South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA), a public, non-profit corporation chartered in 1983 by the State of South Carolina , had over a $1.19 billion impact on the state’s economy in 2023.

In this week’s continuing coverage of gubernatorial addresses as they impact the innovation economy, the common themes from Alaska, Michigan, and Maine were issues of oppor

NSF has announced 10 projects as the first cohort of Regional Innovation Engines. The 10 project teams span 18 states. Each of the 10 teams will receive $15 million for the first two years of the awards and could receive $160 million over the full ten years dependent on availability of funding and successful performance.

The 10 inaugural NSF Engines are:

New fiscal year (FY) 2021 Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) survey data released by the National Science Foundation (NSF) reveals a $3.4 billion (4%) increase in research and development (R&D) spending by institutions of higher education ($86.5 to $89.9 billion), driven almost entirely by a decades high federal government R&D funding increase of $3 billion.

The National Association of State Budget Officers’ (NASBO) Fall 2022 Fiscal Survey of States, released last month, reflects a more positive fiscal environment than last year and found that F

In larger VC firms with more assets under management (AUM), women at all levels received pay in line with what men received, with the median total cash for female general partners above that of the men. However, women at smaller AUM firms received significantly less total cash compensation than men, particularly at the managing general partner level, according to a survey on professional compensation in venture capital firms conducted by First Republic Bank recently and J. Thelander Consulting, Inc.  

SSTI is excited to announce staffing changes that are helping us build on our mission to strengthen initiatives to create a better future through science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. Over the past few months, SSTI has added five new staff members — Casey Nemecek, Jerry Coughter, Jonathan Dillon, Lisa Clayton and Sobia Saied — strengthened our student interns/assistants program, and promoted Mark Skinner to executive vice president and Jason Rittenberg to vice president.

Recent SSTI staff additions:

A recent State of Skills report by the Burning Glass Institute, the Business-Higher Education Forum, and Wiley identifies four emerging technical skill sets as the fastest growing in the country: artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), cloud computing, product management, and social media. The authors use these four skill sets to illustrate how businesses, education providers, and learners can best prepare for a changing and increasingly technology-driven labor market. 

After a busy election season that saw gubernatorial elections in 36 states, newly elected and re-elected governors delivered their annual State of the State addresses, kicking off new programs and reviewing the conditions of their states. SSTI reviews the speeches every year and covers news of new developments and initiatives the governors have highlighted as they relate to the innovation economy. New programs are laid out here in the governors own words as excerpts from their State of the State or budget addresses.

More than five months into fiscal year 2024, Congress has approved an agreement covering six of the twelve annual appropriations bills. Many tech-based economic development (TBED) programs received funding equal to the FY 2023 base appropriation—a strong sign of support for a year in which Congress agreed to return to FY 2022 overall spending levels and many programs across the federal government, therefore, saw cuts.

Americans have a strong level of confidence in scientists and scientific institutions overall, as SSTI reported in a Digest article in December 2023. A new NSF report reviews recent literature about public perceptions, awareness, and information sources for science, and reports strong support for science.

Last August, SSTI released a data tool exhibiting investment activity across 18 key technology areas. The tool comprises two interactive visuals and a downloadable data file and uses Pitchbook technology verticals selected to align with many of the key technology focus areas defined in the CHIPS and Science Act.

A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency’s presumption that businesses owned by Blacks, Latinos and other minorities are disadvantaged violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. Unless it appeals, the Department of Commerce, which oversees MBDA, will be forced to immediately cease using an applicant’s race or ethnicity in determining eligibility for the program.

On March 1, Massachusetts Gov.

The National Science Board released the biennial Science and Engineering Indicators report on Wednesday. This report compiles data about the composition of the U.S. research enterprise and its trajectory relative to that of other nations. It covers data collected through 2021.

By a bipartisan vote on Tuesday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works approved legislation that would reauthorize the Economic Development Administration for the first time since 2004.

The real gross domestic product (GDP) of private industries has steadily increased nationwide from 2018-2022, with an average percentage increase of 2% each year, or 9% total, despite a drop from 2019-2020 due to the pandemic. However, the same cannot be said across all private industries; of the 14 broad industries captured by U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data,[1] eight have grown while six decreased over the five-year period from 2018-2022.

The White House published its FY 2025 budget this week. As Congress will ultimately produce its preferred budget, the president’s release like those of previous Administrations serves as more of a messaging document outlining a vision and priorities. For tech-based economic development (TBED), the message is that Congress has provided ample tools but needs to continue to fund them.

From the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the Department of the Treasury, the White House budget, and Congress, various stakeholders across the federal government have proposed multiple regulations in the past several weeks that would affect the venture capital industry in general and, in some cases, venture development organizations. We offer a brief roundup of these issues.

House passes bill to facilitate private investment

Editor’s note (April 4, 2024): This article has been updated to reflect relevant programs included in the second of two FY 2024 omnibus appropriations bills.

The Office of Advanced Manufacturing at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, intends to announce an open competition for a new Manufacturing USA institute.

Many federal funding programs have the potential to support technology-based economic development (TBED) initiatives, even when technology and innovation aren’t their explicit focus. This is the case with the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). SSTI recently sat down with Christy Johnson, ARC program analyst, to learn how three of ARC’s funding opportunities can support TBED activities in the Appalachian region.

Earlier this week, the White House announced a series of actions being undertaken by federal agencies to focus on women’s health.  Both NIH and ARPA-H announced new funding opportunities centered around women’s health, while the White House and other agencies took action without indicating any funding associated with that funding

As part of the CHIPS & Science Act, Congress created the Tech Hubs program to help more regions become leaders in key technology sectors through substantial investments into regional consortia. It authorized spending $10 billion on the program from FY2023 through FY2027. But appropriations for the program are not keeping up with the vision that was embraced by strong bipartisan majorities in both chambers. For FY2023, Congress appropriated $500 million for the program, and it followed that up with only $41 million for FY2024. The need for the program has not changed.

Information on the geographic distribution of innovation and entrepreneurship is not easy to tease out of many federal statistical data sets, leading regional policy often to be based on trends in all business starts or life span and size—ignoring the fact that some firms have greater impact on regional economic growth than others. The U.S. Census Bureau is well aware of the challenge and, earlier this week, released an experimental data set that allows for an examination of state-level long-term trends in the change in high-growth firms and establishments across the nation.