SSTI Digest

The U.S. Department of Defense is envisioning a public private partnership of regional innovation hubs that would help support and expand the microelectronics industry in the United States. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) is seeking input from the domestic microelectronics community through a Request for Information it issued last week as it works to “foster a pipeline of innovation ideas and talent residing in university labs and small business R&D teams” through what it is calling a Microelectronics Commons.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced a new organizational structure in response to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Energy Act of 2020. The new organizational structure intends to facilitate the implementation of clean energy investments from these new laws more efficiently and introduces two new leadership positions: the undersecretary for infrastructure and the undersecretary for science and innovation. The undersecretary for infrastructure will also lead three new offices: the Grid Infrastructure Office, the State and Community Energy Program, and the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains.

A new $113 million grant program intended to strengthen and modernize the Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) will designate up to $50 million for equity partnerships and pre-apprenticeship activities. The U.S. Department of Labor announced the new grant program to enable more workers to earn while they learn and find reliable pathways to the middle class. Using a coordinated investment strategy, the Apprenticeship Building America grant program will bring the RAP model to new sectors and industries. Eligible applicants include nonprofits, labor organizations, public and state institutions of higher education, and county governments. Applications are due by April 25. Finalists will receive awards from $1 to $8 million. More information is available here.

Missouri has a new tool to support the advancement of entrepreneurship and innovation across the state. The Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC), in partnership with TEConomy Partners LLC., identified strategic recommendations and actions to drive innovation and entrepreneurship in Missouri developed under the Missouri Innovation and Entrepreneurship Strategy Steering Committee. The report says that MTC has had significant impacts on the state's economy, revealing that its total program portfolio has generated an economic activity return of $100.74 back to the state for every $1 invested. A situational analysis of Missouri's innovation economy identified five key challenges inhibiting economic growth including: an inability to meet investment demands; inaccessibility of support services; untapped potential in state research institutions; lack of participation in innovative endeavors; and lack of connectivity within Missouri's ecosystem. Awareness of these challenges prompted the creation of a new strategic plan featuring five thematic areas to address each of the five challenges. These thematic areas include Fund, Grow and Scale, Launch, Inspire, and Connect. Each…

Two separate reports provide evidence of nearly $100 billion in donations to 864 U.S. institutions of higher education and 8,635 nonprofits in FY 2021, according to articles in the most recent Philanthropy News Digest. The $52.9 billion directed to universities represents a 6.9 percent increase from the previous year, while the $46.4 billion donated to nonprofits represents a 9 percent jump. The largest contributors to the academy were foundations, accounting for 33 percent of receipts. Meanwhile, nonprofits in the environmental sector saw the largest annual increase, 19.3 percent, yet the sector remains one of the smallest of 11 classifications.

To mark the anniversary of its executive order on supply chains, the White House released a fact sheet this morning outlining past and future actions to strengthen American competitiveness. The release includes several initiatives that have not been discussed widely before, including that: the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. will vote this spring on an initiative to finance exports of semiconductors, biotech and energy products; the 16 Manufacturing USA institutes will begin holding roundtables on scaling technology and promoting workforce initiatives; and, the Small Business Administration will institute a new committee of industry leaders to advise the agency on startups’ innovations and challenges, as well as host a new America’s Seed Fund (i.e. Small Business Innovation Research) Start-up Expo. The White House announcement also links to reports published today by agencies on supply chain challenges in their areas of expertise. The Department of Commerce report paints a rather bleak picture of America’s current abilities in the information and communications technology sector, identifying shortcomings in component manufacturing, cybersecurity, and workforce, as well…

This edition of SSTI’s Useful Stats explores Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation’s urban areas and the top industry contributors to GDP in these areas. Specifically, this analysis explores both metropolitan area (defined by the Office of Management and Budget as areas with an urban core of more than 50,000 population) and micropolitan area (defined as areas with an urban core of between 10,000 and 50,000 population) GDP in 2020, as well as the top contributing industry to area GDP.

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supported the development of 99 drugs from 1996-2020 — a total that includes 16 percent of all such treatments that made a “significant” advance over available medicines. This finding is just one of the impacts that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) attributes to the program in a new report. To put the NIH SBIR/STTR program’s contributions to drug development in context, SBIR/STTR is less than four percent of NIH’s extramural R&D budget. Further, NIH R&D is just part of total U.S. spending on drug-related research, which is also funded by foundations and businesses (for example, the National Science Foundation recorded nearly $5.9 billion spent on R&D by biotech businesses in 2018 alone). NASEM’s study also attempted to evaluate any impact that NIH’s SBIR/STTR awards have in health and commercial successes. To this end, the authors evaluated the extent to which average companies, applicants and awardees differ in their outcomes. One key finding from this analysis is…

This week, the Senate energy committee discussed new funding for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) implementation of hydrogen research and development projects using funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The infrastructure act provides DOE with $8 billion to create four regional clean hydrogen hubs, as well as $1 billion for clean hydrogen electrolysis demonstration projects and $500 million for R&D on the manufacturing processes and recycling methods for clean hydrogen development. During the hearing, witnesses spoke to the importance of innovation for helping to drive down costs while creating economic opportunities, and a DOE representative announced a forthcoming request for information (RFI) on the programs. Sen. Joe Manchin, chairman of the committee, in his opening remarks cited the important role that clean hydrogen can play in decarbonizing many sectors of the economy such as energy and transportation. However, he addressed the costs associated with clean energy, such as production costs that are higher than alternative sources and the large investments necessary from both the public and private sectors. The witness panel covered how…

As total Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) expenditures increased nationally and in most states from 2019 to 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic and global recession, HERD intensity also increased. HERD intensity is an indicator of the relative importance of R&D spending by colleges and universities to regional economies, and is calculated as HERD expenditures as a percentage of total gross domestic product (GDP). This edition of Useful Stats expands on previous SSTI analysis of total HERD expenditures in 2020 (the most recent figures available), specifically examining HERD intensity by state for the five-year period from 2016 to 2020.

To boost inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship in climate technology, the Office of Energy and Renewable Energy (EERE) should provide funding for intermediary organizations who work directly with underrepresented communities to integrate clean energy education activities; and EERE should make it easier to request federal funding by streamlining the application process. Those are the recommendations resulting from EERE’s efforts to broaden access to funding opportunities and enable an inclusive and just entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem in climate and energy technologies. Various stakeholder groups, including environmental justice and community-based organization; incubators and accelerators; tech developers, investors, and funders; state, local, and tribal governments; and, researchers responded to a request for information (RFI) in June to provide these recommendations. The RFI requested information based on themes centered around identifying barriers to applying and receiving funding and methods for increasing awareness of funding opportunities. According to the report, the RFI received 80 responses from over 160 organizations. Many of these responses focused…

Alabama, Minnesota and Pennsylvania governors are proposing new or increased funding for innovation initiatives. Alabama could see a substantial increase in its Alabama Innovation Fund, while Minnesota’s governor is looking to boost the state’s startup ecosystem and Pennsylvania would increase funding for the Ben Franklin Technology Partners, which has worked for more than 30 years to grow the state’s innovation economy. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, in her FY 2023 Executive Budget, recommends $32.4 million for the Alabama Innovation Fund, a $20 million increase over the approved amount in FY 2022. Innovate Alabama and the Alabama Innovation Corporation (both established in 2021) receive funding via the Alabama Innovation Fund. The Innovate Alabama Matching Grant Program would make matching grants of up to $250,000 to businesses and organizations that received SBIR or STTR grants. Last year Ivey signed legislation establishing the Alabama Innovation Corporation, a public-private partnership to serve as a catalyst for the state’s growing innovation economy, along with legislation that created the…