SSTI Digest

The number of students enrolled in all levels of school in 2018 was 76.8 million, a drop of 2.8 percent from the 79 million enrolled in 2011, according to a new study by the U.S. Census Bureau. The biggest decrease in enrollment was at two- and four-year colleges. Enrollment in two-year colleges was down from 5.7 million to 4.3 million, a 25-percent drop, while enrollment in four-year colleges was down from 20.4 million to 18.9 million, a 7.6 percent dip over the 2011-2018 period.  The number of graduate-school students is up to 4.3 million, a 300,000 jump from the 2011 total. The number of minority students has increased as well.

Entrepreneurial support and capital access remain key concerns for regional innovation economies, as evidenced by the abundance of new activity in 2019. From accelerators, many of which are sector-specific, to seed funds, we highlight 26 of the most interesting developments from the past year. This is the latest in our series of articles highlighting innovation system activities in states across the country in 2019. Our previous coverage included stories on new university incubators, accelerators and funds launched in 2019; research universities and their partnerships with industry; higher education and commercialization programs; free tuition offerings; climate change; clean energy; and broadband. Alabama The commercial Techstars accelerator opened several new sites this year, the most notable of which may be the Alabama EnergyTech Accelerator. A utility, the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, and the state’s Department of Commerce joined to recruit Techstars. The new accelerator, which will accept its first cohort next summer, will focus on startups innovating around smart cities, electric transportation and connectivity.…

SSTI notes the recent passing of two officials who helped shaped the impact science and technology had on the American economy. Dr. Mary Good served as Under Secretary of Technology in the U.S. Department of Commerce during the Clinton Administration led the Administration’s Clean Car Initiative and oversaw NIST at the time the Manufacturing Extension Partnership began its expansion to national presence. Mary was as passionate as she was smart. You can read more about her life here. A strong advocate for building bridges between states, universities and industry, Dr. Joseph Bordogna’s career included nine years as deputy director at the National Science Foundation during the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. In addition to advocating for the Partnerships for Innovation program, he was a consistent voice at NSF for including state perspectives in NSF’s operations. Joe’s accomplishments were many, and they are captured in his obituary. While Mary and Joe grew up in different corners of this country (Mary in Texas and Arkansas; Joe in Scranton and Philadelphia), they shared a common passion on improving this country through science…

Sensing a gap in conversation about the importance of higher education, Strada Education Network and Gallup partnered to conduct a study on how Americans value their educations. The resulting report focuses on the relationship between two primary questions; whether consumers feel their educations were worth the cost and if they felt their educations made them attractive job candidates.

The U.S. continues to be the global leader in total R&D expenditures, spending $483 billion (adjusted to 2010 purchasing parity dollars) in 2017 compared to China’s expenditures of $443 billion. However, according to a recent publication from the National Science Foundation, China surpassed the U.S. in expenditures on experimental development in 2014 and has since continued to increase its lead. In 2017, China spent more than $370 billion on experimental development compared to just over $300 billion in the United States. Defined as the systematic work of producing new or improved products and processes based on knowledge gained from previous research, experimental development makes up the lion’s share of total R&D expenditures in both countries. For example, applied research — original investigation geared towards acquiring new knowledge for specific objectives — accounted for approximately $100 billion in the U.S. and nearly $50 billion in China. Similarly, in 2017 the U.S. spent over $80 billion and China spent $24 billion on basic research — theoretical work undertaken to acquire new knowledge about the underlying foundations of…

Across the U.S., the federal government provided 53 percent of R&D funding at institutions of higher education in FY 2018. Those institutions provided 26 percent of the funding themselves, and most of the remainder was provided by a mix of nonprofit organizations (7 percent), industry (6 percent), and state and local government (5 percent). The specific contributions varied from state to state, however, with some relying more on specific relationships to support R&D within the state. As covered recently by SSTI, NSF’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics provides survey data on R&D funding at institutions of higher education. NSF’s report includes source of funding, attributable to federal government, state and local government, institutions, business, nonprofit organizations, or other sources. Maryland (77 percent) and Colorado (70 percent) were the states that were the most dependent upon federal R&D spending, joined by the Virgin Islands (91 percent) and Guam (77 percent) as the only regions with more than two-thirds of their funding from the federal government. North Dakota (34 percent), Arkansas (37 percent),…

Turning good intentions into actions is part of the motivation behind a recent report from the Community Strategies Group (CSG) of the Aspen Institute. The report, Rural Development Hubs: Strengthening America’s Rural Innovation Infrastructure, focuses on actions that could build capacity to advance rural community and economic development to improve equity, health and prosperity for future generations. Identifying those that are working to “do development differently” in rural America, the report draws on the wisdom of leaders from 43 rural intermediaries, and includes recommendations on creating stronger rural development systems. The CSG report authors have termed such intermediaries Rural Development Hubs, saying they are the “main players advancing an asset-based, wealth-building, approach to rural community and economic development in this country.” The report promotes the idea that such hubs are the “critical models for advancing comprehensive economic development strategies in rural places.” The report notes that investment in rural people and places is essential for a thriving, equitable nation, and its key…

SSTI is excited to announce Little Rock, Arkansas, as the site for our 2020 Annual Conference, Oct. 5-7. The conference is the premier gathering of practitioners and policymakers from across the country who work to create a better future through science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. “Bringing the conference to Little Rock and sharing the story of what is happening in Arkansas with others will give people from throughout the country the opportunity to see the progress that’s being made in the state,” said Dan Berglund, SSTI president and CEO. “We are thrilled to be working with the Arkansas Research Alliance, along with the many partners that they have assembled, who will be able to tell the story of the challenges they have faced, and what they have done to overcome them. We think it’s a story that will resonate throughout the country.” “Research and technology are critical economic catalysts for Arkansas,” said Jerry Adams, president and CEO of ARA. “That SSTI chose Arkansas for such an important conference reflects the progress Arkansas has made to transform into a modern, competitive economy.” ARA drew together a group of 16 sponsors comprised of…

While Virginia has worked over the past 30 years to build their innovation economy, this past year it changed up the game. SSTI recently talked with Robby Demeria, Virginia’s deputy secretary of commerce and trade for technology, about the planning underway in Virginia and how the commonwealth is proceeding with a new initiative to grow their economy. The state’s efforts over the past 30 years has resulted in a fragmented system, Demeria said, and legislation proposed last year that was supposed to address that failed to gain a foothold and lacked broad-based support. The new legislation, which has met with wide-spread support, would create a new authority, called the Commonwealth of Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (Authority), to provide oversight. The new legislation would also designate a lead managing non-profit (NewCo) for innovation-led development in Virginia. A governing board would provide oversight and accountability “to ensure that transformative and measurable results are generated,” according to the plan. The Authority would be able to provide funds to existing organizations to carry out programmatic activities (…

Tax incentives don’t affect a company’s decision on where to locate in a majority of cases, according to a new book. Making Sense of Incentives: Taming Business Incentives to Promote Prosperity by Timothy J. Bartik of the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research does conclude that better-designed tax-incentive programs “when combined with business services and other smart policies … can be a cost-effective way to promote inclusive local economic growth.”

The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is showcasing a new, online gallery of successful stories of regional value produced when state and local government entities and federal laboratories work together. The State and Local Government T2 Partnerships Gallery features 11 stories from nine states, spotlighting partnerships from nine federal agencies, 12 federal laboratories, and their respective state and local government partners. Each successful collaboration explains the R&D that produced innovative technologies, and how the technologies have benefited local communities and economies nationwide. The stories are available to download and share, and cover topics such as: A multi-agency collaboration with California on tire crumb rubber exposure research; An innovative, federally funded program that supports commercializing defense technology with companies from Maryland’s “Great American Defense Community”; and, A state and federal laboratory partnership formed to mitigate the impact of droughts in California.

Earnings for Appalachian manufacturing workers grew 3.4 percent from 2012 through 2017 to an average of $63,583. The growth is in the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Industrial Make-up of the Appalachian Region, 2002-2017, which reviews employment and wages by sector across the region. Appalachian workers overall saw earnings increase by 3.7 percent over the five years. In the rest of the country, manufacturing wage growth was 1.2 percent or 3.3 percent across all sectors. Wage growth was uneven within the region. Southern Appalachia saw the greatest gains, with 5.2 percent growth, driven in large part by Georgia’s increase of 6.5 percent. Appalachian counties adjacent to metros saw the largest increases (6.4 percent near large metros and 5.8 percent near small ones), although these gains still leave an earnings gap compared to metro-based manufacturing employees in the region. The comparatively strong percentage gains for manufacturing employees in Appalachia has not closed much of the earnings gap with workers outside the region. In 2017, the average manufacturing employee outside of Appalachia earned $79,098 — $15,515 more than those working…