SSTI Digest

Earlier this week, the White House announced a series of actions being undertaken by federal agencies to focus on women’s health.  Both NIH and ARPA-H announced new funding opportunities centered around women’s health, while the White House and other agencies took action without indicating any funding associated with that funding. ARPA-H’s Sprint for Women’s Health, launched in February 2024, commits $100 million to transformative research and development in women's health. ARPA-H is soliciting ideas for novel, groundbreaking research and development to address women's health and opportunities to accelerate and scale tools, products, and platforms. NIH is launching an NIH-wide effort to close gaps in women's health research across the lifespan. This effort—initially supported by $200 million from NIH beginning in FY 2025—will “allow NIH to catalyze interdisciplinary research, particularly on issues that cut across the traditional mandates of the institutes and centers at NIH,” according to a White House fact sheet. NIH is also creating a dedicated one-stop shop for open funding opportunities for women's health research. “This platform will make it…

Many federal funding programs have the potential to support technology-based economic development (TBED) initiatives, even when technology and innovation aren’t their explicit focus. This is the case with the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). SSTI recently sat down with Christy Johnson, ARC program analyst, to learn how three of ARC’s funding opportunities can support TBED activities in the Appalachian region. Programs discussed include the Area Development Program, the Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies (ARISE), and Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization Initiative (POWER). An overview of each of these programs is included in the newest installment to SSTI’s Federal Funding Video Library.   Video: Appalachian Regional Commission   Explore the entire series by visiting our Federal Funding Video Library. Created as part of the TBED Community of Practice, this series is designed to help you understand federal programs and funding sources that can support your region’s TBED strategies. For any questions about the SSTI Federal Funding Video Library or suggestions for…

The Office of Advanced Manufacturing at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, intends to announce an open competition for a new Manufacturing USA institute. The expected competition, according to the notice of intent (NOI), will seek to establish a Manufacturing USA institute “focused on the use of artificial intelligence to improve resilience of U.S. manufacturing.” The U.S. Government intends to enter into a five-year agreement with the winning institute, with the possibility of a non-competitive extension for up to an additional two years and provide federal funding of up to $70 million. This funding is to be matched or exceeded by funding from private industry and other non-federal sources, with a minimum 1:1 cost share. The competition is expected to be announced in early Spring 2024, with a formal announcement on Grants.gov, the NIST Office of Advanced Manufacturing website ( www.nist.gov/​oam), and the Manufacturing USA website ( https://www.manufacturingusa.com/​). Because the agency has announced this intent but has not…

Editor’s note (April 4, 2024): This article has been updated to reflect relevant programs included in the second of two FY 2024 omnibus appropriations bills. Many tech-based economic development (TBED) programs are seeing level funding in FY 2024, with some of the most high-profile programs experiencing decreases. Politically, this situation is less about disapproval than broader budgetary circumstances, as Congress agreed that spending would revert to FY 2022 levels. Practically, however, this means even the continued programs will not be keeping pace with increased demand or costs. The good news for organizations seeking federal support is that, despite the topline setback, there are multiple programs that can fund regional TBED initiatives. A note about supplemental funding Federal TBED initiatives received robust funding in FY 2023 largely due to a supplemental package that was included with the overall omnibus appropriations bill. This supplement included billions of dollars across the Department of Commerce and National Science Foundation, among other agencies. As of publication, the FY 2024 appropriations do not include any comparable supplemental…

From the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the Department of the Treasury, the White House budget, and Congress, various stakeholders across the federal government have proposed multiple regulations in the past several weeks that would affect the venture capital industry in general and, in some cases, venture development organizations. We offer a brief roundup of these issues. House passes bill to facilitate private investment The House passed a bill last week that would modify multiple regulations affecting venture capital and crowdfunding rules, as well as several company assistance activities that are common for venture development organizations. A summary of changes in the law, as amended, includes the following: Pushing the SEC to adopt its proposed registration exemption for “finders” that help issuers raise capital; Helping to facilitate “demo days” by defining “general solicitation” and “angel investor” more clearly; Increasing crowdfunding limits within a 12-month period from $5 million to $10 million and easing liability concerns for crowdfunding platforms; and, Expanding “accredited investor” to include individuals who…

The White House published its FY 2025 budget this week. As Congress will ultimately produce its preferred budget, the president’s release like those of previous Administrations serves as more of a messaging document outlining a vision and priorities. For tech-based economic development (TBED), the message is that Congress has provided ample tools but needs to continue to fund them. Among the federal TBED programs included in the (188-page) budget summary perhaps the biggest ask among these programs is EDA’s Tech Hubs, which the administration recommends at $4 billion in mandatory funding. The program was authorized at $10 billion, but Congress so far has appropriated just $500 million. The Department of Energy also received a comparatively robust increase of 7.5%, including increases in research and innovation activities. Most other requests are more inline with recent appropriations levels, including EDA’s Build to Scale at $50 million; the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines at $205 million; and, the Small Business Administration’s FAST, Regional Innovation Clusters, and Growth Accelerator Fund Competition at $10 million each. …

The real gross domestic product (GDP) of private industries has steadily increased nationwide from 2018-2022, with an average percentage increase of 2% each year, or 9% total, despite a drop from 2019-2020 due to the pandemic. However, the same cannot be said across all private industries; of the 14 broad industries captured by U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data,[1] eight have grown while six decreased over the five-year period from 2018-2022. While a prior SSTI Useful Stats article went in depth about overall state-level industry GDP profiles using BEA data, this edition of Useful Stats explores all U.S. counties, identifying trends and clustering across the nation’s private industries through a more granular lens. The primary metric used is “Real GDP.” Real GDP is an inflation-adjusted measure of GDP– in this case chained to 2017 USD. In other words, all dollar amounts in this article are portrayed in their 2017 equivalents to allow for a more direct comparison of the values.   County private industry GDPs across the nation In 2022, the total real GDP of all private industries across all U.S. counties was $19.3 trillion—an…

By a bipartisan vote on Tuesday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works approved legislation that would reauthorize the Economic Development Administration for the first time since 2004. The bill amends the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 and does not affect the technology-based economic development programs authorized through separate legislation that are administered by EDA.

The National Science Board released the biennial Science and Engineering Indicators report on Wednesday. This report compiles data about the composition of the U.S. research enterprise and its trajectory relative to that of other nations. It covers data collected through 2021. The 2024 Indicators report shows that the U.S. remains the most prominent performer of R&D, with $806 billion in gross domestic expenditures in 2021. China, at $668 billion, is the next largest performer. The U.S. spends 3.5% of U.S. GDP on R&D, the highest percentage the nation has ever spent. Most of the R&D spending increases have come from private businesses, particularly in the information technology and pharmaceutical industries, while federal spending has remained roughly flat. The report also shows that several high-tech business sectors fund almost as much basic research as the federal government. The report illustrates that the U.S.'s global position is being challenged by China. In a statement released on March 8, the National Science Board said the Indicators report shows that China has surpassed the U.S. in “STEM talent production, research publications, patents,…

On March 1, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey introduced and filed her administration’s anticipated economic development measure, AN Act Relative to Strengthening Massachusetts’ Economic Leadership, or the Mass Leads Act. The measure seeks to reauthorize the state’s life sciences investments at $1 billion for the next decade, launch a separate $1 billion, 10-year climatetech initiative, and build on the momentum of the state's CHIPS + Science wins by proposing targeted investments in advanced manufacturing and robotics. It also includes $100 million to create an Applied AI Hub in Massachusetts. It seeks to advance the strategies, implement the policies, and fund the initiatives Healy laid out in her economic development plan, Team Massachusetts—Leading Future Generations, which was released in December and presented in her 2024 State of the State address. The measure details major new proposals to make Massachusetts a global hub for the life sciences, climatetech, and applied artificial intelligence (AI). The governor stressed that the goal of her proposal is to “position Massachusetts for sustained growth and shared prosperity for years to come.” The administration’…

A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency’s presumption that businesses owned by Blacks, Latinos and other minorities are disadvantaged violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. Unless it appeals, the Department of Commerce, which oversees MBDA, will be forced to immediately cease using an applicant’s race or ethnicity in determining eligibility for the program. An appeal seems likely, but, according to an article in the Washington Post, it would go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which has a conservative majority. Among other programs, MBDA administers the Capital Readiness Program, a $125 million technical assistance program to help underserved entrepreneurs grow and scale their businesses that is funded by the Department of Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). The judge found the MBDA’s use of racial categories did not survive strict scrutiny. “While the government may have a role in remedying MBEs’ (minority business enterprises’) credit problems, the evidence doesn’t show it had a role in causing them—at least not as a participant.…

Last August, SSTI released a data tool exhibiting investment activity across 18 key technology areas. The tool comprises two interactive visuals and a downloadable data file and uses Pitchbook technology verticals selected to align with many of the key technology focus areas defined in the CHIPS and Science Act. The tool breaks down the number of investment-backed companies, investment deals, and amount of capital invested by each state, year (January 1, 2013-December 31, 2023), and investment stage (e.g., seed, angel, venture). SSTI has updated the underlying data through December 31, 2023. SSTI analyzed the 59 industry verticals Pitchbook collects investment data for, comparing them against the 10 key technology-focused areas (KTFA) defined by the CHIPS and Science Act and used in other innovation programs such as EDA’s Tech Hubs. Data was then reformatted for ease of use and built into the provided visualizations and downloadable spreadsheet. The data used to develop this tool comes from Pitchbook and is published by SSTI with permission. Through SSTI’s Tech-based Economic Development (TBED) Community of Practice, supported by EDA, all organizations can…