I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3918 

To amend sections 25 and 27 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation 

Act of 1980 to improve the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship 

and regional innovation programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 16, 2014 

Mr. KILMER (for himself, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. 

PETERS of California, Ms. ESTY, and Mr. BERA of California) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, 

and Technology 

A BILL 

To amend sections 25 and 27 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 to improve the Office 

of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and regional innovation programs. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Regional Innovation 

5 and Entrepreneurship Enhancement Act of 2014’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP. 

2 Section 25 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Inno3 vation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3720) is amended to read 

4 as follows: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 25. OFFICE OF INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEUR6 SHIP. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish an 

8 Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship with a Director 

9 and full-time staff to foster innovation and the commer10 cialization of new technologies, products, processes, and 

11 services with the goal of promoting productivity and eco12 nomic growth in the United States. 

13 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Office of Innovation and Entre14 preneurship shall be responsible for— 

15 ‘‘(1) developing policies to accelerate innovation 

16 and advance the commercialization of research and 

17 development, including federally funded research and 

18 development; 

19 ‘‘(2) identifying existing barriers to innovation 

20 and commercialization, including access to capital 

21 and other resources, and ways to overcome those 

22 barriers, particularly in States participating in the 

23 Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Re24 search; 

25 ‘‘(3) providing access to relevant data, research, 

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1 cialization, including best practices for university2 based incubators and accelerators; 

3 ‘‘(4) overseeing the implementation of the loan 

4 guarantee programs and the Regional Innovation 

5 Program established under sections 26 and 27, re6 spectively; 

7 ‘‘(5) developing, within 180 days after the date 

8 of enactment of the Regional Innovation and Entre9 preneurship Enhancement Act of 2014, and updat10 ing at least every 5 years, a strategic plan to guide 

11 the activities of the Office of Innovation and Entre12 preneurship that shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) specify and prioritize near-term and 

14 long-term goals, objectives, and policies to ac15 celerate innovation and advance the commer16 cialization of research and development, includ17 ing federally funded research and development, 

18 set forth the anticipated time for achieving the 

19 objectives, and identify metrics for use in as20 sessing progress toward such objectives; 

21 ‘‘(B) describe how the Department of 

22 Commerce is working in conjunction with other 

23 Federal agencies to foster innovation and com24 mercialization across the United States; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) provide a summary of the activities, 

2 including the development of metrics to evalu3 ate regional innovation strategies undertaken 

4 through the Regional Innovation Research and 

5 Information Program established under section 

6 27(c); 

7 ‘‘(6) strengthening collaboration on and coordi8 nation of policies relating to innovation and commer9 cialization, including those focused on the needs of 

10 small businesses and rural communities, within the 

11 Department of Commerce, between the Department 

12 of Commerce and other Federal agencies, and be13 tween the Department of Commerce and appropriate 

14 State government agencies and institutions, as ap15 propriate; and 

16 ‘‘(7) any other duties as determined by the Sec17 retary. 

18 ‘‘(c) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 

19 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es20 tablish or designate an advisory committee, which 

21 shall meet at least twice each fiscal year, to provide 

22 advice to the Secretary on carrying out the duties 

23 and responsibilities of the Office of Innovation and 

24 Entrepreneurship. 


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1 ‘‘(2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The advisory 

2 committee shall prepare a report, to be submitted to 

3 the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of 

4 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

5 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen6 ate every 3 years. The first report shall be submitted 

7 not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 

8 the Regional Innovation and Entrepreneurship En9 hancement Act of 2014 and shall include— 

10 ‘‘(A) an assessment of the strategic plan 

11 developed under subsection (b)(5) and the 

12 progress made in implementing the plan and 

13 the duties of the Office of Innovation and En14 trepreneurship; 

15 ‘‘(B) an assessment of how the Office of 

16 Innovation and Entrepreneurship is working 

17 with other Federal agencies to meet the goals 

18 and duties of the office; and 

19 ‘‘(C) any recommendations for how the Of20 fice of Innovation and Entrepreneurship could 

21 be improved. 

22 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

23 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 

24 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2014 through 2018 

25 to carry out this section.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. REGIONAL INNOVATION PROGRAM. 

2 Section 27 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Inno3 vation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3722) is amended to read 

4 as follows: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 27. REGIONAL INNOVATION PROGRAM. 

6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab7 lish a regional innovation program to encourage and sup8 port the development of regional innovation strategies, in9 cluding regional innovation clusters. 

10 ‘‘(b) CLUSTER GRANTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As part of the program es12 tablished under subsection (a), the Secretary may 

13 award grants on a competitive basis to eligible re14 cipients for activities relating to the formation and 

15 development of regional innovation clusters. 

16 ‘‘(2) PERMISSIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Grants award17 ed under this subsection may be used for activities 

18 determined appropriate by the Secretary, including 

19 the following: 

20 ‘‘(A) Feasibility studies. 

21 ‘‘(B) Planning activities. 

22 ‘‘(C) Technical assistance. 

23 ‘‘(D) Developing or strengthening commu24 nication and collaboration between and among 

25 participants of a regional innovation cluster. 


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1 ‘‘(E) Attracting additional participants to 

2 a regional innovation cluster. 

3 ‘‘(F) Facilitating market development of 

4 products and services developed by a regional 

5 innovation cluster, including through dem6 onstration, deployment, technology transfer, 

7 and commercialization activities. 

8 ‘‘(G) Developing relationships between a 

9 regional innovation cluster and entities or clus10 ters in other regions. 

11 ‘‘(H) Interacting with the public and State 

12 and local governments to meet the goals of the 

13 cluster. 

14 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT DEFINED.—In this 

15 subsection, the term ‘eligible recipient’ means— 

16 ‘‘(A) a State; 

17 ‘‘(B) an Indian tribe; 

18 ‘‘(C) a city or other political subdivision of 

19 a State; 

20 ‘‘(D) an entity that— 

21 ‘‘(i) is a nonprofit organization, an in22 stitution of higher education, a public-pri23 vate partnership, a science or research 

24 park, a Federal laboratory, or an economic 


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1 development organization or similar entity; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(ii) has an application that is sup4 ported by a State or a political subdivision 

5 of a State; or 

6 ‘‘(E) a consortium of any of the entities 

7 described in subparagraphs (A) through (D). 

8 ‘‘(4) APPLICATION.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible recipient 

10 shall submit an application to the Secretary at 

11 such time, in such manner, and containing such 

12 information and assurances as the Secretary 

13 may require. 

14 ‘‘(B) COMPONENTS.—The application shall 

15 include, at a minimum, a description of the re16 gional innovation cluster supported by the pro17 posed activity, including a description of— 

18 ‘‘(i) whether the regional innovation 

19 cluster is supported by the private sector, 

20 State and local governments, and other rel21 evant stakeholders; 

22 ‘‘(ii) how the existing participants in 

23 the regional innovation cluster will encour24 age and solicit participation by all types of 

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1 tion, including newly formed entities and 

2 those rival existing participants; 

3 ‘‘(iii) the extent to which the regional 

4 innovation cluster is likely to stimulate in5 novation and have a positive impact on re6 gional economic growth and development; 

7 ‘‘(iv) whether the participants in the 

8 regional innovation cluster have access to, 

9 or contribute to, a well-trained workforce; 

10 ‘‘(v) whether the participants in the 

11 regional innovation cluster are capable of 

12 attracting additional funds from non-Fed13 eral sources; and 

14 ‘‘(vi) the likelihood that the partici15 pants in the regional innovation cluster will 

16 be able to sustain activities once grant 

17 funds under this subsection have been ex18 pended. 

19 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION.—The Sec20 retary shall give special consideration to appli21 cations from regions that contain communities 

22 negatively impacted by trade. 

23 ‘‘(5) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION.—The Secretary 

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1 ent who agrees to collaborate with local workforce 

2 investment area boards. 

3 ‘‘(6) COST SHARE.—The Secretary may not 

4 provide more than 50 percent of the total cost of 

5 any activity funded under this subsection. 

6 ‘‘(7) OUTREACH TO RURAL COMMUNITIES.— 

7 The Secretary shall conduct outreach to public and 

8 private sector entities in rural communities to en9 courage those entities to participate in regional inno10 vation cluster activities under this subsection. 

11 ‘‘(8) FUNDING.—The Secretary may accept 

12 funds from other Federal agencies to support grants 

13 and activities under this subsection. 

14 ‘‘(c) REGIONAL INNOVATION RESEARCH AND INFOR15 MATION PROGRAM.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As part of the program es17 tablished under subsection (a), the Secretary shall 

18 establish a regional innovation research and infor19 mation program— 

20 ‘‘(A) to gather, analyze, and disseminate 

21 information on best practices for regional inno22 vation strategies (including regional innovation 

23 clusters), including information relating to how 

24 innovation, productivity, and economic develop25 ment can be maximized through such strategies; 


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1 ‘‘(B) to provide technical assistance, in2 cluding through the development of technical 

3 assistance guides, for the development and im4 plementation of regional innovation strategies 

5 (including regional innovation clusters); 

6 ‘‘(C) to support the development of rel7 evant metrics and measurement standards to 

8 evaluate regional innovation strategies (includ9 ing regional innovation clusters), including the 

10 extent to which such strategies stimulate inno11 vation, productivity, and economic development; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(D) to collect and make available data on 

14 regional innovation cluster activity in the 

15 United States, including data on— 

16 ‘‘(i) the size, specialization, and com17 petitiveness of regional innovation clusters; 

18 ‘‘(ii) the regional domestic product 

19 contribution, total jobs and earnings by 

20 key occupations, establishment size, nature 

21 of specialization, patents, Federal research 

22 and development spending, and other rel23 evant information for regional innovation 

24 clusters; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) supply chain product and service 

2 flows within and between regional innova3 tion clusters. 

4 ‘‘(2) RESEARCH GRANTS.—The Secretary may 

5 award research grants on a competitive basis to sup6 port and further the goals of the program estab7 lished under this subsection. 

8 ‘‘(3) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—Data 

9 and analysis compiled by the Secretary under the 

10 program established in this subsection shall be made 

11 available to other Federal agencies, State and local 

12 governments, and nonprofit and for-profit entities. 

13 ‘‘(4) REGIONAL INNOVATION GRANT PRO14 GRAM.—The Secretary shall incorporate data and 

15 analysis relating to any grant under subsection (b) 

16 into the program established under this subsection. 

17 ‘‘(d) INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To the maximum extent 

19 practicable, the Secretary shall ensure that the ac20 tivities carried out under this section are coordinated 

21 with, and do not duplicate the efforts of, other pro22 grams at the Department of Commerce or other 

23 Federal agencies. 

24 ‘‘(2) COLLABORATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

2 explore and pursue collaboration with other 

3 Federal agencies, including through multi4 agency funding opportunities, on regional inno5 vation strategies. 

6 ‘‘(B) SMALL BUSINESSES.—The Secretary 

7 shall ensure that such collaboration with Fed8 eral agencies prioritizes the needs and chal9 lenges of small businesses. 

10 ‘‘(e) EVALUATION.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years 

12 after the date of enactment of the America COM13 PETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, the Secretary 

14 shall enter into a contract with an independent enti15 ty, such as the National Academy of Sciences, to 

16 conduct an evaluation of the program established 

17 under subsection (a). 

18 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The evaluation shall in19 clude— 

20 ‘‘(A) whether the program is achieving its 

21 goals; 

22 ‘‘(B) any recommendations for how the 

23 program may be improved; and 

24 ‘‘(C) a recommendation as to whether the 

25 program should be continued or terminated. 


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1 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 ‘‘(1) REGIONAL INNOVATION CLUSTER.—The 

3 term ‘regional innovation cluster’ means a geo4 graphically bounded network of similar, synergistic, 

5 or complementary entities that— 

6 ‘‘(A) are engaged in or with a particular 

7 industry sector; 

8 ‘‘(B) have active channels for business 

9 transactions and communication; 

10 ‘‘(C) share specialized infrastructure, labor 

11 markets, and services; and 

12 ‘‘(D) leverage the region’s unique competi13 tive strengths to stimulate innovation and cre14 ate jobs. 

15 ‘‘(2) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means one of 

16 the several States, the District of Columbia, the 

17 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 

18 Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 

19 Northern Mariana Islands, or any other territory or 

20 possession of the United States. 

21 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

22 are authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for each 

23 of fiscal years 2014 through 2018 to carry out this sec24 tion.’’. 

Æ 


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