SSTI Digest

SSTI is extending its reduced rate for conference registration with no rate increase planned before the start of the conference. It is not too late to register under that special rate! In the more than 20 sessions we have planned, there are leaders in manufacturing succession planning, workforce development, funding, connecting academic departments with industry partners, and more. We hope to see you in Providence, Rhode Island, Sept. 9th through 11th for SSTI’s Annual Conference. 

The 116th Congress has already advanced policies to affect regional innovation economies, and much more is poised to happen once both chambers return in September. In addition to completing the FY 2019 budget (see our Feb. coverage), this session has seen Regional Innovation Strategies legislation pass the House and Senate (albeit in different bills); the Senate working toward an overhaul of the Small Business Administration; and, the start of the FY 2020 budget process. Here, we summarize these federal policy developments, which SSTI’s Innovation Advocacy Council has been supporting.

Regional Innovation Strategies reauthorization

The Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program has two paths for renewal thanks to action in both the House and Senate:

Manufacturers are aware and concerned about the aging of their manufacturing workforce, according to a recent report from the Manufacturing Institute’s Center for Manufacturing Research. The report notes that a recent outlook survey found that attracting and retaining a quality workforce is one of the top challenges facing manufacturers, where nearly one-quarter of the sector’s workforce is age 55 or older. The manufacturing sector is particularly vulnerable to the challenges of an aging workforce due to several factors that sets it apart, including its already older workforce than the overall U.S. labor force, a pronounced skills gap due to the technical nature of manufacturing production work, and ongoing technical change, such as the advance of robotics and artificial intelligence.

Broadband access is one of the pillars of economic development, yet as many as 24 million Americans, including a disproportionate percentage in rural areas, still lack high-speed and reliable internet service, according to the Pew Charitable Trust. To promote more widespread broadband access and information about the policies of all 50 states, Pew has launched State Broadband Policy Explorer, an interactive web-based tool “that lets you learn how states are expanding access to broadband through laws.”

Pew spent more than a year studying broadband access, including the locations of gaps in coverage and the policies each state is pursuing to fill in the gaps. Searchable categories on the new State Broadband Policy Explorer include: broadband programs, competition and regulation, definitions, funding and financing, and infrastructure access.

SSTI and conference host Rhode Island Commerce Corporation are pleased to announce Gov. Gina Raimondo is scheduled to deliver welcoming remarks during the opening plenary session and officially kick off SSTI’s Annual Conference in Providence on September 10!Gov. Raimondo became the state’s first female governor when she was first elected in 2014 and won re-election in 2018 for a second term. Prior to becoming governor, she worked as the General Treasurer of Rhode Island, spearheading landmark pension reform that would help reorder and ensure the state’s fiscal stability.During her tenure, the governor has made advancements in education, innovation, and economic development a centerpiece of her economic growth plans. She is also working to make the state a national leader on college affordability and installed Rhode Island’s Promise, allowing two years of free college community college to every in-state student. She has worked to kick-start the state’s economy, and her economic development programs have helped lead the largest drop in the unemployment rate in the country. Her programs aim to increase collaboration, better attract entrepreneurs, create jobs, encourage existing businesses to grow, and foster innovation throughout state government.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced awards for Conceptualization Grants (CG) for Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes, which are large-scale interdisciplinary research projects that aim to advance the frontiers of quantum information science and engineering. The CG awards, up to $150,000 each, are to support teams as they work toward the overall challenge research theme and focus areas for a future Challenge Institute proposal. The next phase will fund 5-year Challenge Institute awards to establish and operate Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes.

We are excited to be partnering with NSF during SSTI’s Annual Conference, Sept.9 through 11 in Providence, Rhode Island, to bring you the latest information and ideas on SBIR/STTR and university/industry partnerships.

We have lined up several important sessions, linked below that will be filled with information on how you can help your entrepreneurs access SBIR/STTR and how to support commercialization in your region. It’s not too late to register, but hurry if you want to take advantage of the special rate we have reserved for you at a nearby hotel – our block closes when it’s full or on Saturday, whichever comes first.

Click on each link below to learn more about these conference sessions!

As the summer ends and students begin returning to school, the situation for students in the University of Alaska System is uncertain, although less so after recent negotiations between Gov. Mike Dunleavy and University of Alaska (U.A.) System’s administration. Two months ago, the university’s budget experienced a nearly 41 percent reduction in state support for its system triggered by Dunleavy’s FY 2020 state budget vetoes announced just days before the start of the state’s new fiscal year. While the University of Alaska System has been subjected to a number of funding reductions over the last five years, this year’s funding veto – the cutting of $130 million in state support atop the $5 million cuts approved earlier by lawmakers – was the largest.

An early national leader in technology-based economic development (TBED), Pennsylvania now faces several challenges in order to keep up with other states and regions, according to Ideas for Pennsylvania Innovation: Examining Efforts by Competitor States and National Leaders, a new report from the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings. It cites the Ben Franklin Technology Partnership as an important early-stage investor and national TBED model and notes that the state “has historically been an innovation leader and Pennsylvania retains a stable of effective, scalable innovation assets.            

State and regional innovation programs continue to encourage significant economic growth across the country. The most recent example of the impact programs are having comes from JumpStart, a Cleveland-based venture development organization, which recently released its 2018 economic impact report. It found that companies in Ohio and New York fostered by JumpStart generated more than $1 billion in economic impact. This increased the cumulative JumpStart total to $6.6 billion since 2010.

Want that kind of economic impact in your region? Attendees of the upcoming SSTI Annual Conference in Providence, Rhode Island, Sept. 9 – 11 will learn lessons learned from programs that are creating a better future through science, technology and innovation and leave the conference with actionable ideas to improve their states and regions.

In response to its shrinking industrial base and having identified a gap in its ability to rapidly acquire and deploy innovative technologies, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) recently made some changes to its SBIR/STTR program. The new Pitch Days have already met with success and 10 more Pitch Days have been scheduled in 2019. The USAF expects to make its roughly $660 million of annual SBIR/STTR funding more easily available to a greater number of startup companies, thereby greatly expanding its industrial base, encouraging innovation and small business generation, and filling the innovation void left by the large prime contractors.

A recent report from global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney calls into doubt the ability of U.S. trade policy in encouraging domestic manufacturing firms to reshore their production efforts. Following the government’s release of 2018 trade data, A.T. Kearney published the findings from its sixth annual Reshoring Index, which compares year-over-year changes in U.S. manufacturing gross output to imports of manufactured goods from 14 traditionally low-cost country (LCC) trading partners in Asia.