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In this week’s continuing coverage of gubernatorial addresses as they impact the innovation economy, the following highlights have been selected from three of the eight State of the States or budget addresses given between Jan. 28 and Feb. 5, 2025, by the governors from Indiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina. This is the first address for Indiana's new governor, and it provides evidence of economic development being one of his top priorities.

The launch of a new private equity firm in central Ohio is a reminder of the continuing ripple effects of a decades-long strategy of cultivating an innovation system. If the State of Ohio hadn’t created and provided sustained funding over decades for its integrated array of technology-based economic development programs, the founders of a newly launched private equity firm wouldn’t be in the position now to commit to helping more mid-market companies succeed in central Ohio.

Readers may have noticed the most populous states end up topping many of the statistical tables related to economic development. Normalizing the data by some relevant, related measure can provide a higher quality look that is a little closer to the “apples to apples” appeal that might help influence some policy issues. For this week’s edition of Useful Stats, SSTI is exploring research intensity as a component of state gross domestic product (GDP) and the research load “carried” by each member of the R&D personnel within the state’s higher education community.

SSTI’s new analysis of NIH data reveals the agency’s external R&D spending per award has been essentially treading water for the past 25 years in terms of real dollars—rising just 4% since FY 2000 when adjusted for inflation. This slow growth comes despite the crucial role NIH funding plays in technology-based economic development (TBED) policies across many states, particularly in the biomedical and life sciences.

Artificial intelligence, market saturation, and shifting demands from both employers and students are driving changes in coding bootcamps and other programs in the tech training sector, according to a recent Inside Higher Education story. These factors have contributed to several closures in the past year:

In this week’s continuing coverage of gubernatorial addresses as they discuss the innovation economy, the following highlights have been selected from five of the eight State of the States or budget addresses given between Jan. 17 and Jan. 28, 2025, by the governors from Maine, Missouri, New Mexico, Utah, and Wisconsin.

The U.S. National Science Foundation announced awards totaling approximately $40 million to support research and STEM workforce development in Delaware, Guam, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Vermont, according to a January 22 NSF press release.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s (ASPI) report, ASPI’s two-decade Critical
Technology Tracker: The rewards of long-term research investment, aims to identify
which countries and institutions are leading in high-impact research across 64 critical
technological domains, including defense, space, energy, environment, artificial

In fiscal year (FY) 2023, federal obligations for science and engineering (S&E) to universities and colleges totaled $49 billion—$29 billion more than FY 2000, and a 10% increase from the prior year. The growth is less rapid when adjusted for inflation (2017 USD), with just over $40 billion in real obligations in FY 2023, a 5% increase over the year prior and $12.6 billion (or 46%) increase over the FY 2000 value.

Many SSTI members will attend the annual BIO International Convention, which will be held this year in Boston from June 16 to 19. There, they join a cohort of organizations with various connections to the life sciences, including contract research and manufacturing companies, academic centers, "big" pharma, "little" pharma, and foreign nations representing their life sciences efforts. 

With Q1 2025 venture capital (VC) data stabilized and reports coming out on investment activity, it is a good time to review 2025 VC investment from a TBED perspective. Many published reports on VC activity include deals at the top end of the size range that—with individual transactions now reaching- billions of dollars—can swing some of the metrics and mask the underlying nuances facing smaller companies and markets. While investment levels are trending up, the totals are driven by mega deals and AI companies.

The U.S. Small Business Administration posted a notice in the June 9, 2025, Federal Register of SBA’s intent to establish a Manufacturing in America Advisory Committee to “provide strategic guidance, advice, and recommendations to the U.S. government and relevant stakeholders on matters related to growth, supply chain resilience, and innovation of small manufacturing businesses across the country. The committee will act as the collaborative body to ensure the sector's needs, challenges, and opportunities are addressed.

The U.S. Department of Commerce recently announced that the agency formerly known as the U.S. AI Safety Institute has been renamed the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI). The center’s priority focus areas also have been adjusted so that CAISI can serve as industry’s primary point of contact within the U.S. Government to facilitate testing and collaborative research. According to the Commerce announcement, CAISI will:

In 1978, Massachusetts took a risk and made an $8.5 million investment into one of the earliest technology-based economic development (TBED) initiatives in the world. The commonwealth, among the states hard-hit by the global manufacturing restructuring underway at the time, which led to the deep recession of the early 80s, knew it needed to try something different to restore its economy and its long-term competitiveness.

Tuesday, July 1 | 3:00 p.m. EST

Whether your region is just beginning to address market failures in risk capital availability and performance for innovation-centered companies or your current efforts could use a refreshing check-in among peers, please plan to join us for the kick-off of our Innovation Finance Community of Practice Series. 

On June 3, SSTI will host a webinar exclusively for Innovation Advocacy Council members to receive an in-depth update on many of the confusing factors in play in the federal policy and budget environments—the key factors influencing the future of your state, regional and university TBED strategies. IAC partners at Van Scoyoc & Associates will be on hand to provide the latest news from the Hill and answer questions to help make sense of any new developments.

The list of technology-based economic development initiatives within the newly created Technology and Innovation Office of the New Mexico Economic Development Department covers the spectrum of critical policy aspects required for a strong state innovation economy: increasing R&D, business incubation, targeted emerging technologies and strong existing assets, startup capital, venture development, and innovation talent development and recruitment.

Note: TBED101 is a new, occasional series for Digest readers visiting and revisiting fundamental topics for nurturing strong regional innovation economies. SSTI is introducing this series, with EDA support, as the field has entered one of its most significant periods of disruption and change in its 45-year history.