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Study Ranks Performance of Each State’s Economy Over The Past Decade

The economy of the United States is the largest in the world by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) and the second-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). During the past decade, in most of the US states, economy has improved considerably, but that is not to say every state’s economy is equally healthy. Some states are experiencing an economic boom, while others continue to contend with poor GDP growth, low per capita income, unemployment and poverty.

The Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health conducted an analysis of the data collected by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) for 2009 and 2019 and ranked the economic performance of all fifty states in the US. The results determined that the economies of the states such as New Hampshire, followed by North Dakota, turned out to be the healthiest over the past ten years, while the states such as Louisiana and Mississippi were regarded as the most economically distressed states. To be more precise, the most economically distressed states for 2019 were Georgia, Arkansas, South Carolina, Arizona, Kentucky, Alabama, West Virginia, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Mississippi. However, the results of the study should be interpreted with caution.

This is because, though ranked last and being labelled as the poorest state, Mississippi improved its economic distress index score of 153 in 2009 to 141.8 in 2019. The state witnessed an upsurge in nearly all income-related categories. But simultaneously, it also faced widespread weakness across the economy. Sectors shrinking included government, construction, entertainment, arts, agriculture, nondurable goods manufacturing and recreation. The state’s economic conditions weakened as compared to its growth in the past. The economy grew just 0.3% in 2017, compared to 2% growth in 2016. However this is expected to improve in 2018 and 2019.

It can be concluded that economic vitality can help communities remain competitive and adapt to the constantly changing world.

The New Program Dedicated to Keeping Mississippi at the Forefront of Technology

The path toward enhanced opportunities and economic growth in Mississippi’s private sector begins in secondary and elementary education, then continues through the workforce training abilities of the state’s astounding community college system and on to the Research and Development (R&D) prowess of the higher education system.

Taking advantage of this clear opportunity, Mississippi’s state education officials and C Spire executives launched a brand new program on October 17th, 2018. This new program, called the C Spire Software Development Pathway is a public-private partnership formed by C Spire and the Mississippi State University Research and Curriculum Unit’s (RCU) new Center for Cyber Education.

The movement will aid in Mississippi’s aggressive goal of creating and delivering a standardized computer science programme for approximately 500,000 scholars from grade K-12, and also place trained computer science professors in all of the state’s 850+ middle, elementary, and high schools by 2024.

State education officials and C Spire estimated that C Spire Software Development Pathway will deliver approximately 90 percent more Mississippi graduates who are qualified for entry-level software development positions compared to all other existing programs. This will further help narrow down the skills gap for this profession in Mississippi and the United States in general.

Currently, there is a shortage of computer science experts, both nationwide and in-state. According to Code.org, Mississippi had more than 900 open jobs with only around 140 computer science graduates in the state per year. Across the country, there are currently more than 500,000 open jobs, and a recent study indicated that the shortage of software developers will grow to more than 1 million by 2020.

It is our hope that this new innovative partnership will grow to become an educational template for the workforce and education system as Mississippi’s private and public sectors build a stronger alliance to forge a sturdier economic environment for this generation of workers and students as well as those who will follow them.

New Mayo Clinic – ASU Accelerator Program To Spark Medtech Startups

According to a recent report released by Evaluate, the number of medtech startups hit a new low of 196 in 2018. The number has been declining over the last couple of years but it’s the first time in more than a decade the figure has gone below 200.

Surprisingly, however, the total amount invested in medtechs has been holding steady, thanks to big companies such as Grail, Helix, and Alphabet’s Verily. In fact, Verily’s recent investment of $1 billion in the industry signifies 2019 will leave 2018 in the dust in terms of the total amount invested in medtechs.

The new financing trend implies that investors have opted to make fewer, but bigger investments, which has enabled big companies like Helix to undertake ambitious R&D programs whereas small startups are left out in the cold.

That said, Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University think they may have a solution for this unpleasant situation. The duo has come up with a six-month accelerator program that is aimed at creating investment opportunities for medtech startups.

Throughout the program, medtech startups will have access to Mayo Clinic’s medical experts, investors, and other individuals who can validate, refine, and finance their technologies.

There is a catch, however. To qualify for the program, a medtech startup ought to have already generated $500,000 as seed capital. In addition to that, each startup that qualifies to join the program will pay a fee of $50,000.

The program will take place at Mayo Clinic’s Campus in Arizona, and its goal is to ensure that in those six months, each startup that joins the movement is in a better position to raise money and accelerate product development.

Whether this program will be beneficial or effective remains unknown. But the institutions are already recruiting the 1st batch of participants who’ll join the program by April, so we’ll find out in due time.

USTAR-Supported Technologies Help Pave Way For STEM Workforce Development

In the era of unprecedented technological revolution, Utah’s tech industry is growing faster than any other state in the United States. However, the state lacks in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workers, which could cause it to lose the competitive advantage it enjoys at present. In addition, the shortage of a skilled, technical workforce affects the government’s efforts for job creation and growth. This is where the state-sponsored USTAR (Utah Science Technology and Research) organization comes in. USTAR helps local companies and enterprises to expand their technical knowledge-base through entrepreneurial support programs and competitive grants.

In order to minimize the gap between jobs and skilled laborers, a key part of USTAR’s mission is to endorse sustainable growth and diversification of the economy. This is achieved by building STEM workforce development opportunities through technological activities at universities and by supporting start-ups. According to the STEM experts, the technology and science industry support programs are necessary for the continued, long-term growth of the engineering and science industry in the state.

This is an urgent requirement because most of the STEM vacancies remain unfilled in Utah. To address this challenge, over the past two years, USTAR has provided more than 360 student tech-based STEM workforce development projects, along with a 7% increase in trained students in the STEM workforce. The organization also provides opportunities to the undergraduate and graduate students to work on technology commercialization projects while they are enrolled in higher education institutions. Along with these tech commercialization projects, the organization also offers technical workforce development opportunities through its project BioInnovations Gateway (BiG), which aims to propose biotech start-up businesses and communal student facilities, technical resources, equipment and talent.

It can be concluded that USTAR is playing a crucial role in bridging the gap between job creation and STEM workforce availability in Utah. To ensure the growth of the tech industry and economic diversification, the organization must keep capitalizing on R&D activities at different universities and businesses, along with expanding its support programs.

Reinforcement Learning ‘Tunes’ Robotics Prosthetics in Minutes

Researchers from Arizona State University, the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University have discovered a new intelligent system that depends on reinforcement learning to tune powered robotic prosthetic knees.

This new development will allow patients to start walking comfortably using their prosthetic equipment in minutes, as opposed to the hours it would take if the gadget was to be manually tuned by a trained clinical practitioner. This invention is the 1st system to rely only on reinforcement learning to tune robotic prosthesis.

According to a statement by North Carolina State, the new tuning device tweaks 12 distinct control parameters to accommodate the specified patient while addressing prosthesis dynamics like joint stiffness through the whole gait cycle.

Usually, a human medical practitioner would work with the prosthesis’ user to adapt several parameters. This process takes hours to complete. The new invention, on the other hand, relies on a computer program that avails a type of machine learning called reinforcement learning to modify all 12 parameters instantaneously.

This permits the patient to use the powered prosthetic knee to walk on a level surface in less than 10 minutes.

“We begin by giving a patient a powered prosthetic knee with a randomly selected set of parameters,” said Helen Huang, a co-author of a paper on the work and a professor in the Joint Department Biomedical Engineering at UNC and NC State. “We then have the patient begin walking under controlled circumstances.”

“Data on the patient’s gait and the device are collected via a suite of sensors in the device,” she added. “A computer model adapts parameters on the device and compares the patient’s gait to the profile of a normal walking gait in real time.”

Even though all the work is currently executed in a controlled, medical setting, the goal of the researchers is to invent a wireless version of the system. This will permit the device to continue fine-tuning itself as the user tackles his or her daily activities and surrounding conditions.

Derek Bridges on Foter.com / CC BY

Fish 2.0 Event For Aquaculture Innovators – Feb 2019

Investors, experts and seafood industry leaders will meet for the Fish 2.0 networking event on February 12-13, 2019. The session will be held at the Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center at the University of Southern Mississippi and will discuss US Gulf Coast and Midwest aquaculture.

Over 20 pitches from local aquaculture businesses will take place and participants will be able to tour the center, which provides an opportunity to see advanced technologies and discuss pressing issues in the industry.

Fish 2.0 aims to provide local businesses with tools and networking opportunities to grow. Director Kelly Lucas states that, “Marine aquaculture is growing, and advances in techniques, gear, automation and products occur in a moment’s notice. Connecting entrepreneurs and investors helps get these developments into the marketplace.”

Aquaculture is vital to the US in terms of seafood production, creating jobs and developing sustainable practices. Shellfish and finfish producers in particular are quickly expanding in the region.

The event is free to attend. Registrations must be completed online.

How Autonomous Vehicles Are Poised to Change the Future

The world is changing and the revolution in the automotive industry is happening. We are expected to have 10 million self-driving cars on the roads by 2020. In fact, large automotive firms such as Volvo, Ford, and Tesla have already launched their first wave of autonomous vehicles.

But what are the anticipated implications of the self-driving technology on the industry?

A study carried out by Intel showed that, thanks to this exceptional transformation of the global industry, autonomous cars are projected to displace human drivers and generate around $7 Trillion per annum by 2050.

The study predicted autonomous cars will result in a massive economic trajectory that will grow from $800 billion per year in 2035 to $7 trillion per year in 2050, taking into account the cost of all products and services resulting from fully autonomous cars, including indirect savings, like time.

That said, before we can close in on the 2035 to 2050 economic trajectory, the US Department of Transportation stated that firms in the United States alone are expected to spend approximately $61 billion in Capital investments and Research and Development (R&D) on autonomous vehicles by 2023.

According to stratistics MRC, the Global Automotive Safety System market was valued at $82.8 billion in 2017, but thanks to the expected R&D and Capital Investments spending, the market is anticipated to reach almost $200 billion by 2026 growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10%.

The federal budget also contained a significant resource. A spending bill that was unveiled ten months ago included $100 million for a highly automated “vehicle R&D” program, and includes funding for evaluating the employment impact of self-driving vehicles.

The funding also included $60 million for grants that’ll fund demo projects that test safety and feasibility of self-driving cars.

In fact, other than the Return on Investment in real dollars, all companies investing in autonomous vehicles are in it for another reason; safety. The WHO estimated that 1.35 individuals die each year due to road traffic related crashes around the world.

Add that number to the 20 – 50 million others who suffer non-fatal harms that leave them disabled for life.

Intel forecasted that autonomous cars will save more than 580,000 lives between 2035 and 2045.

It’s no wonder nearly 55% of the 175 Merger and Acquisition deals done over the last two years were related to electric and automated vehicles.

Yokohama Tire Corp. Opens R&D Center in Cornelius

Yokohama Tire Corp. has opened its first North American research and development center on Bailey Rd in Cornelius N.C. Cornelius was chosen as the ideal location due to its skilled workforce and the short distance from the airport. County Commissioner Pat Cotham said that the development of the $5.85 million center by an international company was an “outstanding economic development achievement.”

The 25,000 sq. ft. facility intends to consolidate its activities from California, Michigan, Mississippi and Virginia into one place. The center includes state-of-the-art tire characteristic machines for testing purposes as well as tire labs, a garage and offices.

While the hub will initially employ 25 staff, this number is set to more than double. Jobs will include advanced technical and engineering positions. Yokohama has been running in the US since 1969 and want to expand into new markets including original equipment fitments. Other focus areas include designing tires for passenger cars, other consumer markets and industrial and construction machinery.

Thomas Kenny, Director of Consumer Tire Development, says that combining their R&D activities into one location will strengthen the company’s R&D structure and accelerate the development of new products.

California is America’s Leading State in Innovation Spending

California is among the best states in the United States for infrastructure, employment, education, and investments related to innovation. According to a report released by WalletHub (the internet portal for personal finance education), the Golden State ranked in front of Washington, Massachusetts, Maryland, and the District of Columbia in 18 key indicators of innovation affability.

If you’ve been tuned into the state’s enterprise realm lately (or even from executing a simple google search), you can tell that it’s flooding with innovations (both startups and established companies.)

According to another report by business.org, a huge portion of the United States’ overall Research and Development spending has been flowing into the state to fund these inventive concepts. As a matter of fact, as of 2018, California accounts for approximately 31% of the United States’ total research and development spending.

Drawing on the Nationwide Science Foundation Info on Research and Development in 2016 (this is the latest Year for which numbers could be found) the report revealed that the Golden State was far outpacing other states.

Research and Development spending per capita

Californian companies ranked first in venture capital spending per capita. With a $1.1 million spending per capita, the state ranked ahead of Massachusetts, Washington D.C, Michigan, and Texas who had a per capita spending of $215,600, 196,730, $188,470, and $13,530 respectively.

This implies that California spent five times more per capita compared to any other state. Tying up the top ten in the enumeration include New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, with $157,150, $157,140, $137,330, $123,000, and $100,640 respectively.

On the other end of the spectrum, Alaska boasted the lowest spending per capita, with a staggering $340 in R&D spending per capita. West Virginia, Mississippi, Vermont, North Dakota, Louisiana, Montana, South Dakota, Hawaii, and Wyoming were all on this lower end of the list.

Ohio’s Shepherd Chemical Expands European Manufacturing and R&D Capacity in Mirecourt, France

Over the past century, the global chemical industry has witnessed a considerable transformation and innovation in terms of high-performance polymers, additives, adhesives, and catalysts as well as sustainable operational processes. One of the major stakeholders in the chemical industry is Ohio-based Shepherd Chemical Company which manufactures and develops technologically advanced, environment-friendly metal-based chemical products. Since its foundation in 1916, the company has been committed to adopt operational excellence and follow customer-based approach that offers direct relations to the clients.

Shepherd Chemical has three main strategic goals: to introduce high performing additives, catalysts and adhesion promoters keeping in view the needs of global customer base; to grow collectively by enhancing and expanding the capabilities of partner firms and to stick to the principles of sustainable development and safe working environment by promoting eco-friendly supply chain as envisioned in United Nations’ 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The investment by the company in research and development (R&D) and the expansion of different areas, e.g. optimizing Ohio operations and the current determination to capitalize 8.5 million USD for the proposed business expansions in Mirecourt site in France, signify the commitment to these goals. The site was previously acquired in 1994 to provide cobalt based rubber adhesion products.

It is significant to highlight that the company invests from a long-term perspective to support the growth of its customers, while also updating the existing product range and bringing innovation to the metal chemical industry. This can be justified by the fact how the company invested in two of its reactors in 2016, and how it is determined to make continuous improvements at Mirecourt as well as Ohio facilities. The installation of the new reactor at Mirecourt is expected to double the production in 2019.

Through providing sustainable and innovative metal chemical products to its customers, the Shepard Company has maintained a leading position in the global chemical industry. The recently proposed investment will help the company to not only increase its production capacity at the global level but also to maintain robust and longstanding relations with its clients and partners.