By Michael Eggebrecht

Intel Corp. and a group of venture capital firms plan to invest $3.5 billion in U.S.-based technology start-ups over the next two years, according to Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel.

Otellini announced the initiative, dubbed the Invest in America Alliance, in a speech Tuesday at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. The alliance, said Otellini, will steer investments into technologies that will drive U.S. economic growth and job creation. Intel itself has agreed to contribute $200 million under the plan.

The alliance aims to target areas like clean technology, information technology and biotechnology, according to Intel. “Our collective goal is to continue to drive technology innovation and stimulate economic activity,” said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel’s venture capital arm, in a statement.

The U.S. has fallen behind other countries in terms of competitiveness and innovation, said Otellini in the speech. The future “is going to be more demanding, more competitive, and frankly, more disruptive to American business,” he added. “But these conditions, as anyone who has worked in Silicon Valley knows, can be exactly the right environment for new thinking and break-through innovations.”

Venture capital-backed companies accounted for more than 12 million U.S. jobs in 2008, or 11 percent of total private sector employment, said Otellini.

The 24 venture capital firms participating in the plan are Advanced Technology Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures, Bridgescale Partners, Canaan Partners, DCM, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Flywheel Ventures, Good Energies, Institutional Venture Partners, Investcorp Technology Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Menlo Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, North Bridge Venture Partners, QuestMark Partners, Sevin Rosen Funds, Storm Ventures, Telesoft Partners, Updata Partners, U.S. Venture Partners, Venrock and Walden International.

The second prong of the Intel-led initiative includes a commitment from 17 corporations to as much as double their hiring of graduates from U.S. colleges. Along with Intel, the companies that have made the pledge are Accenture, Adobe Systems, Autodesk, Broadcom, CDW, Cisco Systems, Dell, eBay, EMC, GE, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Liberty Mutual Group, Marvell Semiconductor, Microsoft and Yahoo.

“Collectively, this is a bet on America’s next generation of innovators,” said Otellini. “We cannot afford to let our future scientists and engineers sit idle after graduation.”

According to Intel, the companies will add 10,500 jobs for graduates with engineering and computer science backgrounds, as well as financial analysis, marketing, management consulting, sales and other business skills.

“Many college graduates have been among the hardest hit by the economic downturn and providing them a place in the economy today is the best way to ensure America’s innovation and competitiveness tomorrow,” said Intel’s director of human resources, Richard Taylor.

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