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SSTI’s 2024 Annual Conference dates & location set: Dec 10-12 in Arizona!

Coming off one of its most successful events ever, SSTI is happy to announce the nation’s largest annual gathering of leading practitioners and policymakers working toward regional innovation and growth through technology-based economic development will be held at the Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass in the Gila River Indian Community in metro Phoenix on December 9-12, 2024.

A report many years in the making was released this week by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) that, for the first time in the organization’s history, confronts racism in its title. After the summer of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests, federal agencies and private foundations prioritized sponsoring a report on antiracism and diversity, equity and inclusion, focused on science, technology, engineering, math and medicine (STEMM).

The U.S. Treasury Department announced that the government will begin taking applications May 31 for the first $4 billion of the $10 billion Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit program and tax break for solar-and-wind projects in low-income communities.

Between March and April of 2020, the United States saw a massive drop in employment due to the COVID-19 pandemic: from approximately 151 million employees to fewer than 131 million. More than two years since the beginning of the pandemic, surveys suggest a near-complete recovery to pre-pandemic employment levels. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) through March 2022 (the most recent final data published by BLS) reveal an average decrease of just 1 percent in employment across the country as whole since February 2020. While the U.S.

A new data analysis of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) by SSTI indicates again the significant impact the pandemic had on the manufacturing sector. While job openings in manufacturing ranged on a monthly basis from 0.8 to 3.9% of total manufacturing employment in the 20 years prior to the pandemic, it jumped to as much as 7.4% in April 2022. Job openings in manufacturing increased dramatically after the pandemic, presumably as a result of the American economy attempting to adjust for disrupted supply chains and a move to bring more manufacturing back to the U.S.

In this week’s continuing coverage of gubernatorial addresses as they impact the innovation economy, the common themes from Hawaii, Massachusetts and North Dakota were addressing the cost of housing. Hawaii and Massachusetts governors discussed addressing climate change, and North Dakota’s governor called for the creation of a new office focused on rural communities. The following highlights have been excerpted from State of the States or budget addresses given between January 17, 2023 and January 23, 2024. Additional addresses and states will be covered in future Digest issues.

A working paper by a team of Harvard-affiliated researchers presents challenging findings for growth equity impact investors. Given the potential alignment between this sector of the market and publicly funded capital access programs (including many venture development organizations and the State Small Business Credit Initiative), this research may find its way into public policy debates. The paper, which has not yet been published in an academic journal, also contains several shortcomings in its approach that should caution any stakeholders from acting on its findings alone.

The NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) is accepting EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) proposals that will advance the state of the art in assessing place-based innovation's societal and economic impacts. This funding opportunity aims to address gaps in publicly available data and associated knowledge to adequately and appropriately benchmark activities in place-based innovation grounded in integrating research and development, translation, and workforce development.

Income inequality in the U.S. has increased from 2006 to 2022, according to American Community Survey (ACS) data. While it’s increased in the nation as a whole, it decreased in North Dakota, Washington, Hawaii, Nebraska, and Montana from 2018 to 2022. New York and Washington, D.C. lead the nation in income inequality. This edition of Useful Stats explores state-level Gini index data from the U.S.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a final rule last night, by a 3-2 vote that would require prospective special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) to disclose their sponsors, compensation, target companies, and conflicts of interest and to require SPAC targets to register with the SEC.

Last fall, the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) issued its report on the distributional effects of trade and trade policy on under-represented and under-served communities. The report, which had been requested in 2021 by the U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, found a disparity in wage and employment among manufacturing workers by race and gender resulting from changes in trade policy.

The United States is home to some of the world's most prestigious universities, each performing critical research that helps advance the country’s innovation economy. However, these universities are not evenly distributed across the country; many are concentrated within large cities in states where their spillover further impacts the local economies.

Total deal counts across angel, seed and VC deals for Q4 2022 were the lowest of the year at 2,935 deals, a decrease of 670 deals as compared to Q3 2022, according to Q4 data from PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor Q4 2022. Despite low deal counts for Q4, 2022 is still on track to come in close behind 2021, which marked the highest deal count since the data began being collected in 2012.

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. 

With the Dec. 20 release of two Requests for Information (RFIs), the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy seeks public input to help guide the development and deployment of the National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, which is intended to use the two disciplines to advance innovative solutions in health, climate change, energy, food security, agriculture, and supply chain resilience.

Seeking fundamental changes in access to and equity in science, technology, engineering, math and medicine (STEMM) education, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and participants from across sectors met and sought ways to ensure the STEMM ecosystem is equitable and inclusive.

SSTI has written a response to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) proposed revisions to the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program, which aim to increase program participation.

In this week’s continuing coverage of gubernatorial addresses as they impact the innovation economy, New Mexico Governor calls for $170 million to bolster hydrogen, geothermal and next-generation battery storage. Rhode Island Governor proposes building a new life science school at the University of Rhode Island and cybersecurity bond to grow Rhode Island College’s cybersecurity program. Meanwhile, West Virginia’s governor proposes increasing spending to attract people to move to the state.

The workforce is growing older, and that’s very likely a good thing for U.S. productivity. Various statistics reveal the active workforce over 65 is more likely to have higher education levels than historically, working at a 0.75 full-time equivalent rate on average, and is working for lower wages on average than younger workers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already well integrated into the American workforce; in 2022, 19% of American workers were in jobs identified as most exposed to AI, compared to 23% in the least exposed jobs, according to a study by Pew Research. Jobs identified as most exposed are those in which the most critical responsibilities can either be replaced or assisted by AI.

NSF recently released updates on two ways of profiling trends in science and engineering at the state level: Science and Engineering State Profiles and Science & Engineering Indicators.

A recent report outlines over 100 initiatives that could boost the semiconductor industry. The Arizona Commerce Authority and Boston Consulting Group recently collaborated on a National Semiconductor Economic Roadmap (NSER) to advance semiconductor competitiveness in the United States.

A recently released International Energy Agency (IEA) report states that renewables are set to account for over 90% of global electricity expansion over the next five years, with China retaining a 75-90% share in global renewable manufacturing capacity.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the approval of seven additional states’ programs for State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) funding, totaling over $1.6 billion: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Virginia. A short summary of these states’ plans, all of which include investment capital, are available below:

Since 1980, billion-dollar climate disasters in the United States have increased an astonishing 749%, from averaging 3.3 throughout the 1980s to 28 in 2023 alone. These data from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information include floods, wildfires, droughts, severe storms, tropical cyclones, and winter storms.