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On the eve of high-level policy discussions about the federal role in job creation, university technology transfer, and regional clusters, the Association of University Research Parks (AURP) releases "The Power of Place 2.0: The Power of Innovation--10 Steps for Creating Jobs, Improving Technology Commercialization, and Building Communities of Innovation". 

Innovation assets for creating jobs

"The Power of Innovation," an update to "The Power of Place: A National Strategy for Building America's Communities of Innovation," outlines the role the federal government can take using research parks and other innovation assets for creating jobs and remaining a front-runner in the global technology competition.

"In 'The Power of Place,' AURP demonstrated how geography and connected communities play a large role in innovation," said Brian Darmody, AURP President. "In 'The Power of Innovation,' we offer ten steps, from policy changes to selected investments, that Congress and the President can take quickly to leverage existing federal assets to create jobs, technology companies and communities of innovation, without creating new bureaucracies."

AURP releases "The Power of Innovation" shortly after the Senate Commerce Committee passed Senate Bill 583: Building A Stronger America Act, sponsored by Senator Mark Pryor. The bill will now be considered by the full Senate. Its companion bill, H.R. 4413: The SPRINT Act, has been referred to the House Committee on Science and Technology.

"Science parks provide a launch pad for economic activity in a community. They have a strong record of fostering talent, high tech innovation and job growth. Providing seed funding to create or expand these parks is a necessary investment for our economy as well as our global competitiveness," said Senator Mark Pryor.

The key to moving forward? According to Darmody, connectivity and flexibility in the federal government's investment in research spending, infrastructure support and other programs.

"The federal government, invests billions of dollars a year in research and development at universities and federal labs, and technology led economic development programs. We need better alignment among research universities, university research parks, technology incubators, sponsored program offices, and technology-transfer officials to meet better our nation's global technology competition," said Darmody.

About AURP: The Association of University Research Parks is a professional association of university related research and science parks. AURP's mission is to foster innovation, commercialization and economic growth through university, industry and government partnerships. For more information, visit AURP's Web site at www.aurp.net or contact Chelsea Simpson at chelseasimpson@aurp.net.

Global Sustainability

As the global conversation on sustainability heats up, this quarter's survey examined what steps companies are taking to become more environmentally responsible, and why they may be taking them.

• The most frequent "green" action among respondents' companies is reducing energy consumption in company facilities (48%).
  
• This was followed by reducing waste in production and packaging (30%) and promoting incentives and initiatives encouraging customers to be "greener" (21%).
  
• Least popular initiatives were reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from factories and plants (6%),
  
• Supporting legislation on environmental issues (7%)

Spur Innovation, Yes.  Regulate Abuses ... no.

While few are actively supporting legislation on environmental issues, sentiment toward governmental regulation of environmental responsibility is split among CFOs. Though nearly half (49%) believe regulation a bad response, more than one-third (37%) support government incentives to spur innovation, 14 percent support limits on emissions, and 9 percent support cap and trade and other financial incentives.

28% of Companies are Doing NOTHING

Perhaps disappointingly, 28 percent of CFOs indicated that their companies are not taking any actions to make their companies more sustainable. With regard to those companies who are taking actions, the survey revealed a number of motivators.

Cost Efficiencies Main Driver

More than one-third cited cost efficiencies as the main driver, 31 percent refer to personal priorities of their leadership as the cause, 29 percent say enhancement of public perception is the reason, and 24 percent point to a desire to emerge as a committed leader in the industry.

Additional Findings:

Other topics examined in this quarter's survey included International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), CFOs' perceptions of Barack Obama's presidency nearly one year after his inauguration, and the impact of the SEC's enhanced disclosures on risk, compensation and corporate governance in annual reports. With regard to IFRS, an overwhelming majority of CFOs (80%) are confident that IFRS will be adopted, but do not know when. CFOs' perceptions of President Obama remain low, with 64 percent reporting their U.S. economic outlook has weakened since he took office.

Full survey results and historical data comparisons are available at www.cfosurveys.com or from Nicole Madison at Nicole.Madison@fd.com. The study is also available online at the Financial Executives Research Foundation bookstore and on the Baruch College home page at www.baruch.cuny.edu.

CFOs looking toward 2010 anticipate positive increases in a number of areas. Key areas of expected increases include:

• Net earnings expected to rise by 22 percent (more than double anticipated Q3 mean increase of 11%)
• Revenue anticipated to grow by 10 percent
• Capital spending expected to grow by 8.9% (compared with an increase of 1.1% in Q3)
• Technology spending anticipated to increase by 6.1 percent
• Inventory anticipated to increase by 2.5 percent (compared with Q3, where CFOs predicted reductions of -1.9%)
• Hiring expected to grow by 2.9 percent (up from 1.7% in Q3)
• Price of products expected to grow by 1.13 percent (up from the Q3 projected increase of 0.7%)

When CFOs were asked this quarter to identify areas for increases in 2010, marketing and advertising and business acquisitions were also top of mind, with 39 percent of CFOs planning to increase marketing and advertising and 33 percent of CFOs planning increases in business acquisitions. In addition, while 37 percent of CFOs reported they will cutback on executive perks, a small number of respondents remain (4%) who plan to increase executive perks in the coming year.

Efficiency is the New Norm

"The return to a place where CFOs are anticipating increased earnings and revenue provides encouragement that those companies that have endured the downturn are ready to come back strong," said Marie Hollein, CEO and President, Financial Executives International. "As far as the new normal is concerned, efficiency is the name of the game."

When asked what their organizations would continue to do as they begin to emerge from the recession, nearly nine out of ten CFOs reported that they would continue process efficiencies put into place during the downturn.

Two-thirds (66%) said they will continue technological efficiencies, and one-third (34%) plan to continue the restructuring of their business.

CFOs Taking Steps to Be "Greener" but Debate Continues Over Regulation

As the global conversation on sustainability heats up, this quarter's survey examined what steps companies are taking to become more environmentally responsible, and why they may be taking them.

The most frequent "green" action among respondents' companies is

• reducing energy consumption in company facilities (48%).
  

This was followed by

• reducing waste in production and packaging (30%)
  

promoting incentives and initiatives encouraging customers to be "greener" (21%).

Least popular initiatives were reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from factories and plants (6%), and supporting legislation on environmental issues (7%).

Support of Environmental Legislation is Split

While few are actively supporting legislation on environmental issues, sentiment toward governmental regulation of environmental responsibility is split among CFOs.

49% believe regulation a bad response,

37% support government incentives to spur innovation,

14 percent support limits on emissions,

9 percent support cap and trade and other financial incentives.

Perhaps disappointingly, 28 percent of CFOs indicated that their companies are not taking any actions to make their companies more sustainable. With regard to those companies who are taking actions, the survey revealed a number of motivators. More than one-third cited cost efficiencies as the main driver, 31 percent refer to personal priorities of their leadership as the cause, 29 percent say enhancement of public perception is the reason, and 24 percent point to a desire to emerge as a committed leader in the industry.

Earth: Blue Beauty

Find Green Employers!

With Environmental Defense Fund's interactive map of California's Green Economy

Green buildings Energy generation
Energy efficiency Transportation

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA awarded the Los Angeles Conservation Corps $700,000 in August, 2009, funded in part through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to provide job training for 160 students to learn the latest environmental technologies and prepare them for "green" jobs.

"Through this Recovery Act funding, EPA and our community partners will provide training and environmental career opportunities to California residents," said Laura Yoshii, EPA's acting Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "These grants will help ensure that a trained work force is ready to clean up contaminated sites and revitalize them for productive reuse in our communities."

Brownfields Job training

The Los Angeles Conservation Corps will receive $700,000 in brownfields job training grants which will be used to recruit residents from the city's impoverished Empowerment Zone. The funding includes $500,000 in Recovery Act funding and $200,000 in other EPA brownfields funds.

Green Job Categories

The Los Angeles Conservation Corps will train and graduate 160 students, place at least 130 graduates in environmental technician jobs, and track students for at least one year.

Green Job Training

The Los Angeles Conservation Corps' training program will consist of approximately 400 training hours in hazardous waste health and safety, environmental technologies, lead and asbestos abatement, refinery safety, forklift training, and general industry standards. Four certifications will be offered.

LACC previously received over $400,000 from EPA and with those funds they trained 126 people and placed 86% in jobs with average salaries of $18/hour.

"Getting trained for green jobs makes me feel like I'm making a difference, doing something good for the generations to come," said Brunny Smith, a recent graduate of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps. "I thank the Los Angeles Conservation Corps for giving me the tools, it's up to me to do the work."

Since 1998, EPA has awarded more than $25 million in brownfields job training funds. EPA established the Brownfields Job Training Program to help residents take advantage of jobs created by the assessment, as well as to spur cleanup and sustainable reuse of brownfields sites and to ensure that the economic benefits derived from brownfields redevelopment remain in the affected communities.

Brownfields

Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (Brownfields Law) was passed. The Brownfields Law expanded the definition of what is considered a brownfield, so communities may now focus on mine-scarred lands or sites contaminated by petroleum or the manufacture and distribution of illegal drugs.

EPA's Brownfields Program encourages redevelopment of America's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009, and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at Recovery.gov.

Information on ARRA brownfields job training grants and other EPA Brownfields activities under the Recovery Act: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/eparecovery/index.htm

Information on brownfields job training grants: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/job.htm

The Climate Registry Adopts First Protocol Addressing Emissions from the Electric Power Sector

The Electric Power Sector (EPS) Protocol adopted by The Climate Registry is the first set of standards for North American electric power organizations to comprehensively address measuring and reporting the entire range of GHG emissions sources associated with the generation and delivery of electric power.  The EPS protocol serves as an annex to The Registry's General Reporting Protocol. 

Local Government Operations Protocol Provides Valuable Guidance to Local Governments

The Climate Registry has adopted the Local Government Operations (LGO) Protocol, a comprehensive reporting protocol that should be used as a stand-alone document by local governments for consistent and rigorous GHG emissions reporting.  By utilizing the protocol, local governments can create emissions inventories that meet the highest standards of reporting and are comparable with other local government emissions inventories.

Oil and Gas Production Protocol Update

The Registry is partnering with the Western Regional Air Partnership, California Air Resources Board and New Mexico Environmental Department to develop an industry-specific reporting protocol for the Oil and Gas Exploration and Production sector.  A scoping paper for this process can be downloaded from The Registry's website.


The Climate Registry is a nonprofit collaboration among North American states, provinces, territories and Native Sovereign Nations that sets consistent and transparent standards to calculate, verify and publicly report greenhouse gas emissions into a single registry.  The Registry supports both voluntary and mandatory reporting programs and provides comprehensive, accurate data to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
 
For information about joining The Registry, please visit www.theclimateregistry.org.

A new leadership group is poised to steer Silicon Valley into a "green-tech revolution" that could keep the valley from being displaced by other regions around the world.

Energy is the only field offering the same range of opportunities as information technology, say regional leaders.

The "Greenprint Project" goal is to develop a new, 21st-century energy system that would displace the oil-dependent economy and create a second Industrial Revolution that matches the impact of the massive social and economic shift of the mid-1800s.

Chris DiGiorgio of Accenture, Inc. and San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, unveiled the Greenprint Project, described as a blueprint initiative to turn global climate change into a thriving local industry. The plan seeks ways to build a new infrastructure from the ground up.

The Bay Area initiative would

• attract or train talent to meet needs of the new industry
• retrain workers from industries that are contracting
• invent new energy technologies to replace the oil-dependent economy
• build a support system for improved housing, health care, education and ancillary services that will keep people coming to or staying in the Bay Area

Applied Materials is providing a $300,000 donation over the next two years to fund a "director of climate prosperity" position for the Greenprint project.

Russell Hancock, president and CEO of Joint Venture, which is the initiative coordinator, sounded a warning that the national economic woes have begun to impact the valley, which had been relatively insulated from the worst effects. More bad economic news should be expected throughout the year as companies continue to contract.

Implementing a regional infrastructure that includes building a network of charging stations and retrofitting the 90% of existing homes and offices with energy-efficient technologies -- will allow the new energy products to be applied at home and position the suppliers for broader market growth. Venture capital investment in clean technology in Silicon Valley increased 94 percent in 2008 to boost new companies and new industry sectors.

But investment isn't limited to new companies. Firms such as Cypress Semiconductor, Applied Materials and PG&E are investing in the growing solar and smart-metering and plug-in markets.

Communities are entering the green regional initiative, as well. San Jose's "green vision" aims to show the world how energy efficiency and the new clean technologies can stimulate the economy and bring financial returns. Within 15 years, San Jose plans to create 25,000 clean-tech jobs and reduce per capita energy use by 50%. The city wants to build or retrofit 50 million square feet of green buildings and ensure that 100% of its public fleet will run on alternative fuels. All of San Jose's electrical power is expected to come from clean renewable resources

The regional collaboration hopes to encompass business, government, academia, labor and community organizations. The green economy isn't a shoo-in for American leadership in the global marketplace.

Fareed Zakaria, international editor at Newsweek, said Silicon Valley must bolster its social and support network if it hopes to remain a global player. Zakaria said everywhere he has gone in the world -- in China, Korea and Singapore -- he saw America slipping from having the biggest or best, from Ferris wheels and shopping malls to gambling centers. To stay ahead on the new global racetrack, Silicon Valley will have to get away from the prevailing belief that has swayed the country since 1979: that America has a unique place in the global economy.

Silicon Valley must be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the federal stimulus package and other energy policies by improving a flagging social network exhibited by career opportunities and home ownership. "Home ownership is elusive for many and has squeezed the middle class into an "hour-glass" demographic of the rich and the poor, with only a small percentage in the middle. Only 29% of residents can afford a median-priced home in Silicon Valley, compared with 45% statewide, Hancock said.

Community infrastructure attracts workers to an area -- affordable housing, good education, adult-worker retraining and affordable health care. The best and brightest will flock to whichever countries offers a better way of life.

To be successful, Silicon Valley can't invent the infrastructure in a vacuum -- it will take large infusions of cash and policy support from a well-managed government to achieve dominance in the new world order, Zakaria warned.

"Imagine 100 years from now. Imagine the irony that would strike (analysts). We've gone around telling people to 'open yourselves up ... to the American way of life.' America has managed to fulfill its great historical mission. It globalized the world; it just forgot to globalize itself," he said.

A carbon-free economy refers to the amount of power generated from high-carbon / or petroleum sources.

Generation of energy and use of carbon fuels in concentrated in coal, petroleum and natural gas. Each carbon source carries a different amount of carbon impact. Weather as well as production capabilites and changes affect the level of carbon-intensive energy generation. Alternative energy is the recommended solution for a carbon economy. Those alternative energies are renewables: solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, etc.

California had a carbon peak in 2004 due primarily to the low snowpack that year. Because of the limited capacity for hydroelectric generation, more power was generated by natural gas or coal plants.

At the end of 2005, a coal plant located in Nevada and serving Southern California was shut down, and replacement power came from an in-state natural gas plant.

California's Carbon Economy continues a steady downward trend in the direction of a carbon- free economy. The downward trend could mean either that the State's economy is growing at a faster rate than GHG emissions or that emissions are decreasing at a faster rate than the economy is growing.

Over the long term and on a per-capita basis, California has made significant progress in delinking economic growth from GHG emissions. While GDP per capita has increased by 28% in 16 years, gross emissions per capita are 10% lower than in 1990.

Knowing how the carbon free economy will affect green careers and green jobs in California is part of a good career planning strategy. We suggest you read the annual "CALIFORNIA GREEN INNOVATION INDEX" (2009) to keep pace with green career data that will help you develop appropriate job skills and job search strategies to keep pace with the growing green economic shifts.

The Index provides insight on a California culture that includes three decades of ambitious state environmental and energy policies, putting California on a path to energy independence and one of the lowest per capita carbon footprints in the nation, all the while growing one of the most vigorous economies in the world.

Every job can be a greener job by engaging EVERY employee, EVERY supplier, EVERY customer in energy efficiency and natural resources conservation.

By implementing cost-effective energy efficiency projects, annual utility bills can be reduced up to 20%. The simple reasons are that efficiency upgrades reduce annual maintenance costs, increase cost savings, conserve resources and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Here are additional ways EVERY job can be a greener job:

1. Save Energy
2. Drive Clean and Drive Less
3. Use Green Energy
4. Recycle and Cut Waste
5. Save Water
6. Buy Green
7. Build Green

Need a boost to get you started:  try the website coolcalifornia.org for more information and ideas about incentives, resouces, and regulatory compliance kicks in your "buts!"

http://coolcalifornia.org/article/money-to-get-you-started