SSTI Digest

Long-time readers may recall the SSTI Weekly Digest article included in its May 30, 2005, edition, two decades ago, titled "China's Goal: Quadruple 2000 GDP by 2020." China made it by the way, growing 428 percent from 2000 to 2020, measured with purchasing power parity (PPP) in constant 2021 international dollars. The United States, for comparison, grew only 44 percent in the same period and has trailed China in GDP PPP on the international scale ever since sometime in 2021. As the chart using Word Bank data shows below, China has never looked back.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney released his first federal budget on Nov. 4. The budget signaled the nation's commitment to research and innovation, while also revealing its readiness to meet the challenges of U.S. trade policies to Canada’s potential benefit. Research and innovation play key roles in its plans.

A recent executive order from the White House establishes a “Genesis Mission” that aims to “mobilize the Department of Energy’s 17 National Laboratories, industry, and academia to build an integrated discovery platform,” according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Energy. The announcement builds on President Trump’s executive order, Removing Barriers to American Leadership In Artificial Intelligence, and his America’s AI Action Plan, released earlier this year. 

When Daniel Pelaez took a job with the Town of Southbury, Connecticut Public Works Department after his first year at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, he learned lessons that, a few years later, would become the basis for his startup, Cyvl. Daniel spent a season on the public works road crew fixing issues flagged by residents or found by the road foreman. He asked the public works director how they kept track of road conditions, and the director explained that they conventionally paid civil engineering consultants to capture the data by hand by walking and driving the streets with clipboards.

States invest heavily in academic research with the expectation that these efforts will advance scientific knowledge, support innovative industries, and strengthen local talent pipelines. Comparing research performance across state lines is difficult due to differences in academic landscapes: some may have large medical schools with high-cost labs, while others have research-active public universities in lower-cost fields or are more pedagogically focused. 

Trump Administration seeks public input for advancing R&D, manufacturing No fewer than four requests for information have been issued in the past few weeks seeking comments on how to economically and creatively improve the scientific and technological capacity of the U.S. as the nation’s position as a global leader in innovation grows increasingly imperiled by growing competencies elsewhere. SSTI encourages the TBED community to use this opportunity to add your voice to recommendations for change and to make the administration aware of policies, programs, regulations, and models that have proven to work within your regional innovation community that could scale or would be negatively impacted by specific federal policy changes. More detail on each request for input is available from the links below:  

Michigan lawmakers have recently introduced a package of economic development measures (House Bills [HB] 5243 and 5244, Senate Bill [SB] 631) that would disband the state’s economic development agency, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)—a quasi-state agency, as well as eliminate other economic development and business incentives, such as the Michigan Strategic Fund, the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) Fund, Strategic Site Readiness Program and the Michigan Film and Digital Media Office.

The federal student loan landscape is undergoing its most sweeping restructuring in decades. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) of 2025 and the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED's) proposed regulations, the definition of “professional degree” is being reinterpreted, sharply reducing the number of students eligible for the higher federal loan caps reserved for professional training. The resulting changes are likely to force institutions to rethink how they plan for tuition and aid, alter enrollment patterns, and influence the flow of workers into occupations that, in many places of the country, are already often going unfilled.

With fewer than 1,000 Initial Public Offerings in any year, the most common exit strategy for investors in early-stage innovation firms is to find an acquisition opportunity. For the broader economic goal of encouraging innovation because it drives growth and societal progress, when large firms acquire smaller, innovative companies, does it promote innovation, or does it primarily help dominant players thwart possible competition and consolidate market power? This is the central question of a recent research paper.

On Nov. 17, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael announced a trimmed-down list of six Critical Technology Areas (CTAs) as priorities for R&D and demonstration. Eight areas were dropped or incorporated within the new list. In a published statement, the six CTAs—Applied Artificial Intelligence (AAI), Biomanufacturing (BIO), Contested Logistics Technologies (LOG), Quantum and Battlefield Information Dominance (Q-BID), Scaled Directed Energy (SCADE), and Scaled Hypersonics (SHY)—are designed to address the most pressing challenges facing the modern battlefield. “These six Critical Technology Areas are not just priorities; they are imperatives,” Michael said.

Technology-based economic development organizations work with economic development professionals throughout the U.S. to help build their local innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems. Sometimes, bringing in outside expertise with established networks to R&D and finance can accelerate the local capacity to support innovation-driven startups. gener8tor, a venture capital and startup accelerator founded in Wisconsin, is one such example of external partners supporting TBED capacity building anywhere.

This week’s 2025 off-year elections resulted in two new governors, solidified legislative Democratic majorities in New Jersey and Virginia, and the approval of significant ballot measures in California and Texas. While the gubernatorial campaigns centered on affordability and tapped into an electorate’s concerns about state and national economies, they also kick off speculation on the 2026 midterms.