SSTI Digest

In 1862, during the Civil War, Congress passed the Land-Grant Agricultural and Mechanical College Act of 1862 (a.k.a. the Morrill Act of 1862). This legislation extended educational opportunities for many White working-class Americans. But it did little to extend education to Black people. The Morrill Act of 1890 passed 28 years later created new land grant institutions to address the issue of Black peoples’ access to higher education. But racial inequities between the two land-grant systems have persisted into the present day. And as noted in The Century Foundation’s (TCF’s) paper, “Nourishing the Nation While Starving; The Underfunding of Black Land-Grant Colleges and Universities,” even though the 1890 universities have many proud accomplishments, the cumulative damage from unequal treatment between the 1862 and 1890 universities is significant. The inequitable treatment of the 1862 vs. the 1890 universities originated in the language in both Morrill Acts. The first Morrill Act funded the nationwide system of universities by granting federal lands to each of the states. The states could either cash in on the value of the property or hold on to the land as an…

Representatives from leading AI companies (Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI) gathered at the White House on July 21 for the announcement of their voluntary commitment to “help move toward safe, secure, and transparent development of AI technology.” According to a White House statement, the companies have made commitments to ensuring products are safe before introducing them to the public, building systems that put security first, and earn the public’s trust. Among the steps they will take are: 1) Internal and external red teaming of models or systems. Red teaming is a procedure where systems are tested for vulnerabilities without the knowledge of the team that created them, thus testing the creators' effective response to the attack. This method of ensuring safety is critical for national security. It also protects from bio, chemical, radiological, and societal risks, such as bias and discrimination. To further help ensure the safety of AI, the companies committed to advancing ongoing research and publicly disclosing their red-teaming and safety procedures. 2) Work toward information sharing among companies and…

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is implementing a final rule, effective Aug. 17, that adds a category of Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) that will make the program a better-fit for early-stage investment strategies. The most significant change in this direction is the creation of an accrual funding mechanism that enables licensed SBICs to receive a loan from SBA that is repaid only upon distribution events or at the end of a 10-year term. Additional changes include allowing fund investment strategies through a reinvestor SBIC license, modifying license fees, clarifying elements of nonprofit participation, and attempting to reduce program paperwork. The SBIC program both licenses companies and offers loans, called debentures, to eligible licensees—a structure that parallels the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund’s model of certifying CDFIs and offering financial assistance awards. For most of the past 20 years, the debentures available from SBA entailed regular interest payments, requiring participating SBICs to have access to consistent cashflow. Some SBICs have made venture capital investments, but either as a small portion of…

The White House has released a new report, Building the bioworkforce of the future: Expanding equitable pathways into biotechnology and biomanufacturing jobs. The five core recommendations in the report are intended to help propel continued investment in the bioeconomy and maintain the U.S.’ leadership in this sector. The report follows an Executive Order President Biden signed in September 2022. Recommendation #1 calls for expanding and diversifying the talent pool for biotechnology and biomanufacturing jobs and careers to promote innovation and advance equity. One action step for achieving this recommendation is to “expand and diversify the bioworkforce by increasing support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and the students they serve.” Recommendation #2 is to strengthen worker-centered sector strategies and other partnerships between employers, labor organizations, community colleges, and other training providers to grow and diversify the bioworkforce. “These partners collaborate to analyze their regional labor market, anticipate future job and…

The "CHIPS and Science Act" authorizes both the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) to implement programs to enable regional technology development and economic and job growth through NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) and EDA Regional Technology and Innovation Hub (Tech Hubs) programs. To officially enable cooperation between the two agencies as they pursue these similar goals, NSF and EDA signed a memorandum of understanding MOU. The MOU allows for coordinating specific projects, programs, and facilities. The coordination may include research and education activities, facilities, centers, data infrastructure and outreach. Ongoing areas of cooperation as well as future areas of potential cooperation could include: Implementing pathways for sustained growth of regional innovation ecosystems. Training and educating diverse technicians, researchers, practitioners, and entrepreneurs based on regional workforce needs. Forming trusted partnership networks across industry, academia, government, nonprofits, civil society, and communities of practice to foster scientific innovation and the exchange of…

The Department of Defense (DOD) receives about $95 billion annually to support research and development efforts. But some members of Congress feared that requesting and allocating those funds took too long. It usually takes two years, which hinders response to evolving threats. The Senate addressed this issue in the Senate Report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, calling for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review DOD research funding flexibilities. GAO reports that service officials responsible for R&D efforts were not familiar with all of the flexibilities available to them. GAO reviewed U.S. Code, relevant legislation, and DOD documents to identify flexibilities. They selected a nongeneralizable sample of five flexibilities to provide variation in what they allowed DOD to do. They also selected 25 activities as illustrative examples and to assess their use. GAO interviewed DOD and military department officials to gather data. At least 26 authorities related to budgeting and financial management allowed DOD flexibility in its use of funds to support research and development (R&D), innovation, and…

Every year, inadequate childcare causes the US economy to take a $122B hit, according to a study by an economist at the University of Pennsylvania. This economic hit affects everyone—workers, businesses, and taxpayers. Parents lose income when they miss work to take care of a child. Businesses suffer from lower productivity when employees are absent. Taxpayers end up paying more when parents leave the workforce and generate fewer tax revenues. Future economic growth slows when tax revenues decline. The COVID pandemic brought this issue to the forefront. “… COVID amplified how crucial and under-resourced the childcare sector is. And also how vital it is to our economy,” said Tara Colton, executive vice president of economic security at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. “Now we talk about (childcare) as (part of the) economic infrastructure. We see … the significant impacts of (inadequate childcare) on the ability of our economy to function and the ability of people to return to the workforce, advance in the workforce, etcetera.” Throughout the country, these issues are being addressed by SSTI members and their close associates. City of…

Last month, NIH came out with a policy statement that prohibits using generative AI to analyze or critique NIH grant applications and contract proposals. Specifically, as written in NIH Notice NOT-OD-23-149, “NIH prohibits NIH scientific peer reviewers from using natural language processors, large language models, or other generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies for analyzing and formulating peer review critiques for grant applications and R&D contract proposals.” The problem with using generative AI in peer review is that it compromises confidentiality. As expressed in the notice, once information is loaded onto a generative AI platform, “AI tools have no guarantee of where data are being sent, saved, viewed, or used in the future, and thus NIH is revising its Confidentiality Agreements for Peer Reviewers to clarify that reviewers are prohibited from using AI tools in analyzing and critiquing NIH grant applications and R&D contract proposals. Such actions violate NIH’s peer review confidentiality requirements.” NIH's Michael Lauer, deputy director for extramural research, Stephanie Constant, Ph.D., review policy officer, and Amy Wernimont, Ph.D.,…

It appears that innovation is contagious. Maps reveal that once there is a concentration of patents granted to inventors in one U.S. county, innovation starts to percolate in neighboring counties. And the phenomenon isn’t found only in established life sciences hubs like San Diego or Boston. SSTI observed this spillover effect in Washtenaw County, Michigan and Hennepin County, Minnesota, among other places. These data suggest that when a strong base is located, likely due to new companies and startups establishing themselves, innovation lays down its roots and spreads to other counties. SSTI used the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) utility patent data from 1998-2020 across industries to draw insights such as how innovation in the life sciences spreads locally. Our analysis and maps for 22 years of life science-related shows clustering in areas where one would expect it, but also in areas of the country where it might be less expected. We started by identifying life science-related patents, and then explored both the quantity and percent share these patents for each U.S. county. Specifically, SSTI examined the patent data of medical technology,…

The U.S. Economic Development Administration has recently made multiple staff appointments for its national program offices. Cristina Killingsworth is now EDA’s deputy assistant secretary for policy and external Affairs, having formerly been chief of staff for the International Trade Administration. This new position blends responsibility for four national programs—Tech Hubs, Recompete, Build Back Better and Good Jobs challenges—with oversight of the agency’s legislative and public affairs activities. Eric Smith is now Tech Hubs program director, with Chivas Grannum filling Smith’s position as acting director of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Director. Scott Andes is now Recompete program director and Tech Hubs policy advisor, with Alex Jones taking on the role of director on an acting basis for the Build Back Better Regional Challenge program. For more information on EDA leadership, see: https://www.eda.gov/about/leadership.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently launched two Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs): the National Clean Investment Fund and the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator. The National Clean Investment fund provides $14 billion to provide accessible, affordable financing for tens of thousands of clean technology projects nationwide. The Clean Communities Investment Accelerator provides $6 billion funding and technical assistance to public, quasi-public, not-for-profit, and nonprofit community lenders working in low-income and disadvantaged communities The National Clean Investment Fund will provide grants to support from two to three national clean financing institutions to partner with the private sector. At least 40% of the funds from the National Clean Investment Fund will be dedicated to low-income and disadvantaged communities, including rural communities, Tribal communities, communities with environmental justice concerns, energy communities, and persistent poverty counties. The deadline to apply to this grant competition is October 12, 2023. EPA intends to make two or three awards under this competition. Applicants must be eligible…

Over the past two decades, business has done most of the heavy lifting for research and development (R&D) funding. Calculated in the dollar value of 2012, business funding increased from $10.4 billion in 2000 to an estimated $36.0 billion in 2021. The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) keeps track of these types of statistics, and the above data is from Business Sector Increases Funding for Basic Research, one of three InfoCharts released last month. The “Business Sector Increases Funding for Basic Research,” InfoChart, written by NCSES’ Gary Anderson, explains that although federal funding increased from 2000 to 2005, it has remained stagnant since then at near or below $40 billion. Whether looking at a longer or a shorter timeframe, the trend of declining federal funds is apparent. From 1961–70, on average, the federal government funded 70% of basic research, and the business sector funded less than 20%. But, by 2021, the federal government only funded 40% of basic research. At the same time, the business sector’s share of funding had increased to 36%. The increase in business funding represents a return to the 1950s…