What does bird migration have to do with regional innovation?
Carolina Chickadee
(Credit: Mr. Jamsey)
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An FY25 decline in public higher ed funding raises questions about future trends
A recent State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) FY 2025 report suggests that public higher education funding is at a potential crossroads. Education appropriations per full-time equivalent (FTE) student peaked in FY24, then declined by 1.0% in FY25. It is unknown whether this recent downturn marks the beginning of a downward trend or is just a glitch in the previous 12-year run of increases.
GAO finds Bayh-Dole still working
The federal government invests billions of dollars each year in R&D, expecting these investments to lead to new technologies, firms, and broader economic growth. Under the framework established by the Bayh‑Dole Act, universities, small businesses, and nonprofit institutions may retain ownership of inventions developed with federal support and pursue their commercialization. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, Technology Transfer: Funding Recipients Keep Most Federally Funded Inventions, but Some Cited Reporting Challenges, examines whether the policies governing federally funded inventions are helping or hindering the transfer of those inventions. The analysis is timely given the current policy focus on strengthening domestic innovation capacity and supply chain resilience.
ASAE reports on the health of associations: Uncertain times ahead
What are current trends in the financial health and well-being of the business, industry, and trade associations, including tech councils and chambers of commerce, that can play various roles related to a state or regional innovation strategy? Association involvement can cover the full spectrum of helpfulness and harm as these communities may serve as allies, antagonists, assistants, advocates, or adversaries—sometimes simultaneously.
What are current trends in the financial health and well-being of the business, industry, and trade associations, including tech councils and chambers of commerce, that can play various roles related to a state or regional innovation strategy? Association involvement can cover the full spectrum of helpfulness and harm as these communities may serve as allies, antagonists, assistants, advocates, or adversaries—sometimes simultaneously.
State News for April 23, 2026
Member News April 23, 2026
SC Launch Inc., the investment affiliate of the South Carolina Research Authority, was named in PitchBook’s 2025 Global League Table for the Southeast region. The ranking award is attributed to SC Launch Inc.’s acceleration in investment activity during recent months. Since J
Administration’s FY 2027 budget repeats cuts desired in R&D and economic development
The Trump Administration’s FY 2027 budget request, submitted to Congress on April 3, bears considerable resemblance to its FY 2026 request with proposals to cut funding for many of the agencies and line items of most interest to the state and regional innovation community. Congress approved a FY 2026 budget that in most ways mirrored previous years’ allocations for TBED-related programs and priorities, such as R&D.
SSTI Webinar celebrates the work of Al Link and Don Siegel on Technology Transfer & Entrepreneurship
Ten-day clock ticking on SBIR reauthorization
The 2026 SBIR/STTR reauthorization bill (S. 3971, the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act) has cleared Congress and is now awaiting final action by the President. The Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent on March 3, 2026. The House subsequently approved the Senate-passed measure on March 17, 2026, by a vote of 345–41. Because the House adopted the Senate version without amendment, the bill moved straight to enrollment, where the final official copy is prepared for signature before being sent to the White House.
Recent Research: What is the labor market value of bachelor's degrees earned from community colleges?
As states look for ways to expand access to bachelor’s-level education while controlling costs and strengthening workforce pipelines, community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs have emerged as a promising policy tool. A recent NBER working paper by Riley Acton, Camila Morales, Kalena Cortes, Julia A. Turner and Lois Miller examines whether CCB programs deliver meaningful economic returns for graduates and how they compare to traditional degree pathways from four-year institutions.
A region’s high concentration of bachelor’s degree-holders predicts future economic growth
Discussions concerning the value of earning a bachelor's degree often center on the return on investment for the degree-holder. However, a recent article from Chicago Fed Insights illustrates that degree-holders, specifically their density in a community, also impacts whether or not their region will thrive in the coming decades.
State News for April 9, 2026
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
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.
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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.