SSTI Digest

Understanding the industry-level dynamics of business and job creation can help pinpoint which industries in regional economies may be hotspots for innovation activity. This edition of Useful Stats builds on previous SSTI analysis of business and job creation by state and examines data from the Census Bureau’s recently updated Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS) on net establishment and job creation in 2019 at the state and industry levels. The data serves as a useful baseline of where the economy stood prior to the pandemic’s start in 2020. While the national data shows that five industries experienced net establishment losses in 2019, industry trends at the state level vary widely with some states seeing losses across many industries while others experienced losses in only a few. There were also similar national- and state-level trends in net job creation in 2019. This analysis also provides additional context by examining the long-term state trends in these metrics from 2005 to 2019.

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has released a new request for information (RFI) related to a national strategic plan for advanced manufacturing, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are seeking information on how the scientific community uses public data tools. Both RFIs provide an opportunity for the tech-based economic development field to shape the future of federal innovation policy. 

A new strategic plan for the Appalachian region reaffirms the Appalachian Regional Commission’s (ARC) primary investment goals emphasizing economic development. It benefits from insights gathered from more than 1,800 stakeholders and is built on multistate and regional collaboration.

Federal co-chair Gayle Manchin said in a press release that the while the investment goals (building Appalachian businesses, workforce ecosystem and infrastructure; building regional culture and tourism; and building community leaders and capacity) reaffirm the core mission, they are “reflected through a modern lens of promoting equity, innovation, sustainability and resilience into our work.” Manchin also noted that the success of the plan “is completely dependent on how well all 13 states and 420 counties in Appalachia can work collaboratively to build upon our past work to bring the region to the next level.”

The U.S. Economic Development Administration today announced the 50 organizations that will share in grants totaling $36.5 million to support programs that fuel innovation and tech-based economic development as part of the Build to Scale program. The 2021 awardees will leverage an additional $40 million in matching funds from a variety of private and public sector sources. SSTI has been a proponent of the Build to Scale program, which had not received any federal appropriations prior to the creation of SSTI’s Innovation Advocacy Council.

This week marks the 10th anniversary celebration of National Manufacturing Week. National Manufacturing Week celebrates the role of the manufacturing sector within the United States. With roughly 12.1 million employees, the manufacturing sector is the fifth largest employer relative to other industries, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The manufacturing sector continues to evolve with the adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies and improvements in workforce development.

Implementing innovative policies is necessary for driving the manufacturing industry forward in Illinois, according to a recent report from the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC). Nearly 600,000 Illinoisans are employed directly in manufacturing, and the manufacturing industry accounts for 12 percent of Illinois’s annual GDP. The findings of the state report, however, are adaptable and can be utilized across the United States in regions that seek to encourage innovation in manufacturing and promote job growth in an increasingly competitive globalized economy.

IMEC partnered with the Illinois Manufacturer’s Association, the Technology and Manufacturing Association, the Valley Industrial Association, and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research for a study highlighting the status of advanced technology adoption for small and mid-sized manufacturers in Illinois. The resulting report covers the challenges that manufacturers in Illinois face and how they have been implementing advanced technology to overcome them. The report also covers the benefits and opportunities that come with adopting advanced manufacturing technologies.

Pew Charitable Trusts recently published data demonstrating that Q1 2021 experienced the largest year-over-year personal income growth rate since 1948. All states recorded increases in total personal income, and 27 experienced their strongest year-over-year growth on record. This sharp uptick is largely attributed to an “unprecedented” increase in government aid and pandemic-related federal economic relief packages, primarily received through Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, safety-net programs, and state unemployment insurance, according to the report.

A recent research study suggests that diverse identity representation of website spokespeople increases the likelihood of attracting a higher proportion of prospective entrepreneurs.

Rosanna Garcia and Daniel Baack, researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the University of Denver respectively, explore whether the demographic of spokespeople featured on websites had an impact on the entrepreneurial intention of individuals of various identities. Their article, Entrepreneurial Intent Is Not Black or White: An Intersectional Perspective, sampled 562 students across five American universities to gain insight into this issue. The goal of the study was to isolate and cross-examine individual and compounded impacts of race and gender in both the website spokesperson and student respondent in order to identify ways to encourage more diverse entrepreneurial involvement in university settings.

The EDA University Center Economic Development Program Competition recently announced $2.5 million in grants awarded to 25 colleges and universities in the Chicago and Philadelphia EDA regions to leverage assets, promote innovation and strengthen regional economies. The goal of these awards is “to boost innovation, create good-paying jobs and ensure American competitiveness in the global economy” while funding research as well as innovation economy development services.

Higher levels of business creation can be linked to the presence of innovation in a state through entrepreneurial activity and transitioning to new industries, and this edition of Useful Stats examines data from the Census Bureau’s recently updated Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS) on net establishment formation and the job creation stemming from those establishments in 2019. While figures vary widely among the states, most saw growth in both net establishment creation and net job creation in 2019; this data is prior to the onset of the pandemic in early 2020. This analysis also provides additional context by examining the long-term state trends in these metrics from 1978 to 2019.

Increased adoption of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles has been empirically linked to improved financial performance, but venture capital (VC) has fallen behind other sectors in embracing such measures. With more than $100 trillion in assets under management (AUM) already being managed according to the ESG framework globally, a recent article by Johannes Lenhard and Susan Winterberg provides some guidance on how VC can improve in adopting ESG principles, while also giving some pointers to limited partners (LPs) in VC funds, regulators, and company founders — the groups that have been the drivers of what little ESG adoption VC has experienced.

The supremacy of the U.S. research enterprise has been eroding, particularly challenged by China and other Asian countries, and a new draft report from the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) at the Department of Energy (DOE) concludes that U.S. leadership in basic energy sciences will continue to diminish without intervention. Specifically, the report finds that to stay internationally competitive in basic energy sciences the U.S. must: increase total funding for R&D, spanning from basic and fundamental research to experimental development; focus multi-disciplinary research on several key areas of energy sciences; increase the nation’s ability to attract and retain the world’s top scientists and engineers; and, facilitate interactions among basic, applied, and industrial researchers to accelerate the translation of research into socially beneficial technologies.