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Bloomberg’s U.S. Startups Barometer for August 21, 2017 highlights an environment ripe for startups to attract venture capital (VC). The weekly index tracks the overall health of the business environment for private technology companies based in the U.S. Driven by the number of VC financing deals, the barometer set a new record high for the second consecutive week with a nearly 65 percent increase from last year’s index score.

At least three dozen states offer reductions in tax obligations to companies for some portion of the costs of the businesses conducting research and development within their particular state. During the 2017 session, one fewer could be included among the ranks. With little documented opposition, the Oregon legislature decided to get out of the R&D tax credit business altogether (p. 41, source).  Why? Are there lessons for other states’ advocates for innovation?

Two 2017 Q3 venture capital market updates are not providing much clarity on the underlying state of the industry. Data on greater uninvested capital, larger deals and fewer exits, among other indicators, suggest that venture capital is in need of a market correction. At the same time, new fundraising, a move toward wider geographic distribution and the rise of alternative financial structures could speak toward the emergence of a more sophisticated market. In the absence of decisive indicators, the data allow for any number of explanations and predictions.

An aging, more diverse workforce is what the Bureau of Labor Statistics foresees in the coming decade, with a declining participation rate, which may in turn restrict economic growth. The new projections released this week echo the downward trend in the rate of labor force participation since the peak of 67.3 percent in early 2000. While recent trends show an increasing level of participation among the 55+ crowd, there has been a decreasing level of participation among 16 to 24-year-olds as school enrollment has increased, as well as a continuing decline among the prime working-age cohort of 25 to 54-year-olds.

An SSTI analysis of the labor force participation rate of the prime age workers for each state revealed a great amount of variation among the states. The map below shows the participation rate for this cohort averaged out over 2014-2016 to account for yearly fluctuations.

Entrepreneurial growth continues to rebound and is spreading to different industries and geographies, according to the 2017 Kauffman Index of Growth Entrepreneurship, yet the report also states that entrepreneurial growth “continues to be a rare phenomenon. Most firms are not growth firms.” The five metropolitan areas with the highest levels of entrepreneurship were, in order: Washington, D.C.; Austin; Columbus, Ohio; Nashville; and Atlanta, according to the report.

Would you expect a community of 100,000 people to have less than one-half as much R&D activity as a community with 250,000 residents? Such a simple question cannot be considered without more information. You may ask which two communities are being compared.

Initial public offerings (IPOs) can alleviate financing constraints and help support important activities such as operations, R&D, and expansion. Despite these perceived benefits, new research finds that the transition to public equity – and the financial windfalls that follow – prompt many of a company’s early innovators to depart the firm, which has impacts on both innovation internally and at other firms.

Last week, Google announced the launch of several efforts as part of its Grow with Google initiative – a five-year $1-billion plus plan to invest in nonprofits that specialize in training workers and helping new businesses get off the ground. Through this new plan, Google indicated it will work to close the world’s education and opportunity gaps.

Through its  2017 Assistance to Coal Communities (ACC 2017) initiative, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced $30 million in funding to assist locally-driven efforts to communities and regions severely impacted by the declining use of coal through activities and programs that support economic diversification, job creation, capital investment, workforce development, and re-employment opportunities.

One of the hottest topics at SSTI’s 2017 Annual Conference centered on helping communities build the investment system necessary for local entrepreneurs and startups to thrive. Led by several panels of experts, the conversations led to sharing many great ideas, thoughtful solutions, and tough realities. This week we continue our series of stories on how TBED organizations can help communities ensure a vibrant investment system. This second installment focuses on effective strategies and ideas for building your organization’s investment team.

On July 11, without Gov. Tom Wolf’s signature, Pennsylvania’s budget (HB 218) for FY 2018 became law. State lawmakers, however, are still in the midst of a stalemate over how to pay for a nearly $32 billion budget.

In Blockchain and Economic Development: Hype vs. Reality, experts from the Center for Global Development address the economic development potential of blockchain technology including its potential and existing hurdles to its growth.

In its latest survey of U.S. public perception of manufacturing, Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute found that the majority of Americans surveyed (roughly 8 in 10) view manufacturing as vital to maintaining economic prosperity in the country, but less than 5 in 10 find those jobs interesting or secure, and less than 3 in 10 would encourage their children to pursue a manufacturing career. However, respondents also said they believe future manufacturing jobs will require high-tech skills, be clean, safe and more innovative.

Funding for TBED programs took a hit under Massachusetts Gov. Charles Baker, who vetoed millions of dollars in programs that the legislature had approved in the FY 2018 state budget. Michigan programs fared better with funding maintained to diversify the state’s economy and funding for entrepreneurship ecosystems getting a boost. And in Virginia, after a messy budget process addressing an addendum to its biennial budget, many innovation programs saw increases.

Massachusetts

On the heels of delaying the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER), the White House has endorsed a bill that would grade candidates for immigration. A total of 60 organizations, including SSTI and many of our member organizations, stated their opposition to the move in a new letter. It is not clear why the IER’s standard of investible businesses would not fit into the legislation’s merit-based system.

One of the hottest topics at SSTI’s 2017 Annual Conference centered on helping communities build the investment system necessary for local entrepreneurs and startups to thrive.  Led by several panels of experts, the conversations around this topic led to many great ideas, thoughtful solutions, and tough realities. This week we begin a series of stories on how tech-based economic development organizations can help communities ensure a vibrant investment system.

Two recent reports provide good news and bad news regarding innovation in America’s rural areas. Only one in six individuals living in rural areas was self-employed in 2016 — down from one in four in 1988, according to a new issue brief from the Small Business Administration (SBA). This represents a decline of nearly 20 percent over that span of time.

The U.S. House this week passed H.R. 2763, which would amend the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs in several significant ways. Most notably, the bill would extend by five years the “assistance for administrative… costs,” which is used for outreach initiatives and some business and market assistance initiatives across agencies.

The Federal Reserve System has announced a new initiative intended to invest in America’s workforce and improve outcomes for both employers and workers.

The president’s budget for FY 2018 would eliminate funding for numerous innovation programs, slash spending on R&D and technology transfer and limit education and training opportunities. The full budget proposal may well be “dead on arrival” in Congress, but this is not the same as Congress rejecting each budget proposal.

Federal obligations for science and engineering research and development to universities, colleges, and nonprofit institutions increased by 5.7 percent from FY 2013 to FY 2014, according to recently released data from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development.

The president’s FY 2018 budget proposal includes requests for four regional commissions with the funds appropriated only for the purposes of closure of these commissions, including: $31 million for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC); $7.3 million for the Denali Commission; $2.5 million for the Delta Regional Authority (DRA); and, $850,000 for the Northern Border Regional Commission.

This week we begin a series on state legislation pertaining to the innovation economy that has been enacted this year around the country. This first installment of the States of Innovation 2017 series deals with clean and renewable energy.

Seventeen venture development organizations (VDOs) from across the country shared in the success from a baker’s dozen exits posted in Pitchbook during the third quarter of 2017.  Information tech companies lead the pack, but seven come from other sectors of the economy including life sciences, vehicle manufacturing, materials, polymers, robotics, and chemicals – demonstrating the important role VDOs may play in broadening innovation’s contributions to regional economies.

Creative, digital, design and engineering occupations all have bright outlooks, along with architectural and green occupations, according to a recent report from Nesta, a global innovation foundation. Nesta took into account five major trends in mapping out how employment is likely to change in the future, and the implications for skills.