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If the U.S. is going to continue to compete globally and win on innovation, more workers will have to attain credentials allowing them to keep pace with the demands of the shifting workforce, say several recent reports. However, only a quarter of the states have more than 50 percent of their prime working age population attaining some kind of credential beyond high school according to a new study from the Lumina Foundation.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced its 2018 road tour connecting entrepreneurs with next generation R&D ideas to early stage funding led by the SBA’s Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. Each stop in the 18-state road tour will be hosted by a local organization, and program managers from the 11 participating federal agencies will conduct one-on-one meetings with attendees, take part in targeted panels, and share insights into how their agencies make funding decisions.

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) latest survey of more than 1,000 experts and decision makers on the likelihood and impact of 30 global risks over a 10-year period found four areas of concern: environmental degradation; cybersecurity breaches; economic strains; and geopolitical tensions. Despite experiencing a year-long global economic recovery, the survey revealed that respondents are pessimistic about the year ahead (59 percent say they expect an increase in risk for the year, compared to 7 percent who expect declining risks).

For hundreds of years, libraries have helped drive American innovation by serving as a trusted resource and providing information to a wide range of individuals. As libraries continue to implement their own initiatives in this space, policymakers across the country have recently turned to them as a way to level the playing field around workforce development and entrepreneurial support.

The tax law signed at the end of last year introduced a provision that will significantly affect many economic development offices and related nonprofits across the country: “contributions to capital” will now typically be included in a corporate taxpayer’s gross income. Previously, grants, free land and certain types of tax credits from governmental units or civic groups to support capital expenses were tax-free awards for the beneficiary. Since the signing of the bill, many of these awards are now taxable.

Three recent news items shed important light on educational attainment and economic well-being and one promising approach to increasing educational attainment among lower income people. While the Pew Research Center finds the share of college-educated young adults in the U.S. workforce is higher than ever before, the Economist reports that the “return on investment” in getting a college degree is leveling off.

Can banks meet Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) obligations by helping address high-speed broadband gaps and the digital divide? Participants in a recent Federal Reserve webinar said yes and provided tips on how.

CRA is intended to encourage depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods and the webinar explained how financing broadband initiatives would qualify as an economic development tool that meets the CRA service tests. Our communities would benefit on a number of fronts.

SSTI’s Tech Talkin’ Govs feature returns as governors across the country roll out their state of the state addresses. We review each speech for comments relevant to the innovation economy, and bring you their words directly from their addresses. In this second installment, we present excerpts from governors in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Washington.

Financial incentives for company recruitment and retention still dominate state and local economic development expenditures, but recent research estimates that extension programs and customized job training can accomplish development goals in a more cost-effective manner. Despite this, customized services get, on average, five cents of public investment for every dollar that traditional financial incentive strategies receive.

SSTI is excited to announce Salt Lake City as the site for the 2018 Annual Conference, which will be held Dec. 3 through 5, with the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR) as the host partner.

In this first part of a two-part series, SSTI will look at the common themes and trends of 2017 that were highlighted in the 2017 MoneyTree Report. In part two, SSTI will provide insights on some potential new trends observed last year that may continue to affect the investment of venture capital in 2018.

The Department of Energy’s annual portfolio of federal funding opportunities (FFOs) — an announcement for the solicitation of research applications on a specific technical area — published on grants.gov declined by more than 45 percent between 2012 and 2017 from 81 FFOs in 2012 to 44 FFOs during the last calendar year. The decline had the most significant impact on the number of FFOs published in technical areas related to renewable energy, energy efficiency, and storage/other energy-related systems. 

The World Economic Forum (WEF) identified cybersecurity breaches along with environmental degradation caused by human-induced climate change, as the top two risks to the global economy over the next 10 years, according to the 2018 Global Risks Report, the Forum’s annual survey of nearly 1,000 experts from across the planet.  With evidence mounting of Russian hacking of the U.S.

Investments in STEM education, apprenticeship programs, and tech-focused tuition assistance are among a handful of proposals included in the “Marshall Plan for Talent” last Thursday. The plan includes $100 million in talent investments and utilizes a three-pronged approach to training by addressing K-12 education, higher education and the state’s existing workforce. The funds would come from savings due to a state bond refinancing, according to the governor.

For decades, state and local economies have leaned heavily on their anchor institutions during times of economic uncertainty and transition. An analysis finds that total employment in “Eds and Meds” industries increased in every state from 2005 to 2015. This article breaks down the growth and geography of Eds and Meds employment at the state level, while next week’s issue of the Digest will explore this data by metropolitan area.

The National Science Foundation’s new strategic plan argues that the U.S. must continue investing in world-class research, develop a globally competitive scientific and engineering workforce, and foster greater understanding of science and technology among the American public. However, the pressure of new priorities and level funding proposed for FY 2019 have yielded some surprising directions for the agency’s planned investments.

Research and innovation process goals

For the first time in five years, federal funding for higher education research and development increased in both current and constant dollars, according to recently released data from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics within the National Science Foundation. In FY 2016, universities reported $72.0 billion in total R&D expenditures, a 4.8 percent increase from FY 2015. Of this amount, more than half (54 percent) came from the federal government.

The United Kingdom government recently released a new industrial strategy that outlines a number of striking commitments. These include a plan to increase R&D spending from 1.7 percent to 2.4 percent of GDP, £406 million for STEM training, £1 billion for network infrastructure and a new £2.5 billion investment fund. Like many similar U.S.

This article is part one of a two part series focused on the intersection between economic opportunity and the economic development practice.  

Two recent reports detail the changing nature of jobs and highlight the importance of digital skills for the workforce. To guard against a greater income divide and ensure a competitive workforce, the studies — one from Brookings and the other from the McKinsey Global Institute — outline policy prescriptions that may ease the transition.

Tuesday’s announcement by Revolution of the creation of a $150 million Rise of the Rest Seed Fund for companies located outside of Silicon Valley builds on Steve Case’s tour to connect with entrepreneurs throughout the middle of the country. The Rise of the Rest Seed Fund enjoys the backing of more than three dozen other big investors from Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt to the Waltons and Kochs, and is intended to provide support and connections to entrepreneurs in small towns and underserved cities.

Adding to the national debate regarding U.S. immigration policy, the Center for American Entrepreneurship (CAE) reviewed the 2017 Fortune 500 list, finding that 43 percent of the companies were founded or co-founded by a first or second generation immigrant. Those companies account for 52 percent of the top 25 firms, are headquartered in 33 different states, and accounted for $5.3 trillion in global revenue in 2016, the CAE analysis found.

Asserting that the country’s future competitiveness is linked to a quality education, a recent report from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education argues that the completion rate of students pursuing post-secondary education must be increased.

Last week, The Digest covered newly released data from the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science Education Statistics, which found that for the first time in five years, federal funding for higher education research and development increased in both current and constant dollars.

Forces weighing on the manufacturing industry, including globalization and technology, do not indicate its decline, says a recent report from the McKinsey Global Institute. Instead, the coming decade will reshape manufacturing as demand grows, technology produces gains and companies find new growth in parts of the value chain. To be able to be able to compete in the future, U.S. manufacturing needs to scale up efforts on multiple fronts, the report maintains.