walls, and Du Jardin’s soft accent evokes the official French language of the country. But if his 104 African students, all new to Boston this semester, do not feel quite at home on campus, it is hard to blame them. They would not be here at all if Suffolk had not closed its branch campus in Senegal last spring. Suffolk closed the satellite campus after losing about $10 million on the venture. It would be far less expensive in the long run, the college figured, to move its Senegal students to Boston.
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The November 2011 Group of Twenty (G-20) meeting in Cannes has unfortunately acquired a sense of drama similar to that of the first two G-20 meetings: the Washington November 2008 meeting and the London April 2009 meeting. At that time, the world economy and the global financial sector were facing a real emergency. For the next meetings, the sense of urgency had diminished, as the massive Keynesian support policies prevented a global depression and allowed the beginnings of a recovery. It is that recovery that now is in danger by the mounting sovereign debt worries in the advanced economies, the persistent high unemployment, and the threatening dimensions assumed by the debt crisis in Europe. As has become tradition, the Brookings Global Economy and Development Program has asked some of our scholars to provide their thoughts on the challenges faced by world leaders as they gather in Cannes on November 3–4.
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Monsoon rains and typhoons have contributed to record flooding that saturates Thailand. Bangkok is under threat even as authorities try to relieve pressure by reinforcing levees, draining fields and releasing floodwaters into the sea. Most of Thailand is affected with rice fields submerged, food prices climbing, and supply-chain operations of multinational firms like Western Digital and Toyota disrupted, reports Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a fellow at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Exports—machinery and electronics, rice and other agricultural commodities—accounted for nearly 70 percent of Thailand’s GDP in 2010, and so price impacts will be global. A political divide has emerged over the government’s response. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who took office in August, inherited a lax flood-management system and has been trying to avoid raising panic among Thai citizens or foreign investors. Extreme weather patterns, suspected to be linked to global warming, threaten economic security; nations and multinational corporations that fail to prepare for such calamities can anticipate harsh criticism and consequences.
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The Orton Family Foundation has started a new series of Heart & Soul Implementation Guides, which outline on-the-ground action designed to better prepare small communities for successful implementation of a range of planning goals. Each guide offers a short-list of action ideas that have been tried and proven by other small communities around the country. The first five guides cover the topics of: 1) Enhancing Local Character; 2) Encouraging Inclusive, Local Government; 3) Promoting Housing Opportunities; 4) Building Local Businesses and Jobs; and 5) Fostering a Sense of Community.
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In recognition of the innovative and effective work being done in communities across the nation to ensure a bright future for young people, America's Promise Alliance announced the 2011 winners of its 100 Best Communities for Young People presented by ING competition. The competition showcases communities that create programs and services to address the high school dropout crisis and provide support to their young people. An interactive map and list of all 2011 winners can be found on the website.
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Branding a city, writes Scott Doyon, isn’t as easy as creating a product brand. Cities already have identities, so a new brand can ring false if it isn’t in harmony with reality.
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American manufacturing companies cannot fill as many as 600,000 skilled positions—even as unemployment numbers hover at historic levels—according to a new survey from Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute. The survey, Boiling Point? The skills gap in U.S. manufacturing, polled a nationally representative sample of 1,123 executives at manufacturing companies recently and revealed that five percent of current manufacturing jobs are unfilled due to a lack of qualified candidates.
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At a time when the nation's economy is stalled, the unemployment rate won't budge, and public dollars are constrained, businesses are seeking innovative ways to spark economic growth and ensure a skilled workforce for tomorrow. On November 7th at 4:00 pm ET, Corporate Voices for Working Families will host a webinar on two new resources that offer valuable guidance to business leaders who want to support youth and education and simultaneously meet their talent development needs. The webinar will provide insights to these publications/tools as well as action items for how companies can become involved in the workforce readiness efforts in their communities and nationally.
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More and more students are acquiring knowledge and skills outside school, and yet traditional schools still have a virtual monopoly on certifying whether a student’s knowledge is sufficient. Adults and children are taking online courses, working with remote human or computer-based tutors, and participating in online communities with a focus on learning. But if they fail to enroll in a school or college to complete their diploma or degree requirements, these plugged-in learners often receive little credit for their accomplishments.
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Silicon Valley has in recent years sprouted numerous "incubators" and "accelerators" that help nurture young companies, often for a fee or an equity stake. StartX, a corporate accelerator in Palo Alto, takes a different approach. In a 3,300-square-foot space with floor-to-ceiling white boards, StartX offers start-ups free office space, mentoring and coaching, access to venture capitalists and other investors, and pays entrepreneurs a $4,000 to $5,000 stipend to cover housing and food over several months as they develop their companies. The only requirement: one of the start-up's founders needs to currently be or recently have been a student at Stanford University.
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Natural disasters are a fact of life. In recent years, earthquakes have shaken Japan, China, Indonesia and Haiti; flooding has swamped Pakistan and the Mississippi Delta; hurricanes have tested New Orleans and the U.S. Gulf Coast; and tornadoes have ripped through Alabama and Arkansas. Over the past five years, more than 13 million people have lost their home to a natural disaster. Housing Cities After a Disaster highlights the urgent need for urban disaster planning and outlines how planning for permanence during rebuilding creates a more solid path to recovery.
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When it comes to green technology innovation, U.S. small business is leading the way according to a report released today by the SBA Office of Advocacy. The report titled Analysis of Small Business Innovation in Green Technologies was released by Chief Counsel Winslow Sargeant at the World Green Energy Symposium in Philadelphia. The study was designed to highlight differences in the patent activity of small and large firms in green technologies and industries.
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A new report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce shows that 65 percent of Bachelor’s degrees in STEM (science, engineering, technology and mathematics) occupations earn more than Master’s degrees in non-STEM occupations. Similarly, 47 percent of Bachelor’s degrees in STEM occupations earn more than PhDs in non-STEM occupations. Furthermore, even people with only STEM certificates can earn more than people with non-STEM degrees; for instance certificate holders in engineering earn more than Associate’s degree-holders in business and more than Bachelor’s degree-holders in education.
Read the news release here

The US has long attracted the world’s top talent coming to its shores for study and work and benefited richly from their innovations. Advanced engineering, math and science programs of US universities depend on students from China, India and South Korea: More than a third of the US doctoral-level science and engineering workforce was born outside the United States, reports Bruce Stokes, transatlantic fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Yet aspiring engineers and scientists are having second thoughts as they encounter an economy in decline and American ambivalence over the contributions of immigration, education and science. Australia, Great Britain and Canada adjust policies to attract top students, and fast growth in emerging economies also beckons graduates. A first step to reinvigorating the US economy could be crafting education and immigration policies to attract and keep students with top skills.
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Governor Jay Nixon announced today he will lead a delegation of Missouri business and agriculture leaders to the People's Republic of China from Oct. 21 to 29. As part of this mission, the state of Missouri and Chinese agencies and provinces will sign a series of agreements to sell billions of dollars of Missouri goods to China over the next three years. In addition, numerous Missouri businesses plan to close deals with Chinese customers during the trade mission.
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Online shopping is nothing new, especially in plugged-in South Korea. But one company says it's going further. It's testing out a virtual supermarket in a public place.
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The U.S. economy has undergone a difficult decade of sluggish job creation followed by the Great Recession and its aftermath. Americans are facing global pressures and the greatest economic vulnerabilities in several decades, while massive challenges of environmental sustainability loom. Communities and regions are looking for ways to regain their footing in providing economic opportunities and a high quality of life for their population. In a free webinar sponsored by the Southern Rural Development Center, Rose Olfert and Mark Partridge discuss the challenges facing communities and regions, describe why policy responses have been ineffective, and provide a more realistic policy prescription for the best path to economic prosperity for winning communities. The webinar is scheduled for November 1 at noon ET.
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During the first decade of the 21st century, immigrants continued to settle at a faster rate in newer, smaller metropolitan destinations and in suburban areas within metro areas. As the foreign-born population disperses to different destinations, localities, states and the nation will continue to face policy challenges on how to incorporate the new arrivals.
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The Southern Rural Development Center will host a free webinar on November 10 at 2:00 pm ET to explore “The 1099 Economy.” This presentation, featuring Erik Pages of Entreworks Consulting, will include a conversation regarding the increasing number of Americans who don’t have a “regular job,” but instead work on individual contracts with employers or customers.
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The Center for Digital Education’s inaugural Yearbook highlights both the top technology trends in education and some of the innovators who have made it all possible. The first part of the Yearbook takes a look at IT spending, funding opportunities and top trends of the 2010-2011 school year to shed some light on what technologies are top of mind and how to fund them. The second part highlights 50 education innovators that have led the way and provided best-practice models to imitate.
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Corporate Voices for Working Families, a nonprofit business membership organization in Washington, DC, has published two new resources that offer valuable guidance for local officials, employers and others teaming up to support children, youth and working families in their communities. Opportunities in the Workforce Readiness Pipeline: A Community Engagement Toolkit for Business, is designed to assist business and local leaders in developing successful, sustainable partnerships to ensure that more young people in their communities have the highest quality education and supports they need to be successful today, and as the workforce we will depend on tomorrow. Building the Business Case for Investing in Tomorrow’s Workforce, also new from Corporate Voices, similarly profiles private-sector commitments to support education and workforce training for lower-skilled employees, and documents the substantial payoff to companies that have done so.
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Research, science and technology parks are catalysts for job creation. As communities look for ways to create jobs and drive economic growth, many are finding innovation to be a key element. “Research and science parks help grow local, high-tech companies while attracting new ones to the region,” said Harold Strong, Jr., Association of University Research Parks (AURP) President and Director of Discovery Park and Technology Transfer at the University of North Texas. “These parks are impacting their communities in a big way—with high-wage jobs.”
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Virtual Incubation Co., a for-profit technology incubator in Fayetteville, said this week that it’s starting a sister business near Boston. The new Atlantic Virtual Incubation Co. holds potential to attract new investment opportunities and to acquire complementary sources of intellectual property. Virtual Incubation Co. was founded by Calvin Goforth in 2000 and specializes in the development of early-stage technology businesses.
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The United States is seeing a significant surge in the number of STEM-focused schools, a development I examine in a new EdWeek story. In fact, quite a few just opened this academic year, including a new STEM high school on the campus of N.C. State University that I visited in late August. As the story explains, while, historically, STEM schools have tended to target the top math and science students in a given state or district, the new wave appears to have a broader reach. Many of the schools cropping up are aimed especially at serving groups underrepresented in the STEM fields, such as African-American, Hispanic, female, and low-income students.
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Governor Nathan Deal will embark this week on his first mission to Asia since becoming governor. The mission, which includes Mrs. Deal and Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) Commissioner Chris Cummiskey as well as other representatives from the governor’s office and GDEcD, will visit South Korea and China October 16-22 to seek opportunities for trade and investment.
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The National Foundation for American Policy released a policy brief last week that says international students who graduate from U.S. universities with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) should get a green card “stapled” to their diplomas. With a growing number of Ph.D.s and Masters degrees earned by foreign nationals in these fields, plus a tremendous backlog on available green cards, US competitiveness is suffering.
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Every year the American Planning Association reveals a list of great public spaces in America. Bicentennial Capitol Mall Park in Nashville, Tennessee is just one they have chosen. Other places include Maymont in Richmond, Virginia and Fair Park in Dallas, Texas.
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The Irish economy faces tough challenges as the country exits from a deep recession and banking crisis, but its long-term prospects now appear better than many of the other hard hit European countries, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of Ireland. The report, presented today in Dublin, shows that gains in competitiveness and increased exports are driving a modest recovery which should see growth reach 1.2 percent in 2011, an upward revision from the zero percent rate projected last May in the OECD’s last Economic Outlook.
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The National Center for Learning and Citizenship (NCLC) has completed a new 50-state policy scan on Service-Learning/Community Service, and developed a database of state policies that support service-learning for K-12 students. From this database, you can generate profiles of the policies in individual states and view 50-state reports on policies for service-learning/community service.
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Something like how video purportedly killed the radio star, the Internet and the economic crisis is murdering the creative class today, according to a provocative essay in Salon by Scott Timberg. Kudos to Timberg and Salon for focusing attention on the plight of struggling artists, musicians, and writers during this devastating economic crisis….But in focusing on such disparate events as the closing of chains like Borders and Tower Records, the decline of independent record stores and book shops, and the mass layoffs at print newspapers, he misses the forest for the proverbial trees. As bad as the overall economic situation may be, the creative class has in fact gotten off comparatively lightly.
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The talk of college completion is turning into action in many state legislatures around the country. Policymakers are getting serious about making higher education more accountable and encouraging students to progress by passing measures that link funding formulas to performance metrics. Nearly 80 new laws related to college completion have been approved in states so far in 2011, and the range of approaches are chronicled by Boosting College Completion, a two-year initiative by the Education Commission of the States funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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As the United States recovers from the 2008 recession, many consider any employment growth to be a good sign. But uncertainties about future tax and health care costs could be inhibiting permanent job growth, shifting more of the labor force to temporary and part-time employment.
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Most American parents are under severe time pressure because they need to work while simultaneously caring for their children and, increasingly, for elderly family members as well. Government mandates on businesses to provide workplace flexibility for employees to relieve some of this pressure are minimal to nonexistent, and most parents do not qualify for government child care programs. Unprecedented government budget strains make it unlikely that legislative bodies will provide relief in the foreseeable future. The best hope for struggling working parents lies in voluntary provision of workplace flexibility by employers and more support from community institutions.
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Nancy Cantor is the chancellor of Syracuse University, but if you didn't know better you might think she was the mayor of this town. Since she took over at the university seven years ago, the institution has spent tens of millions of dollars—and attracted much more—to revitalize this sagging Rust Belt city. But some professors here say she has spent too little time and money on what goes on inside the university's classrooms, laboratories, and libraries where traditional education and scholarship take place.
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The New England Clean Energy Foundation has received a $1,250,000 award from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) to fund a New England-wide innovation consortium aimed at accelerating clean energy startup activity. This award was one of six i6 Green Challenge grants presented by EDA nationally to proposals aimed at regional economic development through innovative, groundbreaking ideas that accelerate technology commercialization, new venture formation, and job creation across the United States in the cleantech space.
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The 2011 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards honor innovators whose work will transform the world in years to come. They are reinventing the wheel—or, rather, the cell tower and the internal combustion engine; reaching new heights in wind power and space exploration; and figuring out clever new ways to clean up and observe the environment. They’re even helping the paralyzed to regain use of their legs. They’re determined and brilliant—and we can’t wait to see what they’ll do next.
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Disasters present new beginning and perspectives with the need to build anew. Whether vowing to rebuild and replicate or relocate, those reviving Japan will strive for security and improvements. This YaleGlobal series explores the transformative effects of spring’s earthquake-tsunami on Japanese politics, energy policy and business. The disaster has prompted Japanese manufacturers to scout Asia for new locales—and could accelerate offshoring trends already underway due to high labor costs, a high yen, tight environmental regulations and rising energy costs, explains Asia Sentinel editor John Berthelsen in the second and final article.
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Congressional action is expected soon on a trio of trade agreements negotiated during the George W. Bush administration and recently submitted by President Obama. The authors of this policy brief say the pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama will boost U.S. exports significantly, especially in the key automotive, agricultural and commercial services sectors.
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The Belgian government will buy the bank's division in Belgium for 4bn euros ($5.4bn; £3.4bn). And Luxembourg's finance minister said a Qatari investment group was ready to buy the bank's Luxembourg unit. The plan came after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed Europe's crisis-hit banks needed to be recapitalised.
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If your community makes the list of places hit hard by recent disasters, you may be wondering how to move forward. If you’ve so far been spared, you know it’s only a matter of time. Either way, join the Orton Family Foundation on October 13 from 4-5 pm ET for a special conversation with three leaders who are helping to reinvent hard-hit communities, build smart growth and sustainability into recovery plans, and create empowered neighborhoods that can withstand any disaster.
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When it comes to regional coordination around growth issues, the United States has a less developed tradition than many other countries, in part because regional planning efforts often evoke strong reactions from residents concerned about losing local control. As a result, relatively few regional organizations in the United States have been able to build consensus around metropolitan growth management. Two organizations that have been leaders in building this consensus, Envision Utah and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, have found success by tapping into people’s shared values and aspirations while using convincing, unbiased data to demonstrate the need to work regionally.
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Rural America at a Glance, 2011 Edition highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas. This year’s edition focuses on the U.S. rural economy, including employment trends, poverty, education, and population trends.
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When the unemployment rate rose in most states last month, it underscored the extent to which the deep recession, the anemic recovery and the lingering crisis of joblessness are beginning to reshape the nation’s economic map. The once-booming South, which entered the recession with the lowest unemployment rate in the nation, is now struggling with some of the highest rates, recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show…Unemployment in the South is now higher than it is in the Northeast and the Midwest, which include Rust Belt states that were struggling even before the recession.
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The routine jobs of yesterday are being replaced by technology and/or shipped off-shore. In their place, job categories that require knowledge management, abstract reasoning, and personal services seem to be growing. Assessing 21st Century Skills reports on the third in a series of workshops held by the National Research Council on 21st century skills.
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Twenty-one high schools in four states [including KY and MS] are working this fall to restructure their academic programs into “lower division” and “upper division” courses that are aimed at readying all students for community college by the end of their sophomore year. Students who pass a series of exams, at that point, could leave high school and enroll—without remedial courses—in a two-year college, or stay in high school to take additional technical coursework, or pursue studies that prepare them for a university.
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Innovation in Milwaukee The Greater Milwaukee Committee intends to align our region’s assets in advanced manufacturing and our global innovation companies through MiKE (Innovation in Milwaukee), a design, technology and innovation cluster that will serve as a catalytic source for rapid innovation and talent to compete on the world stage. Milwaukee ranks second in the nation among the top 50 metros for manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing today relies on technology to operate virtual factories, build electronics, create medical equipment and automation systems. The interface of design between technology and the customer often creates the competitive advantage for existing products and systems and the basis for new products whether that end user is B to B or in a retail environment.
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Women who are capable of starting growth companies that serve global markets may be the nation's secret weapon for achieving sustained economic growth. Research shows that startup companies—particularly high-growth startups—are the most fruitful source of new U.S. jobs and offer the economy's best hope for recovery. However, despite the fact that about 46 percent of the workforce and more than 50 percent of college students are female, and that women have risen to top positions in corporate and university hierarchies, they represent only about 35 percent of startup business owners. Their firms also tend to experience less growth and prosperity than do firms started by men.
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Startup companies are developing a wide range of new—and sometimes exotic—sustainable-energy technologies to help countries move away from their dependence on dwindling and greenhouse-gas producing fossil fuels. In this special report from the 2011 Wharton Global Alumni Forum in San Francisco, Knowledge@Wharton surveys the role and limitations of venture capital in contributing to this transformation.
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Since 1997, the immigrant population of the Greensboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina areas has boomed, and the demand for health care interpretation boomed with it—so much so that schools have established health care interpretation programs to train students. Wake Forest University’s program started this month, and Davidson County Community College is working on forming a program for next fall.
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It might seem like pouring water onto sand—almost literally—but the Gulf kingdom of Qatar is banking on a remarkable transformation in its fortunes. The small but fabulously wealthy state is using its hydrocarbon earnings to try to convert itself into a global knowledge hub. Billions of pounds are being pumped into a 2,500-acre complex for 80 educational, research, science and community development organisations, under the umbrella name of Education City. The astonishing physical transformation of the desert is nothing compared with the long-term ambition to be a cradle of innovation, based in the Middle East but global in scope and impact.
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Robert Greenhill, managing director of the World Economic Forum, talks about the findings of its global competitiveness report. The U.S. extended its slide in competitiveness for a third year by slipping to fifth in the rankings, which Switzerland topped. Greenhill speaks with Andrea Catherwood on Bloomberg Television's "Last Word."
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While their core mission remains information, literacy, and public education, today’s libraries act as a new type of town square, a place where people of all ages and backgrounds seek help, connect with others, and get access to the information and services they need. In 2009, 169 million people in the United States visited a public library to find work, apply for college, secure government benefits, learn about critical medical treatments, and enjoy free access to the Internet. A recent study revealed that approximately 40% of library patrons use library computers for career and education needs.
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When it comes to economic growth and the creation of jobs, the denser the city the better. How great are the benefits of density? Economists studying cities routinely find that after controlling for other variables, workers in denser places earn higher wages and are more productive. Some studies suggest that doubling density raises productivity by around 6 percent while others peg the impact at up to 28 percent. Some economists have concluded that more than half the variation in output per worker across the United States can be explained by density alone; density explains more of the productivity gap across states than education levels or industry concentrations or tax policies.
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Between 2008 and 2010, a majority of Americans were civically active in a variety of ways, working with others to improve their communities, according to the 2011 Civic Life in America: Key Findings on the Civic Health of the Nation research released by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC). The research suggests that civic engagement is a reinforcing cycle. Citizens who participate in one area of civic engagement, like volunteering, are more likely to get involved in groups, contact public officials, or work with neighbors. In addition, the results show evidence similar to what researchers see across the “volunteer lifecycle”—the arc of civic involvement that tends to increase as citizens feel a deeper connection to their communities through personal networks, their workplace, and their children’s schools.
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It may be one of the least controversial statements in American education: Parent involvement can make a difference in a child’s education. The conflict can come, though, on how to define that involvement. Do all the PTA meetings, take-home flyers and Back to School nights actually generate increases in student achievement? The Center for Public Education examined the research and found that creating a partnership between parents and schools focused on academics truly does have significant impact on student achievement.
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If you want to get a name as an economic seer, try this one. The next subprime crisis will come from defaults on student debts, starting with for-profit colleges and rising to the Ivy League. The parallels with housing are striking. In both, the written warnings aren't understood, especially on penalties and interest rates. And in both, it's assumed that what's being bought will rise in value, in one case the real estate, in the other the salaries which will accrue with a degree. One bubble has burst; the second is already losing air.
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A new report from SJF Institute, Employees Matter: Maximizing Company Value Through Workforce Engagement, profiles two dozen fast growing entrepreneurial firms that utilize employee ownership and engagement strategies which their executives say are closely linked with improved business performance, including the ability to weather the recent recession. The report uses these company profiles to frame and illustrate ten best practices for engaging employees at all levels for increased business performance.
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The United States is still the global leader in the biomedical industry, but countries across Europe and Asia are pursuing aggressive plans to close the gap and take the high-value jobs and capital this sector creates. To protect its leadership position, U.S. policymakers need to take a series of actions. The stakes are high: The biomedical sector directly and indirectly accounts for some 5 million U.S. jobs (including 1.2 million high-wage private-sector jobs in pharmaceuticals, biotech, medical devices, research and testing).
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A group of 20 states has been selected to lead an important effort to improve science education for all students. The 20 states will lead the development of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), a state-led effort that will clearly define the content and practices all students will need to learn from kindergarten through high school graduation. The NGSS process is being managed by Achieve, a non-partisan education non-profit.
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Last year was a good one for cities that make things. Metropolitan areas with big durable-goods manufacturing sectors grew much faster than the all-metropolitan average of 2.5% in 2010, according to new data on local gross domestic product released by the Commerce Department this morning. Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for example, grew 6.6%, led by a big surge in its manufacturing sector.
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Faced with increasing competition and a welter of bureaucratic obstacles at home, Indian companies are looking to Africa for growth. Since 2005 they have spent some $16 billion on the continent, vs. at least $31 billion for the Chinese, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and the Heritage Foundation, respectively. Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile-phone provider, in June paid $9 billion for the African cellular operations of Kuwait's Zain. In 2008, India's Videocon Industries paid $330 million for two coal mines in Mozambique, and India's state-run fertilizer maker bought an idled Senegalase phosphorus producer for $721 million.
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The summer jitters, which brought memories from the panicky fall of 2008, have left little doubt about how fragile the recovery from the great crisis has been and how rocky the road ahead will continue to be. This should not be entirely surprising given the magnitude of the shock endured in 2008-2009. But it is also in good measure due to the failure by leaders of the major economies to deliver on key commitments to pursue coordinated action.
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The quality of patent filings has fallen dramatically over the past two decades. The rush to protect even minor improvements in products or services is overburdening patent offices. This slows the time to market for true innovations and reduces the potential for breakthrough inventions, according to a new OECD report.
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Used to be, developers built high-end suburban communities around golf greens. The hot amenity now? Salad greens. In a movement propelled by environmental concern, nostalgia for a simpler life and a dollop of marketing savvy, developers are increasingly laying out their cul-de-sacs around organic farms, cattle ranches, vineyards and other agricultural ventures. They're betting that buyers will pay a premium for views of heirloom tomatoes—and that the farms can provide a steady stream of revenue, while cutting the cost of landscaping upkeep.
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State Farm has teamed up with YSA (Youth Service America) to offer grants of up to $1,000 for the promotion of service-learning projects in K-12 public schools in all 50 states. Each grant engages participating youth in service-learning, an effective teaching and learning strategy that promotes student learning, academic achievement, workplace readiness, and stronger communities. The State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning Grants encourage semester-long projects (a Semester of Service) that launch on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service (January 16, 2012) and culminate on Global Youth Service Day (April 20-22, 2012). Applications are due by Nov. 9, 2011.
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In the two years since he became chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Rocco Landesman has been trying to make the case that art is an effective linchpin to economic development. Now in a broad effort to build on that thesis, he has helped to enlist an unusual consortium of foundations, corporations and federal agencies that will use cultural enterprises to anchor and enliven 34 projects around the country, from a struggling city block in Detroit to a vacant school in East Harlem.
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The U.S. economy will emerge from the Great Recession radically transformed from what it was a generation ago. Changes are afoot affecting which occupations and industry sectors will produce employment growth, as well as what education credentials, competencies, and skills will be required to do those jobs. Community colleges already take steps to address the workforce needs of local employers, but their efforts often are hampered by a lack of detailed, up-to-date information about occupations and skills in demand. A promising, yet still-evolving solution to that problem can be found within the large pool of job openings posted on the Internet.
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The Public Education Foundation of Chattanooga, Tennessee and Hamilton County Schools are putting the faces of college-bound high school graduates on billboards around the county to highlight their education success stories, reports The Times Free Press. In its third year, the effort features 20 college-bound students. "It's a joint project to show that there really are good things happening and also to help promote college, so that children see the billboards and think, 'Oh, maybe I can go to college, too,'" said Frances Haman-Prewitt of the Public Education Foundation.
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The United States still leads the world in having a college-educated workforce, but it is the only country among the G-20 members whose incoming workers are less educated than those retiring, according to a study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In 2009, Americans accounted for more than one in every four of the 225 million people with postsecondary degrees in G-20 countries, according to the OECD's Education at a Glance 2011 report. Yet the numbers show a deep generational divide among degree-holders: Americans make up more than a third of all postsecondary degree holders, ages 55 to 64, but only a fifth of those ages 25 to 34.
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New digital technologies are transforming the practice of science. Science is now increasingly computational, data�]intensive, and collaborative because digital technologies provide new ways for scientists to both create scientific information, and to communicate, replicate, and reuse scientific knowledge and data. These same technologies are creating important opportunities for international funding agencies to promote scientific collaboration and to foster the replication and reuse of scientific information.
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The slidedeck below just landed in my inbox. The sender: InSites Consulting, one of Europe’s finest research firms. The topic: Social media around the world (facts and figures about social media in 30+ countries). Findings from the research that stood out as far as I’m concerned: according to InSites, the awareness for Facebook is no less than 100% in the respondents’ countries, and more than 1 billion people—or roughly 70 percent of the online population—use social networks today.
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Every year thousands of start-up companies are funded by venture capitalists who invest for the long term to bring the most promising innovations to market. The NVCA, with help from the Tuck School of Business, is proud to highlight some shining examples of start-ups across the country. Nominated by NVCA member firms, these companies are innovating, growing, and making a difference in the economy.
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The latest update of the Brookings Institution-FT Tracking Indices for the Global Economic Recovery (TIGER) reveals abundant cause for gloom. The general picture among G-20 economies is one of slowing growth, swooning financial markets, and declining consumer and business confidence. Debt crises, weak employment growth and policy dithering in the major advanced economies have exacerbated global economic uncertainty. The perception of rising risk and inadequate policy responses has shaken financial markets and dented confidence around the world. Reflecting widespread anxiety and fear about global economic prospects and the lack of obvious policy solutions, stock markets around the world have taken a beating over the past summer.
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The Kauffman Foundation is seeking experts on high-growth entrepreneurship policy issues to contribute to the creation of a global policy roadmap for advancing entrepreneurship. Scholars are invited to submit abstracts for papers to be considered for presentation at a roundtable discussion at the Kauffman-sponsored Global Entrepreneurship Congress, March 11-12, 2012, in Liverpool, UK.
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The United States has periodically withdrawn into its isolationist shell, particularly after wars. While much of the world looks to the United States to exercise strong leadership, otherwise polarized opinion within the US often finds common ground on at least one issue: expecting leaders to focus less attention on problems overseas. Recent surveys show the US could be heading towards such an isolationist phase.
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Communities are inherently resilient at some level. Communities have exhibited that resilience in wars, natural catastrophes, and economic declines. We see the people’s resolve and strength demonstrated as governments at all levels, the private business sector, and organizations of all types respond to disruptions, crises, and disasters. The most effective response to disaster is always local. Preparation for disruption is best done by local residents who will have to live and work through the disruption. Big, top-driven solutions don’t always fit local challenges.
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After a decade-long rise in concentrated poverty, one in 11 residents of metropolitan areas now live in communities where at least 30 percent of their neighbors are poor, according to a pair of studies by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. The reports, A Lost Decade: Neighborhood Poverty and the Urban Crisis of the 2000s, produced in collaboration with the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, and Segregated Spaces, Risky Places: The Effects of Racial Segregation on Health Inequalities, underscore the links between poverty and racial segregation in metropolitan neighborhoods and the health of the people who live in them.
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Fast-rising health care costs have eaten nearly all the income gains made by a median-income American family of four over the past decade, leaving them with just $95 per month in extra income, after accounting for taxes and price increases, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Had health care costs risen only as fast as the cost of other goods and services in the United States from 1999 to 2009, the same family would have an additional $545 per month to spend in 2009, according to findings published in the September edition of the journal Health Affairs.
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NBC News’ 2011 Education Nation Summit will convene educators, parents, policymakers, elected officials, business leaders, students and engaged citizens in a national discussion about the challenges and potential solutions spanning today's education landscape. This year's lineup of education panels will include sessions on teaching and testing, the brain science behind early learning, and the value of higher education in today's economy. While the Summit is an invitation-only event, EducationNation.com will be streaming both days of panel sessions live at EducationNation.com on September 26th and 27th. The sessions will also be available for on-demand viewing after the event.
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More and more states are doling out some of their higher education funds based on graduation rates and other measures of classroom achievement. The effort revives an earlier movement that had mixed success and raises some concerns about whether it will encourage professors to lower standards.
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As a new school year begins, elementary and high schools are receiving less state funding than last year in the great majority of states for which the necessary data are available, and are now funded at below pre-recession levels in most of these states. In at least 10 states, the shortfall compared with pre-recession levels exceeds 10 percent. These are the results of an initial analysis of state budget documents in 24 states where the necessary data were available. These 24 states include about two-thirds of the nation's school-age population.
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Where change is happening quickly, who best sees the openings, opportunity, and necessities of change? “It's not always the CEO," Thomas Friedman tells Fast Company. Friedman, a New York Times columnist and best-selling author, co-wrote a new book, That Used To Be Us, which argues that empowering innovation from every worker must become a priority for employers, the military, schools, and policy makers, if America is to retain (regain?) its superior international standing. From the use of iPhones by bootcamp trainees to shopfloor innovation at DuPont, That Used To Be Us shows that the future of work is already upon us, presenting interviews with global influencers from every corner of society to paint a world blindsided by the need for creative production – and prescriptions on how to learn from those ahead of the curve.
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Competitiveness in advanced countries continues to stagnate, weighed down by burgeoning public debt and government inefficiency, while some key emerging markets such as China have grown more competitive, according to a study by the World Economic Forum. The report, based on surveys and a wide range of economic data, ranked the U.S. fifth in the world in competitiveness, down one notch from last year and marking the country's third fall in as many years. The public's low trust in their politicians, government inefficiency and a lack of macroeconomic stability outweighed high marks for its university system, the large size of its domestic market and strong research and development.
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In a packed room at the University of Connecticut's Bioscience Complex Thursday, Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed into law Senate Bill 1242, kick-starting the development of a research and technology park to be located on the north end of UConn's campus that Malloy hopes will become the vertex of an innovation triangle in Connecticut that also includes the UConn Medical Center in Farmington and the Yale Science Park in New Haven. Malloy approved the use of $170 million in state money to build and maintain the park.
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In the decade since the September 11 attacks, America’s global image has followed a remarkable, if now familiar, trajectory. Initially, there was a global outpouring of sympathy for the United States, but it was short-lived. As the Bush Administration pivoted from Afghanistan to Iraq, and as American anti-terrorism efforts expanded, many around the world turned against the U.S. Widespread anti-Americanism remained a key feature of international public opinion throughout the Bush years, before fading significantly following the election of Barack Obama. However, at the same time as ratings for the U.S. were waning and waxing, other changes in perceptions of America and its role in the world were also evident. In particular, views about American power have changed over the course of the decade, as economic issues have trumped security concerns.
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Even through the enduring global economic downturn, nations across the world have targeted technology-based economic development initiatives to build their respective country's science and technology (S&T) sectors. The governments contend that building their respective country's Next Economy is necessary to compete in a globalizing world and increase quality of living for their citizens. Canada, India and the European Union have announced initiatives that could help grow their respective countries S&T sectors.
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International migration fell in 2009, reflecting lower demand for workers in OECD countries for the second consecutive year after a decade of growth, according to a new OECD report. The 2011 International Migration Outlook says that migration into OECD countries fell by about 7% in 2009 to 4.3 million people, down from just over 4.5 million in 2008. Recent national data suggest migration numbers fell further in 2010.
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Immigrant integration is about “the hyphen,” says Tamar Jacoby, head of ImmigrationWorksUSA. That is, it’s about blending in and also maintaining distinct culture, for example, “Hungarian-American.” Achieving that hyphen (and, often, having it fade in the next generation or so) has always been a joint accomplishment of the receiving community and the arriving individual. It’s now happening “steadily,” albeit “unevenly,” in the United States, according to a new report.
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A middle-class upbringing does not guarantee the same status as an adult, according to a new report by Pew’s Economic Mobility Project. Downward Mobility from the Middle Class: Waking Up from the American Dream considers potential factors that cause a third of Americans who grow up in the middle—defined as those between the 30th and 70th percentiles of the income distribution—to fall out of the middle as adults.
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Men and women in the South had higher rates of divorce in 2009 than in other regions of the country, 10.2 per 1,000 for men and 11.1 per 1,000 for women, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau. The national divorce rate was 9.2 for men and 9.7 for women. By contrast, men and women in the Northeast had the lowest rates of divorce, 7.2 and 7.5. These new statistics come from the report Marital Events of Americans: 2009, which examines marriage, divorce and widowhood in America as well as selected characteristics for those experiencing a marital event in the past year.
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It's been called the Gig Economy, Freelance Nation, the Rise of the Creative Class, and the e-conomy, with the "e" standing for electronic, entrepreneurial, or perhaps eclectic. Everywhere we look, we can see the U.S. workforce undergoing a massive change. No longer do we work at the same company for 25 years, waiting for the gold watch, expecting the benefits and security that come with full-time employment. We're no longer simply lawyers, or photographers, or writers. Instead, we're part-time lawyers-cum- amateur photographers who write on the side. This transition is nothing less than a revolution.
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The informal economy, meaning employment and production that operate outside the regulatory and tax systems, tends to be overlooked in U.S. policy discussions. When it is considered, it is often viewed in terms of black market (i.e., criminal and illegal) activities, undocumented immigrants, or white-collar tax evasion. Beyond these stereotypes, millions of workers are in various informal employment arrangements performing activities not otherwise criminal in nature. This brief presents background information on the informal sector and policy options that could improve economic conditions for low-wage informal workers and their families.
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A new report from the National Research Council recommends that federal and state policymakers strengthen efforts to improve adult literacy in the U.S. Teaching, materials, and assessments should be consistent with available research on effective instructional approaches, the report says. It notes that the most recent national survey of adult literacy found that more than 90 million adults in the United States are estimated to lack the literacy skills needed for negotiating many aspects of modern life.
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The global economy is characterized by increasing locational competition to attract the resources necessary to develop leading-edge technologies as drivers of regional and national growth. One means of facilitating such growth and improving national competitiveness is to improve the operation of the national innovation system. Building the 21st Century U.S.-China Cooperation on Science, Technology, and Innovation studies selected foreign innovation programs and compares them with major U.S. programs.
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It has been a month of seismic change for the tech sector. Hewlett-Packard, the largest computer and printer maker in the world, may begin to transition away from hardware by jettisoning its PC division. Meanwhile, Apple is facing the end of an era, with the announcement that visionary leader Steve Jobs is relinquishing his role as CEO. Knowledge@Wharton asked Wharton management professors Saikat Chaudhuri and David Hsu to discuss the outlook—and future opportunities—for HP and Apple.
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Chad Paul has more than 35 years of entrepreneurial business experience and has started, secured investments for, or facilitated the merger of nearly two dozen companies. He is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, an organization that invests in early-stage technology firms and established manufacturers and has received international recognition as a model economic development program.
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A study sponsored by the solar power industry has concluded that the United States ran a trade surplus of $1.88 billion in solar technologies last year, as exports of raw material and factory equipment for the solar sector outpaced imports of finished solar panels. The report is clearly aimed at addressing worries about the rapid rise of Chinese solar panel manufacturers, who now represent 58 percent of the world’s solar panel manufacturing capacity.
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In the wake of the recent crisis, a two-speed recovery shifted global economic growth from advanced to emerging and developing economies. While gross domestic product (GDP) in advanced economies grew on average 3 percent in 2010, emerging and developing economies grew 7.2 percent. The IMF forecasts that the two-speed trend will continue this year. Advanced economies are projected to grow 2.5 percent and emerging and developing economies 6.5 percent, their consumption surging too. In absolute terms, emerging and developing economies will consume $1.7 trillion more in goods and services this year than last year.
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The Federal Reserve System will launch Connecting Communities on September 8th from 1:00 – 2:00 pm ET, with the first in a planned series of webinars aimed at community development professionals. “Micro Finance: Helping to Create First-Time Entrepreneurs” will provide participants with an opportunity to learn about how microfinance can serve as a catalyst to increasing economic opportunity in low- to moderate-income communities in the U.S. The webinar is free, but pre-registration is required.
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As social and political upheaval and civil unrest have spread across the globe, it has become clear that the problems facing Western countries are neither transient nor temporary. Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States share a common set of problems over and above economic decline and sovereign debt issues linked to problems of the global financial system. The issues surrounding civil unrest comprise a lack of economic opportunity, political disenfranchisement, erosion of individual rights, a systematic lack of accountability from local authorities to national leaders, deteriorating credibility of political and financial leaders and disintegrating national government legitimacy. The reason that the above problems are common to Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States is that they are all linked to globalization.
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Much has been written about where “empty nesters” might move as their children move off on their own. One longstanding favorite is the notion that, having jettisoned their children, the boomers will also desert their suburban communities for the bright city lights. Unfortunately for developers—some of whom have invested heavily in high-end housing for urbanizing “empty nesters”—the actual data do not support this thesis. Indeed, our analysis of migration by this cohort in the past 10 years shows a 10.3% decline among core city dwellers, a loss of some 1.3 million people over the past decade.
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Neighborhood sporting events can sometimes feel like a Norman Rockwell slice of Americana: dusty Little League slides under the hot summer sun, diving catches in pee wee football, the newest generation of Michael Jordans driving to the hoop on the corner playlot. But the reality in low-income communities is often quite different. Parks are more likely to be dangerous and deteriorated. Equipment and facilities are lacking. Organized athletic programs often have little foothold, without the financial resources or human capital to push them forward.
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Students forced to complete a long sequence of remedial or English language classes before they can begin their postsecondary program rarely earn college certificates or degrees. This brief highlights six promising programs that show how career pathway bridges help lower-skilled students move farther and faster along college and career paths through dual enrollment in linked basic skills and occupational certificate courses. Because creating such bridges requires collaboration across college silos, they can also transform the way colleges operate.
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The roughly 3 million Americans who graduated from high school last spring have had to grapple with a big decision: whether to continue with their educations this fall. In today's economic climate, a growing number of families are questioning the value of higher education. Will an investment in college pay off? Or will it simply be a high-cost ticket to the ranks of the unemployed? We've just completed a study that draws on a variety of data to help answer those questions, and our research suggests that college is not only worth it; it's probably going to be the best investment a person makes in a lifetime.
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At least 8 million of the jobs available to college graduates in 2018 will be in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professions. Even though nearly all sectors where job growth is occurring require a variety of STEM skills, efforts to build a STEM-skilled workforce currently fall short, according to a new issue brief by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. The issue brief, Using Community Colleges to Build a STEM-Skilled Workforce, recognizes community colleges as uniquely positioned to grow the pipeline of STEM professionals and produce more STEM-skilled workers.
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Eudosio Becerra says it’s nearly impossible for him to converse in his native tongue. Only about 50 people still speak Uitoto, out of the 600 members of the indigenous Uitoto tribe in the southern Colombian jungle. The rest communicate in Spanish which they view as more modern and useful. Nearly half of Colombia's 68 indigenous languages are in danger of disappearing altogether.
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This YaleGlobal series examines the challenges awaiting political leaders seeking solutions to a global problem that requires tough decisions on new energy policies, investments and consumption. In the first of two articles, Yvo De Boer, former executive secretary for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and global advisor on the issue, describes distrust among nations that led to the failure of the Copenhagen summit. In a highly interconnected world with discussions stretching over decades, small adjustments in energy policies or carbon emissions create winners and losers. Maneuvering for competitive advantage is so intense that setting agendas for talks has evolved into a long process; developed countries refuse to accept terms approved by previous conventions, and developing nations hedge on monitoring, reporting and verification.
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In a paper for the annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, Eswar Prasad discusses global financial integration and the evolving roles of emerging and advanced markets in the global financial crisis. Prasad proposes a mechanism for global liquidity insurance that would force a quicker adjustment of global imbalances.
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The InnoMobility Conference—October 18-19 in Greenville, SC—connects companies and people to spur opportunity around the latest systems of mobility technologies. The conference offers four tracks: connectivity and information technologies; innovative vehicle design and manufacturing; sustainable materials and energy; and transportation infrastructure such as roads, fueling stations, or smart grids. Opportunities exist for short presentations of research and business potential. Keynoting companies include IBM, Cisco, BMW, and Michelin. The conference has so many parts to ensure maximum impact and follow-up progress after the conference. Please check the InnoMobility website for more information.
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The September issue of Scientific American “celebrates the city as a solution to the problems of our age.” In all, 13 articles cover topics ranging from the efficiencies of larger cities to cities as engines of innovation.
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As the federal government continues to spin its wheels and state governments keep struggling with lean budgets, cities are starting to experiment with ideas about how to create local, self-sustaining economies. That starts with local purchasing, keeping as many dollars in the community as possible. Every dollar spent at a local business recirculates in the community several times before it leaves. Every dollar spent at a national chain leaves overnight.
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A new study shows how the decisions made today by goods producers and policymakers will shape U.S. competitiveness tomorrow.
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Steve Jobs gave one of the best commencement speeches of all time at the Stanford graduation ceremony in 2005. It continues to be quoted, revered, and even plagiarized to this day. Follow the contact below for the inspirational video, or read the full text of the speech.
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If we were starting over, how would we design local (sub-state) government today? Here’s the state of play. Counties together employ as many people as the federal government—about two million. Counties range in size from 87,860 square miles down to 26, and in population from 9.8 million down to 45. Delaware and Hawaii each get by with three counties; Texas somehow needs 254. Connecticut and Rhode Island get along without them entirely. Seventy percent of all counties have fewer than 50,000 residents. But if Walmart can manage 8,500 stores in 15 countries and its real-time global supply chain, all from Bentonville, Arkansas, why do we need separate administrative units for the more than 2,100 counties with fewer than 50,000 residents?
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The United States and the American South face a skills gap. A 2011 Manpower survey found the number of employers struggling to fill positions is at an all-time survey high despite a relatively stagnant unemployment rate. The survey documented that 52 percent of U.S. employers are experiencing difficulty filling mission-critical positions within their organizations, up from 14 percent in 2010. Middle-skill jobs, which require more than a high school diploma but not a four-year degree, featured prominently among the top ten “hardest to fill” jobs of 2011, with skilled trades topping the list.
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As state and federal funding for higher education dwindles and the workforce needs of the new economy continue to shift, state and university officials are reevaluating how higher education is funded, its return on investment for the state, and how universities can better drive economic growth. Recent examples in New York, Ohio and Texas demonstrate how states are implementing new policies to adapt to the changing times.
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In just one decade, virtual learning has exploded, with two massive statewide full-time virtual schools in Florida and North Carolina, and more on the way. But just as online learning is taking off, new research is finding that it may not be the most effective way to teach children, and virtual companies have begun to see that a purely virtual approach has its limits. A key report put out by the U.S. Department of Education in September 2010 demonstrated that a blend of face-to-face instruction and online learning produced the greatest academic gains. Now, not only are traditional schools looking for more online options, but virtual schools in turn are adding bits of brick and mortar to their offerings.
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President Obama today announced that the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Navy will invest up to $510 million during the next three years in partnership with the private sector to produce advanced drop-in aviation and marine biofuels to power military and commercial transportation. The initiative responds to a directive from President Obama issued in March as part of his Blueprint for A Secure Energy Future, the Administration’s framework for reducing dependence on foreign oil. The biofuels initiative is being steered by the White House Biofuels Interagency Work Group and Rural Council, both of which are enabling greater cross-agency collaboration to strengthen rural America.
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After a relatively subdued start to the year, venture capital investments roared back during the second quarter of 2011. Venture capitalists poured $7.5 billion into 966 deals, according to the MoneyTree report prepared by Pricewaterhouse-Coopers and the National Venture Capital Association using data from Thomson Reuters. Both numbers were significant premiums over the first quarter, when $5.9 billion went into 736 deals—the lowest total in six quarters. If the rest of the year keeps pace with the new numbers, "2011 is on track to exceed $26 billion," said Tracy Lefteroff, who heads the global venture capital practice for PricewaterhouseCoopers. That would be one of the most active years in the history of venture capital, he added.
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In thinking about alternative models for startup acceleration or incubation, I can’t help but ask the question, “What if the incubator owned 80% instead of 20% and the people working on the startup owned 20% instead of 80%? How could that work? And does it make sense?” In some cases it might.
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Around the globe, national leaders show no clue, no confidence, about how to re-engineer job creation or global economic security, contends economist David Dapice. The US has many resources for resolving its large debt, but bickering and stubborn quests for power prevent speedy resolution. Europe’s resistance to enact long-term policies on unequal accrual of debt among its member states and grudging rescue do little to inspire confidence. Debt has weakened once strong economies, leaving them highly vulnerable in the event of unavoidable disasters, as is the case with Japan and its debt/GDP ratio of 200 percent. Emerging economies, so dependent on exports to wealthy nations and natural-resource extraction, offer limited hope. Around the world, the young confront a bleak future with limited job prospects, huge imbalances of all sorts and institutions under strain. National leaders resist efforts to pursue the common good and seek instead the pettiest of political victories.
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As President Obama wraps up his bus motorcade today in Western Illinois, he’ll find himself in proximity to one of the few bright spots of a recovery so halting it still feels like a recession: exporters. Exports have been a quiet hero during the last few years. While comprising only 13 percent of the economy, the export sector contributed 44 percent to the growth of the economy last year. Two-thirds of U.S. exports in 2010 came from the manufacturing sector, with transportation equipment maintaining its dominance among U.S. exporting industries.
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Wenzhou-based Topsun Group makes diesel generators and runs hotels in China. Chairman Wang Chonghuan is a typical entrepreneur—hard-working, hands-on, ready to pounce on any opportunity, accustomed to bouncing back from difficulties. Yet he doesn’t sound very optimistic when he talks about the credit situation that China’s small business sector faces today. “I have been doing business for 30 years, and I have never seen such high interest rates,” says Wang. “Borrowing any money almost amounts to committing suicide.” Small and medium-sized companies in Wenzhou are getting hit hard by the credit crunch, which the central authorities have imposed on companies to stem speculative investments and slow inflation.
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According to data released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in its annual KIDS COUNT® Data Book, over the last decade there has been a significant decline in economic well-being for low income children and families. The official child poverty rate, which is a conservative measure of economic hardship, increased 18 percent between 2000 and 2009, essentially returning to the same level as the early 1990s. This increase means that 2.4 million more children are living below the federal poverty line. Data also reveals the impact of the job and foreclosure crisis on children. In 2010, 11 percent of children had at least one unemployed parent and 4 percent have been affected by foreclosure since 2007. The data book includes state-by-state as well as national data.
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At the end of 2007, more than 1.2 million properties in the United States were in some stage of the foreclosure process. To address the foreclosure crisis, Congress authorized the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) in 2008 for the purchase and redevelopment of foreclosed properties to prevent neighborhoods with high concentrations of such properties from falling into decline. This article describes the different strategies that a sample of 98 NSP recipients from across the nation implemented to allocate their funds.
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This report presents findings from an International City/County Management Association (ICMA) survey that was sent to over 8,000 local governments across the nation. The survey asked questions regarding sustainability initiatives that have been undertaken by local governments. In brief, the survey found that a large majority of the localities responding to the survey were at an “early stage” of adopting sustainability initiatives. While over 80% of localities reported initiatives in the area of recycling, transportation, and building energy use, adoption rates were much lower for other sustainability initiatives such as alternative energy generation and workplace alternatives. In addition to the survey results, the report presents case studies of eight local governments across the nation that are considered leaders in sustainability initiatives.
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At a time when educational attainment beyond high school is increasingly viewed as a necessary step toward employment, more than one million youth age 16 to 19 are not enrolled in school and do not have a high school diploma, according to a new issue brief by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. State Policies to Reengage Dropouts identifies four policy recommendations to facilitate the reengagement of out-of-school youth: 1) Set a goal to reduce the dropout rate; 2) Use data to identify dropouts and target recovery strategies; 3) Provide flexible, high-quality school options for recovered dropouts; and 4) Consider incentives to focus on dropout recovery if resources exist.
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College and career readiness continues to increase among ACT-tested U.S. high school graduates, according to ACT’s yearly report, The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2011. The findings also suggest, however, that much improvement is still needed to ensure that all students are ready for success when they graduate from high school. Twenty-five percent of graduates in the class of 2011 who took the ACT exam met or surpassed all four of the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks, suggesting they are ready to succeed academically in specific first-year college courses (English composition, college algebra, introductory social science and biology) without the need for remediation. This compares to 24 percent last year, marking the third consecutive year that overall college and career readiness has increased.
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States are bracing for plummeting high school graduation rates as districts nationwide dump flawed measurement formulas that often undercounted dropouts and produced inflated results. Liz Utrup, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Education Department, said graduation rate numbers will soon appear to decrease "across the board" as states move to a uniform calculation that requires them to track each student individually, giving a more accurate count of how many actually finish high school.
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While start-ups in Silicon Valley, Boston and New York receive the bulk of venture capital, and the most media attention, the money is actually spread around the country further than you might think. Using data from Dow Jones VentureSource and software from Tableau, we dumped onto a U.S. map the nearly 1,500 venture-capital funding deals—worth more than $14 billion—that took place in the first six months of the year.
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How do cities successfully engineer conditions to attract high-potential small companies that will create new jobs in the future? Two California cities that have gone to extraordinary lengths to make their climates business friendly are Irvine in the south, with about 212,000 residents, and San Jose in the north, with a population around 946,000.
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As governments around the world are scaling back support for renewable energy, venture capitalists are shifting their clean technology investment strategy. They're focusing less on high-risk technologies and more on ideas that could have a faster payoff but a smaller impact, such as technologies for improving energy efficiency. The shift is raising concerns about how innovative energy technologies will be commercialized.
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On the face of it, there's not much to link the London riots and the latest gyrations in global markets. The wave of violence and looting that has spread across the U.K. over the past few days has been mass criminality not a protest movement. And the global stock market rout was triggered by concerns over the euro zone, U.S. government debt and the global recovery rather than anything specific to the U.K. Even so, there's a link between the two phenomena—and it is an unsettling one. Both reflect the challenges of globalization. The creation of a rules-based multi-lateral trading system has been one of the greatest triumphs of the past 65 years. But the crash and the riots are evidence of the pressure this system is coming under from above and below.
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Federal Reserve officials, including Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley, are touting a bright spot in the economic data: rising global demand for U.S. products. Both cited the increase in exports as one reason they are forecasting a rebound in the second half of the year.
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This joint OECD-WTO publication provides a comprehensive analysis of trends and developments in aid that aims to help developing countries integrate into the global economy and benefit from trade opportunities. Over 260 case stories and 140 self-assessments by partner countries, bilateral and multilateral donor agencies, providers of South-South co-operation, and regional economic communities provide the basis for this analysis, coupled with OECD aid data and findings from evaluations and econometric studies.
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With the evolving alignment of regional planning to sustainable communities, the relationship of community development and regional strategies is a focus of renewed attention. Questions abound. How do state community development agencies frame new planning models and how do MPOs support neighborhood-based revitalization? Who are the key partners and how is funding leveraged to benefit urban, suburban, and rural communities? View this webcast for a snapshot of the evolving regional landscape and best practice models that are being employed at the state, regional, and local levels.
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A new issue of Cityscape features a symposium that examines rental housing policy in the United States from a variety of forward-looking perspectives. Collectively, guest editors Vicki Been and Ingrid Gould Ellen note, the articles attest to why rental housing is important and why a strong rental housing market is vital to the economy.
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In little more than a generation, obesity has become an epidemic. Today, one in three adults is obese, more than double the ratio in 1980. Over that same period, the percentage of obese children has tripled. The problem is particularly acute in low-income communities of color. Many factors contribute to Americans’ expanding waistlines, but a growing body of research indicates that one key component is the scarcity of healthy food in low-income communities. PolicyLink has released a new report, Healthy Food, Healthy Communities: Promising Strategies to Improve Access to Fresh, Healthy Food and Transform Communities, taking a closer look at the impact of this access gap and ongoing strategies to develop new grocery stores, and help existing grocers, farmers' markets, bodegas, corner stores and other local food retailers expand their healthy food choices.
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Despite the push for more diversity on college campuses, low-income students are still underrepresented in higher education. Learn about how the landscape has changed for low-income students and what policies could help improve access, and hear about innovative programs that are successfully walking students through the transition from high school to college. Sponsored by Education Week, this free webinar will take place August 17 from 2:00 – 3:00 pm EDT. The webinar will also be available “on demand” starting 24 hours after the event.
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As of April 2011, there were 13.2 million unemployed workers and 2.9 million unfilled job openings. In other words, April’s bulky 8.7% unemployment rate could have been lowered one percentage point (to 7.7%) if just half of the advertised job vacancies were filled by unemployed workers. Obviously, it is not realistic for every position to be filled immediately—it takes time for employers to find the right workers, and vice versa. But the odd pairing of high unemployment and high job vacancies illustrates a structural employment issue, which may have worsened in recent years.
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The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) has released a report outlining specific recommendations to improve public education in rural communities in the South. The recommendations in Transforming the Rural South: A Roadmap to Improving Rural Education are based on research, best practices, and voices from rural communities across Tennessee and throughout the Southeast. The report follows the Southeast Regional Rural Education Summit, which was held in Nashville on July 19-20, 2011 and included Southern Growth’s Executive Director, Ted Abernathy, as a speaker.
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Venture for America will recruit the best and brightest college grads to work for two years at start-ups and early stage companies in lower-cost cities (e.g., Detroit, Providence, New Orleans). The first class of Venture Fellows will be selected in Spring 2012, and the first Venture Fellow Summer Institute will be held at Brown University in June 2012. The Venture for America Fellowship consists of the following components: training at the Venture Fellow Summer Institute held at Brown University, two years of work at a start-up or early stage company, and programming/capstone project, including a $100k prize at the conclusion of the program.
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Governor Mary Fallin announced the appointment of 18 people to the Governor’s Science and Technology Council, a council that has been reinstated by the governor, and will be headed by Secretary of Science and Technology, Dr. Stephen McKeever. The council has been reinstated by executive order for the purpose of identifying opportunities for the growth of science and technology industries in the state of Oklahoma.
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Yes, the economic news is grim this week. Stocks plunged on Thursday amid heightened fears that the United States may be headed toward a double-dip recession. Today's monthly jobs report, though better than expected, is unlikely to ease those concerns. Earlier in the week, a key index reported that manufacturers recorded their weakest growth in two years in July. But is there a bright spot in the manufacturing numbers? While the growth slowed significantly, the trend is still up: output increased a small amount, and the sector has been expanding slowly but steadily for 24 consecutive months.
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The Brookings Institution and the Financial Times have released an update to the "Burden of Public Debt Around the World" interactive feature, which reflects the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and issues surrounding the U.S. debt ceiling debate. Brookings Senior Fellow Eswar Prasad and his colleague Mengjie Ding illustrate how the ongoing debt burden in advanced economies is now a global threat. The interactive feature at FT.com illustrates the vast difference in public debt held by advanced markets and emerging markets.
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This joint OECD-WTO publication provides a comprehensive analysis of trends and developments in aid that aims to help developing countries integrate into the global economy and benefit from trade opportunities. Over 260 case stories and 140 self-assessments by partner countries, bilateral and multilateral donor agencies, providers of South-South co-operation, and regional economic communities provide the basis for this analysis, coupled with OECD aid data and findings from evaluations and econometric studies.
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Can the outsourcing boom go on indefinitely? And is the practice as useful as its advocates claim, or is the popular suspicion that it leads to cut corners and dismal service correct? There are signs that outsourcing often goes wrong, and that companies are rethinking their approach to it.
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The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s Kennedy School has launched a new website on Social Innovation. The site is described as a resource for those who seek to drive social innovation and citizen engagement in their cities and municipalities. The site will provide a practical platform for sharing the stories and lessons of exciting innovators from the private sector (nonprofit and for-profit), philanthropic and public sectors.
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Some demographers claim that “white flight” from the city is declining, replaced by a “bright flight” to the urban core from the suburbs. “Suburbs lose young whites to cities,” crowed one Associated Press headline last year. Yet evidence from the last Census show the opposite: a marked acceleration of movement not into cities but toward suburban and exurban locations. The simple, usually inexorable effects of maturation may be one reason for this surprising result. Simply put, when 20-somethings get older, they do things like marry, start businesses, settle down and maybe start having kids.
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We find that there’s a new “metro map” of the nation that unites places not by their age or geographic proximity, but by their demographic similarities. These associations relate to three of the key dimensions of demographic transformation in metro areas—population growth, racial and ethnic change, and educational attainment. Through the lens of these metro areas, we identify seven distinct new demographic regions of the United States. The new “Metro Map” of the United States forces us to think outside the conventional regional boxes that have informed our collective narrative for generations.
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Expanding the school day or year is one strategy educators are employing to try to narrow the achievement gap. How schools use that time, experts say, should be tailored to meet the needs of individual schools. At the same time, though, there are proven policies and practices schools need to adopt to reach their goals. Education Week is sponsoring a free webinar on August 10 at 1:30 pm ET that explores what educators should consider when implementing an expanded learning time model. The webinar will also be available “on demand” any time 24 hours after the event.
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Young people who only have high school diplomas have a much darker view of their economic future than those with college degrees, according to the latest in a series of Public Agenda surveys probing attitudes on college completion and higher education. Yet those who have only a high school education are also more doubtful about the value of college, and are particularly wary of going into debt to do it. And many don't know the basics about the application process.
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For most of the past century, a good job was a ticket to the middle class. Hitched to the locomotive of rapid economic growth, the wages of the typical worker seemed to go in only one direction: up. From 1950 to 1970, the average earnings of male workers increased by about 25 percent each decade. And these gains were not concentrated among some lucky few. Rather, earnings rose for most workers, and almost every prime-aged male (ages 25-64) worked. Over the past 40 years, a period in which U.S. GDP per capita more than doubled after adjusting for inflation, the annual earnings of the median prime-aged male have actually fallen by 28 percent.
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The annual BIO International Convention is always a big draw for governors keen on promoting their states as a prime spot for biotech investment. That number surged to 11 for the 2011 convention held in Washington, D.C. BIO officials say the list included: Florida's Rick Scott, Pat Quinn of Illinois, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Steve Beshear of Kentucky, Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Martin O'Malley of Maryland, Beverly Perdue of North Carolina, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, Dennis DuGaard of South Dakota, Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Scott Walker of Wisconsin.
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It’s a safe assumption that, without angel investors, many tech startups wouldn’t have happened. Sure, Peter Thiel was a sidenote of a character in “The Social Network,” but his real life contribution was much more significant, no? And yet, it would seem, that the very same group of venture capitalists who made social media happen have been among the most reluctant to embrace it for themselves. As an item in GigaOm points out, just now a VC-focused start-up social network site has started to gain traction among these investors.
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The Governor has worked closely with the whole cabinet to draft the Colorado Blueprint—a document that outlines the steps that will be taken by the Hickenlooper Administration over the next few years to support and promote economic development across Colorado. We’ve heard about your priorities and needs and believe we have captured your concerns and identified meaningful work plans to keep Colorado moving forward. The action items included have emerged from the "bottom-up" process as appropriate and feasible ways for the state to assist in economic development on a local and regional level.
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Expanding our state’s economy requires us to seek new markets for products made and sold by Arkansas companies. We can strengthen our businesses at home by exporting Arkansas goods and services to countries with rapidly growing economies. With this in mind, I delivered the keynote address at the first Arkansas-China Business and Economic Summit, recently held at the University of Central Arkansas.
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European leaders moved to stem financial crisis by approving a $145 billion rescue plan for Greece. Although the Greek economy is small, possible spillover effects from the country's ongoing crisis have heightened its importance. With Greece in mind, Kemal Derviº argues that economic interdependence has become much more complex and urges preemptive measures to uncover financial risks.
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As some of the biggest names in Indian cinema gather in Toronto this week, the Indian International Film Academy (IIFA) hopes its annual awards ceremony will help boost its presence in the North American market.
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This article explores new evidence from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) on the extent to which “house lock”—the reluctance of households to sell their homes in a declining house price environment—has contributed to the elevated unemployment rate since 2008.
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As fuel costs soar again, as cities clean up their acts, and as corporations trip over themselves to be seen as great places for young, highly-educated professionals to work, urban locations have become more attractive. This urban renaissance raises broader questions: Does location matter? What factors should a company consider when thinking about moving?
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Hispanic families accounted for the largest single decline in wealth of any ethnic and racial group in the country during the recession, according to a study published Tuesday by the Pew Foundation. The study, which used data collected by the Census Bureau, found that the median wealth of Hispanic households fell by 66 percent from 2005 to 2009. By contrast, the median wealth of whites fell by just 16 percent over the same period. African Americans saw their wealth drop by 53 percent.
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A report being released by Harvard University on August 17, 2011 compares U.S. proficiency in math and reading with that of other industrialized nations and considers the implications for long term economic growth. One of the authors of the report will present a summary of the findings and respond to questions during a free webinar offered from 11:00—12:00 ET that day. Find out more about the report and register for the webinar.
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States, districts and schools around the country are developing and implementing innovative and cost-effective ways to expand learning time for students in an effort to boost students’ academic achievement and provide a well-rounded education, according to the most comprehensive study of time and learning policies ever conducted. Released jointly by the National Center on Time & Learning and the Education Commission of the States, the study, Learning Time in America: Trends to Reform the American School Calendar, outlines that while some states and local school districts have reduced learning time in response to severe budget pressures—typically by reducing the number of days in the school year—others have prioritized expanding learning time to better prepare students for success in high school, college and the workforce.
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Nearly one million kids who start high school every year don't make it to graduation. At a time when federal and state budgets are tight, dropouts costs taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue, health care, welfare and incarceration costs. To listen to the first in this five-part series on the dropout crisis, view a transcript of the program, and access other programs in the series, visit the webpage.
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Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to meeting many of humanity's most pressing challenges, both present and future. To address the critical issues of U.S. competitiveness and to better prepare the workforce, Framework for K-12 Science Education proposes a new approach to K-12 science education that will capture students' interest and provide them with the necessary foundational knowledge in the field.
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The Atlantic Century II updates ITIF’s 2009 report on the United States’ innovation-based competitiveness compared with a diverse group of countries. Using 16 key indicators, such as scientists and engineers, corporate and government R&D, venture capital, productivity and trade performance, the 2011 report finds that America has made little or no progress since 1999. Of the 44 countries and regions surveyed, the United States still ranks fourth behind Singapore, Finland and Sweden. But this is down from the number one position in 2000. Of greater concern, however, is the fact that the U.S. continues to rank at the bottom—second only to Italy—on progress in improving its innovation capacity and competitiveness over the last decade.
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Every year over 700 manufacturers, industry experts and MEP field staff join together to learn and connect, bringing the experience back to their organizations and continuing to build a strong & competitive U.S. manufacturing base. The event truly brings the “voice of manufacturing” and “voice of government” to an open, educational and sharing environment that makes a measurable impact on U.S. manufacturing.
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China’s twelfth five-year economic plan marks a shift in emphasis from high growth to the quality, balance and sustainability of that growth—socially, economically and environmentally. Eswar Prasad presented his views on the plan and the challenges that China could face in reforming its economic strategy.
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According to the latest Global Innovation Index, Switzerland tops a list of 125 economies around the world as the most innovative—up three spots from last year’s rankings. The study is conducted by INSEAD, one of the world’s most well-known business schools, and evaluates economies based on their scientific and creative innovation outputs, as well as innovation inputs in five categories: institutions; human capital and research; infrastructure; market sophistication; and, business sophistication. The US finished in 7th overall—11th in innovation inputs and 5th in outputs.
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The French have long been critical of globalizing forces that disrupt their nation’s economy or threaten their identity. Calls for démondialisation, or deglobalization, has emerged as a leading issue in the French presidential campaign. Intense opposition to engagement with the world builds among the left and right, along with alarm about the global debt crisis, structural youth unemployment and a disturbing rise in inequality. Policy changes—including France distancing itself from European Union politics, as foreshadowed by its 2005 rejection of the European Constitutional Treaty—could be in store, explains journalist Pierre Haski.
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Some suburbs will be successful smaller towns, while others will become ruins, predicts James Howard Kunstler. Unlike other urbanists though, Kunstler thinks big cities are in trouble when cheap energy disappears.
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The sluggish recovery from the Great Recession has been better for men than for women. From the end of the recession in June 2009 through May 2011, men gained 768,000 jobs and lowered their unemployment rate by 1.1 percentage points to 9.5%. Women, by contrast, lost 218,000 jobs during the same period, and their unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 8.5%, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. These post-recession employment trends are a sharp turnabout from the gender patterns that prevailed during the recession itself, when men lost more than twice as many jobs as women.
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What cities are best positioned to grow and prosper in the coming decade? What is clear is that well-established patterns of job creation and vital demographics will drive future regional growth, not only in the next year, but over the coming decade. People create economies and they tend to vote with their feet when they choose to locate their families as well as their businesses. This will prove more decisive in shaping future growth than the hip imagery and big city-oriented PR flackery that dominate media coverage of America’s changing regions.
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The combination of the Great Recession, rising gas prices, and growing environmental concerns have caused many people to rethink how they commute. After housing, transportation is the biggest item in a typical family's budget, accounting for an average of 20 percent. The sheer fact of car ownership can make the difference between who spends and who saves, and even which homes go into foreclosure.
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States have made notable progress collecting longitudinal information that follows individual students over time. Access to such student data has prompted state and school district officials across the country to develop “early warning indicator systems” to efficiently identify students who are at risk of dropping out and provide targeted supports to get them back on track and graduate. The following summaries highlight the statewide early warning indicator systems in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Alabama and the Philadelphia Public Schools district-wide system.
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There are many reasons U.S. companies give for their lack of robust hiring—from weak consumer spending to uncertainty over the direction of government policies on debt and spending. But a closer look at hiring provides a more nuanced picture. Some industries have significantly boosted employment over the past year while others continue to shed workers. To be sure, even those adding jobs are hiring far fewer than would be needed to put America's 14.1 million unemployed back to work.
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Georgia officials are hoping to lessen the state’s shortage of math and science teachers by sweetening the pot for those just starting their careers. By the end of the month, 3,100 of the state’s newest math and science teachers will receive from $1,461 to $6,577 through an incentive plan put into law in 2009 and funded for the first time this year.
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The Commercialization of Micro-nano Systems (COMS) Conference will be held August 28-31 in Greensboro, NC. COMS brings together global leaders in every sector of the industry for creating partnerships in an open interactive setting. The goal is to accelerate commercialization activity among established and emerging micro and nano businesses. It is a hands-on, practical meeting to bring products to market. Topic sessions include technology transfer, manufacturing processes, facilities, infrastructure, investment, applications, markets, regulatory issues, and workforce development.
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The 62-foot-tall Minotaur 1 rocket that stands on the launch pad on Wallops Island, off the Eastern Shore of Virginia, encapsulates much about the near future of space flight in the United States. It is a future where the federal government is a major player—and a paying customer—but many of the day-to-day duties are left to private companies and state agencies.
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A major success in a poverty-reduction goal for the new millennium—halving the proportion of people whose income is less than $1.25 per day—largely went unnoticed. By combining the recent country survey data of household consumption with latest figures on private consumption growth, Brookings Institution researchers Laurence Chandy and Geoffrey Gertz generated poverty estimates to the present day. They conclude that the world—even stubborn Sub-Saharan Africa—is in the midst of rapid poverty reduction; they credit economic growth and widespread development brought by globalization. Poverty reduction was one part of a key UN Millennium Goal, and global observers may sit up and take notice after two other key parts are achieved: full and productive employment for all and halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
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Wind farms in China and small-scale solar panels on rooftops in Europe were largely responsible for last year's 32% rise in green energy investments worldwide according to the latest annual report on renewable energy investment trends issued by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Last year, investors pumped a record US$211 billion into renewables—about one-third more than the US$160 billion invested in 2009, and a 540% rise since 2004. For the first time, developing economies overtook developed ones in terms of "financial new investment"—spending on utility-scale renewable energy projects and provision of equity capital for renewable energy companies.
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Would-be entrepreneurs need cash to launch new businesses, but countries are far from equal when it comes to funding young, innovative and growth-oriented companies, according to a new OECD report. Venture capitalists in Israel allocate more financing to young companies than any other country in the OECD, with the equivalent of 0.18% of GDP dedicated to seed, start-up and early development capital. The United States, Sweden and Finland are among the other leading providers of venture capital, and are not surprisingly also among the most entrepreneurial nations.
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It's been fascinating to see how quickly the once great divide between our cities and suburbs has been shrinking, says Richard Florida in a new article in The Atlantic. The most desirable neighborhoods look increasingly similar, no matter where they are. The best urban neighborhoods are safe and have good schools; they are becoming strollervilles and toddler-towns, filled with families as well as singles. The best suburban neighborhoods have great commercial districts with restaurants, movie theaters, and all manner of amenities. As many of our cities and older inner-ring suburbs are being renovated and revitalized, the great challenge of our time—far bigger than urban renewal was in decades past—is to remake our many shoddily-built, far-off exurbs into denser, more connected, more livable communities.
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The United States is undergoing a critical demographic transition: The population is aging. By 2040, the proportion of people over the age of 65 will top 20 percent, and people under the age of 18 will make up almost 23 percent of the population. As a result, the oldest and the youngest populations combined will make up almost half of all U.S. residents. As planners work to plan and design sustainable and livable communities they will need to simultaneously consider the needs of these similar, yet different, populations in future plans, policies, and projects.
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The survey data presented in this brief indicate that the pronounced economic disadvantage of chronically poor communities is accompanied by civic disadvantage. Compared to other rural Americans, fewer chronically poor residents offer a positive assessment of neighborly trust and cooperativeness and belong to local community organizations. Nevertheless, large majorities of residents across all types of rural communities are highly positive in their attitudes toward neighbors and their local community. This positive sentiment is an important civic resource as it can facilitate residents’ readiness to work together to improve their community.
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Older Americans have been particularly hard hit by the current economic downturn, with their unemployment rate reaching the highest level in 30 years. Adding to the problem, many safety net program budgets have been cut severely. To serve more low-income older adults with fewer resources, government programs and private-sector organizations are collaborating, including the federal Senior Community Service Employment Program, area agencies on aging, the workforce development system, community action agencies, and postsecondary educational institutions. The Urban Institute convened a panel of experts on June 29th in Washington, D.C. to discuss these issues. View a video webcast of the event.
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A new initiative from The College Board seeks to identify existing—and needed—research around the Educational Experience of Young Men of Color, to understand the issues behind the data, and to provide an overview of the legal landscape within which solutions must be developed. The College Board has conducted an extensive data and literature review to determine what is known to date on the situation facing young men of color, and in partnership with the Business Innovation Factory, has engaged these young men directly to understand how they view their experiences, and to add their voice to the discussion of how to better meet their needs.
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At a time when cuts in K-12 funding are going straight to classrooms, as Stateline has reported, business groups are moving beyond their traditional role of broadly supporting education to take a more active role in creating school policy. While critics argue that funding cuts will make it impossible for struggling school districts to even maintain the status quo—let alone improve the their students’ test scores and college preparedness—the standard language on state chamber of commerce websites about “investing in education” is being replaced by “accountability,” “data,” “choice,” “vouchers” and “assessment.”
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The Government is to invest €10 million in two new technology centres designed to turn research and development ideas into jobs. Plans for the industry-led centres, which will concentrate on manufacturing research and energy efficiency, were announced yesterday by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton.
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We are seeing an alarming trend. The wrong people are making millions on innovation—teaching innovation that is. It isn't sour grapes on our part. We don't teach innovation. It's just frustration. No one disputes the irony: Professors, who have chosen a safe, pragmatic, low-risk occupation and tenured career, are teaching companies how to innovate, a skill that almost always rewards the best risk takers.
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At a celebration event today, Governor Bob McDonnell ceremonially presented a check representing $5 million in state appropriations for fiscal year 2012 to Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center. The funding was approved by the General Assembly this winter when the body accepted the governor’s budget amendment to provide the additional resources for the center. The $5 million allocation will help Massey to expand and strengthen its research as it works toward achieving National Cancer Institute (NCI) Comprehensive status, the highest level of distinction for a cancer center. Comprehensive status would make Massey the only facility in Virginia with such a designation, and one of only 40 nationally.
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According to The Times CEO Summit here in London, Britain is mid-table in the world growth league, but committed to a new rigorous economic agenda. Now that the painful job of drastic budget cuts is underway and an often angry public has aired its grievances, Prime Minister David Cameron appears to be intently focused on new firm formation, the know-how economy, the next digital revolution and private input into "innovating down" health costs. He is determined to protect his AAA Standard & Poors evaluation and keep his economy from heading in the direction of others like Greece.
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Recently the International Monetary Fund confirmed what the average Chinese has long anticipated: China will soon have the world’s largest economy, surpassing the United States. There may be quibbles about measuring sticks and low per capita GDP, so timing is imprecise. But the trend is clear. In terms of gross domestic product, China will become number one in this decade or the next and the United States will become number two. Yet rankings do not automatically confer power and influence. More important is how a major country chooses to use its power, for good or ill.
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In the wake of a natural disaster, aid often comes in the form of food, water and medical supplies. Several universities are offering Japan another form of assistance that will help in the effort to rebuild: supercomputing capacity.
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Today I am thinking about the concept of “happiness” as an objective of our nation, says Kaid Benfield in a commentary in The Atlantic. It is the only right mentioned not once but twice in that powerful opening to the founders’ declaration of “the causes which impelled them to the separation” of the colonies from the authority of the king of Great Britain. So the concept of happiness is embedded in our national DNA. But does “the pursuit” of this “inalienable Right” have meaning for public policy? For community? For the environment? For land use and planning?
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America is beginning to show its age as the baby boom generation advances toward full-fledged senior-hood. But the pace of this aging will vary widely across the national landscape due to noticeable geographic shifts in the younger population, with implications for health care, transportation, and housing, and possible impacts upon our ability to forge societal consensus.
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The Forum for Youth Investment and The RAND Corporation have released the results of the first comprehensive biennial survey of state child and youth policy coordinating bodies. Known in most states as Children’s Cabinets or Children's Councils, these coordinating bodies bring together the heads of different agencies such as education, health care, and juvenile justice to coordinate child and youth policy. Some Children's Cabinets focus on early childhood, pre-school through college and/or career (P-16 and P-20), or on higher education and workforce readiness, and some cover all areas, birth to adulthood.
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A new study by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce confirms that over the past 30 years, the demand for college-educated workers has outpaced supply, resulting in economic output below potential and growing income inequality. The current recession and grudging recovery, however, hides the fact that we are underproducing college graduates. Using an economic growth model pioneered by noted labor economists, the study finds that if we are to make up for lost ground in postsecondary attainment and respond to future economic requirements, we will need to add an additional 20 million postsecondary-educated workers to the economy by 2025.
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The loss of knowledge and educational skills during the summer months is cumulative over the course of a student's career and further widens the achievement gap between low- and upper-income students, according to a new RAND Corporation study. The study confirms that students who attend summer programs can disrupt the educational loss and do better in school than peers who do not attend the same programs.
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Three decades of mostly stagnant wages have made it difficult for many low-income parents to support their families—even parents who work full time and receive work supports, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), food stamps, and child care and transportation assistance. Because many families struggle financially despite available work supports, almost all states and localities have implemented programs or enacted policies that provide an additional supplement to individuals’ earnings. A new brief from MDRC presents findings, and lessons for policy and practice, from MDRC-conducted studies of five programs that provided earnings supplements.
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Starting a new business or need help taking your business to the next level? Use the SBA app to find Small Business Administration-affiliated advisers near you and get free, personal, one-on-one help with starting and growing your business. You can also use the app to calculate your starting costs so you know what it is going to take to get your business off the ground.
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A groundswell of policy papers has called for the creation of a national manufacturing strategy to bolster U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. These reports contain a number of thoughtful and innovative policy proposals to revitalize American manufacturing. In the interest of advancing this dialogue, ITIF takes this opportunity to consolidate all these reports in one single location for easy access by policymakers, executives, and the public at large.
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Governor Mary Fallin lent her presence as the state's chief executive officer in a big way to the OKBio Association's efforts to promote Oklahoma at the 2011 BIO International Convention under way here through Thursday. Fallin was a featured guest Tuesday night at an OKBio reception for invited guests at a Washington restaurant, then joined the group Wednesday morning at the state's exhibition booth.
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Is America losing its innovation edge? For decades, the country has debated this question in the halls of Washington, on the nightly news, and in corporate boardrooms. Pundits have looked abroad for signs—from the Soviets during the Cold War to the Japanese in the late 1980s to the Asian Tigers in the early 2000s—that the United States was losing its economic advantage. Pessimists point to startling statistics, such as the rise in the number of patents filed by foreign inventors or the growing corps of engineers graduating overseas.
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Europeneeds increased and "smarter" investments in both public and private research and development to address the European Union's (EU) "Innovation Emergency," according to the European Commission's 2011 Innovation Union Competitiveness Report.
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A year and a half after Google pulled its popular search engine out of mainland China, partly over concerns about censorship, its rival Microsoft has struck a deal with the biggest Chinese search engine, Baidu.com, to offer Web search services in English.
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Vancouver’s boringly consistent topping of the polls underlines the fundamental fault that lies at the heart of the idea of measuring cities by their “liveability.” The most recent surveys, from Monocle magazine, Forbes, Mercer and The Economist, concur: Vancouver, Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Copenhagen and Munich dominate the top. What, you might ask, no New York? No London? No LA or HK? None of the cities that people seem to actually want to emigrate to, to set up businesses in? To be in? None of the wealthiest, flashiest, fastest or most beautiful cities? Nope. Americans in particular seem to get wound up by the lack of US cities in the top tier. The one that does make it is Pittsburgh. Which winds them up even more.
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Due to the financial consequences from the Great Recession, many U.S. communities have been unable to make significant progress in preparing to meet the needs of the country’s rapidly aging population. The Maturing of America: Communities Moving Forward for an Aging Population, a follow-up to an extensive survey conducted in 2005, reveals that at best, communities have managed to maintain the status quo for the past six years due to the economy and decline in local government budgets.
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The economic downturn has propelled a striking demographic shift: black New Yorkers, including many who are young and college educated, are heading south. About 17 percent of the African-Americans who moved to the South from other states in the past decade came from New York, far more than from any other state, according to census data. The movement is not limited to New York. The percentage of blacks leaving big cities in the East and in the Midwest and heading to the South is now at the highest levels in decades, demographers say.
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Our vision of the future of education reform is simple: American schools won’t achieve their goal of “all students at proficiency” unless they attend to nonschool factors. Though the nation is now in partial denial about this, we project that this will change—not because of sudden prosperity and deep public-sector pockets, nor because of a broad shift in public sentiment that activates new moral commitments to the ideal of educating other people’s children, but as an outgrowth of the same hard-nosed, pragmatic, evidence-based orientation that for the moment is supporting the unlikely claim that schools can do it alone.
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In the brief, Portraits: Initial College Attendance of Low-Income Young Adults, experts at the Institute for Higher Education Policy suggest that poverty still matters a great deal in terms of the types of institutions at which young adults are initially enrolling. In particular, they find that low-income students—between ages 18 and 26 and whose total household income is near or below the federal poverty level—are likely to be overrepresented at for-profit institutions and are likely to be underrepresented at public and private nonprofit four-year institutions.
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Metro areas will be slow to regain their pre-recession employment levels—many of them into the next decade—according to forecasts in a report released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors at its annual meeting where the nation’s mayors discussed the tough economic challenges facing cities and their suburbs. Of the 363 metro areas in the report, 75 metro areas are expected to have double-digit unemployment rates by December 2011, and 48 are not expected to return to peak employment until after 2020.
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One climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Another started college in third grade. Another opened a business at age 9. And yet another scored 5580 on the SATs (on a total of 5 tests, but still). Now they're all getting two years of mentoring from a network of tech and entrepreneurial experts and $100,000 to start a business. The benefactor? PayPal founder, early Facebook investor, and Stanford's least favorite alumnus, Peter Thiel. Least favorite because Thiel has been making waves by arguing that college is an overhyped, overpriced bubble, and that the world needs better ways to recognize young talent. It's all been great fodder for debate, but little more.
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According to the National Science Foundation's biennial Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities, the amount of science and engineering (S&E) research space at research-performing colleges and universities expanded 4 percent between FY 2007 and FY 2009, from 188 million to 196 million net assignable square feet (NASF). This percentage increase is almost three times the amount of growth found between FY 2005 and FY 2007 and follows two consecutive survey cycles with slowing growth.
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Ray Capuana paces the rows of cubicles in a haggard high-rise a stone’s throw from Wall Street as his people hustle the phones and hope for a bonus check. His employees are not bond traders, though. They are call center workers. Many are African Americans without college degrees. Some lack high school diplomas. They work for a Mumbai-based company called Aegis Communications. India’s outsourcing giants—faced with rising wages at home—have looked for growth opportunities in the United States. But with Washington crimping visas for visiting Indian workers, some companies such as Aegis are slowly hiring workers in North America, where their largest corporate customers are based. In this evolution, outsourcing has come home.
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Despite public perception of immigrants as being poorly educated, the high-skilled U.S. immigrant population today outnumbers the low-skilled population. Audrey Singer and co-authors explain in a new report that U.S. global competitiveness rests on ensuring that these new arrivals and their children thrive economically and contribute to the nation’s productivity.
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A central assumption in Obama’s economic plan is that private-sector growth will translate into more jobs in this country. But that strategy could be less potent as decades of globalization have loosened the connection between the health of large U.S. firms and the economy, analysts say.
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The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2011-2020 says that a good harvest in the coming months should push commodity prices down from the extreme levels seen earlier this year. However, the Outlook states that over the coming decade real prices for cereals could average as much as 20 percent higher and those for meats as much as 30 percent higher, compared to 2001-10. These projections are well below the peak price levels experienced in 2007-08 and again this year.
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Michigan has 1,773 municipalities, 609 school districts, 1,071 fire departments and 608 police departments. Governor Rick Snyder wants some of them to disappear. The governor is taking steps to bring about the consolidation of municipal services, even whole municipalities, in order to cut budgets and eliminate redundant local bureaucracies. His blueprint, which relies on legal changes and financial incentives, calls for a “metropolitan model” of government that would combine resources across cities and their suburbs. “You do have to ask: ‘Boy, do we really need 1,800 units of government?’” says Mr. Snyder's budget director, John Nixon. Around the country public officials are asking themselves similar questions.
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If much of rural America is to prosper again, we must change the nature and focus of most of non-urban public investments, writes Karl Stauber, President and CEO of the Danville Regional Foundation, in a two-part series in the Daily Yonder. We must focus investments on creating a better future for all, rather than protecting the past for a few. But in arguing for a significant change in public investments in rural areas, he wants to make one thing clear—this is not an argument for subsidy of people simply because they prefer to live in rural areas. There are five reasons why urban people should want rural people and areas to succeed.
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The Afterschool Investments Project has released a report providing snapshots of the "state of afterschool" in every U.S. state and territory, which allows for comparisons of afterschool opportunities across the country. The profiles highlight key data and descriptions of the after-school landscape, and are searchable by state and territory, or by type of initiative, such as financing and professional development. Updated profiles can be found here. Users can also access key national school-age data through the National Afterschool Profile here.
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Where did all the workers go? The labor force—those who have a job or are looking for one—is getting smaller, even though the economy is growing and steadily adding jobs. That trend defies the rules of a normal economic recovery. Nobody is sure why it’s happening. Economists think some of the missing workers have retired, have entered college or are getting by on government disability checks. Others have probably just given up looking for work.
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The frenetic legislative season now finished or wrapping up in many states has brought big changes to education policy, some forged through bipartisan compromise, others only after hyperpartisan battles. Republican leaders who swept into office last fall—when the GOP won a majority of governorships and took control of both legislative chambers in 25 states—wasted no time pushing through ambitious and often controversial education agendas. Their hardest-fought victories include the passage of laws that curb teachers’ collective bargaining rights and tie educators’ tenure, advancement, and pay to their performance, including their ability to improve student test scores.
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In 2007, Michigan undertook a bold mission: to retrain tens of thousands of adults to qualify for jobs in emerging and expanding sectors of the economy. The state’s proposal to jobless, dislocated, and low-income residents was simple but appealing: enroll in up to two years of postsecondary education, and Michigan would cover up to $5,000 in tuition, fees, and books each year, along with related supports such as child care subsidies and transportation assistance. Michigan rolled out “No Worker Left Behind” in August 2007 and stuck with it in the face of budgetary crises and ongoing economic deterioration. The target population has responded in large numbers.
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Entrepreneurship is often thought of as an art, a skill you hone over time—but is there a science to it too? That’s what The Startup Genome Report, a new in-depth study, set out to discover. Based on information submitted by over 650 Internet startups, the report sets out clear stages of a startup’s development and identifies distinct types of companies. The project aims to make this data available widely in order to increase the success rate of startups and accelerate pace of innovation around the world.
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History has amply demonstrated that innovation in the public and private sectors is the most important key to long-term U.S. prosperity and economic competitiveness. Yet in the United States today, innovation is at risk of stalling just at a time when rising international competition is on the upswing and the U.S. economy is still reeling from a deep recession. Priorities for action start with turning three deficits—budget, investment/savings and trade—into surpluses. This will require action by the public sector—to provide tax credits for innovation and more forward-thinking trade policies, for example—and the private sector, including businesses, universities and private research firms that reward education and job skills
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Breakthroughs in genomics and other fields are converging to usher in a new era of personalized medicine. A deeper understanding of our genetic information at the individual level is enabling approaches to the detection, treatment, and prevention of disease that are more tailored to the needs of each patient.
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In the aftermath of the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami that struck the northeast coast of Japan, the Japanese public is resilient. Indeed, a majority believe that as a result of the disaster, Japan will become a stronger, rather than weaker nation. And while personal pessimism about the future has crept up slightly, on balance the public’s overall sense of personal well being appears little changed by the calamitous events of 2011.
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Shipping has been the key to prosperity and the very existence of many cities and nations since ancient times. It is difficult to think of any major metropolis that did not begin as a port. London originated as a Roman port, and ancient quays have been unearthed on the banks of the Thames River. From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, Venice was one of the wealthiest cities and empires in the world because it controlled trade in the Adriatic Sea with, among other things, the thousands of ships its Arsenale churned out. Until the advent of railroads, it was usually cheaper to ship something 5,000 miles than transport it 50 miles overland.
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The federal government has identified a huge demand for proficient speakers of foreign languages, but Congress substantially reduced funds to support the teaching of foreign languages to K-12 and college students in the budget deal struck for fiscal 2011.
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Effective progress monitoring in service-learning measures three things: 1) student learning, 2) service-learning’s impact on the community being served and 3) the project’s overall process. Most teachers are comfortable evaluating their students because this is an integral part of their daily routine, however, teachers (and students) are far less familiar with how to measure service-learning’s impact on the community or a project’s overall level of success. Consequently, these important progress-monitoring components often are overlooked.
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Part of EPA’s Local Government Climate and Energy Strategy Series, this new EPA publication presents development approaches that benefit the economy, the community, the environment, and public health. Smart growth principles described in the publication favor the strategic location of transit services, residences, and commercial development, which can reduce the transportation costs of low-income households and improve housing affordability.
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As Congress discusses reforms to U.S. housing finance policy, it is not clear that the United States should devote substantial resources toward subsidizing homeownership. Owning a home may not be beneficial for everyone and current policies to promote homeownership may leave families, financial institutions, and society at large more vulnerable to adverse economic conditions.
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As the 2011 graduation season arrives, many high school students are contemplating what pathway they will choose as they enter the next phase of their lives. The latest edition of Diplomas Count, titled BeyondHigh School, Before Baccalaureate: Meaningful Alternatives to a Four-Year Degree, explores how understanding the link between learning and a career becomes more critical than ever for high school students preparing to graduate.
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It seems like every politician has a different plan for putting people back to work. Some want to cut taxes, others want to offer huge incentives to companies. And with so many competing ideas, we—joined by the Planet Money team—couldn't help but wonder...how do you create a job? Is there a magic formula? A secret cure-all?
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Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education reviews and synthesizes relevant research from economics, psychology, education, and related fields about how incentives work in educational accountability systems. The book helps identify circumstances in which test-based incentives may have a positive or a negative impact on student learning and offers recommendations for how to improve current test-based accountability policies. The most important directions for further research are also highlighted.
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Place: Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park. What makes it special: If the venture capital industry needed a disguise, it found the perfect one in the drab, plain-vanilla office buildings that line Sand Hill Road. Who would suspect that some of the most influential players in technology reside in such uninspiring digs? And yet this is the most important financial district in the U.S. outside Wall Street. The area skews heavily toward males, whose preferred garb is slacks and a sports coat, with an emergency hoodie kept nearby in case there's a need to bond with a rising social media entrepreneur. Notable names: Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Benchmark Capital, Mohr Davidow, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Canaan Partners.
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One surprising characteristic unites the majority of America’s top high school science and math students—their parents are immigrants. While only 12 percent of the U.S. population is foreign-born, 70 percent of the finalists in the 2011 Intel Science Talent Search competition were the children of immigrants, according to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis. Just 12 of the 40 finalists at this year’s competition of the nation’s top high school science students had native-born parents. While former H-1B visa holders comprise less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, 60 percent of the finalists had parents who entered the U.S. on H-1B visas, which are generally the only practical way to hire skilled foreign nationals.
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Lawmakers and business leaders concede they likely won’t land the full $19 million they’d sought for the Oregon Innovation Council program. However, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber has pledged to keep close tabs on the Joint Ways and Means subcommittee that’s crafting the program’s final proposal.
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From 2000 to 2008, the U.S. ranked 18th out of 30 countries in the growth of government-funded university research, according to a new report by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF). In University Research Funding: the United States is Behind and Falling, Robert Atkinson and Luke Stewart compared the U.S. government and business funding for public university research against 29 other developed countries. The results indicate that both government-funded and business-funded research have fallen dramatically behind and will continue to slip further behind several nations including China, Korea, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
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Globescan, a polling firm that has been tracking public opinion about the economy for the past eight years, has noted a 15 percent decline in public support for capitalist principles in the year since 2009. From a high of 80 percent in 2002, the proportion of respondents who see free market capitalism as the best system for the future has dropped to 59 percent. The 2008 economic crisis, which exposed moral corruption and corporate malfeasance and which pushed the country into recession, could not have bolstered confidence in the system. But the coincidence of spiking job losses and skyrocketing corporate profits has brought a new focus on the costs of a globalised economy, particularly among low-income Americans.
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The World Bank signed an agreement on Wednesday with mayors from 40 of the world’s biggest cities to work on technical and financial assistance for projects to minimize the effects of climate change. The deal, announced at the C40 large cities climate meeting here, will ease access to financing for climate-change-reduction projects.
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For years local governments have invested resources into efforts to spur economic growth. And for years the officials heading most of these economic development initiatives tracked their efforts with little more than output measures—for instance, the number of industrial contacts made or assisted, the number of meetings held or presentations made and similar measures of activities. They focused on showing that they were trying hard. Now, economic development officials—and those who monitor their performance—are increasingly tuned in to a broader and more meaningful array of measures to document their performance.
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Nearly half of Americans say that they definitely or probably couldn’t come up with $2,000 in 30 days, according to new research, raising concerns about the financial fragility of many households. The survey asked a simple question, “If you were to face a $2,000 unexpected expense in the next month, how would you get the funds you need?” In the U.S., 24.9 percent of respondents reported being certainly able, 25.1 percent probably able, 22.2 percent probably unable and 27.9 percent certainly unable.
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The Mid-Atlantic region is rich with both historic and current examples of livability in practice. Regional examples abound of creative transportation solutions that have enhanced community livability. Sponsored by ICF International, this 90-minute webinar will present examples of successful livability plans, policies, and projects in the Mid-Atlantic region. The webinar will take place from 12:00-1:30 pm EDT on June 9, 2011.
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The Condition of Education 2011 summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest available data. The report presents 50 indicators on the status and condition of education, in addition to a closer look at postsecondary education by institutional level and control. The 2011 print edition includes indicators in five main areas: 1) participation in education; 2) learner outcomes; 3) student effort and educational progress; 4) the contexts of elementary and secondary education; and 5) the contexts of postsecondary education.
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The current economic climate has placed renewed priority on the performance and potential of community colleges, the primary postsecondary institution serving local and regional workforce needs. These institutions are critically important to individuals seeking higher skills and to employers looking for qualified workers. States that fail to align their community college goals with economic development efforts to address their human capital challenges run the risk of losing out in the competition for good jobs and sustainable development.
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As the performance of students in one nation after another surpasses that of American students, and the states, in response, institute one reform after another, student performance remains stagnant. A new paper by the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: An American Agenda for Education Reform, explains why. It turns out that the countries that are outperforming the United States have been pursuing strategies that the U.S. has not been pursuing, while the U.S. has embraced strategies that none of the best-performing countries have embraced. Reduced class size and more money for schools have long been advocated by American educators as solutions to poor student performance, but neither is correlated with high student performance in the best-performing countries.
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Soaking up oil spills with human hair, turning clunkers into hybrids and powering Tanzanian villages with rechargeable batteries are just a few of the ideas to come out of Knowledge@Wharton's second annual Innovation Tournament. The tournament challenged innovators from around the world to compete for a total of $40,000 in cash prizes. The tournament inspired more than 160 submissions from six continents. The 44 teams that made it to the semifinals were asked to submit video presentations. From those, the top 14 entrants were invited to Philadelphia on April 27 to present their ideas to a panel of judges made up of academics and industry leaders.
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Traditional indices such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) or the Fortune 500 focus on top performers without any considerations other than their market capitalization, share price, revenue, or other 20th-century measures of business performance. But in a “Technology Economy” technology is a strategic lever, a tool to drive new business growth, protect revenue, reduce business costs, and manage risk. So let’s do an experiment and look at a “new age” Dow Jones Industrial Average—a market index of firms that have been identified as technology leaders.
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The University of Utah boasts it has spun off more than 100 companies in the past six years, based on ideas developed on campus. While the school touts its status as No. 1 among research institutions for starting companies, some appear to be companies in name only. The U. has launched 35 companies as wholly owned entities of the university since 2007, 20 of which it lists as startups. Many have no office, payroll, permanent leadership or assets. In state filings, most list as their address the suite at 615 Arapeen Dr., where the U.’s Technology Commercialization Office (TCO) operates in Research Park.
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While the overall prevalence of poverty is in retreat, the global poverty landscape is changing. This transformation is captured by two distinct trends: poor people are increasingly found in middle-income countries and in fragile states. Both trends—and their intersection—present important new questions for how the international community tackles global poverty reduction.
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In advance of next week’s G8 summit in Deauville, France, the science academies of those eight nations and five others today released statements recommending that their governments take action to improve water quality, sanitation, and science education. Noting that almost 2.6 billion people worldwide lack proper sanitation and 900 million lack clean water, the academies urged steps to develop sanitation infrastructure, with a priority on facilities for schools. The academies also recommended efforts to improve science and technology education worldwide, in order to foster economic growth and advances in health, food security, and sustainable energy.
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Most G20 governments have put in place some restrictive trade measures over the past six months, but have on the whole honored their pledge to keep international investment open, according to the OECD, UNCTAD and WTO. In their fifth report to the G20, the OECD and UNCTAD say that most new investment measures taken by G20 governments between 16 October 2010 and 28 April 2011 have reduced restrictions to international capital flows and improved clarity for investors. The WTO section of the report deals with trade issues. Three countries introduced new restrictions on investment: Brazil, China and Russia.
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Can a mobile app improve the quality of life for a farmer in America's heartland? Can a web app help school children in Detroit, MI? The Knight Foundation and the FCC challenge you to develop a software application (app) that delivers personalized, actionable information to people that are least likely to be online. The Challenge will offer up to $100,000 in prizes to winning application developers and is intended to bring together providers of public data, developers, and traditionally underserved populations through a national contest. The application deadline is July 11, 2011.
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Old images of race and place in America are changing rapidly. Nowhere are these shifts more apparent than in major U.S. cities and their suburbs. The once widely held stereotype of “chocolate city and vanilla suburbs” has been obsolete for some time. Indeed, Census 2000 pointed to growing racial and ethnic diversity in the “melting pot suburbs” of many large U.S. metropolitan areas. Initial results from the 2010 Census reveal even more pervasive changes in the racial profiles of cities and suburbs nationwide.
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Mapping resources for children and youth is one way to see the overall picture of how a state or community supports its youth and ensures their future success. Resource Mapping: Tennessee Case Study of Spending for Children and Youth, a recent report by the National Conference of State Legislatures, outlines the steps that Tennessee took to complete its mapping project and provides key lessons for other states for implementing a similar approach. The report does not focus on the results of the Tennessee study; instead it provides an overview of the process.
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In the nearly four decades since Title IX of the federal Civil Rights Act barred sex discrimination in education, educators and policymakers have encouraged more girls to study and enter traditionally “male” careers, from science and technology to architecture and law. With male-dominated fields like construction now stagnant, however, experts argue that the situation may be reversed: American schools don’t do enough to encourage boys to explore careers in traditionally female-dominated fields, such as health care and education.
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On average, bachelor’s degrees pay off. But a new study confirms that some undergraduate majors pay off a lot more than others. In fact, the difference in earnings potential between one major and another can be more than 300 percent. Using United States Census data available for the first time, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce is helping Americans connect the dots between college majors and career earnings. In the new report, What’s it Worth? The Economic Value of College Majors, this first-time research demonstrates just how critical the choice of major is to a student’s median earnings.
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At an event on the economic future of immigrant children, Senior Fellow Ron Haskins discussed the complex issue of immigrants’ education and wages. According to recent data, immigrants—particularly recent immigrants from Mexico—have very low rates of high school completion compared to native-born citizens. But overall, immigrants have relatively high rates of college graduation. Addressing the complexities of this issue, and improving education for all, would have a positive impact on the U.S. economy.
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With a backlog of patents and the budget for the patent office cut by 10 percent, a company is stepping in as the "Facebook for Patents" compensating the public to help improve the patent system, says John Bridgeland in this StartUp America post.
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If there's hope for 51-year-old Brett Miller, then you could say there's hope for the American dream. When Miller was a boy, upstate New York and the Hudson River Valley embodied the industrial might of the nation and the broad-based prosperity that made middle-class families such as Miller's the envy of the world.
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Joining forces in a common cause makes everyone concerned stronger. Joining forces to innovate so as to solve common problems in Europe means more focus, more rapid development, efficiency, including cost-efficiency, and greater creativity. The Innovation Union is intended not only to provide an answer to shared problems facing our societies but at the same time to increase Europe’s competitiveness and point to ways out of the economic crisis.
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The Slovenian parliament recently approved the Resolution on the Research and Innovation Strategy of Slovenia 2011-2020, a comprehensive strategy to establish "a contemporary research and innovation system that will ensure a higher quality of life within the country." According to the UNESCO Science Report, Slovenia is drastically ahead of their counterparts in Southeastern Europe.
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Governor Nathan Deal and Lord Stephen Green, Minister of State for Trade and Investment, announced today from London that UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) will establish an office in Georgia to promote trade and foreign direct investment opportunities between the United Kingdom and the state. “The United Kingdom is and will remain a strong business partner for the state of Georgia. The ties that bind us grow stronger each year, benefiting both economies,” said Governor Deal. “In this mission to the United Kingdom, I hope to build on our firm foundation of friendship and trust to further opportunities that will create jobs and profitable investment opportunities.”
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A few decades ago, the well-informed relied on doorstep delivery of a newspaper or two. As the computer age dawned, the young roamed the internet, often searching for news sites reinforcing their view of the world. Newsgathering is undergoing another phase of evolution with the advent of social media. Journalism professor Susan Moeller describes youths “sitting like spiders in the middle of a web, content with consuming what flies by” via email, Twitter, Facebook and other accounts.
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PricewaterhouseCoopers recently released the fourth edition of its Cities of Opportunity report. New York leads the 2011 study, which analyzes and ranks how 26 global centers of finance, business and culture perform across 10 key indicators. But it is followed closely in the top five by Toronto, San Francisco, Stockholm and Sydney—cities more notable for quality of life and balance than global business dominance.
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Almost 85 percent of the nation's 308.7 million people live in metropolitan areas, and more than half are in ever-expanding suburban rings that encircle major cities. A new pattern is emerging this century. Most of the growth is happening on opposite ends of the suburban expanse: in older communities closest to the city and in the newer ones that are the farthest out.
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Against the backdrop of rising gas prices, growing suburban poverty, continued sprawl and uneven transit availability in cities and suburbs, the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings released a first-of-its-kind analysis that shows how transit systems link workers to jobs in metropolitan America. On May 12, Brookings hosted a forum to introduce the report and an accompanying new interactive tool, based on Brookings’ extensive analysis of transit routes and schedules, demographic data and employment information from the nation's 100 largest metro regions.
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In the wake of the Great Recession, young employees (ages 16-24) in low-income families continue to struggle to balance their need to work while obtaining the education they must have to succeed in today’s complex and challenging economy. A new research study from Corporate Voices for Working Families provides a comprehensive profile of these low-income young employees. The study also highlights the fact that employers that deeply engage in helping younger low-income employees continue their education, both by expanding workplace flexibility and other direct support for working students, can make significant contributions to positive outcomes for their young employees while meeting business needs.
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Class size is one of the small number of variables in American K-12 education that are both thought to influence student learning and are subject to legislative action. Legislative mandates on maximum class size have been very popular at the state level. In recent decades, at least 24 states have mandated or incentivized class-size reduction (CSR). The current fiscal environment has forced states and districts to rethink their CSR policies given the high cost of maintaining small classes. A new report from The Brookings Institution examines “what the research says” about whether class-size reduction has a positive impact on student learning and, if it does, by how much, for whom, and under what circumstances.
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A majority of Americans (57%) say the higher education system in the United States fails to provide good value for the money students and their families spend, and about four-in-ten college presidents say the system is headed in the wrong direction, according to a pair of new nationwide surveys—one of the general public; the other of college presidents—conducted by the Pew Research Center. The public survey shows that fewer than one-in-four Americans (22%) believe that most people today can afford to pay for a college education, down from 39% who felt this way a quarter of a century ago. College presidents are not as concerned as the public about affordability, but their survey responses reveal broad misgivings about quality and standards—both of the institutions themselves and of the students attending them.
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The $3.8 billion spent by the U.S. government to map the human genome spurred the creation of tens of thousands of jobs and gave rise to an industry that—while slow to deliver medical breakthroughs—now generates about $67 billion in annual economic activity, according to a new study.
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This fall, Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) aims to touch more current and aspiring entrepreneurs around the globe than any event, ever. Thousands of activities in more than 100 countries will teach the power of entrepreneurship by showcasing creativity and innovative thinking. GEW 2011 will be held November 14 - 20, spurring new ideas, ingenuity and firm creation through local, national and global activities.
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California's economic recovery is kicking into higher gear, with unexpectedly strong job growth propelled by a pickup in technology hiring, as the nation's biggest and richest state starts to beat back its formidable budget deficit. The state added 90,600 jobs in the first quarter, more than the increase of 82,600 for all of 2010.
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Legislation to bolster venture capital investments in Wisconsin companies was unveiled Thursday at a Capitol news conference held by the bill’s main sponsors, Senator Randy Hopper, R-Fond du Lac, and Representative Gary Tauchen, R-Bonduel. Dubbed the Wisconsin Jobs Act, the bill is expected to be introduced within days with bipartisan support. The focal point of the legislation is the creation of two funds totalling $400 million under the umbrella of a new Wisconsin Venture Capital Authority.
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The third round of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) between U.S. and Chinese officials was on May 9-10. Cabinet secretaries Hillary Clinton and Tim Geithner hosted two days of the S&ED, which provides a forum for talks about strategic and longstanding issues important for U.S.-China relations. Kenneth Lieberthal, who directs the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings, notes that these meetings are critical for the enhancement of mutual trust, cooperation and understanding between the global powers.
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Governor Bob McDonnell and a team of Virginia economic development officials embarked today on an 11-day job creation and economic development marketing mission that will take the group to Japan, China and South Korea before concluding on May 17th. The marketing mission provides the Governor and other state officials a unique opportunity to strengthen Virginia's relationship with foreign companies that already have a Virginia presence and to share Virginia's story with prospective corporate investors and importers. The team will aggressively and proactively encourage business investment and job creation initiatives throughout the Commonwealth. First Lady Maureen McDonnell will join the mission during the China and South Korea legs of the trip, focusing her efforts on promoting tourism and the Virginia wine industry.
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These may be far from the best of times, but they are no longer the worst. Last year’s annual “Best Cities for Jobs” list was by far the most dismal since we began compiling our rankings almost five years ago. Between 2009 and 2010, only 13 of 397 metropolitan areas experienced any growth at all. For this year’s list, which measured job growth in the period between January 2010 and January 2011, most of the best-performing areas experienced actual employment increases—even if they were modest.
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Driven by immigrants and young people moving to the South and West and older Americans who stay put elsewhere, the age gap between regions in the U.S. has grown to its widest level in decades, sharpening the divides on hot-button issues such as immigration and changes to Medicare.
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Attention shrinking cities! New Orleans recently held an auction of blighted houses. More than 1,000 people showed up to bid on approximately 100 vacant houses and empty lots with an average of seven bidders per property. Officials were astounded. This stunning success has relevance beyond this beleaguered city and may offer a new clue about how to approach the shrinking city syndrome.
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A new study of Tennessee's universities and colleges found wide gaps in some cases between the supply of graduates available and the job market demand. Unless something changes, for example, Tennessee will have twice as many job openings for computer programmers and software developers as it will have new graduates with those degrees through 2018. But things are likely to change in Tennessee higher education. THEC, the state’s higher education governing body, wants institutions to use the study as a blueprint that could dictate which majors it offers and which departments get more funding in the coming years.
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The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities announces the release of its landmark report Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future Through Creative Schools. The culmination of 18 months of research, meetings with stakeholders, and site visits all over the country, this report represents an in-depth review of the current condition of arts education, including an update of the current research base about arts education outcomes, and an analysis of the challenges and opportunities in the field that have emerged over the past decade. It also includes a set of recommendations to federal, state and local policymakers.
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Enrollment at for-profit colleges has risen dramatically in recent years, and so has the amount of loan money students at the schools sign up for. Do the students know what they are getting into? States want to be sure.
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Technology Forecast: Decoding Innovation's DNA examines enterprise innovation and the role of information technology. It answers the question, is innovation the result of inscrutable, opaque genius, or can innovation be treated as an end-to-end process subject to performance optimization by adopting proven methods and systems?
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The coming decade will bring an unprecedented amount of Chinese capital seeking direct investment opportunities abroad: over $1 trillion by 2020, a significant share of which will be destined for the United States. This investment has the potential to enrich the United States through increased innovation, job creation and infrastructure renewal, and build a more cooperative relationship with China.
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Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network represents a unique approach to accelerating the growth trajectory of promising start-ups in the Research Triangle Park region in North Carolina and reflects an unprecedented collaboration between the region's major universities, its entrepreneurial community and the private sector. Funded by a $3.63 million grant from The Blackstone Charitable Foundation in New York, the Network joins Duke, N.C. Central, N.C. State, UNC-Chapel Hill and the Council for Entrepreneurial Development to unleash the region's innovation potential through growth entrepreneurship.
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China is clearly a clean-tech force to be reckoned with. It installed more wind power, manufactured more solar PV and solar hot water heaters, and spent more money overall on clean-energy investments than any other nation in 2010. The Chinese government, facing severe pollution issues and energy shortages, has made clean tech a cornerstone of its economic security and development plans. But while China is clearly playing a leading role in clean-tech development and deployment, here are four reasons why I wouldn’t brand China the de facto clean-tech winner and count the U.S. out of the global clean-tech leadership running just yet.
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High-skilled immigrant entrepreneurs from India and China are leaving the United States by the tens of thousands each year, drawn away by better economic and professional opportunities in their home countries, according to Kauffman study. The new Kauffman Foundation report, "The Grass is Indeed Greener in India and China for Returnee Entrepreneurs," is based on a survey of U.S.-educated Indian and Chinese professionals who had returned to their home countries and started businesses. These respondents cited economic opportunities, favorable conditions for starting a business, and the speed of professional growth as the leading motivations for returning home. Family ties also played a significant role in attracting the entrepreneurs back to their native countries.
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The 11 March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake was the strongest ever recorded in Japan and triggered the country’s worst disaster of the post-war era. The earthquake and accompanying tsunami resulted in an enormous loss of human life, as well as massive economic damage. A preliminary report by the government estimated the damage to social infrastructure, housing and private firms’ fixed capital at between 3.3 percent and 5.2 percent of 2010 GDP. However, the experience of past disasters in Japan and other developed countries suggests that the negative short-term impact on economic output will be followed by a rebound as reconstruction spending picks up. Such a pattern is projected to slow real GDP growth to 0.8 percent in 2011, followed by a pick-up to 2.3 percent growth in 2012.
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In this wide-ranging post for The Atlantic, the NRDC’s Kaid Benfield explores some of the major trends playing out in urban and suburban America, and how the suburbs are less and less the dominant urban form in the market. The suburbs and the assumptions that enabled them to grow are collapsing, according to Benfield. “[I]n between, say, 1960 and 2000, many central cities were in severe decline, due to ‘white flight’ and all sorts of perceived urban problems. But for some tragic exceptions like Detroit, that decline now has either slowed dramatically or reversed. In addition, the distinction between ‘central city’ and ‘suburb’ is simply not what it once was. Inner-ring suburbs now are part of the central city in every way other than the arbitrary jurisdictional lines that mean little economically or environmentally.”
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In the new podcast Educating for Democracy, Scott London hosts a roundtable conversation with leaders from higher education and democracy activists about what the civic mission of higher ed can and should be: service learning, voter information, or something deeper? London then talks to citizen leaders from some new organizations that are springing up around the country, generally on college campuses, that are going beyond conventional definitions of civic engagement. These new organizations are combining the best of what colleges and universities provide—civics courses, leadership development, service-learning programs, community-based research—with the kinds of hands-on, participatory problem solving traditionally associated with community organizations or NGOs.
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Over the last decade, population growth in the fifth of American counties where January temperature averaged above 43 degrees was over 9 percent, while the population growth in the fifth of American counties where January temperature average below 22 degrees was less than 2 percent. Population growth was over 13 percent in the fifth of counties where more than 21 percent of adults had college degrees in 2000, while growth in the least educated three-fifths of counties was below 3 percent. Sun and skills are not opposites. There are plenty of skilled metropolitan areas, like Atlanta and Charlotte, in the Sun Belt. But at the extreme, sunshine and skills do represent two models of American success.
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At least 5,000 public schools, serving more than 3 million children, are considered failing in the United States because they have not met their academic achievement targets for at least five consecutive years. A new issue brief issue released by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices offers states possible solutions for failing schools and districts.
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Spending for the estimated 2.3 million people who are incarcerated in the United States totals over $52 billion annually. Left without access to education beyond the secondary level, seven in 10 formerly incarcerated persons are more than likely to return to prison within three years—thus, creating additional financial burdens on states as a result of recidivism. A new report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy, Unlocking Potential: Results of a National Survey of Postsecondary Education in State Prisons, aims to increase the policy attention paid to postsecondary opportunity for incarcerated persons. The study examines data from 43 states—based on results from a national survey sent to state correctional education administrators—about postsecondary education programs in their prison systems.
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As rising demand and declining budgets continue to strain community college systems across the country, the results of a new survey underscore the economy's impact on students who are finding fewer courses available at their local community college, even as they are competing with greater numbers of their peers to attend them. The Pearson Foundation Community College Student Survey was conducted online during fall 2010 by Harris Interactive. The survey found that 32 percent of students and 55 percent of Hispanic students faced course enrollment difficulties.
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For some time now there has been a certain degree of controversy regarding the effect of patents on the competitiveness of an economy. There are those who maintain that innovation is reduced when rights to a monopoly are given to a patent holder for a period of time, while others believe that it is the compensation necessary so that firms invest in R+D without having others take advantage of the innovations.
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The Economic Development Administration (EDA) in partnership with 15 other federal agencies and bureaus intends to commit $33 million in direct federal funding and provide technical assistance resources for the Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge—a new public-private initiative focused on supporting and accelerating the growth of regional innovation clusters that exhibit high-growth development potential.
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There’s no denying that an incubator rebirth is taking place, thanks in large measure to Y Combinator. Y Combinator clones are everywhere. Several dozen of them already exist and insiders expect more than 100 such incubators will be operating nationwide before long. And they’re busy churning out plenty of startups.
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The volunteer leaders of the Mississippi Biomass and Renewable Energy Council invite you join them on the Gulf Coast for nearly two days of networking and engaging technology experts and policy leaders as they focus on the utilization of our home-grown biomass resources and cutting edge renewable energy technologies. Your participation is needed to help us develop a long-range plan to grow a vibrant industry sector in Mississippi and the Southeast.
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The World Trade Organization has delivered significant global economic benefits through the liberalization of world trade, but the changing international economic environment has created significant challenges for the organization. On April 28, Brookings and Foreign Policy magazine host a discussion of a new paper exploring the current challenges the WTO faces, such as the rise of large developing countries like China, India and Brazil; the failure to conclude the Doha Round of trade negotiations; and the rapid growth of bilateral free trade agreements.
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International collaboration in science and technology (S&T) research has risen over the past 15 years from approximately 25 percent to over 35 percent, according to Knowledge, Networks and Nations: Global Scientific Collaboration in the 21st Century—a new report from the Royal Society Science Policy Center. The special advisory group established by the Royal Society analyzed data that include research articles in international journals, citations in those articles, national rates of patent registration, number of researchers per nation, national expenditures on research and development (R&D) and the impacts of S&T research.
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During early 2011, Southerners convened all across the region to consider the issue of economic security as framed by the National Issues Forum. Following the sessions, participants completed surveys to gauge their levels of understanding and concern of various aspects of this important issue. The Southern Rural Development Center and the National Issues Forum will co-host a webinar Thursday, May 5 from 11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. (ET) to explore the community members’ input. To participate, click on the link below 15 minutes before the session begins and log in as “Guest” using your name. Additional online information will instruct participants to access the audio portion through phone connections.
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Two-thirds of developing countries are on track or close to meeting key targets for tackling extreme poverty and hunger, the World Bank and IMF said today. This year’s Global Monitoring Report 2011: Improving the Odds of Achieving the MDGs delves into country performance and reveals a diverse, and often hopeful, picture. For example, among developing countries that are falling short on the Millennium Development Goals, half are close to becoming on-track. With improved policies and faster growth, these countries can still achieve the targets in 2015 or soon after.
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In 2006, just 11 percent of the global population was over the age of 60, but the number is expected to double by 2050, according to the World Health Organization. Meanwhile, the number of people living in cities continues to rise. In North America, 81 percent of the population lived in urban areas in 2005, and is expected to reach 87 percent by 2030. Despite the clear trend toward an older, more urban population, most experts agree little is being done to make cities more age-friendly.
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Young people give mediocre marks to America’s high schools. But they put great faith in its colleges. An Associated Press-Viacom poll finds most young adults think their high school didn’t do a good job of preparing students for work or of helping them choose a career and find the right college or trade school. Six in 10 college students expressed strong satisfaction with their higher education. That compares with 4 in 10 young people who feel satisfied with their high school education.
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This essay explores the issue of economic mobility from a variety of perspectives. It was designed to inform the work of the Economic Mobility Project (EMP), an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts. The essay begins by considering whether we should focus on relative or absolute mobility, and how we should collectively decide the optimal and desired levels of mobility. The essay closes with some principles and policy recommendations for promoting economic mobility in America.
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Among the employed population 25 and older, 37 percent of women had attained a bachelor’s degree or more as of 2010, compared with 35 percent of men, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In contrast, among all adults 25 and older, 29.6 percent of women and 30.3 percent of men had at least a bachelor’s degree. The data come from tabulations on Educational Attainment in the United States: 2010 and not only examine gender differences in attainment but also provide the most detailed information on years of school completed ever presented by the Census Bureau.
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The share of the population that is working fell to its lowest level last year since women started entering the workforce in large numbers three decades ago, a USA Today analysis finds. Only 45.4 percent of Americans had jobs in 2010, the lowest rate since 1983 and down from a peak of 49.3 percent in 2000. Last year, just 66.8 percent of men had jobs, the lowest on record. The bad economy, an aging population and a plateau in women working are contributing to changes that pose serious challenges for financing the nation’s social programs.
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One of the least understood aspects of entrepreneurship is why small businesses fail, and there’s a simple reason for the confusion: Most of the evidence comes from the entrepreneurs themselves. I have had a close-up view of numerous business failures—including a few start-ups of my own. And from my observation, the reasons for failure cited by the owners are frequently off point, which kind of makes sense when you think about it.
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Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a requirement that California get 33% of its electricity from renewable sources, such as wind and solar energy, by the year 2020. Calling the law the most ambitious clean-energy effort in the nation, the governor predicted that it would help jump-start the state's economy. He said he expects the aggressive shift away from coal and natural gas to create jobs while putting the state on the cutting edge of new technology. "It's about California leading the country. It's America potentially leading the world," Brown said at a signing ceremony in Silicon Valley.
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Collaboration, communication, and automation separate the successful from the strugglers. The recession is over. But its end did not herald a return to business as usual. High rates of new product failure—once considered an inevitable cost of doing business—are now unacceptable. Today's thinner revenue streams, narrower margins, heightened competition, and more limited resources have, if anything, increased the already high levels of stress among corporate survivors and raised the performance bar set by business executives. That has prompted changes in the ways companies invest, manage, and innovate—changes designed to minimize risk.
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U.S. multinational corporations, the big brand-name companies that employ a fifth of all American workers, have been hiring abroad while cutting back at home, sharpening the debate over globalization's effect on the U.S. economy, reports the Wall Street Journal. The companies cut their work forces in the United States by 2.9 million during the 2000s while increasing employment overseas by 2.4 million, new data from the U.S. Commerce Department show. That's a big switch from the 1990s, when they added jobs everywhere: 4.4 million in the U.S. and 2.7 million abroad. In all, U.S. multinationals employed 21.1 million people at home in 2009 and 10.3 million elsewhere, including increasing numbers of higher-skilled foreign workers.
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As globalization transforms the world, societies and nations are becoming increasingly uneasy. Yet no one in China, Vietnam, India, or Botswana—let alone the educated young adults in Europe or the US—is in a hurry to reverse integration into the global economy. Globalization drives trade and innovation, pushing down consumer prices, be it the basics of food and clothing or the luxuries of cars and computers. But the voracious appetite for energy and other natural resources leads to competition and unease, a global race that threatens stability.
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Mexicans work longer days than anyone else in OECD countries, devoting 10 hours to paid and unpaid work, such as cleaning or cooking at home. Belgians work the least, at 7 hours, compared with an OECD average of 8 hours a day. These are among the insights in the latest edition of Society at a Glance, which gives an overview of social trends and policy developments in OECD countries. Using indicators taken from OECD databases and other sources, it shows how societies are changing over time and compared with other countries.
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As part of its 30th Anniversary celebration, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation recently brought together hundreds of community development thought leaders from around the country to discuss the outlook for disinvested neighborhoods and innovative opportunities for helping low-income families improve their quality of life. Archived video of these sessions can be accessed online, including sessions on “The Economic and Political Environment Facing Communities Today,” and “The Future of Our Communities: Prospects and Challenges.” The mayor of Greenwood, MS is among those featured in a mayor’s roundtable entitled “Addressing the Issues from the Front Lines.”
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service and the Ford Foundation are convening a National Conference on Rural Wealth Creation and Livelihoods, October 3-5, 2011, in Washington, D.C. “Wealth” can be considered to include a broad range of assets that contribute to human well-being, including physical, natural, financial, human, intellectual, social, political and cultural capital. The conference is intended to begin to develop a practical, results-relevant dialog among the research, practitioner, and policy communities. All those interested in attending the conference are requested to apply by responding to the Call for Participation. Applications are due by May 15, 2011.
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As America inches its way out of the Great Recession and looks forward into the future, the need for a new policy framework to guide our economic growth is clear. Inequality has reached unprecedented levels as the nation simultaneously grows increasingly racially and ethnically diverse. Is the traditional assumption that there is a trade-off between growth and equity wrong? Might broadly shared growth be more sustainable and ultimately better for the economy? And if so, what does an inclusive and sustainable pathway to economic growth look like, and how do we achieve it? Listen to a webcast from the Center for American Progress and PolicyLink that brought together some of the nation’s top economists, policy analysts, and thought leaders to discuss these issues.
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The proportion of Latino 4-year-olds enrolled in preschool declined from 2005 to 2009, though the rates of preschool enrollment for their African-American and white peers stayed the same during that period, according to findings released by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. The decline in enrollment for Latino youngsters followed a dramatic increase in enrollment for all three groups of children from 1991 to 2005, though Latino enrollment still lagged well behind that of enrollment for black children and white children during that earlier period.
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A new report, Double Jeopardy: How Poverty & Third-Grade Reading Skills Influence High School Graduation, finds that students who don’t read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to leave without a diploma than proficient readers. The report, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is a longitudinal study of nearly 4,000 students and their parents. It is notable in breaking down for the first time the likelihood of graduation by different reading skill levels and poverty experiences.
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The nation’s economic upheaval has been especially hard on young people trying to start their working lives with a high school education or less. Only about a third are working full-time, compared with two-thirds of recent college grads, according to an Associated Press-Viacom poll. Most say money was a major reason they bypassed college, and the vast majority aspire to more education someday.
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Sweden and Singapore continue to top the rankings of The Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011, Transformations 2.0, confirming the leadership of the Nordic countries and the Asian Tiger economies in adopting and implementing ICT advances for increased growth and development. Finland jumps to third place, while Switzerland and the United States are steady in fourth and fifth place respectively. The 10th anniversary edition of the report focuses on ICT’s power to transform society in the next decade through modernization and innovation.
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One of every 4 scientists and engineers in the United States is foreign born. In terms of doctoral degrees, 54 percent of math degrees, 60 percent of computer science degrees, and 65 percent of engineering degrees awarded in the United States go to foreign nationals. Roughly 40 percent of master’s degrees in engineering, computer science, and math awarded in the United States go to foreign nationals. Nearly half of all Nobel Prizes awarded to researchers in the United States between 1901 and 1991 were won by foreign-born individuals or their children.
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Orin Herskowitz, executive director of Columbia Technology Ventures, is sipping gourmet coffee at a bistro across the street from the Manhattan Mall, but he hardly needs the caffeine to amplify his excitement about the innovation scene at his college. Columbia Technology Ventures—the Ivy League university’s main technology-transfer initiative—has chalked up an impressive list of accomplishments ever since Herskowitz joined the office in 2006. “We get 300 faculty-submitted inventions a year,” he says, about 60 percent in life sciences and the rest in other technologies. “I like to say we have everything from iPhone apps to cancer drugs,” Herskowitz says.
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Despite all the recent shocks and setbacks that have struck the global economic recovery, it is nonetheless getting on to a firmer footing. The April 2011 update of the Brookings Institution-Financial Times Tracking Indexes for the Global Economic Recovery (TIGER) indicates that resurgent job growth as well as rising business and consumer confidence are providing some needed strength to the recovery in advanced economies. Emerging markets are still doing well but some of the shine is coming off these economies as they tighten policies to cope with rising inflation.
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Twenty-one Economic Development Organization’s (EDOs) from across the nation are working today to create new jobs in their regions by participating in the U.S. Trade & Investment Program to HANNOVER MESSE 2011, the world's largest industrial technology showcase. The event runs from April 4-8, 2011 in Hannover, Germany. The purpose of the program is to promote the Obama administration's National Export Initiative (NEI) as well as to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the U.S. By leading regional business clusters abroad, the Department of Commerce is aiding communities in promoting their regions as ideal locations to do business.
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It is an important week for entrepreneurship around the world, especially here in China where we recently wrapped up the Kauffman Foundation-led Global Entrepreneurship Congress, bringing together impressive leaders in the field from over 100 nations. In addition to launching and recognizing more than 100 national campaigns to promote entrepreneurship through this year's Global Entrepreneurship Week (scheduled for November 14-20), we have witnessed this week entrepreneurship as a burgeoning phenomenon from Chile to China.
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The latest issue of the Richmond Fed’s online publication, MarketWise CommunityFor more information, visit the link