SSTI Digest

Imagine tapping into a talent pool already familiar with your region's culture, values, and challenges. This scenario is the core idea behind affinity recruiting, a strategy where communities and businesses actively target former residents, alums, and individuals with a genuine connection to the area. These initiatives aim to entice them for job opportunities, entrepreneurial ventures, leadership roles, or investment. As regions increasingly recognize the value of "boomerang migration," (SSTI Digest, March 20, 2025), integrating these strategies with broader talent initiatives may be a cost-effective way to revitalize workforces, bolster local economies, and strengthen community bonds. This article will explore the potential of affinity recruiting, examine successful examples, and address the inherent challenges in its implementation.

With President Trump’s March 31 signature on an executive order to create a United States Investment Accelerator within the Department of Commerce aimed to help expedite development of foreign and domestic manufacturing investments priced at over $1 Billion, there is concern about what impact one sentence has on the existing $52 Billion in CHIPs related deals across the country. Some of the projects have been on ice since the change of Administration. 

The sentence in question is: “The Investment Accelerator shall be responsible for the CHIPS Program Office within the Department of Commerce, which shall focus on delivering the benefit of the bargain for taxpayers by negotiating much better deals than those of the previous administration.” [Emphasis added.]

Numerous reports across the country indicate the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has taken the first step toward eliminating the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program, which, for nearly 40 years, has provided technical assistance, training, research and strategic direction to tens of thousands of small and medium manufacturers across the country. Reports vary as to whether 10 or 11 of the 51 centers across the U.S. and Puerto Rico were told they would not receive current funding already appropriated and expected per the terms of their existing multi-year agreements with NIST. While news reports for individual state centers have surfaced, the most detailed coverage of the action to eliminate MEP that SSTI has yet to see is provided in an April 2 Wired posting by Paresh Dave and Louise Matsakis.

Gov. Phil Murphy and representatives from the founding partners—the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), Princeton University, Microsoft, and CoreWeave—officially opened the New Jersey Artificial Intelligence (NJAI) Hub on March 27, 2023.

States with economies based on resource extraction are among the least diversified in the country—they know well the boom-and-bust cycles that come with that concentration. Innovation and entrepreneurship represent a path out of that boom-bust cycle, and New Mexico’s recently updated economic development strategy, Empower and Collaborate: New Mexico's Economic Path Forward, hints at wanting to build on that recognition in its planned actions for the coming years.

The April 2025 issue of NBER Digest, a publication of the National Bureau of Economic Research, includes the following summary of a recent working paper. NBER grants permission to reproduce the piece here. While the research focuses on students’ experiences only in Texas, SSTI believes the findings likely could have policy value in other geographies striving to increase workers’ skill sets in an increasingly innovation driven economy.

In Texas, disadvantaged students often forgo college entirely when far from a community college, while more advantaged students substitute towards four-year colleges.

Proximity to a community college impacts college enrollment and degree completion, particularly for minority and low-income students. Consequently, disparities in geographic access to higher education contribute to educational attainment gaps across demographic groups.

How one applies and has their proposal reviewed to gain a small share of the world's largest funding source for life science research is changing. The following highlights modifications affecting grant applications submitted to the National Institutes of Health for due dates on or after January 25, 2025, as posted on their Implementation of New Initiatives and Policies page.

NIH narrowed the framework for the peer review of most competing research project grant (RPG) applications. Excluded from the change are proposals for small business and multi-project grants. The new framework will reorganize the five regulatory criteria into three factors: 

April 16, 2025, 2:00pm EDT
Free, registration required

As the research article in today's Digest attests, tech transfer offices (TTOs) must adapt and evolve to maximize their institution's innovation potential! Join our upcoming webinar to explore the strategic landscape of centralized Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs). Discover how they are rethinking intellectual property management, licensing, and commercialization, and learn to weigh the advantages—like cost savings and enhanced service quality—against potential challenges, such as reduced flexibility. We'll delve into real-world examples of successful centralized TTOs, revealing the best practices driving their achievements. Gain invaluable insights tailored for policymakers, university administrators, and technology transfer professionals, and optimize your TTO's impact. Register now to revolutionize your approach!

Speakers:

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has asked the state legislature to inject $113 million into programs that support the commonwealth’s innovation economy—including $50 million for the PA Innovation Program, which provides a $30 million allocation specifically designated for the commercialization of life sciences and a $20 million fund to “support large-scale innovation, match federal awards to mitigate risks for start-ups, and leverage Pennsylvania’s best-in-class research and development assets.” Shapiro presented his FY 2025-2026 budget proposal and policy recommendations to state lawmakers in his Feb.

As U.S. research institutions face funding uncertainty, countries and universities worldwide are launching initiatives to lure away our scientific talent:

NOTE: The nation's community of technology-based economic development organizations is in its annual report season, and we've already seen several releases from SSTI members. All document TBED's impact on advancing research, moving it to market, and helping businesses improve their profitability and competitiveness.

To help the TBED community prepare their own annual reports, SSTI is speaking with a few of our members to learn more about their evolving approaches to preparing their annual reports. This week, we share insights from our conversation based on an interview with Kate Calabra, interim CEO of the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition. The first three parts of this four-part series are available here, here and here.

In a country marked by regional diversity, gaining insights into economic performance often means looking beyond conventional state and county boundaries to economic hubs. This edition of Useful Stats uses Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data to first compare U.S. metropolitan and micropolitan GDPs broken down by industry for the last 20+ years, then consider each Metropolitan Statistical Area’s GDP by private industry, highlighting patterns and changes over the past decades.  

Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), “have at least one urban area of 50,000 or more population plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core urban area as measured by commuting ties.” Approximately 86% of the nation's population resides within the 392 MSAs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.[1]