SSTI Digest

Enough races have now been called in the 2022 midterm elections to confirm that the Senate will remain under Democratic party control while the House will switch to the Republican party. If any legislation is going to advance to the White House over the next two years, the parties are going to need to work together — both across and within each chamber (where Senate filibuster rules and House politics are likely to make bipartisan votes a necessity to passing bills).

A report from ITIF exploring the factors involved in ecosystem strength found that states in Germany generally perform better than states in the U.S., Italy, and Canada in terms of globalization, knowledge economy, and innovation capacity.

The Index reported that the critical factors influencing an ecosystem are the quality of education (especially in STEM fields), public and private R&D investments, the range of highly trained R&D personnel, economic dynamism, and entrepreneurship. Based on these indicators, ITIF ranked Massachusetts, California, Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, and Washington as the leading regions for innovation competitiveness.

Despite the success of Michigan’s numerous initiatives to provide tuition-free college, an analysis from New America exploring Michigan’s effort to increase the affordability and accessibility of higher education found that the fragmented approach reduces the state’s ability to reach all residents needing financial assistance. To make college more affordable and accessible to all Michiganders, the report recommends considering more straightforward free-tuition programs.

Thirty-six states held gubernatorial contests in Tuesday’s (Nov. 8) mid-term elections. By the end of the last week, winners in 32 states had been chosen. As of today, contests in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon have been called; while votes continued to be tallied in Alaska, which held its first ranked choice general election. Gov. Mike Dunleavy maintains a substantial lead and appears he will be re-elected. As such, Dunleavy will be the first governor to be elected to back-to-back terms in the state since former Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles won reelection in 1998.

Amazon is allocating $50 million from its Climate Pledge Fund — Amazon’s venture capital program that invests in companies pioneering decarbonizing technologies and solutions — to invest in women-founded and women-led climate tech companies, as well as incubators and accelerators that prioritize women-led entities.

As opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) develop around the country, different inclusion programs are being put in place to increase participation for women in the field. SSTI previously released an article highlighting the lack of female participation in certain STEM careers, like computer science and engineering, despite tech industries growing in different cities around the country. This week’s story focuses on different efforts that are in place to help turn that tide and increase women’s participation in STEM fields and the results the efforts are having.

Going into Tuesday’s 2022 mid-term elections, less electoral shakeup in state legislatures was expected after states’ redistricting efforts shored up many safe seats for incumbents — with the one notable exception being Michigan, thanks to an independent commission that had drawn a competitive map that put both legislative chambers in play. The results detailed below reveal the new, and some still-standing, makeup of statehouse leadership changes as the result of Tuesday’s election.

As of Thursday morning, party control of both chambers of Congress is undetermined, as final outcomes remain unknown for 44 House seats and three Senate seats (per the AP). Chamber control may drive the size of the next few federal budgets — affecting opportunities for additional science and innovation funding — and determines who will be chair versus ranking member of committees. Regardless of the electoral outcomes, however, many of the relevant leaders will be unknown until committee assignments occur next year. At a minimum: the Senate appropriations committee will replace the Democratic and Republican leaders; the Senate commerce and small business committees will see new Republican leaders; the House science committee will have a new Democratic leader; and, the House small business committee will have a new Republican leader. SSTI will post updates as those results are available.

Voters across the country faced a number of ballot measures in Tuesday’s election that could in turn affect the innovation economy in their states. Bond issues affecting higher education were approved in New Mexico and Rhode Island, while the vote is still being counted in Arizona, which considered a measure that would allow more aid for non-citizens of the state pursuing higher education. Massachusetts voters narrowly passed the millionaires tax on the ballot there, with education and transportation reaping the increase in revenues, while California voters turned down a similar tax that would have benefitted zero-emission vehicle subsidies and wildfire suppression. The environment was a winner in a New York $4.2 billion bond proposal as was broadband expansion in Alabama. Several states considered changes to the rules affecting their legislators, elections and ballot initiatives with mixed results.   Read more below for a breakdown of results on ballot initiatives that could affect states’ innovation economies.

Thirty-six states held gubernatorial contests in Tuesday’s (Nov. 8) mid-term elections. By the end of the night and as of this writing Thursday morning, winners in 32 states had been chosen, with votes still being tallied in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon.

Voters in 27 states re-elected the incumbent; while in eight states (Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Oregon), voters chose a new governor to replace a term-limited incumbent. In two states, Connecticut and Georgia, the incumbent governor successfully faced a re-match with their 2018 opponents; while in Alaska and Maine, the incumbent faced and defeated his/her predecessor. Meanwhile, until this election, voters in Michigan and Wisconsin have not elected a governor of the same party as the sitting president since 1990; and in Kansas and New Mexico, voters have not done so since 1968 and 1986, respectively.

In an effort to alleviate the nationwide shortage of semiconductors, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced two cross-sector partnerships, one with Intel Corp. and the other partnership with Micron Technology, Inc. NSF plans to invest $10 million in combination with the companies from each partnership in support of research, education, infrastructure building, and workforce development for semiconductor design and manufacturing.

The Intel announcement is one part of a previously announced 10-year collaboration between NSF and Intel that will, over time, invest $100 million to address semiconductor design and manufacturing challenges and workforce shortages around the country.

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.