Category: Business conditions
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National Lab: U.S. Energy, Fossil Fuels Use Up in 2010
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California reports total U.S. energy use grew in 2010, particularly in the burning of fossil fuels. The lab’s annual accounting also shows the nation’s overall renewable fuel use in 2010 remained about the same as 2009, but wind energy and biomass power increased. Total energy use in the U.S. grew…
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Pharma, Technology Lead Worldwide Corporate R&D Rebound
Research and development spending by the largest 1,400 corporate R&D spenders worldwide increased by more than 4 percent to €465 billion ($US 630 billion) in 2010, reversing a nearly 2 percent decline in 2009. The data are compiled in the European Commission’s EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, released today. Pharmaceuticals/biotechnology, technology hardware, and automotive companies…
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DoE Science Review Boosts Transport, Grid, Quicker Payoffs
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) today released its first Quadrennial Technology Review report, an assessment of the Department’s technology research and development portfolios. The report urges the department to focus its R&D more on transportation than stationary energy production, grid modernization, and technologies closer to fruition than is now often the case. The report…
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Mapping Project to Find Innovation, Entrepreneurial Networks
The University of Maryland in College Park will develop analytical mapping tools that identify innovation and entrepreneurial networks, and help spot opportunities for new business collaborations. The project, funded by part of a $500,000 grant from U.S. Department of Commerce, is based on research conducted by a Maryland doctoral candidate in urban and regional planning.…
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Sandia Lab Contributes Nearly $1B to California Economy
An analysis of economic output generated by Sandia National Laboratories shows the lab contributes nearly $1 billion to the California economy, particularly in and around its Livermore campus in the Bay Area. The report was prepared by the Center for Economic Development (CED) at California State University in Chico. The CED report defines economic output…
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People Without Jobs and Insurance Skip Medicine, Health Care
A report from the Commonwealth Fund in New York says the vast majority of people who lost both their jobs and health insurance in the past two years skipped needed health care or did not fill prescriptions because of the cost. The data for the study come from the Commonwealth Fund’s 2010 Biennial Health Insurance…
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University 2010 Start-Ups, Patents Rise; Licensing Stalls
The number of start-up companies and U.S. patents applied for and issued based on research at American universities gained in 2010 compared to 2009, according to the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), an organization of technology transfer specialists. However, the licensing of those findings and creation of new products leveled off or fell in…
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Top European Corporate R&D to Increase 5 Pct a Year
Leading R&D investing companies based in the EU expect their global research and development investments to grow by five percent annually from 2011 to 2013, according to a survey released today by the European Commission in Brussels. The findings by the EC’s Joint Research Centre are based on survey responses from 205 mainly larger companies…
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To Grow Economies with Small Businesses, Think Local
Economists at Pennsylvania State University have found that small, locally owned businesses and start-ups tend to generate higher incomes for people in a community. Stephan Goetz and graduate student David Fleming from the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development at Penn State published their findings in the August issue of the journal Economic Development Quarterly…
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Study: Start-Ups Hiring and Keeping Fewer Workers
A new study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation indicates recent start-up businesses — like those formed by scientists to commercialize their research findings — are not generating the numbers of jobs created by earlier start-up businesses. The foundation says the trend of less hiring by start-ups pre-dates the 2007-2009 recession. The Kauffman findings show…