November 7, 2014
This
week, Secretary Penny Pritzker traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to deliver remarks
at the “Discover Global Markets: Sub-Saharan Africa” Conference, which focused
on helping U.S. companies develop trade and investment opportunities in Africa.
During her remarks, Secretary Pritzker discussed the Administration’s efforts
to strengthen commercial engagement between the United States and Africa. She
also announced the appointment of 15 private sector leaders to the newly
established President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa.
Around
Commerce, USPTO wrote five steps and resources to get you started on the road
to protecting your invention, MBDA highlighted the 44 business centers where
minority business entrepreneurs can receive technical expertise, and PAGE
Entrepreneur, Alexa von Tobel, shared the secrets to her success.
All
the best,
Wendy
Secretary Penny
Pritzker Emphasizes Importance of North American Platform with Canada’s
Minister of International Trade Ed Fast and Mexico’s Secretary of Economy
Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal- During her trip to Canada, Secretary
Pritzker attended the fourth North American Competitiveness and Innovation
Conference in Toronto. Secretary Pritzker,
Minister Fast and Secretary Guajardo talked about additional areas of
cooperation that will help them add to the success that has already been
achieved, and build upon the continent’s many competitive advantages.
Secretary
Pritzker Works to Promote More Business in Africa-
Secretary Pritzker traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to emphasize the importance of
helping U.S. companies increase their business in Africa at the “Discover
Global Markets: Sub-Saharan Africa” Conference. Secretary Pritzker
reiterated America’s commitment to solving the Ebola crisis, while emphasizing
that fears about the virus should not get in the way of the facts on the ground
in Africa.
Five Steps for
Protecting Your Invention- While getting a patent is a complex undertaking, these
five steps can keep your intellectual property secure: pre-filling, file a
provisional application, micro entity Status, Pro Bono and Pro Se programs, and
patent maintenance fees.
PAGE
Entrepreneurs in Their Own Words – Alexa von Tobel- Alexa von Tobel, Presidential Ambassador for Global
Entrepreneurship (PAGE), believes that if you can teach people to take their
little seed of an idea and feed it properly, they can not only change the
economy and the country, but maybe even the globe. From LearnVest to PAGE,
Alexa von Tobel is determined to enable more people to take control of their
finances and empower others to create something they are passionate about.
MBDA Business
Centers Provide Technical Expertise Helping Minority Business Entrepreneurs
Reach Success-
With an eco-system of 44 MBDA Business Centers located across the U.S. and in
Puerto Rico, the Agency’s national programs and initiatives provide increased
access to contracts, capital and markets.
Investing in
Manufacturing Communities Partnership Launches Second Round of Competition- The Department
of Commerce and 11 federal agencies with over $1.3 billion in economic
development funding brought together more than 300 people from across the
country to share best practices in building local competitiveness and to launch
the second round of the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership
competition.
Patent Examiner
Technical Training: Connecting Scientific Experts with Patent Examiners to
Strengthen the Patent System- Patent Examiner Technical Training
Program allows scientists, engineers, professors, industrial designers, and
other technology experts the opportunity to provide technical training directly
to patent examiners.
Tapping
Stakeholders to Help Accelerate Innovation and Entrepreneurship- The specific
challenge that will be issued to the NACIE members at their first
organizational meeting on December 5 will be to look at what transformational
investments and policies the federal government should facilitate that would
help communities, businesses, and the workforce compete globally.
Coming Soon to
Louisiana: $8.1 Billion and Thousands of Jobs- Sasol Limited will build an
$8.1 billion ethane cracker and derivatives complex. This will triple the
company’s chemical production capacity in the United States and create 500
permanent jobs in the state of Louisiana, in addition to thousands of indirect
jobs. Construction of the complex will employ an additional 5,000 people
between now and 2018.
Novel
Sodium-Conducting Material Could Improve Rechargeable Batteries- Rechargeable battery
manufacturers may get a jolt from research performed at the National Institute
of Standards and Technology and several other institutions, where a team of
scientists has discovered a safe, inexpensive, sodium-conducting material that
significantly outperforms all others in its class.
NOAA Ship
Rainier surveying the waters off Washington- NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey
is collecting bathymetric data to update nautical charts that are currently
displaying depth measurements acquired from surveys conducted from 1940 to
1969.
The
Economic and Statistics Administration wrote that September 2014
Trade Gap is $43.0 Billion on their blog this week.
Construction
spending in September 2014 was $950.9 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual
rate, down 0.4 percent from the revised August 2014 estimate and up 2.9 percent
from September 2013.
The September
2014 international trade deficit increased 7.6 percent from August, to
$43.0 billion. Exports decreased 1.5 percent to $195.6 billion, and imports
remained unchanged at $238.6 billion.
September 2014
new orders for manufactured goods decreased 0.6 percent to $499.4
billion.
Shipments
increased 0.1 percent to $503.4 billion. Unfilled orders increased 0.3 percent
to $1,168.7 billion. And inventories rose 0.2 percent, to $655.2 billion.
Commerce
Data in the News: Business Insider cites household
income statistics from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to rank
places close to metropolitan centers in the article The 25
Wealthiest Suburbs in America.
Newsday uses a real
estate firm’s analysis of household income statistics from the Census Bureau’s
American Community Survey to report about how expensive it is to live in
Albertson, East Hampton and Atlantic Beach in the article, 3 of the 10 Most
Costly ZIP Codes are on LI, Study Says.
An analysis of trademark data from
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office showing the percentage of new American
business logos featuring facial hair of some sort as a design element was
highlighted in a recent Slate article: How
the Mustache Took Over Hipster Faces and Mainstream Logos.
Data Releases Next
Week: Monthly Wholesale Trade: September
(Census); Advance Monthly Retail Sales: October (Census); Manufacturing and
Trade: Inventories and Sales: September
On Tuesday, USPTO Chief of Staff Andrew Byrnes will
discuss insights from the intersection of technology, law and politics at the
52nd Annual Conference on Intellectual Property Law at the Center for American
and International Law in Plano, TX.
On Thursday, Deputy Secretary Bruce Andrews
will provide the keynote address at the annual Asian/Pacific Islander American
Chamber of Commerce & Entrepreneurship (ACE) National Conference and Awards
Reception in Washington, DC.
Also on Thursday, Assistant
Secretary for Economic Development Jay Williams will discuss administration
efforts to build strong regional economies, spur innovation and entrepreneurship
and help communities capitalize on the renaissance of the American
manufacturing sector at the National Association of Community Economic
Development Associations’ 8th Annual Summit in San Antonio, TX.
Additionally
on Thursday, NTIA Director of Privacy Initiatives John Verdi will participate
in a panel discussion at the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) Annual
Conference in Washington, DC, where he will discuss privacy trends over the
past year.
On
Friday, BEA Director Brian Moyer will host a meeting of the BEA Advisory
Committee. The Committee advises BEA on matters related to the development and
improvement of the Bureau’s national, regional, industry, and international
economic accounts and provides recommendations from the perspectives of the
economics profession, business, and government.
Secretary Penny
Pritzker met
with Jordan W. Tappero, Director of the Division of Global Health Protection,
to receive an update on their response to the Ebola epidemic.
Assistant
Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Administration says that the
United States is experiencing a renaissance in America manufacturing.
Periods of Service — The Census
Bureau has a graphic for Veterans Day that shows the number of living U.S.
veterans who served in different eras. The most, by far, served during the
Vietnam War.
| 
Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.
