SSTI Digest

With 133 ballot measures before voters on Nov. 8, a gamut of topics will be decided. Those outlined below are the measure that could affect the innovation economy, ranging from initiatives that would affect higher education, to broadband expansion and measures intended to boost state economies. Arizona Proposition 308 is asking voters if non-citizens, including Arizona Dreamers, should receive in-state college tuition. The state used to offer undocumented students in-state tuition, but in 2006 voters passed an initiative that prohibited it. Currently, at least 19 states have provisions allowing in-state tuition rates for undocumented students. Bond Question 3 in New Mexico would issue $215,986,000 in bonds for public higher education institutions, special public schools and tribal schools. And Question 1, a bond issue in Rhode Island, would issue $100 million in bonds for the University of Rhode Island Narragansett Bay Campus marine discipline educations and research needs. Two states are considering what has been dubbed a millionaires tax, but for different purposes. Massachusetts’ Question 1 would create a 4% tax on incomes that exceed $1 million with…

The National Science Foundation recently announced the four 2022 NSF INCLUDES awardees. These new alliances will each receive $10 million over five years to contribute to building an inclusive STEM workforce. The awardees will tackle issues like increasing data science capacity at minority-serving institutions (MSIs), increasing the representation of Native American and Alaska Native students in STEM fields, and supporting equitable pathways to postdoctoral fellowship positions. The 2022 NSF INCLUDES Alliances are: NSF INCLUDES National Data Science Alliance - Clark Atlanta University NSF INCLUDES Alliance Supporting Pacific Impact through Computational Excellence - Chaminade University of Honolulu and the University of Texas at Austin NSF INCLUDES Re-Imagining STEM Equity Utilizing Postdoctoral Pathways Alliance - University of Maryland, Baltimore County NSF INCLUDES Cultivating Indigenous Research Communities for Leadership in Education and STEM Alliance - University of Montana The NSF INCLUDES Alliance awards are part of NSF’s commitment to building a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive STEM workforce in the U.S. Learn more about the…

The 2022 National Defense Strategy, released last week, emphasizes the need to accelerate the Pentagon’s capacity for buying and deploying emerging technologies. Technology sectors called out as targets include advanced materials, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, clean energy, directed energy, hypersonics, microelectronics, quantum science and space. The report indicates that the Department of Defense (DOD) is considering R&D funding, ecosystem support and adapting civilian technologies among the tools it will use to pursue emerging tech. Other technology-related priorities discussed in the report include: Bolstering support for research institutions, including those based at universities and federally-funded R&D centers; Expanding DOD’s tech workforce (particularly in cybersecurity, data science and AI), including by working with universities and community colleges to address hiring and education gaps; and, The National Nuclear Security Administration will establish a new science and technology innovation initiative to incorporate innovations into weapon design and processing more rapidly. Unfortunately, the report does not include many…

Thirty-six states are holding gubernatorial elections this November, with voters in eight of those states (Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Oregon), choosing a new governor to replace a term-limited incumbent. In two states, Connecticut and Georgia, the incumbent is facing a re-match with their 2018 opponent, while in Alaska and Maine, the incumbent is being challenged by his/her predecessor, whom they defeated in 2018. Florida Gov. Ron De Santis is being challenged by former Gov. Charlie Crist, who previously switched his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. In five states — Alabama, Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, and Oregon ­— women incumbent governors and opposing candidates are competing to either retain or gain the executive seat. Many of the candidates have announced their innovation and economic development initiatives, and as we enter the final stretch of these gubernatorial races, the following are some of the candidates’ innovation-, economic- or workforce-related policies, positions and prior accomplishments. Alaska Bill Walker (I) Bill Walker served as Alaska’s 11th governor (2014-…

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently announced a new initiative — the Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT) initiative and seeks proposals to address barriers in the STEM workforce by encouraging partnerships among industry, educational, and government organizations. The program estimates giving out 25 to 35 ExLENT awards that will last up to three years with a total budget of up to $1,000,000, with a total anticipated funding amount of $30 million. This initiative is part of a larger effort to expand the STEM workforce needed to solve significant societal challenges like climate change and clean energy and address rapidly evolving emerging technologies. ExLENT will allow the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) and the newly established Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) to support experiential learning opportunities for individuals from diverse professional and educational backgrounds to increase access to careers in emerging technology fields (e.g., advanced manufacturing, advanced wireless, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum information science, semiconductors, and…

In a recent study titled Does NIH select the right healthcare ventures through the SBIR grant program?, researchers from Rutgers University and the University of Connecticut took advantage of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to conduct a natural experiment. The opportunity was available due to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) decision to use ARRA dollars to fund additional Phase I SBIR awards from general SBIR competitions, and the researchers compared these 19 ARRA-funded awards to the other 479 Phase I awards that were first funded in the same competitions with regular appropriations.

Higher education enrollment dropped 1.1% between fall 2021 and 2022, a slight reprieve from historic COVID-induced drop-offs, as revealed by new preliminary data from the National Student Clearinghouse. Since fall 2020, enrollment has decreased by a combined 3.2% for graduate and undergraduate enrollment, representing a drop of approximately 1.5 million students since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between fall 2021 and 2022, undergraduate enrollment declined in 27 of the 42 states where sufficient data are available, with Alaska (-5.2%), Kansas (-4.6%), and Michigan (-4.6%) losing the most undergraduate students while New Hampshire (+6.8%), New Mexico (+4.3%), and South Carolina (+3.7%) gained the most. Between fall 2020 and fall 2022, undergraduate enrollment fell by over 5% in 14 of the 42 states with sufficient data (Alaska, Arkansas, California, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin), with Alaska losing the most (-15%) followed by Missouri (-9%). New Hampshire’s undergraduate enrollment rose the most with the state showing 12.6% increase over the two-year period,…

Despite COVID-induced setbacks continuing to keep some people out of offices and laboratories, new Business Enterprise Research and Development Survey (BERD) data reveals that domestic research and development (R&D) spending, although slowing, is still on an uptrend. From 2018 to 2019, business R&D spending increased by 11.8% (from approximately $441 billion to $492 billion), with new data showing a further increase of 9.1% from 2019 to 2020 ($492 billion to $538 billion). The $538 billion in total R&D expenditures for 2020 can be broken down into two main categories: company funded R&D (approximately $466 billion) and R&D funded via other sources (approximately $71 billion). Company funded R&D saw an increase of 8.7% over the prior year, while funding from other sources leapt 11.7%. The nearly 12% leap in non-company funded R&D can be explained in part through governmental responses to COVID-19, with a nearly 400% increase in “Pharmaceuticals and medicines” R&D activity paid for by the federal government ($269 million to over $1 billion), with its share of total R&D paid for by the federal government increasing from…

In another illustration of how women’s participation in the tech industry continues to lag, SmartAsset recently released its annual report looking at Best Cities for Women in Tech. The report finds country-wide, the percentage of women in STEM is growing, but that growth is occurring at a dwindling rate, and that women make up only about 20% of the field’s total workforce. Detroit, Michigan, has the highest percentage of women tech workers (41.7%), according to SmartAsset. Irvine, California, was cited as having the lowest percentage (18.9%) of women tech workers. The report shared statistics for women’s participation in STEM in other cities as it relates to the industry growth with that area and their income. The U.S. Census Bureau adds more to the picture, reporting that from 1970 to 2019, women’s participation in the U.S. workforce had risen by 10 percentage points, from 38% to 48%, while in the STEM fields, this proportion increased from 8% to 27%. While these numbers reflected gains for women in STEM, in 2019, the report stated that most of the gains were in math and social sciences, and those areas don’t comprise the majority of the STEM workforce. Most STEM…

The National Institute of Standards of Technology (NIST) is seeking public input through Requests for Information (RFIs) for two programs under the CHIPS Act. Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Laurie E. Locascio refers to the U.S.’s leadership role in semiconductor manufacturing as “critically important to our prosperity and national security” as they are key components in artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Locasio notes that in order to achieve this, America needs a “whole-of-nation” approach, justifying the two RFIs under different CHIPS programs.  The CHIPS for America initiative involves two main components: the provision of financial incentives to encourage investment in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, and the establishment of collaborative networks for research and innovation that will ensure an enduring technological edge. The CHIPS Incentive Program RFI seeks input on the design and implementation of incentive programs, including grants, loans and loan guarantees to ensure that they contribute to private sector investments and knowledge identifying significant supply chain bottlenecks…

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 report shows a significant decrease in both angel and seed deal counts, but the decrease in seed deal counts is less severe as compared to angel deal counts. Angel deal value has also decreased, likely as a result of the decline in deal count. However, seed deal value continues to stay relatively high, beating every year except 2021 since 2012. Angel deal value is $0.6 billion, compared to $1 billion in 2021.  Of states that had at least 100 deals (which…

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.