SSTI Digest

Between federal interest rates over 3% and post-pandemic economic impacts that affect macroeconomic trends, many have predicted a continued decline in venture capital outcomes, only some of which has held true through Q3. 

Overall deal counts were higher than anticipated, according to the most recent PitchBook Venture Monitor that covers Quarter 3. The report captures 11,871 deals so far in 2022 (with another 1,765 that PitchBook estimates to have occurred but have not yet been formally identified) with a total value of $194.9 billion. Both deal activity and value would be a decline from the historic high of 2021 but on track to exceed all other years since 2012. 

The U.S. National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program has revised the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Type-2 NSF Engines program proposals, moving the deadline up to Jan. 18, 2023, among other changes, which are detailed in the revised BAA and key related resource documents that were published on Oct. 17, 2022. NSF added new preparation and content requirements, along with requirements for a Region of Service map and Mandatory Disclosure document. The NSF Engines is a new program intended to foster innovation ecosystems across the U.S. through partnerships across industry, academia, government, nonprofits, and others. More information is available here.

In a move to strengthen the domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), announced $2.8 billion for 20 companies in 12 states to extract and process battery materials and manufacture components while creating good-paying jobs. The projects will be funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and will be matched by recipients to leverage more than $9 billion for the production of clean energy.

DOE reports that the funding is the first phase of $7 billion in total provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to strengthen the domestic battery supply chain by supporting upstream materials processing to create the precursor materials for batteries. Additional funding opportunities are expected to be forthcoming to continue to fill gaps in and strengthen the domestic battery supply chain. 

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) recently announced its largest POWER (Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization) Initiative funding package. This funding package awards nearly $47 million to 52 projects in 181 counties to support economic diversification and mitigate job losses from coal-related industries in Appalachian communities. 

The $47 million investment will support new and existing industries like agriculture, tourism, and entrepreneurship and invest in workforce development and skills training programs to counteract the negative impacts of the declining coal industry. These projects are largely successful, according to an evaluation from Chamberlin/Dunn, which found that many projects funded by the POWER Initiative exceeded output targets and that ARC’s investments have helped create or retain over 39,600 jobs.

SSTI is pleased to announce a new project with the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to build a Community of Practice focused on EDA’s important technology-based economic development (TBED) investment priority area. This new partnership will help regions across the entire country become more resilient, more equitable, and more competitive in the global innovation-centered economy.

SSTI and EDA’s shared mission for this community is to improve the impacts, outcomes and effectiveness of EDA’s strategic investments in local and regional capacity to support science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced 11 additional states whose SSBCI plans have been approved: Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, and Utah. This is in addition to the 20 states that have been approved this year: California, Hawaii, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, West Virginia, Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Colorado, Montana, New York, North Carolina and Oregon.

Creating a vison for United States leadership in advanced manufacturing, the National Science and Technology Council has released a strategy to grow the economy, create jobs, enhance environmental sustainability, address climate change, strengthen supply chains, ensure national security, and improve healthcare for the next four years. The 2022 National Strategy for Advanced Manufacturing, developed by the Subcommittee on Advanced Manufacturing (SAM), provides a number of recommendations to help achieve those goals.

The strategy report outlines three interrelated goals: 1) Develop and implement advanced manufacturing technologies; 2) Grow the advanced manufacturing workforce; and, 3) Build resilience into manufacturing supply chains.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science recently announced new requirements for all research proposal applications. Applicants must submit a plan for Promoting Inclusive and Equitable Research — or PIER Plan — with their research proposal during the solicitation process. The PIER Plans will be required beginning in FY 2023 and will require investigators to describe strategies to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in all research projects. Larger research teams will be expected to provide more detailed PIER Plans. A new merit review criterion will evaluate these PIER Plans during the peer review process.

These new requirements were developed following a systematic review of the Office of Science and were based on recommendations from peer reviews and community listening sessions. The Office of Science identified various barriers for underrepresented groups from these reviews and recognized over 40 opportunities to broaden participation.

On the closing days of the previous federal fiscal year and with an Oct. 21 deadline looming for new proposals, the National Science Foundation announced the first 24 awards for a new program to support “Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems” (OSE). NSF’s goal is to exploit the advantages of using open-source development to find technological solutions to problems of national and societal importance. According to the program’s website, the goal is “to fund new OSE managing organizations, each responsible for the creation and maintenance of infrastructure needed for efficient and secure operation of an OSE based around a specific open-source product or class of products.”

Rather than funding the development of new open-source products, NSF is striving to aid the creation and sustenance of OSE hubs, using a two-phase structure. Twenty-three of the recently announced awards are all $300,000 or less and will support one-year, Phase I conceptual development and planning awards to build OSEs. The final award announced is for a $2 million OSE training and network management program to be run by the University of California-Berkeley.

A total of $47 million has been awarded to 51 organizations by the U.S. Economic Development Administration to support programs that accelerate innovation and tech-based economic development as part of the Build to Scale program,  U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced yesterday. The 2022 awardees will leverage an additional $48 million in matching funds from private and public sector sources. SSTI has been an advocate of the Build to Scale program, which did not receive federal appropriations prior to the creation of the SSTI Innovation Advocacy Council.

Citing an 85-year record of promoting higher quality training and worker protection standards, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has rescinded the short-lived Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Program (IRAP) in favor of the established Registered Apprenticeship (RA) program. DOL found the IRAP program, instituted in 2017 , to be “a duplicative, lower-quality system that was not in the best interest of workers and industries.”

As Manufacturing Week kicks off on Friday, Oct. 7, the U.S. Census Bureau and Manufacturing USA are providing valuable manufacturing statistics and data to help inform policymakers and businesses, while also highlighting careers in the industry.

The Bureau features many different resources that share statistics, infographics, webinars, and past stories that detail different aspects of the progress being made in manufacturing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, close to 22,000 people started jobs in manufacturing this August, and 67,000 more people are working in manufacturing jobs than before the pandemic.