SSTI Digest

In an effort to help to determine the economic impact of higher education institutions and hospitals within their regions and how reliant these regions are on these “anchor institutions” to drive their economy, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia developed an Anchor Economy Initiative. It recently published an Anchor Economy Report and created the Anchor Economy Dashboard, a new data set and website that measures employment, income, and gross value added from the institutions and hospitals, along with a new reliance index tool, for all 524 multicounty U.S. regions (394 metropolitan and 130 nonmetropolitan). An “Anchor Institution” is defined as an institution of higher education or hospital and the report found that across the 524 multicounty regions there are a total of 24,155 anchor institutions that contribute $1.7 trillion annually in goods and services to the U.S. economy, directly employ 10 million people, and indirectly create an additional 8 million jobs in other industries nationwide. The Anchor Economy Report also outlines the level of research funding awarded to anchor institutions. More than half (58%) of regions reported…

Representing one of the largest investments in the agency’s history,  the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has opened applications for the clean hydrogen hubs (H2Hubs) program. These regional hubs will be spread out across the country and receive $7 billion in funding. The H2Hubs Program will be managed by DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations with support from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. According to the DOE release about the funding opportunity, DOE expects  to select six to 10 hubs to jumpstart local economic growth and create good-paying jobs in an effort to build a clean energy economy, improve energy security, and fight climate change. Projects funded under this program are expected to include a plan to invest in disadvantaged communities and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion through their work. Concept papers are due by Nov. 7, 2022, and full applications are due by April 7, 2023. States began forming partnerships in the spring in anticipation of the announcement.   DOE has also released a draft of the National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap with plans to release…

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC) recently announced the six winners under the Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program (DMCSP), with funding of approximately $30 million. Each organization received close to $5 million for long-term investments in critical skills, facilities, workforce development, R&D, and more with the goal of strengthening the national security innovation base. The six awards are listed below, while more information can be found on the OLDCC’s website. Mississippi Department of Employment Security-led Mississippi-Shipbuilding Industry Preparedness for National Security Consortium Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois-led Illinois Defense Manufacturing Consortium (ILDMC)  University of Rhode Island Research Foundation-led Rhode Island Manufacturing to Accelerate the Defense Ecosystem Consortium New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, Inc.-led New Jersey Defense Manufacturing Community Consortium SAE Government Technologies-led Supply Chain of Recovered Elements Consortium (SCORE) University of Texas at Austin-led Microelectronics Precision Rapid Innovation and…

Last week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released clarifications and a request for information (RFI) related to its $500 million pool for State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) technical assistance. The new FAQs relate to the $200 million Treasury allocated to the states, and for which applications are due Oct. 14. Under SSBCI, these funds can be used to provide legal, accounting and financial advisory services to small businesses, and services can be provided with a contract to a “legal, accounting or financial advisory firm.” One new FAQ defines these firms as an entity that: makes providing these services a primary purpose; markets itself as providing these services; or, has at least 25% of its revenues or staff time related to these services. The other new FAQ clarifies that states can make subawards to a subdivision of the state. Treasury’s RFI seeks input on how the $200 million in technical assistance funds held by the agency could best be used to help small businesses. The key questions in the request ask about: gaps in available technical assistance; effective service deployment methods; considerations for grant or contracting processes;…

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently published statutorily-required five-year inflation adjustments for various limits placed on crowdfunding, and the increases are substantial. The new revenue ceiling for an eligible company is increasing from $1.070 billion to nearly $1.235 billion. The total cap on the amount that can be raised via crowdfunding remains at the $5 million level added just last year, but the thresholds for new offering that require independent financials or a full audit have been increased to $618,000 and $1.235 million, respectively. For individuals, the changes mean that individuals with annual income or net worth under $124,000 can invest up to the greater of $2,500 or 5%. During 2021, crowdfunding offerings raised more than $1 billion — exceeding the total raised from 2016-2020.

On the heels of President Biden’s recent announcement of a Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative to boost the United States bioeconomy, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has released The Bioeconomy: A Primer, which examines the future of the bioeconomy, explores the United States’ competitiveness in global bioeconomy efforts, and notes the current lack of federal coordination on building the bioeconomy. To address this lack of coordination, the report urges Congress to develop a more comprehensive national strategy for establishing the bioeconomy.    According to the report, transitioning to a bioeconomy has many benefits like transitioning to renewable materials, creating new industries and jobs, and boosting rural development. However, switching to a bioeconomy also creates complex challenges in developing policy alignment, ensuring equal access to bioproducts, and gaining consumer demand. The report features eight policy considerations including a focus on R&D investments, the promotion of regional bioeconomy efforts, the development of a strong bioeconomy workforce, and the creation of a sustainable and circular economy. The…

On Tuesday, the Senate passed a bill to extend the SBIR, STTR and related pilot programs through Sept. 30, 2025. The House is expected to act on the legislation next week, just ahead of the current expiration at the end of this month. In addition to reauthorizing the programs, the legislation makes changes to performance standards for companies with numerous awards, foreign risk management, topic solicitations, and requires several new reports by SBA and the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Program extension The bill extends all existing authorities and sets a new expiration date of Sept. 30, 2025. In addition to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, the pilots extended are: Phase Flexibility – allows the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Education to make Phase II awards without an initial Phase I award; Civilian Agency Commercialization Readiness – enables agencies to use a portion of their funds to further support promising Phase II technologies; NIH Phase 0 Proof of Concept Partnership – allows NIH to fund research institutions for…

A recent report by DocSend Inc., a subsidiary of DropBox, surveyed over 300 pre-seed startups, finding that on average, in terms of gender alone, mixed teams raise the most funds, while all-male teams raise the least. In terms of both gender and race, on average, mixed gendered teams with minority members raise the most funds while all-male teams with no minority members raise the least. These findings are consistent with prior studies in terms of reflecting the levels of access to funding opportunities, relative lack of investment in diverse teams, and systemic gender bias. In their study, DocSend divided the demographic makeups of startups into two different sets: Gender (all-female, all-male, mixed) and Gender/Race (all-male/no minority, all-female/no minority, all-female/minority, all-male/minority, mixed/no minority, mixed/minority), and measured the amount of funding raised and number of meetings held with VCs, among other variables. By gender, startup teams consisting of both males and females (mixed gender) generated the largest average amount raised ($970,000) and conducted the greatest number of meetings (49), while all-male teams raised the least ($…

Gov. Gavin Newson of California announced that the state is approved for $1.1 billion of funding from the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), which represents the largest funding amount that has been approved in the SSBCI program. The funding will support the launch of a new $200 million venture capital program and and will help fund small business credit support programs. The allocated amount will be equally split between the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank) and the California Pollution Control Financing Authority. In addition to small business loan guarantees, IBank is expected to use approximately $200 million of its SSBCI funds for a new venture capital program, which is designed to create a more inclusive venture capital ecosystem by supporting underrepresented venture capital managers; investing in underrepresented entrepreneurs and business owners; investing in geographic areas that are socio-economically disadvantaged or that receive very limited venture capital funding; and, promoting climate equity and climate justice.   According to the U.S. Department of the …

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program at NIST recently released the Job Quality Toolkit which outlines eight “drivers of job quality.” The toolkit aims to enhance the discussion around job quality, becoming an “actionable tool… to improve the quality of every job,” which will improve employee recruitment and retention. The authors note that by identifying the core drivers of job quality, employers can increase levels of satisfaction and engagement, leading to improved performance, productivity, and revenues. However, they caution these drivers should not be treated as a checklist, as some strategies and/or actions will not be applicable to all organizations. Even organizations with high levels of perceived job quality can benefit from the toolkit, as the drivers are intended to be routinely reviewed to ensure workplaces are keeping up with the dynamic needs of their employees. The Job Quality Toolkit was produced by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor and approximately 60 industry representatives. The drivers of job quality were developed after a robust literature review on both domestic and…

The White House announced a new Office on Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation to coordinate the policymaking process for the energy and infrastructure provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, legislation that has been called the single biggest climate investment in U.S. history. The executive order also established a National Climate Task Force that will be chaired by the head of the new office and consist of the heads of a number of agencies, offices and departments. Among the goals of the act are revitalizing American manufacturing by investing in domestic clean energy supply chains. It is also expected to promote the construction of clean energy generation, storage, and transmission, achieve breakthroughs in clean energy and climate technologies, expand research, and accelerate clean energy innovation and deployment.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $540 million in awards for research into clean energy technologies and low-carbon manufacturing at 54 universities and 11 national laboratories. More than $400 million will go to the latest round of Energy Frontier Research Centers, which includes 43 new and continuing centers. Managed by the Office of Science’s Basic Energy Science program, the four-year awards will support research at over 100 institutions and addresses a broad spectrum of scientific challenges. The projects will study everything from energy storage to quantum information science. Since the program launched in 2009, it has funded 88 centers.   Additionally, 53 projects led by researchers at 33 universities and 11 national laboratories will receive a combined $140 million through the chemical and materials sciences to advance clean energy technologies and low-carbon manufacturing funding opportunity. The funding will go toward research for more efficient energy production technologies such as direct air capture and carbon storage and sequestration. SSTI is pleased to recognize several members among the 43 EFRCs, including: …