For three decades, the SSTI Digest has been the source for news, insights, and analysis about technology-based economic development. We bring together stories on federal and state policy, funding opportunities, program models, and research that matter to people working to strengthen regional innovation economies.
The Digest is written for practitioners who are building partnerships, shaping programs, and making policy decisions in their regions. We focus on what’s practical, what’s emerging, and what you can learn from others doing similar work across the country.
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NOTE:Moving engineers, scientists, and technologists out of the lab when they have a promising technology is the best way to ensure success for the individuals, the innovation, and the resulting company. This transition is one of the biggest challenges for lab 2 market programs and technology commercialization efforts. Fortunately, some models for assistance toward the path to success are emerging in regional innovation, university tech offices, and the nation’s federal labs. This item in our TBED Works series describes how the public-private partnership for innovation-driven growth may come together to yield positive results ~ Mark Skinner.
New research published in Small Business Economics demonstrates the significant impact of public venture capital investment on startup firm employment and sales growth. The findings also demonstrate that public venture funds can successfully draw significant additional private investment and debt funding, and do not act as a capital replacement. Further, the research suggests that accompanying startup ecosystem resources are contributors to firm success.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the launch of California’s first solar-covered canal, a pilot project that seeks to generate clean electricity, keep water from evaporating before it ever reaches a farm or a faucet, and, if scaled further, help strengthen the state’s water infrastructure to withstand a hotter, drier future.
In the coming weeks, Reps. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Jim Baird (R-IN) will introduce the bipartisan Build to Scale Reauthorization Act of 2026. As you likely know, Build to Scale, managed by the Economic Development Administration, is the federal government's largest, most flexible pool of annual funding designed specifically for regionally designed innovation initiatives. A summary of the proposed act, prepared by the two aforementioned Congressional offices, is provided below. If your organization wishes to endorse or provide a quote in support of this bipartisan legislation, please complete this form before COB Thursday, May 7, 2026.
The momentum building in the 21 “Building Better Regions” (BBR) projects is growing, and RTI, the leader of the BBBRC Community of Practice, and SSTI are seeing positive impacts and approaches to collaborative regional innovation that could benefit other practitioners and TBED stakeholders if made aware of the success.
Within the first minutes of his opening remarks for the committee’s hearing with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), chair of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, suggested the Senate needed to be convinced of the administration’s call to shutdown of NIST’s Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
Following the April 13, 2026, reauthorization of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, federal agencies are beginning to resume activities after a lapse of more than six months, though progress so far has been uneven.
It's spring in the northern hemisphere, which means Earth Day and bird migration. What does this have to do with regional innovation? Bear with me. One of the fascinating aspects of the annual avian spring migration is the role that chickadees seemingly serve, both Black-Capped and Carolina in the eastern half of the US, helping birds of other species, likely tired, find easy food for refueling. Whether one is out in the woods, parks, or backyards, hearing a chickadee this time of year excitedly repeating their namesake songs, it's worth a look to see who else might be tagging along.
You might still be asking what that has to do with encouraging regional innovation? Everything.
A recent State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) FY 2025 report suggests that public higher education funding is at a potential crossroads. Education appropriations per full-time equivalent (FTE) student peaked in FY24, then declined by 1.0% in FY25. It is unknown whether this recent downturn marks the beginning of a downward trend or is just a glitch in the previous 12-year run of increases.
The federal government invests billions of dollars each year in R&D, expecting these investments to lead to new technologies, firms, and broader economic growth. Under the framework established by the Bayh‑Dole Act, universities, small businesses, and nonprofit institutions may retain ownership of inventions developed with federal support and pursue their commercialization. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, Technology Transfer: Funding Recipients Keep Most Federally Funded Inventions, but Some Cited Reporting Challenges, examines whether the policies governing federally funded inventions are helping or hindering the transfer of those inventions. The analysis is timely given the current policy focus on strengthening domestic innovation capacity and supply chain resilience.
What are current trends in the financial health and well-being of the business, industry, and trade associations, including tech councils and chambers of commerce, that can play various roles related to a state or regional innovation strategy? Association involvement can cover the full spectrum of helpfulness and harm as these communities may serve as allies, antagonists, assistants, advocates, or adversaries—sometimes simultaneously.
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System recently published a new FEDS Notes article titled Monitoring AI Adoption in the US Economy. The article examines trends in AI adoption in the U.S. using three publicly available surveys: the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), Real-Time Population Survey (RPS), and Survey of Business Uncertainty. These surveys respectively capture data at the firm-level, individual-level, and from business executives.
