Despite recent attacks on affirmative action and diversity, equity, and inclusion, the TBED community continues to work toward broadening participation in innovation driven growth. This continuing attention may be attributable—as stated in the recently released report Tech Equity in Action—to the practical knowledge among TBED practitioners that “(e)fforts to grow local economies are hampered when sizable portions of the population are left out of this high-growth sector.” The report, published by the New Growth Innovation Network (NGIN), provides practical advice for TBED professionals who want to continue to ensure their projects are equitable and inclusive.

Even though women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, their involvement in critical occupations going forward does not reflect that. For instance, in 2021, they only constituted 35% of environmental engineers, 17% of civil engineers, and 9% of mechanical engineers, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau analyzed by the Society of Women Engineers. Additionally, the Pew Research Center reported in 2021 that “Women account for 25% of those working in computer occupations. The share of women in this fast-growing occupation cluster declined from 2000 to 2016 and has remained stable” through at least through 2021, the end date of their study.  Furthermore, according to Women in STEM, 2023, “At the current pace, we will not see equal representation in STEM until the year 2070.”

Innovation spreads, but how far can it reach? A new study finds that firms operating in multiple tech clusters act as conduits, transmitting knowledge and boosting productivity across distant locations. However, certain types of firms are better at it—and benefit more readily—than others. This insight, from a recent National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper, “Innovation Spillovers across U.S. Tech Clusters,” challenges our understanding of how innovation benefits spread geographically.

As a part of the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI)’s Technical Assistance (TA) Program, the Treasury Department has announced 14 Small Business Opportunity Program (SBOP) awards to 12 states and two Tribal governments, each ranging from $1.6 to $10 million, totaling $75 million. SSBCI’s TA program is divided into two major programs: the TA Grant program and SBOP.

As business R&D expenditures continue to increase nationwide, disparities between states deepen, an SSTI analysis of new Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) survey data reveals. States with the largest BERD values, including California, Washington, and Massachusetts, have all increased their share of overall domestically performed BERD values almost every year since 2013. Nearly 50% of the nation’s domestic business R&D expenditures occurred within the borders of these three states in 2022, up from 39% just a decade prior in 2013. California contained over a third of the nation's total value in 2022, totaling more than the bottom 43 states and Washington, D.C. combined.

Forty-one states and Puerto Rico will vote on 151 statewide ballot measures this fall.   

Many of this year’s measures focus on abortion; citizenship or electoral system reforms (such as Arizona’s Proposition (Prop) 133 and Missouri’s Amendment 7, which would prohibit ranked-choice voting, while Idaho’s Prop 1, Nevada’s Question 3, and Oregon’s Measure 117 would establish ranked-choice voting); criminal justice or drug use policies (including the legalization of recreational (Florida, North Dakota, and South Dakota) or medical (Nebraska) marijuana, as well as certain psychedelic substances (Massachusetts could be the third state to legalize psilocybin); and minimum wage increases. Voters in Alaska, California, Massachusetts, and Missouri will decide on minimum wage increases, with Nebraska voters deciding on an initiative requiring paid sick leave for employees. In Arizona, voters will decide whether tipped workers should be paid 25% less per hour than minimum wage.

A dozen initiatives would impact tech-based economic development—providing funding for initiatives, changing the electoral or redistricting system, altering taxes, or modifying the governance of higher education.

The Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) has announced the Regional Innovation Clusters initiative awards winners. There are 14 winners from a pool of 79 applicants. There are two categories for these awards: emerging and mature clusters. According to the SBA press release, emerging clusters develop and deploy small business support services in their designated regions and industries, and mature clusters have experience building and implementing programming to support small businesses.