SSTI Digest

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced more than $24 million in funding for 77 projects through its Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), which will be matched by funds from the private sector. Established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 as a way to encourage energy innovation, each of the recently awarded TCF projects supports private sector efforts to commercialize technologies developed at DOE laboratories. In turn, these projects help “to maximize the impact of our research investment for the benefit of the entire nation,” DOE Chief Commercialization Officer Conner Prochaska said in a press release.  Projects involved company partners in 30 states, the District of Columbia and four other countries.   The table below highlights awards by lab:   Funds for commercialization projects ranged from $37,500 to $750,000. DOE received over 160 applications for 2019 TCF funding, with teams engaging more than 90 different partners across a variety of disciplines.  

In response to a February Executive Order directing federal agencies to take steps to ensure the U.S. is a world-leader in artificial intelligence, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a new draft plan on the need for AI standards. The draft document, U.S. Leadership in AI: Plan for Federal Engagement in Developing Technical Standards and Related Tools, recommends four broad actions: bolster AI standards-related knowledge, leadership and coordination among federal agencies; promote focused research on the “trustworthiness” of AI; support and expand public-private partnerships; and engage with international parties. Comments on NIST’s draft plan may be submitted here through July 19, 2019.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed multiple bills late last month that may help position the state as a leader in technology-based economic development. One bill increases the tax credit for angel investors in qualified technology companies, with even larger credits available for investments in women- and minority-owned businesses and those located in low-income areas. Meanwhile, the state’s approved FY 2020 budget includes $1.0 million for the New Jersey Commission on Science, Innovation, and Technology. After nearly a decade of receiving no funding from the state, this marks the second consecutive year that the commission will receive $1.0 million to support technology-based economic development.

Thanks to leadership by Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), the Senate approved a revamped authorization of the Regional Innovation Strategies program (RIS) as part of its National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2020 (NDAA). The bill would extend the program’s funding authority to $50 million per year through FY 2024. Further changes would define venture development organizations and recast RIS to have a greater emphasis on achieving beneficial economic outcomes within the awardee regions, including increasing the availability of financing for innovation-based business ventures and completing the introduction of new products, processes and services to market. The RIS reauthorization was originally introduced this session as part of the Startup Act, by Senators Moran, Mark Warner (D-Va.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). The section was added to the defense bill in connection with another SSTI-endorsed bill that would support Manufacturing USA centers. This legislation also had bipartisan sponsorship from Senators Coons, Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Gary…

At this week’s SSTI 2019 Dialogue in Washington, D.C., senior leaders from 30 member organizations talked innovation policy and opportunities with each other and with federal leaders. Those speaking with us at the event included: Congresswoman and research and technology subcommittee chair Haley Stevens; EDA Director John Fleming; NIST associate director for innovation and industry services Phillip Singerman; NIH deputy director for the office of extramural research Jodi Black; and Senate small business committee professional staff member Renée Bender. The dialogue is an invite-only meeting, with SSTI state and sustaining members receiving guaranteed invitations to the annual event. Pictured: Congresswoman Stevens (at left) and Dr. John Fleming (at right).

The U.S. House has now passed 10 of the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund federal agencies. Agencies with House-approved budgets include the Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and Small Business Administration. Federal R&D and Commerce’s Regional Innovation Strategies would see substantial increases, and — due to amendments made on the House floor — SBA’s accelerators and clusters programs would retain their funding. Unfortunately, of the four budget questions SSTI identified at the start of the year, most remain insufficiently answered to provide confidence for how the final FY 2020 budget will ultimately resolve. House appropriations highlights From the 10 bills that have been passed by the House so far, several line items are significant for regional innovation economies. Economic Development Administration. Regional Innovation Strategies program would receive $30 million (from $23.5 million), and a new STEM apprenticeship program would receive $5 million. SBA. Regional Innovation Clusters would receive $5 million (level funding), and the Growth Accelerator…

This month, SSTI research has examined changes in total R&D and total R&D intensity for each state over a 15-year period from 2002 to 2016. In this final installment of the series, this article looks at how the performance of R&D in the states changed over time. In half of the states (25 states), the share of total R&D performed by colleges and universities increased more than any performer (e.g., industry, federal government) from 2002 to 2016. Meanwhile, 20 states saw industry’s share of total R&D performance increase more than any other performer. The share of total R&D performed by industry increased the most in Wyoming (32.7 percentage point increase), followed by Iowa (19.6 percentage point increase) and Missouri (18.5 percentage point increase). The chart below highlights changes in total R&D performance and total R&D intensity by state, with the size of each dot representing total R&D performance (in dollars) and the color of each dot representing which type of performer increased its overall share by the most percentage points.       As can be seen in the chart above, most of the…

Reshoring manufacturing companies claim to be able to innovate at increasing rates, but some cite challenges with hiring qualified workers and with the country’s regulatory and trade policy environment, according to a new report from Select USA, a national program led by the U.S. Department of Commerce focused on business investment.  In Reinvesting in the USA: A Case Study of Reshoring and Expanding in the United States, authors from Select USA look at the experiences of six manufacturing companies that chose to reinvest in their U.S. operations, providing detail on what drove them to reshore, challenges and benefits to the move, and general lessons learned. They find that, although the reshoring process was more expensive and time consuming than the case companies expected, local partners such as economic development agencies provided valuable resources to make the process easier.  The main drivers of a company’s decision to reshore, according to the report, are a commitment to making products in America, a desire for increased product and design control, and a need to decrease the time between orders and deliveries. Finding a skilled workforce…

In a recent report focused on the impact of the small-scale manufacturing sector, the Urban Manufacturing Alliance (UMA) compiled what they say is a first-ever examination of what this emerging sector looks like and what may help charge its growth. They found an information gap on these businesses, as many of them combine design, art and production, and fall outside of data collection categories used to classify manufacturers. The report begins to identify the role and economic potential of these emerging businesses to help local stakeholders identify actions they might take to grow the small-scale manufacturing sector. UMA focused on firms in six cities: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee, Portland (Oregon), and Philadelphia. They surveyed nearly 600 producers and found the consistent theme that many innovative, hard-working entrepreneurs are fabricating goods in local economies that have fewer resources, and they need more help. To help build these businesses and overcome challenges, the UMA report includes potential solutions to some of the common problems they found. For example, they suggest more diverse and creative approaches to connect job candidates to…

An issue brief this month from the Pew Research Center asserts that despite the current national economic expansion still underway, states are still coping with lasting effects of the 18-month recession that ended in 2009. Calling it a “lost decade,” the authors found that although budget pressures have eased in several ways, states still have not fully restored cuts in funding for infrastructure, public schools and universities, the number of state workers, and support for local governments. The report, ‘Lost Decade’ Casts a Post-Recession Shadow on State Finances, details 10 ways that states face a legacy from the lost decade, including foregone tax revenue, decreased state spending, and less funding for higher education. The issue brief notes that even where overall state results have recovered, many individual states still lag behind — nearly a fifth of states collect less revenue that before the downturn and a third have smaller rainy day funds. If another recession were to hit before states fully recover from the previous recession, there may be permanently reduced levels of support for some state services, the authors caution.

Two recent executive orders issued by the White House have met with mixed reactions. While one order intended to ease the regulatory process for certain biotech products was met with favor by some in that industry, another order that could eliminate at least one third of the current federal advisory committees that was issued just days later, was roundly criticized. In his June 11 Executive Order, the president directs federal agencies to streamline the agricultural biotechnology regulatory processes. The order gives the leaders of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Agriculture 180 days to design a plan that will provide regulatory information and guidance in a coordinated response to inquiries from developers of agricultural biotechnology products. A fact sheet issued by the White House says the order will “help eliminate delays, reduce developer costs, and provide greater certainty about the review process for farmers” as well as “help create an environment that fosters greater investment in these innovative crops.” The order states that any regulatory regime for…

Manufacturing growth is helping fuel one of the longest expansions in the U.S., steadily adding jobs since 2010, according to Economic Innovation Group’s (EIG) recent data brief, Manufacturing’s Real But Patchwork Rebound. While manufacturing job growth has risen over the past two years, the report notes that its growth was broad but uneven. Counties in western states saw the highest annual growth rates from December 2016 to December 2018, and the South saw the largest number of new manufacturing jobs over that period: 173,900. However, authors Kenan Fikri and August Benzow also found that after two years of accelerated growth, the U.S. manufacturing sector is showing signs of slowing down. Food and beverage manufacturing powered the latest two-year surge (84,400 jobs added), while job losses were concentrated in apparel in print-related industries (28,700 jobs lost). Even though the sector has expanded overall, the authors point out that the U.S. economy is still far from recovering manufacturing jobs lost between 2000 and 2010 due to offshoring, automation and the Great Recession. It would take over two decades for total U.S. manufacturing employment to…