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Earlier this week, House Democrats released its version of a wide-ranging innovation policy bill.

The Convergence Accelerator, a program developed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to invest in research towards developing high-impact solutions for societal issues, requests topic ideas for the 2023 cohort in a Dear Colleague Letter Request for Information (DCL/RFI). This program follows a three-tiered process, including topic ideation and convergence research phases one and two.

In January, the Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education released an updated 2021 classification list for universities. In this update, nine more universities have achieved the “Doctoral/Very High Research Activity” or “R1” category, the highest possible rank among research universities. Six additional universities were also added to the list following a six-week review period.

The Pitchbook-NVCA Venture Monitor Q4 2021 reports unprecedented growth in venture capital activity through 2021. Although total deal count had decreased by almost 2.5 percent from 2019 to 2020, deal activity in 2021 surpassed that of both 2020 and 2019 – showing that 2021 saw substantial growth from pre-pandemic levels.

Building on takeaways from Appalachian stakeholders that included a preference to grow their own jobs through entrepreneurship and small business development rather than the traditional approach of business recruitment and new job creation, the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) developed a four-year strategic plan.  The Appalachia Envisioned: A New Era of Opportunity plan sets strategic investment goals and objectives to build Appalachian businesses, workforce, infrastructure, culture and tourism, and community leaders.   

Broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is vital for encouraging innovative advancements in scientific research and developing a diverse STEM workforce that engages citizens from all backgrounds. The Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering (CEOSE) 2019-2020 Biennial Report to Congress outlines plans to broaden participation in STEM by focusing on "Making Visible the Invisible."

South Carolina’s innovation economy is benefiting from funding and support to academic institutions and tech startups from the South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA). According to its annual report, SCRA produced an economic impact of over $1 billion in the state in 2021, an increase of about 5.4 percent from 2020. SCRA is a nonprofit corporation chartered by South Carolina to develop the state as a top innovation destination. SCRA and its affiliates provide loans and investments to South Carolina-based companies.

Earlier this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom released his proposed FY 2022-2023 budget, which he said “reinforces our role as the global leader in climate protection, innovation and job creation.” The budget focuses on new investments and “positions the state as a global leader in innovation and solutions to both mitigate and adapt to the changing climate.” The proposal includes billions in one-time funding from various sources over five years to advance the state’s climate and opportunity budget and provide equitable climate solutions.

Since 1990, the United States has produced its own national climate assessment report to, in the words of the project’s director Allison Crimmins, “provide Americans with information on the accelerating impacts, vulnerabilities and responses to the climate crisis.” Work on the fifth assessment is well underway and NOAA has made available for public comment annotated outlines of each of the 32 chapters included in the draft report.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently released guidance through its Division of Corporation Finance to address the risks of investing in companies that are based in or have a majority of their business operations in the People’s Republic of China. This action continues a trend of expanding regulation of investments related to China, and the SEC’s statement clarifies that the purpose of the disclosures is to protect investors from recently-enacted restrictions by the Chinese government on China-based companies in regard to raising capital from foreign investors.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic and recession, most states experienced growth in annual Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) expenditures between 2019 and 2020. Given higher education’s role in generating knowledge that catalyzes innovative new technologies developed by high-growth startups, R&D conducted at institutions of higher education is one of the most important metrics for evaluating an area’s innovation economy.

This edition of SSTI’s Useful Stats begins a series of articles examining recently updated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for 2020, identifying changes in GDP per capita during the first year of the economic impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic, and setting the stage for future articles diving deeper into the impacts of the pandemic on local economies.

PitchBook and NVCA have published an initial look at the Venture Monitor Q4 2021, and the data already suggest an astounding level of activity in 2021. As of Dec. 31, PitchBook had identified $330 billion invested across more than 15,000 deals, substantial increases over the $167 billion invested across 12,000 deals in 2020.

Celebrating its 25 years in operation, the National Robotics Engineering Center’s (NREC) success is revealed in an economic study commissioned by Carnegie Mellon University “to inform the future development of boundary-pushing institutions.” Established decades ago as “a new model of academic-industry partnership,” the NREC study, conducted by Fourth Economy Consulting, reveals how the robotics institution changed the economy of the neighborhood, region and robotics industry in Pittsburgh.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the establishment of a new Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations that will support projects in areas including clean hydrogen, carbon capture, grid-scale energy storage, small modular reactors, and more. The recently-signed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provides $21.5 billion in funding for the office’s administration and projects through 2026.

Societal stereotypes that depict girls as being less interested in computer science and engineering may be hindering girls from participating in those fields later in life, according to a recent article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced the phase I winners of the Build Back Better Regional Challenge. Each of the 60 awardees receive $500,000 to support their region and cluster — and begin the process of competing for one of the 20-30 phase II awards that can be up to $100 million each.

Business research and development (R&D) intensity — private sector R&D expenditures as a percentage of total gross domestic product (GDP) — is an indicator of how interested businesses are in creating new products and processes. This edition of Useful Stats expands upon previous SSTI analyses of business R&D and applies the more standardized measure of “R&D intensity” to provide additional context on the private sector’s activities within states.

Yesterday, Treasury released the first clarifications for its State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) guidance. These frequently asked questions (FAQs) are intended to help states understand the program rules as they prepare their applications by the Feb. 11, 2022 deadline.

An SSTI analysis of business R&D employment data from the National Science Foundation’s recently updated 2019 Business Enterprise R&D (BERD) Survey finds that nationally in 2019, R&D employment at private businesses accounted for 8.6 percent of total employment. The states where the business R&D employment shares of total employment were the greatest in 2019 were Washington (20.9 percent); Massachusetts (19.3 percent); California (17.7 percent); New Hampshire (14.7 percent); and Michigan (12.7 percent).

The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund announced 265 financial and technical assistance awards totaling more than $180 million this week. Awardees in the FY 2021 round have headquarters in 43 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Financial assistance awards can be used by CDFIs to support additional loans and investments to businesses in underserved communities, while technical assistance awards can be used to build the CDFI’s own capacity.

In an effort to bring together entrepreneurship and innovation leaders from around the country and raise the collective success potential of American small businesses, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) hosted its first innovation ecosystem summit last month. In her welcome message, SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman reinforced the Innovation Ecosystem Summit’s goal of reimagining the economy, leveraging the nation’s diversity, removing inequities, and building an economic future where ideas have a chance to flourish.

While the debate over how well Opportunity Zones (OZs) have performed and whom they most benefit remains far from settled, two uniting perspectives — a commitment to continuing increased investment in impoverished and vulnerable communities, and the desire for better data collection — may encourage lawmakers to make changes to the program.

The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) recently reported findings from its 2020 Licensing Activity Survey. The survey collects self-reported technology transfer activity volumes from universities, hospitals and other non-profit research institutions in the United States. The report highlighted a large increase in the number of patents issued in 2020 relative to 2019, with a growth rate of 15.6 percent. There was less clarity about changes in other metrics, however.

While income inequality has increased in many countries over the past 30 years, gathering public support to sustain momentum for reforms that address those inequalities is important, especially in recovering from the pandemic, says a recent report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).