The Economic Development Administration (EDA) released the Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) and began accepting applications for the 2016 round of Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) Program funding. In this round of funding, the EDA has made $15 million in federal funding available to create and expand cluster-focused proof-of-concept and commercialization programs and early stage seed capital funds through the i6 Challenge and the Seed Fund Support (SFS) Grant competition, respectively. Managed by EDA’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE), EDA has made $13 million available for i6 Challenge grants and $2 million available for SFS grants. The deadline for the 2016 RIS FFO is 11:59 P.M. ET on June 24.

Only 8 percent of partners with the authority to invest at 2,300 micro- and venture capital (VC) firms are women (and only 7 percent of the top 100 firms), according to CrunchBase Women in Venture, a new report providing a detailed snapshot of the state of female investors and founders. The report finds of 54 corporate VC divisions and 101 accelerators, 12 percent of partners were female.

Last month, the Department of Energy (DOE) released its first United States Energy and Employment Report (USEER) in an effort to articulate in clearer terms the sector’s wide-ranging impact on the national economy. While this report covers the entirety of the energy spectrum, a related report released just weeks after, Clean Jobs America: A Comprehensive Analysis of Clean Jobs in America, looks only at those jobs related to the clean energy economy. Based on SSTI’s analysis, Clean Jobs America suggests that there are more than 2.5 million clean energy jobs in the United States, or 44 percent of the 5,729,882 energy jobs highlighted in the DOE report.

In its first passage of a broad energy bill since the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the U.S. Senate included provisions in the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016 (S.2012) that would: increase the authorization level for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science by 5 percent per year to $7.1 billion; increase the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program’s authorization level to $375 million in 2020, up from $291 million this year; help remove barriers for technology transfer at the federal laboratories; and, authorize the DOE to establish “microlabs” in close proximity to federal labs in support of regional innovation. The bipartisan legislation was approved by a vote of 85 to 12.

On April 20, the Virginia General Assembly sent three economic development-focused bills (HB 1343, HB 846, and HB 834) to Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The bills include the creation of a new research fund and the creation of a network of regional economic development councils. Although the bills have yet to be signed, Gov. McAuliffe has publicly supported each of them. This package of economic development initiatives was originally proposed in the governor’s economic development strategy as well as his recent budget proposal. However, it took some compromise between the governor’s original proposals and the General Assembly to reach a final package.

Coming off a record setting year, industry analysts contended that there would be a more cautious U.S. venture capital industry (VC) in 2016 with discussion of a VC bubble. However, in Q1 of 2016, venture capitalists invested more than $10 billion for the ninth consecutive quarter with little concern over a bubble. In total, VCs invested $12.1 billion in 969 deals in the Q1 of 2016, according to the MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). At the same time, U.S. venture capital firms raised $12.0 billion for 57 funds during Q1 of 2016, making it the strongest quarter for funds raised since Q2 of 2006, according to the Fundraising Report by Thomson Reuters and NVCA. A review of the data indicates continuation of trends in where venture capital is being invested, the decline of investment in seed stage companies, and increasing corporate venture capital activity with 20.6 percent of funds invested in Q1 of 2016 coming from corporate venture capital.

As the 2015-2016 academic year comes to a close, universities and their industry partners have announced several new university-industry partnerships to leverage university research capabilities to address industry needs. Fortune 500 companies including IBM, Rolls-Royce, and several pharma companies have agreed to commit millions of dollars to support these partnerships targeted at increasing the pace of scientific discovery as well as training the next generation of STEM professionals.

The 21st TCI Global Conference organized by the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity will be held in Toronto, Oct. 16-18. The conference is expected to draw more than 400 international practitioners and will focus on cluster leadership, governance and evaluation, as well as designing innovation networks for knowledge exchange, with the goal of furthering economic development. It will feature 11 unique immersion experiences on Toronto clusters, including advanced manufacturing, emerging technology, energy, and the innovation ecosystem.

Starting next month the SSTI Weekly Digest will bring you a special series of interviews conducted with leaders in the innovation economy. We will feature topics like driving regional innovation on modest R&D budgets, honing your value proposition, and tips on working with your state legislature and making innovation a priority with your governor. The Q&A series will provide a quick preview into some of the insights we will explore in greater depth during SSTI’s 2018 Annual Conference: Navigating the New Innovation Landscape, Dec. 3-5 in Salt Lake City.

Working together to address the skilled labor shortage in manufacturing, manufacturers across the nation participate in Manufacturing Day as an opportunity to change perception. Always the first Friday in October, thousands of manufacturers open their doors to the public to exhibit what they do in modern manufacturing. Many community and technical colleges also participate to educate the public on the changing nature of the industry and highlight the skills required for a well-paid career in the field.

As the National Science Foundation announces awards for five new regional academic centers to encourage underrepresented populations to pursue and attain college degrees related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), a recent working paper from two Harvard researchers finds an explanation for the popularly perceived persistent shortage of STEM workers: changes in technology.  The rapid pace of technological change is making the skills of the existing STEM wo

During the past decade, there has been rapid growth of the smart cities movement – improving critical public service delivery, while reducing cost over the long run, through the Internet of Things, real time data gathering, better sensors and integrated systems management. The pace of growth is resulting in a wide variety of do-it-yourself models for smart communities to address their IoT data management and analysis needs.

With the close of the primaries, the 36 gubernatorial elections are now taking shape. November’s election will see at least 18 new governors as those seats were term-limited, the incumbent was not seeking reelection, or did not win the primary.  In each of the 36 races, SSTI has reviewed the major party candidates’ positions relating to technology-based economic development and here outlines what those candidates have revealed on topics touching the field.

With at least six federal agencies supporting quantum computing research and at least 10 agencies supporting synthetic biology research, more collaboration is needed to effectively marshal the agencies’ efforts to maintain U.S. competitiveness, according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Vibrant Virginia (VV), a new program from Virginia Tech’s Office of Economic Development, is offering seed grants as a way to encourage faculty and graduate students to explore persistent public policy challenges spanning the state’s urban, suburban, and rural communities.

Inclusive workforce development, downtown revitalization, and an influx of funds for venture capital are among the proposals in an economic development strategy unveiled by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy earlier this week. In an effort to focus on bottom-up development rather than a package of tax incentive programs favoring big businesses, the strategy seeks to build the nation’s “most diverse and inclusive innovation economy.”

The Angel Capital Association is piloting a new report on the factors that influence successful angel investing and the startups that angels support.  The initial Angel Funders Report covers 2017 data from 26 angel groups and provides new insights for one year of investments. Some of the report’s key findings include:

The number of workers, students and educators participating in the Manufacturing USA institutes’ portfolio of programs, research projects and training courses grew seven-fold to surpass 191,000 individuals in 2017, according to the network’s new annual report.  With a network of 14 individual institutes supported by the departments of Commerce, Defense and Energy, the Manufacturing USA initiative saw tremendous growth during 2017, including six institutes that went online just during the year.

Established in 1979 as a way to help broaden the distribution of federal funds for research and development (R&D), specifically at the National Science Foundation (NSF), one of the most important initiatives funneling research and development funds to states with smaller populations is the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). As more attention is paid to the growing inequality between states, programs like EPSCoR are worthy of additional consideration.

This month, we begin a four-part series focused on navigating innovation priorities in a variety of settings. The series features perspectives from experts in the field, presented in a Q&A format. Each practitioner we interviewed will also be presenting at our annual conference, where these topics will be explored in greater depth. Click here for more information on the conference.

While it has enjoyed a long history of success, the Maine Technology Institute (MTI) knew it was time to update its processes when it found itself hampered by long-standing practices. Founded in 1999, the Maine Technology Institute (MTI) is an industry-led, state-funded, nonprofit organization and among the nation’s oldest state-level technology-based economic development agencies.

Tuesday’s elections resulted in a Democratic majority in the House, but the changes for the next Congress go far beyond this outcome. Flipping party control means new chairs for every committee in the House; many Senate Republicans in leadership positions are reaching their party’s term limits, yielding new committee seniority; and, retirements and incumbent losses yield further changes. For the bipartisan issues of science and innovation, this shake up will produce new opportunities and uncertainties.

SSTI has reviewed the results of ballot initiatives affecting innovation following Tuesday’s election. Higher education funding received support from voters in Maine, Montana, New Jersey and Rhode Island; however, a South Dakota measure aimed specifically at developing a fund to assist the state's postsecondary technical institutes and students was defeated. Additionally, Utah voters opposed using gas taxes to fund its schools. Several states had clean energy initiatives on their ballots, with mixed results.

Since 2011, more than half of the nation's new investment in business research and development has come from California companies, and more than three-quarters has come from the top five states, according to an SSTI analysis of recently released NSF data.

With 36 governorships up for election — and more than half those open either due to retirements, term limits, or lost primaries — new faces were guaranteed in state offices across the country. As a result of Tuesday’s voting, 20 new governors will be taking office and 16 of 18 incumbent governors that were on the ballot on Tuesday will be serving another term (Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker were the only incumbent governors. defeated on Tuesday).