SSTI Digest

January 22, 2025, at 2:00 PM ET | Zoom Considering applying for the SBA’s Growth Accelerator Fund Competition? Join our TBED Community of Practice webinar as three past winners walk us through their projects from initial concept to current status. Learn what motivated them to apply, see how they put the funding to work and hear their advice for future applicants. Whether you’re planning to apply for the 2025 competition or exploring funding opportunities to support your TBED projects, come learn how these organizations transformed their initial ideas into lasting community impacts. Featured organizations: ·        The Florida High Tech Corridor ·        FuzeHub ·        Startup Tucson Register now 

The federal government spending on non-defense AI R&D has increased from $560 million in fiscal year 2018 to $2.1 billion in 2023, according to the bipartisan House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence report released in the closing month of the 118th session. The report encourages Congress to continue federal R&D efforts, with specific recommendations for Congress to support fundamental R&D for continued global leadership in AI innovation, increase technology transfer from university R&D to market, and promote public-private partnerships for AI R&D. The report also encourages Congress to align national AI strategy with broader U.S. technology strategy, explore how to accelerate scientific discovery across disciplines with AI, and support AI R&D for small businesses. Findings and recommendations are distributed across 15 topics, including government use, privacy, national security, civil liberties, intellectual property, authenticity, R&D, energy requirements and AI application within small business, agriculture, health care and finance. Opportunities for expansion of government efforts that complement state and regional TBED…

In last November’s general election, Massachusetts voters approved Question 3: the Unionization and Collective Bargaining for Transportation Network Drivers Initiative, allowing the state’s more than 80,000 Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize and collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions. (The measure only covers ride-hailing service drivers not those delivering goods for companies such as DoorDash.) Aiming to address such issues as sub-minimum wages and other driver concerns, it is a groundbreaking result that could spur similar unionization efforts in other states. It is the latest development in ongoing battles over the role of gig workers in the U.S. economy, specifically, whether they should be considered independent contractors or employees entitled to benefits or wages. Question 3 was approved with 54% support of the vote. Once implemented, the new Massachusetts law will grant ride-hailing drivers the right to form unions and negotiate pay, benefits, and work conditions. It will also establish what constitutes unfair work practices and allow drivers to take their cases before the Massachusetts Employment Relations Board. The state will have the…

Enterprise Minnesota, the official Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Center for the state, recently released its annual State of Manufacturing survey. The yearly report found unprecedented anxiety among respondents, noting that the sectors’ mood is one of worry paired with concerns about the economy and business prospects; it also revealed that the state’s manufacturing executives believe Minnesota’s business climate is worse than any time in the 16-year history of the survey. The report is a stark difference to sentiments in neighboring Wisconsin. The annual Wisconsin Manufacturing Report, released in November 2024, found Wisconsin manufacturers and respondents both optimistic about the economy and their businesses. The Enterprise Minnesota 2024 State of Manufacturing, which surveyed over 400 industry executives, business owners, and manufacturers, reports their growing concerns and fears, including: Economic anxiety: a record high 56% of respondents believe that the state’s business climate is worse than before (up from 50% recorded last year). This percentage is the highest recorded since the Great Recession in 2008. Per the report, it is also an “…

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee and key architect of the CHIPS and Science Law, secured up to $500 million in federal investments to preserve and expand the Regional Tech Hubs (Tech Hubs) program. Sen. Cantwell secured the funding as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is set to pass before the end of the year. SSTI helped lead a coalition that advocated for the provision and additional funding for Tech Hubs. As explained in a press release from Senator Cantwell, while Congress authorized $12.9 billion for the Tech Hubs over five years under the law, only 10% of authorized funding for the first two years has been appropriated. Funding for the Tech Hubs will be generated from spectrum auction proceeds. The spectrum provisions secured in the package will allow the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to conduct a one-time auction for the AWS-3 spectrum band to help meet the surging spectrum demands of wireless consumers. The timing of the auction is undetermined and the actual amount of funding available for Tech Hub support will depend on the outcome of the auction. Still also…

FYI This Week, a science policy newsletter from the American Institute of Physics, reported in their November 25 article Commerce aims to commit CHIPS money before Trump returns that “Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said … she is trying to allocate all the semiconductor manufacturing and research funds appropriated by the CHIPS and Science Act before President Joe Biden leaves office." Since Raimondo made that statement, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) has announced the following CHIPS and Science Act Awards: Up to $35.5 million awarded to BAE Systems Electronic Systems, a BAE Systems Inc business unit. The award is intended to support the modernization of the company’s Microelectronics Center in Nashua, New Hampshire. Up to $23.9 million awarded to Rocket Lab, the parent company of space power provider SolAero Technologies Corp. The award is intended to help the company create a “robust and resilient” supply of space-grade solar cells that power spacecraft and satellites. The company’s facility is in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The investment is expected to create over 100 direct jobs. Up to $75 million in direct funding awarded to Absolics, an affiliate of the…

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) recently awarded  $14.5 million in Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies (ARISE) grants for five projects. ARISE is ARC’s multi-state initiative that aims to drive large-scale, regional economic transformation through collaborative projects. These awards included $3,980,996 awarded to Morehead State University to build the aerospace workforce in Kentucky and West Virginia. The university will use ARISE funding to expand its SpaceTrek initiative, which addresses the region’s aerospace workforce deficits. Academic institutions will collaborate with industry partners to implement the SpaceTrek summer program and SpacePrep explorations workshops. These programs will introduce pre-college students to higher education opportunities and careers in aerospace and provide an immersive experience in aerospace subdisciplines, including electronics, telecommunications, and data analysis. ARC awarded $2,870,702 to Thrive Regional Partnership to expand three collaborative capacity-building programs in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. The partnership will use ARISE funds to expand three…

The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) announced at the Native CDFI Network’s Annual Policy and Capacity Building Summit $8.6 million in additional support for tribal nations through the State Small Business and Credit Initiative (SSBCI) 2.0 program, published in a readout. Building on the over half-billion in previously approved Capital Program allocations, Treasury announced an additional $7.4 million in Capital Program allocations to 11 tribal governments. The lion’s share, up to $3.2 billion, has been allocated to the Penobscot consortium representing five tribal governments. These allocations  bring the total to over $530 million in allocations corresponding to 246 tribal governments. A full list of Tribal Capital Program approvals as of December 2024 can be found here. On the Technical Assistance (TA) Program side of SSBCI 2.0, an additional $1.2 million has been approved for a total of $5.3 million in TA Grant Program awards to 20 tribal governments. A full list of Tribal TA Grant Program approvals as of December 2024 can be found here. Outside of Capital and TA Grant Program approvals, Treasury released a policy brief titled “…

Personal income[1] has increased from $1.25 trillion in 1974 to $23.38 trillion in 2023 nationwide, a nearly nineteen-fold increase over the past 50 years. Meanwhile, per capita personal income (PCPI), a metric of personal income standardized by population, has only seen a twelvefold increase from $5,836 to $69,810 over the same period. SSTI reveals these numbers from its analysis of new U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data. SSTI also found that, since 1974, both the average and median annual percentage change in personal income are 6%, with just one drop (-3%) in the last half-century at the onset of the Great Recession from 2008 to 2009. PCPI follows a similar trend at a 5% average and median percentage change with just one drop (-4%) during the same years. But how have these changes been distributed regionally? High-level metrics like personal income are typically driven through highly variable changes across geographies, with some regions’ rapid growths and other’s declines. This edition of Useful Stats will explore both personal income and PCPI at the county level across the past 50 years to determine regionality and how it has driven the massive…

If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to register for SSTI’s Annual Conference. The registration deadline is December 3—that’s less than two weeks away! Register now to ensure your spot as practitioners and policymakers from around the country come together to learn from each other the best way to advance their innovation economy. The agenda contains four plenary sessions with national thought leaders and more than 20 breakout sessions to help plan for 2025 and beyond. Sessions include:

On Nov. 14, the Massachusetts’ House and Senate approved a compromise $4 billion economic development measure after months of negotiations that followed the end of their formal legislative session this past summer and the spring release of Gov. Maura Healey’s $3.5 billion proposal, An Act relative to strengthening Massachusetts’ economic leadership, or the Mass Leads Act.  The Mass Leads Act sought to reauthorize the state’s life sciences investments at $1 billion for the next decade, launch a separate $1 billion, 10-year climatetech initiative, and build on the momentum of the state's CHIPS + Science wins by proposing targeted investments in advanced manufacturing and robotics. It also included $100 million to create an Applied AI Hub in Massachusetts. The authorized investments in H.5100: An Act relative to strengthening Massachusetts’ economic leadership will encourage new and proven industries within Massachusetts, support workforce development and talent retention, and modernize economic growth strategies. The Act also provides for wide-ranging policy changes to make the state more competitive and authorizes $3.96 billion in capital bonds for the state’s…

CHIPS for America recently announced $285 million to establish the Semiconductor Manufacturing and Advanced Research with Twins (SMART) USA Institute, which will focus on semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging. SMART USA is a consortium spanning more than 30 states and comprising more than 150 expected partners in industry, academia, national labs, and the full spectrum of supply chain design and manufacturing, according to a press release from Purdue University. The consortium is led by Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), located in Durham, North Carolina. A press release from the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) noted that Commerce and the Semiconductor Research Corporation Manufacturing Consortium Corporation (SRC) “are entering negotiations for the department to provide SRC $285 million to establish and operate a Manufacturing USA institute headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. With combined funding totaling $1 billion, this investment will support the launch of the first-of-its-kind CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute.” Purdue is the lead academic institution of the SRC-led consortium. DoC awarded TSMC Arizona Corporation (TSMC…