SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, March 2, 2010 — Could a single young engineer beat a Fortune 500 company in creating jobs? If that young engineer is Russian-born Sergey Brin dreaming of forming something called “Google,” the answer is Yes.

What if geniuses brought their ideas to Puerto Rico when they emigrated to the United States? Advisory firm Spectrum Group intends to make just this happen through a mission to Washington, District of Columbia, March 3-5, 2010 to support the Startup Visa legislation introduced on February 24, 2010 by U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN). The bill would provide a path to U.S. permanent residency (“green card”) to foreign nationals that obtain financing from U.S. investors to create U.S. jobs, including Puerto Rico.

“When Davids are beating Goliaths, attracting global innovators matters more than attracting global investors,” said Spectrum Group Managing Partner Cesar “Tito” Montilla. “With the passage of this bill, we will be able to compete for the best ideas in the world.” The Spectrum Group intends to tap its extensive network of local investors to finance entrepreneurial ventures in sectors where Puerto Rico is globally competitive.

The Startup Visa bill proposes to offer immigrant entrepreneurs a two-year visa if they can show that a qualified U.S. investor is wiling to invest $250,000 into the entrepreneur’s venture. If after two years the immigrant entrepreneur can demonstrate the creation of five jobs, $1,000,000 in investment or $1,000,000 in revenue, they would receive permanent legal resident status. More information about the bill is available at www.startupvisa.com.

“If tomorrow every immigrant entrepreneur took their companies back to their home countries, half of Silicon Valley would shut down instantly,” explained Spectrum Group Partner Marcos Polanco, citing research at the University of California at Berkeley. “The secret to economic development today is that these new companies are creating twice as many jobs as old companies.”

About The Spectrum Group:

The Spectrum Group is an advisory firm that over the past 10 years has raised over $100M in private investment to create over 7,500 jobs in Puerto Rico. The firm anchors a network of over 200 accredited investors and focuses on real estate, industrial, media, biosciences, energy and information technology ventures.

Contact: Marcos Polanco

Partner, The Spectrum Group

Phone: 787-529-5892

Email: marcos@clearshore.us

Source: The Spectrum Group

252 Ponce de León Avenue

Suite 802

San Juan, Puerto Rico 00917

Phone: 787-620-1010

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A recent study by the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute found that the island ranks as #41 out of 141 global economies when utilizing the World Bank evaluation methodology. The island's strongest scores came in its assimilation of global technological change (#36) and incentives framework (#37) and weaker in education and human capital (#53).

The study aims to spur better data gathering on the key performance indicators and to enable sage policymaking in this mission-critical arena.

The government of Puerto Rico has just published its Strategic Model for a New Economy, its economic development blueprint. Fortunately for those of us committed to technological innovation, the Island's definitive participation in the knowledge economy is a fundamental aspect of the plan. Few analysts realize that Puerto Rico has two of the United States' largest engineering schools, and that 25% of the world's biological manufacturing capability resides on the Island…the innovation economy is at hand.

Two elements form the axis of the innovation plan: technology-exporting entrepreneurs and R&D-attracting global enterprises. Together, the plan calls for their integration into a soup-to-nuts value chain, from R&D to operations and distribution.

A key infrastructure element to achieve this goal will be the completion of the Science District, a 78-acre R&D center under management by the Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust.

An essential funding element will be the Special Fund for Economic Development, managed by the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company, and its focus will be on pushing along venture capital investments in technology-driven enterprises.

Finally, the government plans to redefine the role of the University of Puerto Rico, most likely with an emphasis on technology transfer for private sector commercialization; the University is widely seen as an unexploited source of intellectual property.

Puerto Rico has been awarded the Caribbean and Central American Country of the Future 2009/10 award by fDi Magazine. In the first year of the combined competition, Puerto Rico marginally grasped first place as the top three countries, including Costa Rica (ranked second) and the Dominican Republic (ranked third), were separated by a mere three points.

Puerto Rico achieved not only the top ranking overall, but also the top ranking in the category of business friendliness. The country has the largest number of companies involved in high-tech manufacturing, high-tech services, and knowledge-based sectors in comparison with the rest of the Caribbean and Central American region. More...

Florida Turbine Technologies makes history by successfully demonstrating a 35% fuel consumption reduction for turbine engines in its size range. A team of Puerto Rican engineers at FTThave co-developed the world's smallest and most fuel-efficient turbofan engine. The engine can fit in the palm of a person's hand and was developed by FTT under a $7.5 million contract to develop high-efficiency turbine engines for remote-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the U.S. Army More (PDF)...