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.
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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) seeks public comment for two Requests for Information. The first, Supply Chain Gaps and Entrepreneur Assistance, is focused on the future of SBA’s Innovation Network Programs—FAST, GAFC, RICs—and how each program can align entrepreneur support in critical industry areas. These are programs that are relevant to TBED organizations, accelerators, incubators, investors, universities, research institutions, and tech transfer offices.
Venture capital investments so far in 2026 are showing the same trends as 2025, with more funding going to fewer companies. According to PitchBook, quarterly U.S. VC investment totaled $267 billion, with the five largest deals raising a combined $195 billion, or over 73% of all Q1 capital. The heavy bias toward the top deals underscores the importance of narrowing the deal segments to understand what trends are faced by the majority of companies.
Historically, college graduates, recently matriculated or old alums, were more likely to be employed than all workers combined. However, beginning in 2015, as the labor market data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows in the graph below, unemployment rates for recent college graduates and all workers were in relatively tight competition until October 2018, when new grads began experiencing higher unemployment rates than all workers—a position they have held ever since. Might it have something to do with the degrees students are earning and changes in the job market?
The Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) recently released a report, Advancing Together: A Unified Strategy for Scaling Midwest Quantum Talent, outlining a regional strategy to expand the quantum workforce. The Illinois-Wisconsin-Indiana region could see as many as 191,000 quantum jobs by 2035, according to a Boston Consulting Group analysis for the CQE. More than 70% of those jobs will be available to people who do not have graduate degrees, and nearly one-third will be open to those with associates degrees or technical training.
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.
