SSTI Digest

Led by increases in retail trade and professional, scientific, and technical services, the number of annual business applications nationwide has increased 119%, or nearly three million, from 2005 to 2023. However, the share of applications classified as high-propensity, or those more likely to result in businesses with a payroll, has decreased in all but the health care and social assistance sector, leading to a 26-percent point drop (58% to 32%) over the same period.

Two weeks ago, I let the SSTI Board of Trustees know that I wanted to step down as President & CEO and that a search for a successor be launched. After leading the organization since its inception in 1996, I had come to the conclusion now was the right time for a new chapter both for SSTI and for me. The job posting for the new President & CEO can be found at https://ssti.applytojob.com/apply/OSDVL6j7zk/President-CEO with a pdf of the full description at: https://ssti.org/sites/default/files/SSTI%20President%20CEO%20Job%20Desc...

I won’t be going away entirely and more on that later.

I have been involved in this field that has become known as tech-based economic development (TBED) for almost four decades, both speaking for and to the field as the head of SSTI for the last 28 years. TBED was largely a new field when I started in it in 1985, but even then the hallmarks of the field were evident:

• We were learning from each other, happily sharing information across state lines to make our work better;
• We worked to evaluate our programs and the impacts they were having, so we could improve our outcomes;
• The beneficiaries of the work were at the table designing the programs and putting their money into the efforts as well; and,
• As economic and societal conditions changed and program evaluations were conducted, we changed our approaches to respond.

SSTI, a national nonprofit organization focused on strengthening initiatives to create a better future through science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, seeks a President & CEO, who will work with the SSTI Board of Trustees and staff to set the vision and direction for the organization. The President & CEO serves as both the voice for and to the technology-based economic development (TBED) field, advocating for the field, and encouraging effective action by TBED organizations and personnel.

In SSTI’s recent TBED Community of Practice webinar, representatives from SourceLink and EcoMap Technologies shared practical insights on how ecosystem mapping supports both entrepreneurship and regional economic development.

Business applications have greatly increased over the last two decades, jumping 119% from 2005 to 2023. However, the rate of high-propensity business applications—applications identified by the Census Bureau as having higher likelihoods of turning into businesses with payroll—have decreased as a share of all applications every year since 2005, despite having grown 22% over the same period. Breaking these numbers down by states shows uneven trends, with the difference in shares of high-propensity business applications in 2005 and 2023 decreasing by over 20 percentage points in most states.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners, a technology-based economic development program serving all 67 Pennsylvania counties, reported in its 2023 Annual Statewide Impact Report that, since its inception more than 40 years ago, it has boosted Pennsylvania’s economy by more than $30 billion, generating more than 58,000 jobs in client firms plus an additional 101,000 spinoff positions, for a total of 159,000 new jobs that otherwise would never have existed.

The Rural Partners Network, an all-of-government program that helps rural communities find resources and funding to create jobs, build infrastructure, and support long-term economic stability, is asking the public to nominate rural innovators who are positively impacting their rural communities. Individuals of all ages, including youth, are eligible. According to an announcement on their website, nominated individuals could be engaged in either the public or private sectors, including local, state, Tribal, and territory governments; nonprofits; businesses; philanthropy; or academia.

Registration is now open for the SSTI 2024 Annual Conference in Phoenix, December 10-12, at the Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass, located in the Gila River Indian Community.

On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of senators published Driving U.S. Innovation in Artificial Intelligence: A Roadmap for Artificial Intelligence Policy in the United States Senate. The roadmap encourages the executive branch and the Senate Appropriations Committee to reach the $32 billion per year non-defense AI innovation spending level proposed by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. It also includes a list of recommendations for legislation to regulate artificial intelligence. The recommendations include prioritizing funding for a cross-government AI R&D effort at all relevant government agencies and departments. The recommendation mentions explicitly an all-of-government AI-ready data initiative. It also directs research priorities in “responsible innovation, including but not limited to fundamental and applied sciences, such as biotechnology, advanced computing, robotics, and materials science.”

Accelerators are practically everywhere in the U.S., and a look at Pitchbook data on May 13, 2024, seems to confirm that. For the five years of 2019-2023, Pitchbook tagged 18,808 different companies as having received “accelerator/incubator funding.” Conceptually, they were all startups when they received that funding and will be at widely varying degrees of evolution today (the status for 1,730 of them, for instance, was listed as “out of business”). Only 765 were classified as being one of four statuses that might be most easily considered as positive exits:  1. publicly held; 2. in IPO registration; 3. an operating subsidiary of another firm through a merger or acquisition; or 4.  integrated into another firm through a merger or acquisition and no longer tracked separately. 

SSTI has released a new video in our Federal Funding Video Library featuring Trent Thompson, economic development representative with the Economic Development Administration’s Denver Regional Office. In this interview, we discuss how EDA’s Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) funds can be leveraged to support technology-based economic development (TBED) activities. The interview provides practical advice on the application process, examples of previously funded TBED projects, and strategies for aligning these funds with your region’s needs.

While the headline above may be one of the most boring written in the SSTI Weekly Digest’s history, any recipient of federal grant funding should be aware that changes are coming to the Uniform Grants Guidance that governs federal grants, effective October 1. The guidance “sets the foundational requirements for agencies in making grants and providing other forms of Federal financial assistance, such as cooperative agreements and loans,” according to the White House. The changes will apply only to awards after October 1. Among the changes the White House is touting are directions to agencies to make grant announcements as “clear and concise as possible,” reduce unnecessary compliance costs, remove barriers to entry, and ensure assistance serves intended communities, including supporting programs for Tribal nations. Some of the specific details will be of interest to grant recipients.