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Election 2026: Selecting new governors and redefining the federal-state relationship

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

This year's gubernatorial elections will do more than determine who occupies governors' offices across the country. They will help shape how states, administrations, and voters navigate a shifting federal landscape and pursue policies designed to advance state priorities, address emerging challenges, and redefine state-federal relationships. 

This year's gubernatorial elections will do more than determine who occupies governors' offices across the country. They will help shape how states, administrations, and voters navigate a shifting federal landscape and pursue policies designed to advance state priorities, address emerging challenges, and redefine state-federal relationships.

To build a new industry from scratch, a company first must prove it has a marketable product

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

What do turfgrass and grapes have in common? Both are high-volume, high-value crops. And, as field trials by the Pacific Kelp Company are proving, both could also benefit from the nutrients in liquefied kelp extract, a biostimulant product that also could help boost the sales of Alaska kelp with adoption of broader applications. 

Federal Funding Video Library

A wide variety of federal programs can support tech-based economic development (TBED) strategies and initiatives -- even many programs that do not explicitly state that science, technology, innovation, or entrepreneurship are priority uses of funds. 

To help organizations identify sources of funding that could be useful, SSTI has created this video series as part of the TBED Community of Practice.

Video Index

View the videos below to learn more about each program and how it could be useful to your region's needs.

A BBBRC grant builds momentum for a highly trained semiconductor workforce

Wednesday, September 9, 2026
For the civic leaders of Osceola County, the Great Recession of 2008 made clear that they could not base their economy so heavily on travel and tourism. By the time COVID-19 hit in 2020, they knew the steps they had taken to diversify their economy were the right ones. When the Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC) opportunity arose in 2021, the county and its partners were well-positioned to operationalize the benefits the grant presented to the region and create a trained workforce for a recently attracted semiconductor industry. How did Osceola County get here? There are potential approaches to emulate by more areas of the county dependent on low-wage sectors like tourism or, for that matter, extraction-focused regions subject to “boom and bust.” 

The impact of tax incentives on early-stage company investment varies

Wednesday, September 9, 2026
One persistent question in economic development policy is how incentives impact private sector investment decisions. Recent and ongoing research from Murillo Campello and Guilherme Junqueira of the University of Florida, published in the National Bureau of Economic Research working paper series, explores the impact of the Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) program on venture capital risk-taking. The researchers found that the availability of QSBS tax benefits strongly influences venture capital investment behavior, specifically in traditionally structured venture capital funds. They also found no similar behavior among angel or corporate investors, an insight that may hold important program design and policy lessons for the TBED community. 

Recent Research: What makes place-based economic development policies work?

Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Place-based economic development is back near the center of federal policy, from Opportunity Zones to the CHIPS and Science Act. That renewed attention comes with a familiar problem: decades of enterprise zones, tax incentives, infrastructure investments, and other geographically targeted programs have produced results that are hard to summarize cleanly. In a new NBER working paper, Matthew Freedman and David Neumark ask the better question: not simply whether or not these policies work, but under what conditions they might work, for whom, and why. Their review points to a practical conclusion: policy design matters and targeting a distressed community with development-focused financial incentives is rarely enough on its own.

SBA proposes tighter SBIR/STTR performance standards for “mills”

Wednesday, September 9, 2026
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has proposed updated commercialization performance standards for companies that win large numbers of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards. The proposal would apply to firms that received more than 25 Phase II awards across all participating agencies during the previous five completed fiscal years. To remain eligible for new Phase I or Direct-to-Phase-II awards, those firms would need to show that a minimum share of their total revenue comes from sources other than Phase I and Phase II SBIR/STTR funding. The threshold would be 33% non-SBIR/STTR revenue for the FY 2027 assessment and 50% beginning in FY 2028, measured over the previous three completed fiscal years. Phase III revenue and other government contracts would count as non-SBIR/STTR revenue. Firms that do not meet the benchmark would be ineligible to submit proposals for new Phase I or Direct-to-Phase-II awards for one year. SBA says the updated standards are scheduled to take effect Nov. 15, 2026, after review of public comments, which are due by October 31.

Survey shows that federal science funding is a top concern among physical scientists

Wednesday, September 9, 2026
With extensive cuts to federal research funding since January 20, 2025, one might wonder what impact this is having on scientists, both in the U.S. and abroad. Recently published results from a survey by  AIP (American Institute of Physics) offer a snapshot of how more than 2,000 respondents from AIP’s member organizations view the impact of these changes.

New federal rules, both proposed and finalized, will impact small businesses

Thursday, August 27, 2026

A recent flurry of new rules, both proposed and finalized, may interest small business owners or those who advise them. 

A recent flurry of new rules, both proposed and finalized, may interest small business owners or those who advise them. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has proposed two new rules. The first, Revised Size Standards Methodology, will update SBA’s methodology for determining which businesses qualify as “small.” The second, on Small Business Size Standards, would consolidate the number of industry-specific size standards and raise size standard thresholds. 

What could a “new golden age” of science mean for research and commercialization?

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

SSTI’s recent TBED Community of Practice webinar took up a practical question raised by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy report, Science: A New Golden Age: if federal science policy shifts, what changes will universities, commercialization, and regional innovation organizations need to make?  

SSTI’s recent TBED Community of Practice webinar took up a practical question raised by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy report, Science: A New Golden Age: if federal science policy shifts, what changes will universities, commercialization, and regional innovation organizations need to make? The presentation outlined a research system that could look considerably different from the one that has developed since Vannevar Bush’s Science, the Endless Frontier.

Differences in industry concentrations of VDO and VC investments

Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Data reveal that policymakers should not equate strong Venture Development Organizations (VDOs) with private venture capital companies; the purpose of creating public policy to increase the availability of innovation-centered risk capital can be lost if one presumes VCs and VDOs are the same. While there are many similarities between individual VDOs and VC funds, important differences in industry concentration emerge when the two groups are compared in aggregate, which may result in different long-term economic impacts.  Effective VDOs are important drivers of regional innovation and of pushing emerging tech businesses forward. VC, on the other hand, can play an extractive role, particularly in markets with scarce equity finance options.

Economic loss can be an opportunity for growth

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

When a major employer closes, jobs disappear, buildings sit empty, and communities are left wondering what comes next. A new white paper from the Association of University Research Parks (AURP) and the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) looks at how that disruption can become a starting point for economic reinvention. 

When a major employer closes, jobs disappear, buildings sit empty, and communities are left wondering what comes next. A new white paper from the Association of University Research Parks (AURP) and the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) looks at how that disruption can become a starting point for economic reinvention.