How Does Your State Rank on the Innovation Scale?

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Innovation Is Key

Innovation is crucial to sustainable economic growth, but for innovation to occur businesses must have both the incentive and the capacity to invest.

As innovation is key to the United States’ economy as a whole, many U.S. states are showing off while others are falling short when it comes to patents, R&D, venture capital and academics.

So which states are excelling in innovation and which ones are lacking, you ask?

Patents

The top states in patents per population include:

  1. Wisconsin
  2. Washington
  3. Texas
  4. Utah
  5. California
  6. Massachusetts

The bottom five patented states include:

  1. Alaska
  2. Mississippi
  3. Tennessee
  4. West Virginia
  5. Wyoming

Venture Capital

The top states for venture capital are:

  1. Massachusetts
  2. California
  3. Utah
  4. Washington
  5. Colorado

The lowest are:

  1. Arkansas
  2. Alaska
  3. Hawaii
  4. Wyoming
  5. Iowa
  6. South Dakota

R&D Spending

The leaders in R&D spending are:

  1. Delaware
  2. Michigan
  3. California
  4. Connecticut
  5. Massachusetts

The states that spent the least on R&D include:

  1. Arkansas
  2. Wyoming
  3. Louisiana
  4. Alaska
  5. Mississippi

Academics

As for academics, the top states include:

  1. New Mexico
  2. Maryland
  3. Rhode Island
  4. Massachusetts
  5. Alabama

The lowest academic rankings were for:

  1. Louisiana
  2. Arkansas
  3. Delaware
  4. Wyoming
  5. Nevada

If you are a U.S. based company conducting R&D you may be eligible for the federal and/or state research tax credit. Please contact a Swanson Reed representative to find out further information.

Hawaiian Company Selected for Innovation Incubator

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Honolulu-based Ibis Networks has been selected for Wells Fargo’s Innovation Incubator, the first and only Hawaii company chosen for the program.

Ibis Networks and fellow Energy Excelerator startup Geli were among 10 companies chosen for the bank’s five-year, $10 million startup program, which looks to further energy efficiency by accelerating sustainable commercial-building technologies.

The startups in the program will be given up to $250,000 in cash and in-kind technical assistance to advance their technologies.

The companies will also have the opportunity to beta test within Wells Fargo’s real estate footprint.

The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator program launched in 2014 and is funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Ibis recently closed a $2.5 million series A financing, which attracted investors such as Ulupono and EEx Fund One. It has also partnered with Honolulu-based Energy Excelerator and Hawaii Energy to install 1,300 Intelisockets across three University of Hawaii campuses.

Geli, which develops software products that design, automate and manage energy storage, recently closed a $7 million series A and is currently working on designing its Hawaii project as a part of Energy Excelerator’s demonstration track.

All Hawaiian companies conducting research and development and creating innovative products or processes are eligible for the state R&D tax credit. To learn more, contact a Swanson Reed specialist by clicking here.

Hawaii Looking To Promote Innovation to Benefit Local Industries

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Legislators in Hawaii are requesting for the development of a working group dedicated to blockchain technology.

If passed, House Bill 1481, first filed on 25th January, would lead to the creation of a group dedicated to researching “the uses of and best practices regarding blockchain technology”.

The long-term goal of the bill is to seek ways for the technology “to benefit local industries, residents and the State of Hawaii”.

If the bill is passed, the working group would be assigned the duty of preparing a report that investigates potential use cases specific to Hawaii, while also presenting information on how the state itself could leverage the tech.

The bill’s backers suggest that the state should look to the tech as a means for encouraging visitors from abroad to spend – thereby boosting the local economy.

“Digital currencies such as bitcoin have broad benefits for Hawaii. A large portion of Hawaii’s tourism market comes from Asia where the use of bitcoin as a virtual currency is expanding,” the bill reads. “Hawaii has the unique opportunity to explore the use of blockchain technology to make it easier for visitors to consume local goods and services and to drive the tourism economy.”

Hawaii offers an R&D tax credit in which any individual, partnership or corporations may receive for conducting qualifying activities. To find out more of the R&D credit, please contact a Swanson Reed specialist by clicking here.

Hawaii’s Emerging Agriculture Technology Industry

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The farming industry in Hawaii is turning to all things tech.

“We’re seeing robots that can plant, water and seed a 10-by-10 plot, pick strawberries and shake mac nut trees. There are infrared sensors to show you how hot the plants are and how much water they need, and drones that can fertilize in perfect amounts,” says Cole Santos, co-founder of Maui Makers.

AgFunder, an online marketplace in ag company ventures, says investment in agriculture technology companies reached $4.6 billion in 2015, double the previous year.

The majority of technology-driven innovation targets valuable large-scale agribusinesses, primarily in the Midwest and along the West Coast, but things are different in Hawaii. The local farming scene is in transition, resulting in a slower adoption of new technologies and processes, says Joshua Uyehara, president of the Kekaha Agriculture Association board of directors.

“As the plantations have gone away, there’s been a void. It’s been a struggle to figure out our agriculture industry. As tech and ag progress in the world around us, we need to figure out how to step back into an industry that hasn’t been standing still. How do we jump back on the treadmill?”

There is a growing community focused on developing innovative solutions for smaller farms that also address Hawaii’s clean energy and food security goals. Among those active in the area are the state’s Energy Excelerator, Blue Startups, XLR8UH and Ulupono Initiative.

“Energy and agriculture are Hawaii’s two biggest advantages as well as our two biggest pain points,” says Tarik Sultan, managing partner at XLR8UH. “We need energy innovation because we’re paying four times more than everyone else. We need agricultural innovation because we have limited lands and resources. In the case of a catastrophic event, Hawaii wouldn’t last two weeks.”

Hawaii offers a tax credit to local companies performing any type of research and development. Thus, the farming companies turning to technology and innovative solutions would receive a credit from the government for doing so. To find out more about the federal and state R&D tax credit, contact one of our specialists by clicking here.