SSTI Digest

The workforce is growing older, and that’s very likely a good thing for U.S. productivity. Various statistics reveal the active workforce over 65 is more likely to have higher education levels than historically, working at a 0.75 full-time equivalent rate on average, and is working for lower wages on average than younger workers. This growth toward an aging workforce is readily apparent within the 75-and-older age group. Since 1987, the number of 75 and older workers has more than doubled, from 4% to 9%, according to a study from the Pew Research Center. And the ranks of the employed are filling up among those who are a few years younger, too: 19% of the nation's 11 million 65 and older population is employed, nearly twice as many as were employed 35 years ago. These older workers are delaying retirement due to evolving trends in the work world, such as financial need and changes in education, retirement policy, healthcare, and the knowledge economy. Older workers with higher education levels are more likely to be working than their less-educated peers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 63,230,000 people with bachelor's, master's,…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already well integrated into the American workforce; in 2022, 19% of American workers were in jobs identified as most exposed to AI, compared to 23% in the least exposed jobs, according to a study by Pew Research. Jobs identified as most exposed are those in which the most critical responsibilities can either be replaced or assisted by AI. In contrast, the least exposed jobs cannot currently be replaced or assisted. A recent study identified U.S. cities at risk of losing jobs to AI, finding more than 10 million jobs at-risk within those cities. Looking into the future, AI is expected to be adopted by 80% of global organizations over the next five years, according to a 2023 World Economic Forum (WEF) survey, with an estimated 83 million jobs automated by 2027. The same survey found that despite this job displacement, there will be a net positive job creation caused by the technology. WEF projects the largest losses in administrative roles, alongside traditional security, factory, and commerce roles. Within these, surveyed organizations predict a net decline of 26 million fewer global jobs by 2027 in administrative and record-…

NSF recently released updates on two ways of profiling trends in science and engineering at the state level: Science and Engineering State Profiles and Science & Engineering Indicators. The Science and Engineering State Profiles is an interactive website providing access to state-level data on science and engineering (S&E) personnel and finances and state rankings. State Profiles displays up to seven selected state profiles. Data are available from surveys sponsored by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics within the National Science Foundation on employed S&E doctorate holders; S&E doctorates awarded, including by major S&E fields; S&E graduate and postdoctoral students; federal research and development obligations by agency and performer; state government agency R&D expenditures; total and business R&D performance; and higher education R&D performance, including by major S&E fields. Data available from other sources include population, civilian labor force, per capita personal income, federal expenditures, patents, small business innovation research awards, and gross domestic product. All data are available…

United States venture capital activity not unexpectedly slowed down in 2023, cooling off after multiple years of record-high deals and values during 2021 and 2022, according to the PitchBook-NVCS Venture Monitor Q4 2023. Pitchbook-NVCS estimates a total deal count of 15,766 (13,608 actual + 2,158 estimated) for 2023– exceeding the values of 2020 and prior years but falling several thousand short of the last two years. Between these deals, just $170.6 billion was invested, a drop of $71.6 billion from 2022 and $177.4 billion from 2021. It is important to note that PitchBook continuously identifies new deals and updates their datasets, often leading towards an increase in deals and values over time. Thus, older datasets are often more complete, which may cause direct comparisons between more recent and older years to not provide an accurate picture of the venture landscape. This edition of Useful Stats will explore 10-year trends in venture activity by stage and state using the Venture Monitor report data.   Venture activity by stage Data as of December 31, 2023, show a decline from prior years in the proportion of pre-seed and seed…

Since 1980, billion-dollar climate disasters in the United States have increased an astonishing 749%, from averaging 3.3 throughout the 1980s to 28 in 2023 alone. These data from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information include floods, wildfires, droughts, severe storms, tropical cyclones, and winter storms. The finding is consistent with the Fifth National Climate Assessment, released last year, that concluded the rise is due to a combination of increased exposure (i.e., more assets at risk), vulnerability (i.e., how much damage a hazard of given intensity—wind speed, or flood depth, for example—causes at a location), and the fact that climate change is increasing the frequency of some types of extremes that lead to billion-dollar disasters. Because climate change will only get worse given its current trajectory, it is reasonable to expect the number and severity of disaster events will continue to grow. Research shows TBED, systems-based planning, and conventional economic development have roles to play in mitigating future risk. A recent report from the First Street Foundation, Climate Abandonment Areas, uses the NOAA data to show that these…

Last week (Jan. 3), Maryland’s state comptroller released the state’s first State of the Economy report. The 110-page document uses publicly available data, academic research, and government studies to analyze relevant economic indicators within the state. It compares that data across neighboring states and nationally to better understand the current economic climate and to help Maryland policymakers understand the sources of weakness, as well as identify the strengths and opportunities available, and to leverage those resources for more sustained, long-term economic growth. The report found that, despite Maryland’s advantages (high median household income, low unemployment, a diverse economy, and proximity to academic research universities and federal agencies), the state’s economic growth has been slowing since 2017, with the state’s population growth sputtering years before the economic and wage growth stalled (all of which happened well before the COVID-19 pandemic), and remains stagnant today. The analysis also reveals that Maryland substantially lost lower- and middle-income workers to other areas with cheaper housing, and a larger number of working women left the…

With the start of the new year, governors have begun to deliver their State of the State addresses, laying out proposals for new programs and discussing the conditions of their states. As states’ revenue levels return to more typical levels, lawmakers, with a few exceptions, are taking a more cautious, or constrained, view of their funding priorities and proposed initiatives. Many governors also appear to be more restrained in their addresses this year, speaking more to the previous year’s successes, suggesting lawmakers tighten their state’s fiscal belts while providing targeted investments into key or signature programs, as well as previously proposed initiatives, rather than rolling out new programs, except in the innovation space related to semiconductors and recently announced tech hubs.   Every year, SSTI reviews the State of State and budget addresses for any newsworthy developments or initiatives that governors may discuss or propose as they relate to the innovation economy. The following highlights have been excerpted from State of the States or budget addresses given between December 2023 and January 9, 2024, by governors from Arizona, Florida, Idaho,…

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the 2024 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) on January 8. The competition offers $50,000 to $200,000 in prize awards “for impactful and inclusive approaches to foster a thriving, collaborative national innovation support ecosystem to advance research and development (R&D) from ideas to impact.” The competition is not intended to provide capital directly to companies for R&D projects. The prizes will be awarded in two stages. The stage one application portal opens on January 8 for a five-week window. This stage offers $50,000 in cash prizes awarded to organizations for ecosystem-building activities, including recruiting new partners and strengthening existing alliances among stakeholders, including public, private, non-profit, and academic partners. Contestants work collaboratively with chosen partners to bring additional resources, deepen network connections, and develop strategies to support STEM/R&D-focused entrepreneurs and small businesses. SBA welcomes stage one submissions from organizations with a collaborative vision to nurture a national ecosystem for equitable access to entrepreneurship…

In 2021, U.S. microbusinesses reported $8.1 billion in research and development (R&D) expenditures, of which the microbusinesses themselves performed 75% ($6.1 billion) The $6.1 billion in microbusiness-performed R&D represents an increase of 9% over the prior year and 17% since 2019. Microbusinesses are those with nine or fewer employees. The Annual Business Survey (ABS), cosponsored by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) and the Census Bureau, collects data on U.S. microbusinesses that perform or fund R&D. ABS is a fairly new survey, with the first data year dating back to 2017, and has experienced changes to its methodology between certain data releases. Refer to the ABS methodology for more information. The data used in this article should be interpreted cautiously, as some company count and R&D performance values may be excluded for certain years, and not others. This practice is often done to protect the identities of microbusinesses, but may cause the values calculated in this article to be higher or lower than reality. Please refer to ABS for more information. This edition of Useful Stats will…

The U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) recently announced the 22 finalists of the Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program (Recompete) and 24 Strategy Development Grants. Recompete, authorized through the CHIPS and Science Act, targets the hardest-hit and most economically distressed areas of the country, specifically ones where prime-age (25-54 years) employment is significantly lower than the national average. Projects that are ultimately selected for funding connect workers to good jobs in geographically diverse and persistently distressed communities nationwide. The finalists will now submit proposals for $20-50 million. The Strategy Development Grants will be used to help communities significantly increase local coordination and planning activities. Such development could make selected grantees more competitive for future Recompete funding. The Recompete finalists are located across 20 states and territories and represent a cross section of urban and rural regions. According to a press release from EDA, of the 22 finalists, seven are focused exclusively on rural American communities, and five are led by or involve tribal…

The United States is home to some of the world's most prestigious universities, each performing critical research that helps advance the country’s innovation economy. However, these universities are not evenly distributed across the country; many are concentrated within large cities in states where their spillover further impacts the local economies. This edition of Useful Stats explores Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey data from the newest fiscal year (FY) 2022 data release. Specifically, a state and institution-level look at HERD expenditures over the last decade of available data will be conducted to explore any trends.   State-level trends in HERD Research and development (R&D) expenditures neared $100 billion across the U.S. in FY 2022, a 9% increase from FY 2021’s $89.8 billion and a 46% increase from FY 2013’s $67.1 billion. Twenty-seven states had higher education R&D expenditures totaling over $1 billion in FY 2022, while an additional nine states and Washington, D.C. had less than a billion but more than half a million. The remaining 14 states and Puerto Rico had between $100-500 million in HERD…

The National Science Foundation recently announced awarding more than $100 million to 18 teams at academic institutions across the nation through the Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program. An NSF press release states, “NSF's investment will enable academic institutions to accelerate the pace and scale of translational research that will grow the nation's economy.” Each ART awardee will receive up to $6 million over four years to identify and build upon academic research with the potential for technology transfer and societal and economic impacts, to ensure the availability of staff with technology transfer expertise, and to support the education and training of entrepreneurial faculty and students. Each ART awardee institution partners with a mentoring institution of higher education with a robust ecosystem for translational research. At least 15 universities are among the partner mentoring institutions that are part of the ART network formed by this cohort of awardees. The complete award list can be found here. NSF estimates that there will be up to 10 awards per round of this solicitation. The next deadline date is September 18, 2024. Thereafter, the…