SSTI Digest

EDA is now accepting applications for its $4.5 million FY 2023 STEM Talent Challenge to support programs to train science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) talent and help fuel regional innovation economies. The competition will provide funding for programs that help build a robust STEM workforce in emerging and transformative sectors such as aerospace, aeronautics, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, among others.  Competitive applications will demonstrate how the program will develop or expand regional STEM workforce capacity to support entrepreneurial ventures, industries of the future, and other innovation-driven businesses. Eligible applicants include cities, counties, states, other political subdivisions of states, and Tribal Nations; as well as non-profit organizations, public-private partnerships, federal laboratories or science/research parks, institutions of higher education, Economic Development Organizations, and consortia of the aforementioned with government support. Administered by EDA’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE), the STEM challenge is meant to build upon the momentum of OIE’s …

Last year's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) reauthorization included a new requirement that participating agencies work to identify foreign connections of applying companies. Certain types of connections to “countries of concern,” which include China and Russia, could result in the small business being prohibited from receiving federal funds. The U.S. Small Business Administration has now published a template for disclosure of foreign relationships that will be part of the latest SBIR policy directive and that all agencies will be expected to use. The template is available for public comment through May 3 in the Federal Register.

What is the value of a college degree today? While tuition costs continue to rise, opinions on the perceived value of the degrees institutions of higher education provide are falling. This sentiment, as highlighted in recent reports from New America and Gallup, demonstrates the need to re-examine the role of postsecondary education in shaping successful career pathways and the challenges individuals face while navigating an ever-evolving labor market.

The objective of the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) is to help states receiving the least amount of federal research and development (R&D) funds within their postsecondary institutions improve their competitiveness for federal grants and awards. A measure of EPSCoR's effectiveness, then, is whether or not the state's academic research enterprise is capturing a larger share of federal R&D expenditures. This article utilizes data from the Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey, analyzing the total and federal HERD dollars for the 25 current EPSCoR eligible states compared to those not eligible, finding: 1) EPSCoR states are not receiving proportionately more federal HERD dollars and 2) EPSCoR states have an extremely large variation of total HERD dollars between states, inclusive of both the highest grossing states as well as all three states experiencing a decrease.

Following a jolt of outmigration and population declines from some of the country’s most populous counties in 2021, new data from the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that county growth patterns are returning to pre-pandemic rates. The U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2022 estimates of population and components of change found that many college counties saw a rebound in 2022, a pattern that was observed in many metropolitan counties in the South and West. “The migration and growth patterns for counties edged closer to pre-pandemic levels this year,” said Dr. Christine Hartley, assistant division chief for estimates and projections in the Census Bureau’s population division, in a press release on the data. “Some urban counties, such as Dallas and San Francisco, saw domestic outmigration at a slower pace between 2021 and 2022, compared to the prior year. Meanwhile, many counties with large universities saw their populations fully rebound this year as students returned." Over one-half (52.5%) of all 3,144 counties grew between 2021 and 2022, down from 55.7% of counties the prior year. Counties with populations below 10,000 experienced more population loss (60.8…

This week the Congressional Research Service (CRS) released Regional Innovation: Federal Programs and Issues for Consideration, which provides a summary of federal programs supporting regional innovation systems (RIS), including programs of the CHIPS and Science Act. As described in the report, federal support of RIS is a place-based approach to economic development, with a goal of encouraging development of innovation ecosystems across the country, especially in regions that have benefitted less than others from the rise of the technology-based economy. The report also addresses the scale, scope and duration of the federal investments, asking Congress to consider whether funding periods for the programs are adequate to achieve RIS goals and “how best to sustain regional innovation efforts after federal funding ceases.” Programs discussed are administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Commerce (DOC), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Small Business Administration (SBA), including: Regional Innovation Engines Program (NSF) The CHIPS and Science Act authorized the creation of the Regional Innovation Engines to support a broad…

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published the revised Bayh-Dole Act rule, “Rights to Federally Funded Inventions and Licensing of Government Owned Inventions,” clarifying procedures and removing outdated references. Revisions were made in response to over 80,000 comments received in response to a notice of proposed rulemaking issued in January 2021. An earlier proposed change that would have codified the long-held policy that march-in rights (rights granted to the federal government in specified circumstances allowing it to grant patent licenses to parties other than the patent owner if the research and development is federally funded) cannot be exercised solely on the basis of product pricing is not included in the revisions. The Department of Commerce and the Department of Health and Human Services will convene a working group of diverse stakeholders — federal agencies, patient groups, tech transfer organizations, industry, and investors — to consider further clarifications to the rule, in particular, whether perceived high product pricing may be grounds to exercise march-in rights. Bayh-Dole allows the government to assert march-in…

This week the Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced it had completed awarding $27.9 million in cooperative agreements to establish eight economic development Communities of Practice, including the Technology-Based Economic Development (TBED) Community of Practice led by SSTI to help build the capacity and disseminate effective technology-based economic development practices across the innovation industry and the Building Better Regions Community of Practice where SSTI has partnered with RTI. Each EDA award will build a Community of Practice designed to connect participants to capture and disseminate practical knowledge and bring together thematically related groups of economic development practitioners who are working to develop economic ecosystems conducive to the creation of quality jobs for American workers. Activities across the eight communities are planned to include tailored technical assistance, strategic networking, and topical programming opportunities to help identify, amplify and scale best practices in economic development. The EDA-funded communities include SSTI’s Technology-Based Economic Development (TBED) Community of Practice ($3.…

As states and local economies tackle an ongoing workforce shortage and a tight labor market, some state legislatures are looking to relax or reform their child labor laws. These proposed changes come as U.S. child labor has been a subject of controversy and debate in recent months amid the reports of federal investigations involving under-aged workers in automobile factories and in meat/food processing plants, or investigative exposés involving cereal factories, twelve-year-old roofers, and underage slaughterhouse workers. While child labor, both federal/state-sanctioned and otherwise, is occurring in every state, a handful of states are either seeking to reduce the restrictions on youth employment or relax their states’ child labor protections, ostensibly to help employers and businesses meet their hiring needs. Labor experts report that the issue of child or youth labor is a persistent trend, but it is particularly acute when employers or businesses struggle to find talent, as well as during difficult economic times. (The U.S. Labor Department has reported a 70% increase in minors being employed illegally by companies since 2018, many of whom are migrant…

While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was passed more than five years ago, many businesses seem to be just discovering the effects of one of its sections this tax season. The law stipulated that, for tax years beginning in 2022, companies could no longer choose to expense their entire “research and experimentation” costs in one year and must instead amortize those cost over five years (with a half year look-back). The result is posing a threat for companies with limited, or non-fungible, cash flow. Congress displayed broad support for restoring the original rule but failed to pass the change during the previous session. The question on many people’s minds is, “what happens now?” Background Prior to Dec. 31, 2021, Section 174 of the Internal Revenue Code allowed companies to choose between expensing 100% of research and experimentation costs in the current year or amortizing those costs over five years (or longer, in the case of foreign expenditures). The 2017 tax law ended this practice, requiring all companies to amortize their costs. The Journal of Accountancy provides an example of how this change will affect a company with $100,000 in annual…

The U.S. Department of Treasury and the International Trade Administration within the U.S. Department of Commerce have issued reports considering a program to address national security concerns “arising from outbound investments from the United States into sensitive technologies that could enhance the technological capabilities of countries of concern in ways that threaten U.S. national security.” The reports were required by Congress as part of the most recent appropriations bill and come amid growing concern about China’s technological capacity and if American venture capital funds are helping fuel it. Reports from the two departments to Congress focus on outbound investments from the U.S. into sensitive technologies that could enhance technological capabilities of “countries of concern” in ways that could threaten the U.S. Those investments that would be under consideration are not currently captured by export controls, sanctions, or other related authorities. The two-page Commerce report noted that the approach currently under consideration would focus on a sub-set of certain key advanced technologies and action might include “prohibiting certain investments…

A new report compiled by The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) outlines a whole-of-government approach to biotechnology and making it a national priority. The report lays out bold goals over two decades for biotech R&D, calling for an increase in agricultural productivity by 28% in the next decade and reducing food waste and loss by 50% by 2030. The Administration is aiming for more efficient agriculture, the creation of more nutritious food, an increase in sustainability of the entire food system, and its resilience to climate change and other external problems. The report sets a series of “bold goals” centered on biotechnology and biomanufacturing R&D to further those aims and “highlight what could be possible with the power of biology. These goals are intended to provide a broad vision for the U.S. bioeconomy and what can be achieved with concerted action from industry, academia, nonprofits, the Federal Government, and other organizations.” An Executive Order signed by the president in September stresses that use of biotechnology and biomanufacturing be ethical and responsible. The change will be centered on a…