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Fostering a culture of technology & innovation: Louisiana’s 2025 strategic economic development plan
Recognizing Louisiana’s lag in some prosperity metrics, loss of talent over the past decade, and need to build a more competitive economy among its southern state peers, the Louisiana Economic Development (LED) has created a strategic plan that emphasizes innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship as the means to address the challenges and opportunities it faces in creating a more robust and talent-attracting economy.
Taking TBED on the Road: Launch Tennessee's experience at Austin’s SXSW
A handful of showcase events across the country are known widely by mere nicknames, gather lots of media attention, and attract tens of thousands of people or more each year. Can a state’s lead technology-based economic development stand out in this kind of crowd? Is it worth the investment to try?
SSTI shares communication strategies at InBIA's ICBI39 conference
Earlier this week, SSTI participated in InBIA’s 39thInternational Conference on Business Incubation (ICBI39) in Philadelphia. The event brought together entrepreneurship support professionals from around the world to tackle shared challenges and explore strategies for fostering entrepreneurial ecosystems.
With OZ expansion looming, research shows program has little net jobs impact
When the Opportunity Zone program was authorized by Congress in 2017, there was high hope that it would give a significant boost to the employment rates of those living in the poorest areas of our cities. Unfortunately, a new research paper adds to the growing findings of the program’s shortcomings and disappointing outcomes, just as the next race to establish new OZ designations is set to begin.
When the Opportunity Zone program was authorized by Congress in 2017, there was high hope that it would give a significant boost to the employment rates of those living in the poorest areas of our cities. Unfortunately, a new research paper adds to the growing findings of the program’s shortcomings and disappointing outcomes, just as the next race to establish new OZ designations is set to begin.
Data centers may be inevitable, but state and local resistance is growing
People in the U.S. may be in favor of the using internet, social media, and artificial intelligence, but they are increasingly skeptical of and concerned about the data centers that make all these things possible. Common themes of their skepticism were recently expressed by data center opponents in Michigan who “fear lost farmland and destroyed habitat, noise pollution from thousands of humming servers, strain on the electric grid and higher bills as utilities spend mightily on infrastructure to power the facilities, and strain on rivers and aquifers amid data centers’ use of water to cool servers.” Michiganders are not alone.
TBED Works: Rev1’s eye for potential and support helps launch biotech company
Innovation Advocacy Council visits the Hill on your behalf
“We few, we happy few” shouldn’t have been so bloody few if Shakespeare’s Henry V were honest 400+ years ago. Flash forward, and a merry band of brothers and sisters represented the TBED community well as they visited DC’s Capitol Hill this week to remind Congressional offices of the importance of several federal programs for funding strategic regional innovation initiatives. And it was nothing like Henry V’s Battle of Agincourt. In truth, regional innovation is and always has been a nonpartisan issue, but there are other pressures afoot to capture Congress’s attention and purse strings.
Webinar: A Conversation with the 2026 global entrepreneurship research award winners, Al Link and Don Siegel on Technology Transfer and Academic Entrepreneurship
Webinars
Advanced chemistry R&D is target of new $123M fund
Legislative & Federal News
ARPA-H cancels relationships with ARPANet-H partners
Member News for March 26, 2026
The Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) is now doing business as the CEOs of Indiana Corporate Partnership. The CICP brand will soon feature the new identity, including marketing materials and a redesigned logo. The legal name, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, will remain unchanged.
Tech Hub News for March 26,2026
Regional innovation systems across the country can learn from the journeys of the EDA's designated Tech Hubs, regardless of your region’s competitive advantage. The twelve hubs continue to make progress, with consortia launching new programs and advancing key initiatives. The following highlights recent news from a selection of hubs. SSTI supports the Tech Hub community through its Technology-Based Economic Development Community of Practice.
State News for March 26, 2026
Mar 26, 2026
Useful Stats: How has the relationship between GDP and R&D changed since the 1950s?
Total research and experimental development (R&D) performed in the U.S. reached nearly $1 trillion of expenditures in 2024, reveals new data from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). This represents a 6% increase over the prior year, a 101% increase in the past 10 years, and a nearly 16,000% increase in the past 70 years.
Total research and experimental development (R&D) performed in the U.S. reached nearly $1 trillion of expenditures in 2024, reveals new data from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). This represents a 6% increase over the prior year, a 101% increase in the past 10 years, and a nearly 16,000% increase in the past 70 years.
Adjusted for inflation, total R&D expenditures, relative to their 2024 values, have increased more modestly but still reflect impressive growth: 3% since 2023; 56% in the 10 years since 2015; and approximately 1,670% in the 70 years since 1955.
Figure 1 below includes two line charts, each with a line for billions of current and constant (2017) USD: GDP on the left and R&D expenditures on the right. Periods of recession are highlighted in grey for applicable years. Note that each chart has a different y-axis.
SSTI Members
To sustain our work to support state and regional innovation initiatives across the country, SSTI relies on the generosity of those members of the community who share our vision of serving as a center for advancing best practices across the field. We greatly appreciate their support. We also invite others equally committed to using smart programs to combine the four pillars of science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship to advance their own regional economies to join the list of leading organizations below.
Webinar Library
Webinars are a great way to stay up to date on the newest developments. They offer timely information from experts and have the flexibility of being viewed at your convenience without the expense of travel. SSTI's Webinar Library puts SSTI webinars at your fingertips — when you want them.
Events hosted by SSTI's Tech-based Economic Development Community of Practice are available to the general public at no cost. Most SSTI webinars are available for free to members and for purchase by others.
Recent Research: National industrial policy to reshore US manufacturing can yield positive local effects
Three academic researchers estimate that the localized job creation impacts resulting from the CHIPS and Science Act already have had a net gain of 12% in the affected counties. The direct jobs in the semiconductor sector alone are 15,000-16,000 short-term positions. With the high-paying nature of jobs in the field, researchers Bilge Erten, Joseph E. Stiglitz, and Eric Verhoogen estimate that, as a spillover effect, 15,000 to 30,000 additional indirect jobs have been created in related sectors.
Job Corner
National VC trends and which states are bucking them
National VC investment over the past five years has seen significant swings, first driven by pandemic impacts and rebounds, then by the rocket ride of AI. According to PitchBook data, national VC activity below $100 million declined from nearly 10,500 deals in 2020 to just under 8,200 in 2025, a 22% drop. Over the same period, the total capital invested increased by just over $5 billion (6%). The trend of more funding into fewer deals is highlighted by the median deal size more than doubling to over $4 million (Fig 1). These macro trends are important as they set the stage for what is happening at the state level.
TBED Works: The vital role of a University Tech Licensing Office in a startup’s journey
Useful Stats: Sectoral contributions to county GDP
Policymakers should be interested in which sectors are present in their region to ensure TBED investments and workforce priorities can have the greatest impact. Exploring gross domestic product (GDP) at the county level offers a detailed look at the economic output of sectors and how they shape local economies. At the county level, data for smaller or more rural counties may reveal nuances invisible when looking broadly at entire MSAs or states, particularly for those areas with lower populations.
Policymakers should be interested in which sectors are present in their region to ensure TBED investments and workforce priorities can have the greatest impact. Exploring gross domestic product (GDP) at the county level offers a detailed look at the economic output of sectors and how they shape local economies. At the county level, data for smaller or more rural counties may reveal nuances invisible when looking broadly at entire MSAs or states, particularly for those areas with lower populations.
Items I’ve read recently that will influence my understanding of future TBED policy
Stats and pundits suggest fewer of us are taking the time to read, absorb, and embody what we can take from real, printed books. Humbug! This is a short piece with nods to those Digest subscribers defiantly resisting that trend—and welcoming all others to embrace the mind-expanding opportunities a long read—replete with physical page turning—can yield. Fully safe for work. ~ Mark Skinner, President & CEO, SSTI
Stats and pundits suggest fewer of us are taking the time to read, absorb, and embody what we can take from real, printed books. Humbug! This is a short piece with nods to those Digest subscribers defiantly resisting that trend—and welcoming all others to embrace the mind-expanding opportunities a long read—replete with physical page turning—can yield. Fully safe for work. ~ Mark Skinner, President & CEO, SSTI
Recent Research: Startups with higher scientific orientations face VC funding challenges
It may not always be rocket science, but that doesn’t mean companies with scientific or technologically sophisticated innovations have an easy time raising capital. New academic research might lead one to wonder: Should TBED policy makers provide training for angel and VC investors that improves their understanding of critical tech - or continue to focus primarily on funding gaps and teaching founders to speak the language of VCs?
It may not always be rocket science, but that doesn’t mean companies with scientific or technologically sophisticated innovations have an easy time raising capital. New academic research might lead one to wonder: Should TBED policy makers provide training for angel and VC investors that improves their understanding of critical tech - or continue to focus primarily on funding gaps and teaching founders to speak the language of VCs?