SSTI Digest

Significant differences between the House and Senate versions of the FY 25 budget numbers for science and the quadrennial election cycle might explain the increased language one hears concerning national security, competitiveness and global economic conditions. Data presented in a July issue brief by the National Science Board (NSB), however, should help raise the issue to encourage honest discussion about how the federal government will take on the challenges to U.S. leadership in innovation. Additionally, a new paper from the Aspen Strategy Group et al. provides supporting arguments to the NSB facts and policy recommendations to help address educational aspects of what many in the innovation space consider a growing or looming crisis for the country. In A Changed Science and Engineering Landscape, NSB documents the People's Republic of China (PRC) rise in prominence in science and engineering due to that nation's ample and sustained commitment to funding R&D, which is now "bearing fruit." They note that the PRC has surpassed the U.S. in the number of international patents, with a meteoric rise from only 10,000 international patents in 2009 to nearly 70,000 by 2023…

The U.S. Department of Defense released requests for information regarding a new loan program for critical technologies that will be launched through the Office of Strategic Capital. The office, launched in 2022, has focused on a Small Business Investment Company-Critical Technologies (SBICCT) license that can provide technical and cybersecurity expertise and resources to funds willing to concentrate their portfolios on certain tech.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has made multiple announcements about the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) in recent weeks, including new program approvals, providing an update on uses of funds through the first two years of the program, and highlighting venture capital success stories, and releasing a database of participating lenders. In addition to covering these updates below, SSTI is collecting Treasury’s resources in revised SSBCI tracking pages.   SSTI updates to SSBCI tracking SSTI has been tracking SSBCI program data and information in “Useful Stats” articles; earlier this month, SSTI updated “Useful Stats: SSBCI 2.0: An overview of state uses of funds” with new Capital Program data, including program-specific data for South Carolina and Guam. In the future, SSTI will provide all SSBCI updates on a new resource page dedicated to the SSBCI program. This SSBCI resource page will be continuously updated as new information becomes available. In addition to the Capital Program data, Technical Assistance Program data has been added to the SSBCI resource page in the form of a detailed map of allocations by state and…

A Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for a new artificial intelligence-focused Manufacturing USA institute is now available on Grants.gov. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which posted the NOFO on July 22, anticipates funding of up to $70 million over five years, subject to the availability of federal funds, according to their press release. Concept papers are due Sept. 30. Applicants with the best concepts will be invited to submit full proposals. The notice on Grants.gov lists additional deadlines and other important dates. The new Manufacturing USA institute, according to the press release, will be expected to develop cost-effective, AI-based advanced manufacturing capabilities in collaboration with industry, academia and government. It is also expected to integrate expertise in AI, manufacturing and supply chain networks to promote manufacturing resilience. This competition is open to accredited institutions of higher education, U.S.-based nonprofit and for-profit organizations with majority domestic ownership or control, and state, local, U.S. territorial, and Indian tribal governments. NIST…

The five-year-old NSF Convergence Accelerator, which has funded nationwide research projects to address major societal challenges, is adding 10 “anchors” to focus on regional challenges. The regional anchor organizations will engage in the same solution development for underserved, underrepresented organizations and communities as the current national program. However, as part of the regional expansion, NSF aims to reach more local communities to help solve challenges that are especially meaningful to a particular region. The emphasis on creating a regional program evolved from NSF's recognition that there are regions underserved by NSF, noted Douglas Maughan, NSF Convergence Accelerator section head. "Part of the reason for the expansion," Maughan said, "is this idea of scale to make the program larger, but at the same time expanding our reach and impact. So, the idea is not only to run the program from NSF but also to create these regional anchors so they can address societal and economic challenges in their region using the same program model." The national program will continue to coexist along with the regional program. However, national topics…

NSF has released data on nearly 300 letters of intent (LOIs) submitted to the NSF Regional Innovation Engines program by lead organization applicants. The data is meant to enable applicant teams to connect and potentially collaborate before the preliminary proposal deadline on Aug. 6, 2024, according to a press release from NSF. The data can be found on the NSF Engines' Letter of Intent Explorer, which offers an interactive map showing the location of lead organizations and the industry sectors from which the LOIs came, a search engine for finding lead organizations by state, a data table showing LOI titles, lead organizations names, types, and contact information, and region of service. The explorer indicates that There are more than 600 unique partner organizations. Organizations in EPSCoR jurisdictions lead 28% of the LOI lead organizations. Non-academic organizations lead 43% of the LOI lead organizations. Minority-serving institutions lead thirty-five LOI lead organizations.

The Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hubs) and National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines (Engines) programs require regions to advance a critical technology area that already has traction in their region. However, identifying such critical technologies might be challenging as applicants face deadlines, such as the August 6, 2024, NSF Engines preliminary proposal deadline and the subsequent February 11, 2025, full proposal deadline. Fortunately, SSTI recently updated a data tool comprised of two interactive visuals and a downloadable data file that can assist in identifying the critical technologies in an applicant’s geographic location. The tool leverages PitchBook data exhibiting investment activity across 18 PitchBook industry verticals aligned with many of the 10 key technology focus areas (KTFAs) established with the passage of the 2022 Chips and Science Act. SSTI initially launched the tool in August 2023 and has since updated the underlying data through June 30, 2024. To create an example of how the tool could be used, SSTI utilized the tool’s functions to find data on…

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) has released a new pilot map with data on over 3,300 awards nationwide managed by TIP starting from fiscal year 2023. The directorate, according to its press release, hopes to transform the pilot into a “one-stop hub to find one another, facilitate partnerships, and build regional coalitions and innovation ecosystems” by adding additional data and features over time. With the current pilot, award data can be viewed by either key technology area or TIP program and filtered by the other. Data can be further filtered by year, Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) status, and by whether awards are still active within the selected fiscal year(s). In terms of data, both a high-level summary number on awards and investment amount are available for each of the categories mentioned above. Data on specific awards are available on the map itself by hovering over each point. As with all data pertaining to key technology areas, caution should be exercised when viewing summary numbers, as many awards fall within multiple technology areas and…

The U.S. Department of Commerce recently issued a Notice of Intent (NOI) to open a competition for new research and development (R&D) activities to accelerate domestic capacity for semiconductor advanced packaging.​ As part of CHIPS for America, the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program plans to invest up to $1.6 billion to fund innovation in five R&D areas related to semiconductor advanced packaging. ​ The program anticipates making several awards of approximately $150 million in each research area. ​Private sector investments from industry and academia are expected. ​The five R&D areas are Equipment, tools, processes, and process integration Power delivery and thermal management Connector technology, including photonics and radio frequency (RF) Chiplets ecosystem (small, modular integrated circuits that perform specific functions) Co-design/electronic design automation (EDA).  The funding opportunity is also expected to include opportunities for prototype developments. According to CHIPS for America, advanced packaging is crucial for advancements in semiconductor technology. It will allow manufacturers to improve…

Natcast, the nonprofit entity that operates the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) Consortium, recently launched the NSTC Workforce Partner Alliance (WFPA) program. ​The program seeks to address workforce challenges in the U.S. semiconductor industry by supporting projects that close skills and labor market gaps for researchers, engineers, and technicians in semiconductor design, manufacturing, and production. ​The WFPA will fund between four and ten projects with budgets between $500,000 to $2 million per award. While not required, proposals that include complementary funding or leverage public resources will receive strong preference. Natcast seeks proposals that support Established programs seeking to scale Growing programs seeking expansion or realignment New programs that address previously unaddressed needs. Open to for-profit organizations, institutions of higher education, and other training providers, including state and local government agencies, nonprofits, and unions, the WFPA program encourages evidence-based workforce development strategies such as: Paid work-based learning, including apprenticeships and pre-…

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced plans to launch a 7(a) Working Capital Pilot (WCP) Program later this year. The program will offer a lines of credit, made by 7(a) lenders and backed by the SBA. It is designed to give greater flexibility than a traditional term loan. This pilot program, according to an SBA press release, will include both a “transaction-based” and “asset-based” model, allowing borrowers to leverage sales or assets to access working capital. Depending on the details of the capital structure that are revealed when the program launches, these models may enable both newer technology companies that have sales but few assets and legacy companies that have assets but insufficient cashflow to invest in new technologies with the opportunity to access financing through SBA’s popular 7(a) vehicle. The 7(a) Loan Program is SBA’s primary small business financing tool and provide loan guarantees to lenders, which work directly with the borrowers. Working capital is already an allowable use of 7(a) loans, but still generally requires that the lender fully secure the transaction with collateral. According to the press release, the new WCP…

House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers recently published Reforming the National Institutes of Health: Framework for Discussion. The blueprint calls for reducing the number of NIH institutes and centers (ICs) from 27 to 15, largely by merging some of them. The reorganization and proposed funding levels are illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 1: Proposed reorganization and proposed funding levels for NIH restructuring. Click on the solid bar to the left of the current CIs to view the destination of the CIs. Click on the solid bar to the right of the proposed CIs to view the CI(s) that will be consolidated into it. Click in the center of the horizontal bar to see the proposed change in funding after the restructuring. In addition to consolidating centers, McMorris Rodgers’s proposal includes funding cuts to the successor institute comprised of the current Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBB), and the Common Fund. As shown in Figure 1, the new National Institute on Innovation and Advanced…