For three decades, the SSTI Digest has been the source for news, insights, and analysis about technology-based economic development. We bring together stories on federal and state policy, funding opportunities, program models, and research that matter to people working to strengthen regional innovation economies.
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When the Opportunity Zone program was authorized by Congress in 2017, there was high hope that it would give a significant boost to the employment rates of those living in the poorest areas of our cities. Unfortunately, a new research paper adds to the growing findings of the program’s shortcomings and disappointing outcomes, just as the next race to establish new OZ designations is set to begin.
People in the U.S. may be in favor of the using internet, social media, and artificial intelligence, but they are increasingly skeptical of and concerned about the data centers that make all these things possible. Common themes of their skepticism were recently expressed by data center opponents in Michigan who “fear lost farmland and destroyed habitat, noise pollution from thousands of humming servers, strain on the electric grid and higher bills as utilities spend mightily on infrastructure to power the facilities, and strain on rivers and aquifers amid data centers’ use of water to cool servers.” Michiganders are not alone.
TBED-driven investors keep an eye out for existing intellectual property that could, with the right management team, develop into a local company with a market-ready product. Rev1, a nonprofit venture development organization that manages several for-profit investment funds, partners with Nationwide Children’s Hospital to support the commercialization of promising research that advances the hospital’s mission. For about six years, the Rev1 team monitored Nationwide’s research on the challenge of the bacterial biofilm, a catalyst for inflammation and exacerbations in chronic respiratory disease. When the time was right, they played a critical role in founding the company, Clarametyx Biosciences, in Columbus, Ohio.
Three academic researchers estimate that the localized job creation impacts resulting from the CHIPS and Science Act already have had a net gain of 12% in the affected counties. The direct jobs in the semiconductor sector alone are 15,000-16,000 short-term positions. With the high-paying nature of jobs in the field, researchers Bilge Erten, Joseph E. Stiglitz, and Eric Verhoogen estimate that, as a spillover effect, 15,000 to 30,000 additional indirect jobs have been created in related sectors.
Policymakers should be interested in which sectors are present in their region to ensure TBED investments and workforce priorities can have the greatest impact. Exploring gross domestic product (GDP) at the county level offers a detailed look at the economic output of sectors and how they shape local economies. At the county level, data for smaller or more rural counties may reveal nuances invisible when looking broadly at entire MSAs or states, particularly for those areas with lower populations.
National VC investment over the past five years has seen significant swings, first driven by pandemic impacts and rebounds, then by the rocket ride of AI. According to PitchBook data, national VC activity below $100 million declined from nearly 10,500 deals in 2020 to just under 8,200 in 2025, a 22% drop. Over the same period, the total capital invested increased by just over $5 billion (6%). The trend of more funding into fewer deals is highlighted by the median deal size more than doubling to over $4 million (Fig 1). These macro trends are important as they set the stage for what is happening at the state level.
It may take an innovation network to nurture each startup, but often there is a particular element prepping the company for success. For the Beehive State, one of these is located at the University of Utah's Technology Licensing Office (TLO). From here, the startup Eyescreen, Inc., which is developing a platform for testing drugs that could potentially save pharmaceutical companies millions of dollars in clinical trials, has been introduced to entrepreneurship support organizations throughout the region. “The TLO can't do it all, but we can create an ecosystem where we bring all of the right people and all of the right capabilities to one place,” said Kyrsten Woolstenhulme, director of innovation management for the TLO.
Stats and pundits suggest fewer of us are taking the time to read, absorb, and embody what we can take from real, printed books. Humbug! This is a short piece with nods to those Digest subscribers defiantly resisting that trend—and welcoming all others to embrace the mind-expanding opportunities a long read—replete with physical page turning—can yield. Fully safe for work. ~ Mark Skinner, President & CEO, SSTI
The Dimension Mill has rebranded as Amplify Bloomington. It launched with support from Indiana University, Cook Group, the city of Bloomington, and a coalition of corporate partners. Former Bloomington Mayor and SSTI Board member John Fernandez leads the organization.
The Georgia Research Alliance recently published Impact ’25, its 2025 impact report. Top-line impacts include more than $1 billion in outside public-private funding awarded to GRA Scholars, $1 out of every $4 received for research at a GA university went to a GRA Scholar, 3,428 new workforce opportunities created, $350 million in revenue and outside funding to GRA-backed startups, and ranking eighth in U.S. university R&D (up from twelfth in 2021).
BioCrossroads has officially launched its BioCrossroads Startup Hub, a new, comprehensive ecosystem platform designed to serve as a centralized front door for Indiana’s life sciences startup community. Built as a continually evolving resource, this online hub brings together funding pathways, mentorship, regulatory and clinical resources, startup visibility, and ecosystem connections in one place. BioCrossroads is an initiative of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership.
State reserves shrank in fiscal year 2025, for the first time since the Great Recession. According the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) and analysis from the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Fiscal 50 project, which provides data and research on state fiscal conditions, the capacity of states’ rainy day funds—the number of days they could cover state operations—fell for the first time since the Great Recession of 2007-09. According to estimates at the end of fiscal 2025, the median state could run operations for 46.9 days, down from the fiscal 2024 record high of 53.2 days. And while the decrease represents a major shift, most states have more money in their rainy-day funds than they did before the pandemic.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has proposed a fiscal plan that includes a 4% statewide seasonal sales tax, effective through 2034, as part of his plan to bring Alaska’s state revenue and expenses in line for the long term. If adopted, the sales tax would be Alaska’s first statewide, general-purpose levy since state legislators abolished Alaska’s income tax in 1980.
