If it takes a village to raise a child, it may take an entire educational support system as well as public policy reform and funding to get that child into a skilled technical job. A two-year study coordinated by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found that the disjointed method of workforce development approaches in the U.S. may be hampering the economic competitiveness of the country.

While U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has announced that the Rural Development agency would be elevated under a reorganization plan because it would be placed under the direct oversight of the Secretary, not everyone is viewing the consolidation as an elevation.

In addition to several new moonshot R&D initiatives and other joint research efforts, several universities recently have announced public-private partnerships that will build multi-million dollar, world-class R&D facilities.

When employees discover potentially significant inventions during their line of work, they can decide whether to leave their company and form a new startup around the idea, or to transfer the knowledge to the parent firm and attempt to gain financial compensation through a spinoff. As seen in the 2016 summary report from Failure Aversion Change in Europe (FACE) Entrepreneurship, the two main fears for entrepreneurs are financial security and losing a stable, professional job. Recent research also suggests that granting employees extended leaves of absence with guaranteed options for returning increases the likelihood of entrepreneurship. Coupled together, these results prompted SSTI to further review the relationship between corporate-leave policies and entrepreneurship.

President Obama announced  the creation of the new Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (Smart MII) – a $140 million public-private partnership to develop smart sensors for use in advanced manufacturing. Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC) – a consortium of nearly 200 partners from academia and industry as well as nonprofit organizations – will lead the Smart MII.

Much of the media coverage on the latest NASBO Fiscal Survey of States, suggests the Great Recession is finally behind the states as aggregate general revenue funds finally surpassed fiscal 2008 levels. But unlike the federal government, there are 50 individual state budgets and they tell very different stories, influenced by the economics, demographics, tax structures and politics of the particular state.

This week, the White House is celebrating its third National Week of Making – an important part of its Nation of Makers initiative that seeks to expand opportunities for students and adults to engage with the maker movement. In addition to numerous commitments and announcements made at federal agencies, several other projects rooted in strong partnerships were announced.

When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released his administration’s proposed 2016 budget in late March, SSTI covered the significant funds it would allocate for science, research, and technology-based economic development, as well as the country’s plan for a national innovation agenda.

Because a research base that generates new knowledge is a key pillar of a technology-based economy, an important strategy in technology-based economic development is the expansion of research capacity. While states may go about addressing this in a variety of ways (e.g., R&D tax-credits, university-industry partnerships, recruiting eminent scholars), Florida drew national attention when it took a different approach last decade, allocating more than $450 million to attract nine research institutes through its Innovation Incentive Program (IIP).

Throughout the United States, innovation districts have been proposed with varying degrees of emphasis on inclusivity and opportunity.

In 2012, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released Engage to Excel – a five point strategy to increase the STEM pipeline by an additional one million workers. To achieve this goal of one million additional STEM workers, PCAST highlighted the importance of freshman research experiences for STEM students.

The University System of Maryland (USM) recently announced a $25 million fund to invest in USM-affiliated companies or startups created by students, faculty and recent graduates.  Companies already based in USM research parks or university incubators are also eligible for funding.

The Senate Commerce Committee approved Wednesday the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (AICA), a reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act. SSTI thanks Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) for his leadership in successfully offering an amendment to increase the authorization level for the Regional Innovation (RI) program to $30 million, which provides support for local innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth. SSTI also recognizes Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Sen.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that Columbus, home to SSTI’s 2016 Annual Conference, has won a $40 million grant from the agency, beating out five other cities in the Smart City Challenge.

Each month, several Federal Reserve Banks post survey results for manufacturing activity within their districts. The June results for those released to date vary sharply by region.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST-MEP) released a federal funding opportunity (FFO) for the operation of MEP state centers in 11 states – Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Wyoming.  The objective of the MEP Center program is to provide business and technical servi

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) announced the second phase of the ApprenticeshipUSA program – a $175 million national effort intended to help states and regions provide pathways for workers to acquire the skills and knowledge needed for good-paying jobs in fields such as information technology, healthc

Deadline Extended Until July 15, 2016!

SSTI has extended the due date for SSTI Excellence in TBED Awards applications to July 15, 2016. We hope the extended time will help you perfect an organizational narrative that is worthy of national recognition. The application process is as simple as one, two, three:

The Clinton campaign released on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton’s Initiative on Technology & Innovation, a wide-ranging platform with a heavy emphasis on technology-based economic development.

This week, the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced that FY 2016 funds for the Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) program are now available. Now in its second year, POWER is a multi-agency effort to invest federal economic and workforce development resources in communities and regions negatively impacted by changes in the coal economy.

More than 85 percent of the nation’s total income growth between 2009 and 2013 went to the top 1 percent of earners, according to a recently released report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Furthermore, the top 1 percent captured at least half of all income growth in 24 states between 2009 and 2013, and the entirety of income growth in 15 of those states during the same timeline.

With the U.S. facing an anticipated skills gap of two million manufacturing jobs by 2025, SME – a national manufacturing workforce development organization – launched the SME High School Membership program – a free online platform to “educate the next generation on the value of manufacturing and encourage careers in the field.” The new platform is the expansion of a pilot program that engaged more than 600 high school students via memberships, which included SME’s 16 PRIME (Partnership Response In Manufacturing Education) schools. Utilizing STEM Premier’s online platform, students can create a digital profile to showcase their skills and abilities; receive customized academic and career guidance; match up with $20 billion in scholarship opportunities; and, directly connect with colleges and companies looking to recruit.

The Employment Training Administration (ETA) released solicitations for a total of 12 ApprenticeshipUSA Single Industry Intermediary Contracts and ApprenticeshipUSA Multiple Industry Intermediary Contracts to become national ApprenticeshipUSA partners and have a leading role in the Sectors of Excellence in Apprenticeship (SEAs) in several key industries.

The angel investor market in 2015 had a slight increase in investment dollars and in the deal size according to a new report from the Center for Venture Research (CVR) at the University of New Hampshire.

The Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship held America Without Entrepreneurs: The Consequences of Dwindling Startup Activity last week. Citing the decades-long decline in new business creation as a motivating factor, senators’ remarks and questions identified regulation and student debt as contributing factors to this decline and to supporting basic research and immigration policy as potential solutions. The majority of the discussion focused on geographic disparities in innovation and how to better share the promise of economic prosperity going forward.