Oregon Capital Scan: A Line is Drawn

This report was written with the primary intention of helping to educate entrepreneurs and growth company leaders with respect to the variety and scale of capital sources currently available in the State. It is not uncommon for those seeking to enter the capital markets as an entrepreneur to possess a limited understanding of where capital can be found. This knowledge gap leads to a level of perceived risk uncertainty that inhibits company formation and growth. This report is not intended to instruct entrepreneurs in the skills required to secure funding, rather it is intended as a catalog of source data to enlighten as to the many different types of capital available. This report is also intended for policy makers and those who work to support the development of a thriving growth company ecosystem in the State. This includes the sponsors of this report who seek to find new ways to bring together education and resources to enhance the ability of those who choose to build their companies in Oregon. This report can serve as a baseline of quantitative data that may help everyone to better understand where we are as a State now, with respect to the key ingredient of growth capital, and help us measure our progress and improvements over time

New Hampshire University Research and Industry Plan: A Roadmap for Collaboration and Innovation

This University Research and Industry plan for New Hampshire is focused on accelerating innovation-led development in the state by partnering academia’s strengths with the state’s substantial base of existing and emerging advanced industries. These advanced industries are defined by their deep investment and connections to research and development and the high-quality jobs they generate across production, new product development and administrative positions involving skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)

A Prototype Toolkit For Evaluating Indoor Environmental Quality In Commercial Buildings

Measurement of building environmental parameters is often complex, expensive, and not easily proceduralized in a manner that covers all commercial buildings. Evaluating building indoor environmental quality performance is therefore not standard practice. This project developed a prototype toolkit that addressed existing barriers to widespread indoor environmental quality performance evaluation. A toolkit with both hardware and software elements was designed for practitioners around the indoor environmental quality requirements of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers / Chartered Institution of Building Services / United States Green Building Council Performance Measurement Protocols. This unique toolkit was built on a wireless mesh network with a web-based data collection, analysis, and reporting application. The toolkit provided a fast, robust deployment of sensors, real-time data analysis, Performance Measurement Protocol-based analysis methods and a scorecard and report generation tools. A web-enabled Geographic Information System-based metadata collection system also reduced field-study deployment time. The toolkit was evaluated through three case studies, which were discussed in this report

Effects of Cash Crop Production on Food Crop Productivity in Zimbabwe: Synergies or Trade-offs?

This paper studies the dynamics between cash cropping and food crop productivity in Gokwe North District in Zimbabwe, a major cotton producing area. The main research issues were: (1) to identify the determinants of commercialized crop production at the household level; and (2) to determine the effect of increasing crop commercialization on household food productivity. The paper derives a household crop commercialization index, defined as the ratio of crop sales to total crop production. Econometric models were developed for identifying the determinants of household-level commercialization and for measuring its effects on food crop productivity.food security, food policy, cash crop production, food crop productivity, Zimbabwe, Crop Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, Downloads June 2008 - July 2009: 62, Q18,

Industrial Competitiveness and Technological Advancement: Debate Over Government Policy

[Excerpt] There is ongoing interest in the pace of U.S. technological advancement due to its influence on U.S. economic growth, productivity, and international competitiveness. Because technology can contribute to economic growth and productivity increases, congressional attention has focused on how to augment private-sector technological development. Legislative activity over the past 25 or more years has created a policy for technology development, albeit an ad hoc one. Because of the lack of consensus on the scope and direction of a national policy, Congress has taken an incremental approach aimed at creating new mechanisms to facilitate technological advancement in particular areas and making changes and improvements as necessary. Congressional action has mandated specific technology development programs and obligations in federal agencies. Many programs were created based upon what individual committees judged appropriate within the agencies over which they had authorization or appropriation responsibilities. However, there has been recent legislative activity directed at eliminating or significantly curtailing many of these federal efforts. Although, for the most part, this approach has not been adopted, the budgets for several programs have declined. The proper role of the federal government in technology development and the competitiveness of U.S. industry continues to be a topic of congressional debate. Current legislation affecting the R&D environment have included both direct and indirect measures to facilitate technological innovation. In general, direct measures are those which involve budget outlays and the provision of services by government agencies. Indirect measures include financial incentives and legal changes (e.g., liability or regulatory reform; new antitrust arrangements). As the 111th Congress develops its budget priorities, the manner by which the government encourages technological progress in the private sector again may be explored and/or redefined

Industrial Competitiveness and Technological Advancement: Debate Over Government Policy

[Excerpt] There is ongoing interest in the pace of U.S. technological advancement due to its influence on U.S. economic growth, productivity, and international competitiveness. Because technology can contribute to economic growth and productivity increases, congressional attention has focused on how to augment private-sector technological development. Legislative activity over the past 25 or more years has created a policy for technology development, albeit an ad hoc one. Because of the lack of consensus on the scope and direction of a national policy, Congress has taken an incremental approach aimed at creating new mechanisms to facilitate technological advancement in particular areas and making changes and improvements as necessary. Congressional action has mandated specific technology development programs and obligations in federal agencies. Many programs were created based upon what individual committees judged appropriate within the agencies over which they had authorization or appropriation responsibilities. However, there has been recent legislative activity directed at eliminating or significantly curtailing many of these federal efforts. Although, for the most part, this approach has not been adopted, the budgets for several programs have declined. The proper role of the federal government in technology development and the competitiveness of U.S. industry continues to be a topic of congressional debate. Current legislation affecting the R&D environment have included both direct and indirect measures to facilitate technological innovation. In general, direct measures are those which involve budget outlays and the provision of services by government agencies. Indirect measures include financial incentives and legal changes (e.g., liability or regulatory reform; new antitrust arrangements). As the 111th Congress develops its budget priorities, the manner by which the government encourages technological progress in the private sector again may be explored and/or redefined

Industrial Competitiveness and Technological Advancement: Debate Over Government Policy

[Excerpt] There is ongoing interest in the pace of U.S. technological advancement due to its influence on U.S. economic growth, productivity, and international competitiveness. Because technology can contribute to economic growth and productivity increases, congressional attention has focused on how to augment private-sector technological development. Legislative activity over the past 25 or more years has created a policy for technology development, albeit an ad hoc one. Because of the lack of consensus on the scope and direction of a national policy, Congress has taken an incremental approach aimed at creating new mechanisms to facilitate technological advancement in particular areas and making changes and improvements as necessary. Congressional action has mandated specific technology development programs and obligations in federal agencies. Many programs were created based upon what individual committees judged appropriate within the agencies over which they had authorization or appropriation responsibilities. However, there has been recent legislative activity directed at eliminating or significantly curtailing many of these federal efforts. Several programs have been terminated and the budgets for other initiatives have declined. The proper role of the federal government in technology development and the competitiveness of U.S. industry continues to be a topic of congressional debate. Legislation affecting the research and development (R&D) environment has included both direct and indirect measures to facilitate technological innovation. In general, direct measures are those which involve budget outlays and the provision of services by government agencies. Indirect measures include financial incentives and legal changes (e.g., liability or regulatory reform; new antitrust arrangements). As the Congress develops its appropriation priorities, the manner by which the government encourages technological progress in the private sector again may be explored and/or redefined

ISSUES IN DEVELOPMENT AND ADOPTION OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED (GM) WHEATS

Development of genetically modified (GM) wheat varieties is proceeding; however, several critical issues remain the focus of contention. This project summarizes the current state of knowledge on some of these critical issues for commercialization of GM wheats. Background on the evolution of GM Wheats is presented. Then, agronomic adoption and competitiveness of GM crops; research on GM traits in wheat; consumer acceptance of GM crops (a separate section is included on issues related to consumer acceptance of GM crops); regulatory issues and status; international trade; testing, segregation, and identity preservation; and production and marketing risks are examined. Finally, there is a description of the likely marketing system to evolve and a discussion of outstanding issues.wheat, genetic modification, transgenic, marketing, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,