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KEARNEY — Nebraska has new tools to help investors grow the state’s economy.The Talent and Innovation Initiative is designed to advance business innovation and workforce recruitment in Nebraska and to enhance business specialization and attract new advanced companies to Nebraska, a Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry conference was told Wednesday.
“It’s so important for the state of Nebraska to understand how much entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs mean to our state to grow our economy,” State Sen. Ken Schilz of Ogallala said. “I served as a county economic development adviser for about five years. We saw businesses that wanted to come in, but we couldn’t find the capital to move forward.”
Eight proponents of the Talent and Innovation Initiative spoke about two legislative bills now in place to help create private sector jobs and investment opportunities, particularly high-tech and early stage companies.
The two bills, the Angel Investment Act and the Business Innovation Act, were discussed by the senators who introduced or made them a priority and six business leaders who have used them, including Paul Eurek, CEO and chairman of Xpanxion in Kearney and Dennis Schulz CEO of Mid-Continent Technologies in Kearney.
The Angel Investment Tax Credit Act, LB389, went into effect Sept. 1.
State Sen. Ken Schilz from Ogallala, who sits on the Education and Natural Resources committees, said the bill offers a tax credit for Nebraska small businesses investors.
The idea behind the initiative is to help the private sector grow and create new job opportunities, particularly in high-tech, research-driven fields.
The Angel Investment Tax Credit created an investment incentive for refundable income tax credits for investors. The program is capped at $3 million annually. Three or more investors can combine resources to create a group of “angel” investors.
Eligible businesses must be headquartered in Nebraska and have fewer than 25 employees at the time an investment is made in the operation.
There are several options and levels of investment.
A 35 percent credit will be provided to certified investors who make a minimum investment of $25,000 per year or who make a minimum investment of $50,000 per year and have at least three investors.
A 40 percent credit will be provided to those who invest in qualified startups in distressed areas.
The other bill, LB387, the Business Innovation Act, was introduced by State Sen. Gaylen Hadley of Kearney. The law took effect Oct. 1.
The act allocates nearly $7 million in financial assistance, and 40 percent of the funding is dedicated for economically distressed areas, mostly in rural parts of the state. The idea is to encourage and support the transfer of Nebraska-based technology and innovation in rural and urban areas of the state.
As part of the act, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development created a program that will provide financial assistance to small agricultural enterprises and supports innovations in farming and ranching operations.
It will also encourage the production and marketing of specialty crops in Nebraska.
The purpose is also to create growth in high-tech companies, small businesses and micro enterprises and create well-paid jobs in Nebraska.
Part of the program requires the Nebraska Department of Economic Development to establish a financial assistance program for small and mid-sized companies to create a prototype of a product stemming from research and development at a business or college.
Funding for the program will come partly from existing grant programs such as Heritage Nebraska’s Main Street program, the Building Entrepreneurial Communities Act and Value-Added Agriculture program.
Hadley said the location of the conference was significant.
“I think the significance is the fact that (the conference) isn’t in Lincoln or Omaha,” Hadley said. “It is in outstate Nebraska. We need to push to keep out-state Nebraska in this equation. Kearney is ideally located for this type of thing.”
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