The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is accepting applications for the FY96 round of the Saltonstall-Kennedy (S-K) Grant Program. The S-K grant program supports research and development projects that address various aspects of commercial and recreational fisheries including harvesting, processing, and marketing. The program focuses on rebuilding U.S. fisheries for sustainable use. The FY96 base funding for this program is approximately $7.0 million.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) this week issued a solicitation for Phase II of its Sustainable Technology Partnerships (STEP) initiative. Phase I of STEP was created in 1994 as a pilot project.

STEP I offered states matching funds to gain access to NREL expertise. During phase I, 14 contracts totaling over $3 million were awarded. Projects focused on several technologies, including wind, biofuels, and alternative fuels.

Funds available for the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program are estimated to top $1.1 billion in FY97 if the President’s budget request is enacted. With FY96 budget appropriations still pending for some agencies, SBIR managers are hesitant to project FY97 set asides for their programs, but in interviews with SSTI staff, the managers provided projections for FY97 based on the President’s budget request.

If reading more is on your list of New Year’s resolutions, SSTI has you covered as we bring you some thoughts from the staff on books we read in 2019. There are those we enjoyed and would recommend, as well as those you may want to skip. Also, feel free to drop us a line and let us know if you have any recommendations to share with us. Perhaps they’ll show up on our list next year!

Dan Berglund, president and CEO

This week, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced the 2020 Build-to-Scale awards. In this round, nearly $35 million was awarded to 52 organizations to support regional strategies advancing entrepreneurship and innovation. Through the end of 2019, funded organizations had worked with more than 6,200 startups, facilitating $1.6 billion in investment and the launch of more than 9,000 products, according to EDA.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has launched the National Council for Expanding American Innovation (NCEAI), an initiative aimed at expanding innovation and entrepreneurship in America. The council consists of leaders in industry, government, and academia. The USPTO created the council to develop a comprehensive national strategy to build a more diverse and inclusive innovation economy.

A recent brief shows the troubled relationship between student loan debt and entrepreneurship.

For the first time, individuals with defined measures of professional knowledge, will be allowed to participate in private capital markets without having to meet the traditionally required income or net worth levels. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has broadened the definition for who the commission views as an ‘accredited investor’ and a ‘qualified institutional buyer’.

The Lab-to-Market (L2M) subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on the Science and Technology Enterprise is launching a $325,000 prize competition to highlight successful examples of innovation ecosystems, particularly existing resources that support underserved communities or remarkable responses to the pandemic environment. There are three categories for applicants with an informational webinar

Many of the most successful technology, life science and advanced companies in the country received financing in the form of an equity investment during their rapid growth and scaling stages of development.  Whether viewed as valiant, villains or vultures, the presence of individuals and firms willing to provide capital to companies when they have few physical assets or revenues is strongly associated with healthy regional innovation economies. As a result, considerable policy attention has been focused by states on increasing the amount of risk capital flowing to local startups.

The Central Intelligence Agency is launching CIA Labs, a federal lab and in-house research and development arm intended to drive science and technology breakthroughs surrounding intelligence challenges.

A recent report by PitchBook indicates that angel investing is seeing fewer unique participants and a greater share of activity from groups than individuals. The same report provides an analysis of startup outcomes based on whether the company began with an angel or venture capital (VC) round and finds companies with angel backing initially look stronger but have a more mixed record over the long-term.

Eleven states are holding gubernatorial elections this year with nine incumbents seeking reelection, two of which are facing off against their lieutenant governor. Only one governor, Steve Bullock in Montana, is term-limited and unable to seek reelection. In Utah, Gov. Gary Herbert is stepping down from the position he has held for 10 years. While many of the races this year will reflect referendums on the current governor’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the candidates have announced their innovation and economic development initiatives.

The U.S. Small Business Administration announced 24 organizations as recipients of the 2020 Federal and State Technology partnership (FAST) program grant awards.

SBA efforts to reign in abuse of the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program continue, yet companies that seem to use SBIR awards as a primary revenue stream rather than a means to creating future revenue paths through new product and process innovations persist, based on SSTI’s review of award data. Known as “SBIR mills” many of these companies appear to be clustered geographically in specific metropolitan areas, many of which house major federal labs or research centers, the analysis of SBIR data reveals.

As of this writing, control of Congress remains officially undecided, although the end result will likely be status quo: Republican control of the Senate and Democratic control of the House. While the discourse and activity around major legislation may not change, there will be changes to the committees that most strongly impact science and small business legislation. The new members will not be determined until the next session, but multiple departures from these committees are already known.

Senate

After a historic election night, the winners of the gubernatorial elections in 11 states appear to have been chosen. Barring a dramatic swing in votes, all of the nine incumbent governors have been reelected to a second or third term. In Montana, Rep. Greg Gianforte (R) has flipped control of the governor’s seat, and in Utah, Spencer Cox (R) has defeated Chris Peterson (D). Many of the incumbent governors held strong approval ratings going into election night and won their voters’ approval for another term as the country tries to inch out of the pandemic and recover economically.

While official results are still being certified, unofficial counts reveal a mixed bag on a slew of state ballot initiatives that could have an impact on innovation, education, state budgets and elections. Some gained favor with voters, like a battle over gig workers and how they are classified, which landed on the side of Uber and Lyft.

I suspect the whole country woke up Wednesday morning and looked at the half that voted for the other candidate and said, “What were you thinking?!?” Rather than attempting to address the question of what people were thinking, let me attempt to address where we are and what we need to do.

The Senate released its draft appropriations bills for FY 2021 this week. Priorities for SSTI’s Innovation Advocacy Council did well, with increases for Build to Scale ($38.5 million, + $5.5 million from FY 2020) and FAST ($5 million, + $2 million) and level funding for Regional Innovation Clusters ($5 million).

Science and innovation highlights within the FY 2021 budget proposal include the following:

The United States is currently ranked tenth in research and development intensity (a measure of R&D investment as a percent of a nation’s Gross Domestic Product) but has continued to lead the pack in total research and development spending, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) recently published A Snapshot of U.S.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently published a final rule clarifying acceptable communications during “demo days” and expanding the accessibility of crowdfunding, among other changes. The new rule establishes guidelines to make “demo day” activities exempt from general solicitation requirements.

Amid dwindling hope for a second stimulus package from Congress, the Federal Reserve has widened the terms of its Main Street lending program to better target support for small businesses. According to the new guidelines, the minimum loan size for three Main Street vehicles available to for-profit and non-profit borrowers has been reduced from $250,000 to $100,000. Corresponding fees have also been adjusted to encourage loan dispersal.

The Angel Capital Association has recently released its Angel Funders Report 2020, examining the angel investor landscape through a survey of 76 angel groups and investments made during 2019. While the survey results represent only a portion of the larger angel investment community, the ACA report does provide useful insights into the current trends within the angel funder sphere.

Criticism of the federal Opportunity Zone program has been directed at individual examples of questionable tracts for inclusion, the process for selecting tracts in each state, and the merits of some of the development projects underway. For example, some question inclusion of lowlands subject to flooding as sea levels rise with climate change and subsidence, while others raise eyebrows at inclusion of greenfield freeway interchanges or tracts already undergoing gentrification in fast growing cities. Complaints have been raised about projects where the end use (e.g.