American Made Solar Challenge is seeking teams of creative individuals and entrepreneurs to compete for prize money and strategic support in accelerating ideas and solutions. In a three-part series of contests, $3 million will be awarded in cash prizes and up to $525,000 in vouchers, which can be used at national laboratories and other voucher facilities to develop, test and validate ideas in the energy marketplace.
A new report from the Department of Energy (DOE) highlights examples of major scientific accomplishments emerging from 40 years of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) research support, including how these discoveries have helped fulfill DOE’s mission and have led to new technologies and industries that contribute to American innovation and prosperity.
The conclusion from the working paper, The Effects of Scientists and Engineers on Productivity and Earnings at the Establishment Where They Work, by Erling Barth, James C. Davis, Richard B. Freeman, and Andrew J. Wang, is pretty clear for manufacturers and policy advocates for improving U.S.
The conclusion from the working paper, The Effects of Scientists and Engineers on Productivity and Earnings at the Establishment Where They Work, by Erling Barth, James C. Davis, Richard B. Freeman, and Andrew J. Wang, is pretty clear for manufacturers and policy advocates for improving U.S. manufacturing: firms should hire as many scientists and engineers as possible. The research finds, Morgan Foy explains in an NBER Digest article, that occupational statistics reveal approximately 80 percent of people trained as scientists and engineers do not work in R&D jobs. Filling a company’s payroll with as many of these people, regardless of their position, seems to pay off. The authors’ research concluded a 10 percent increase in the proportion of scientist and engineer employment within a manufacturing establishment was associated with a 4 percent increase in total factor productivity for the firm.
USTAR hosted the Utah Technology Innovation Summit last week to celebrate the state’s achievements in the field. The event featured strong pro-science and innovation statements from a variety of politicians and awards to teachers and scientists. During the opening, USTAR Director Ivy Estabrooke was named the governor’s science advisor (pictured at right). The summit was held in the same venue as SSTI’s 2018 Annual Conference.
The U.S. biosciences industry directly employs 1.74 million people and indirectly supports $2.0 trillion in economic output and roughly 8 million jobs nationwide, according to "Investment, Innovation and Job Creation in a Growing U.S. Biosciences Industry," a new report by TEConomy Partners on behalf of the trade association BIO.
The Senate Committee on Appropriations this morning advanced a funding bill that includes $25 million for Regional Innovation Strategies — $4 million more than the current funding round.
Although SBIR/STTR matching programs have existed at the state and regional levels for years, Montgomery County, Maryland, recently launched the country’s first county-based match program. The county council overwhelmingly approved the program, which will target Montgomery County-based small businesses receiving Phase I or Phase II SBIR/STTR grants through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), whose main offices are also within the county.
Last week, SSTI looked at recently released data on venture capital dollars and deals by state, finding that total investment has skyrocketed but remains heavily concentrated in a few markets. This week we examine this data through two additional lenses: VC investment intensity and VC investment per technology startup.
Over the five-year period from 2012 to 2017, as total venture capital investments more than doubled, growing from $41.2 billion to $84.0 billion, the number of deals increased by just 2.7 percent according to new data from the NVCA-Pitchbook Venture Capital Monitor. In 2017, more than half of all venture capital deals and three-quarters of all venture capital dollars went to companies in California, New York, and Massachusetts in 2017.
Over the ten-year period from 2007 to 2017, as total venture capital investments more than doubled, growing from $41.2 billion to 84.0 billion, the number of deals increased by just 2.7 percent according to new data from the NVCA-Pitchbook Venture Capital Monitor. In 2017, more than half of all venture capital deals and three-quarters of all venture capital dollars went to companies in California, New York, and Massachusetts in 2017. However, the share of deals going to these three states decreased slightly from 2007 to 2017 (from 56.1 to 52.4 percent), while the share of dollars increased from 62.3 percent to 75.7 percent.
Last week, SSTI examined the geography of “America’s Seed Fund,” the SBIR/STTR awards, on a state-by-state basis. A look at how the more than 25,500 awards were distributed at the regional level over the five-year period from 2013 to 2017 yields additional insight. The metropolitan areas with the largest concentrations of SBIR/STTR awards include knowledge hubs with large universities and access to federal R&D, such as Boston, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C.
The SBIR/STTR program, which dubs itself as “America’s Seed Fund,” is one of the broadest forms of early-stage capital available to small technology companies. During the five-year period from 2013 to 2017, the 11 federal agencies participating in the SBIR/STTR program distributed 25,524 awards. Using charts, maps, and a downloadable spreadsheet, this Digest article looks at trends in SBIR/STTR awards by state over the period, including the companies with the most awards and states where SBIR/STTR awards outnumber VC deals.
The Republican tax plan passed Congress this week. The legislation, which is part tax cut — $1.5 trillion over 10 years — and part reform — replacing multiple deductions and credits with overall lower rates — will affect the U.S. economy for years to come. Education, employment, capital access and business investment are likely to be directly affected as soon as next year, and, if state budgets hold any value as predictors, regional innovation economies will be particularly affected through future reductions in federal spending.
NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership program launched a new Policy Academy focused on manufacturing this week. Funded by NIST MEP and organized by SSTI and the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC), the Policy Academy is designed to help states build upon existing strategies, leverage available resources, and spur creative new ideas about how to address major challenges or leverage opportunities around the manufacturing sector.
NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership program launched a new Policy Academy focused on manufacturing this week. Funded by NIST MEP and organized by SSTI and the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC), the Policy Academy is designed to help states build upon existing strategies, leverage available resources, and spur creative new ideas about how to address major challenges or leverage opportunities around the manufacturing sector. Through a customized and collaborative experience, the Policy Academy will help teams of four-to-ten members representing a cross-section of policymakers and practitioners from relevant state agencies and stakeholder groups to identify best practices, partnerships, and policies to strengthen the manufacturers in their states.
The request for proposals, which can be downloaded here, covers the first of two academy cohorts, with up to four states selected. The first cohort will be from states selected from the 15 states that are not holding gubernatorial elections in 2018 (Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia). The second cohort, in 2019-2020, will be selected from the remaining states. For additional information regarding eligibility and how to apply, contact Jonathan Dworin at SSTI.
Myriad data point to a decline in the number of new American business starts, but there have been fewer indicators of whether this overall trend was also true for firms with high growth potential. Recent research now provides evidence that these high growth firms are also becoming rarer.
Congress so far has ignored administration budget requests that call for reducing U.S. investment in research and development. Science and innovation advocates interpret the legislative branch’s decision as good for many reasons. Authors Nicholas Bloom, Charles I. Jones, John Van Reenen, and Michael Webb add another reason in their NBER working paper Are Ideas Getting Harder to Find? They find U.S.
Noting that we have reached a point in time where STEM “influences every aspect of our education, work, and community life,” STEMconnector, a professional services firm, has released a new report that examines the current state of the field, identifies gaps and makes recommendations for action and investment. State of STEM highlights “five critical gaps” in the STEM workforce: a fundamental skills gap; belief gap; postsecondary education gap; geographic gap; and, demographic gap.
Six years after the passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (JOBS Act), SSTI continues to examine the impact that the legislation has had on startup capital. In previous weeks, SSTI has looked at Regulation A+ offerings and equity crowdfunding (also known as regulation crowdfunding or Reg CF).
This June, the Innovation Growth Lab's (IGL) third global annual conference will explore future innovation, entrepreneurship and small business policies. The summit, happening in Boston June 12-14 at Harvard Business School and MIT, includes more than 50 world-leading experts and participants from over 20 countries coming together as part of a global community at the forefront of innovation.
State economic growth relies on the availability of a workforce capable of filling open positions. But increasingly around the country, one of the top concerns of employers is finding the right talent to fill these roles. Beyond corporate strategies in hiring, states are increasingly developing new initiatives to keep their pipeline of talent flowing.
Several recent articles covered in the National Bureau of Economic Researchers (NBER) Digest suggest that current understanding of policies surrounding wages, clusters and labor concentration may warrant revisiting. In one piece of academic research, a historical argument of shared productivity gains with employees is challenged, while another article shows a loss of bargaining power for employees in concentrated labor markets.
Industry consolidation slowing wage growth, productivity
For the economic development community as a whole, the issue of retaining and attracting talent is of the utmost importance. While a visualization in a Wall Street Journal article looks at where graduates move after college, an interactive analysis by the Pew Research Center examines where foreign student graduates work in the United States.
New data analyzing the first cohort of Tennessee Promise students reveals a higher graduation rate and increased number of students earning a college credential when compared to the previous year’s non-Promise cohort. The inaugural class of Tennessee Promise students graduated from high school in 2015 and completed their five semesters of eligibility in December.
New data analyzing the first cohort of Tennessee Promise students reveals a higher graduation rate and increased number of students earning a college credential when compared to the previous year’s non-Promise cohort. The inaugural class of Tennessee Promise students graduated from high school in 2015 and completed their five semesters of eligibility in December. The program is showing impressive early results including:
Venture development organizations (VDO), nonprofit organizations across the country investing in innovation startups to help grow their regional economies as well as earn a respectable return, saw at least 20 exits in the first quarter of 2018, based on data entered on Pitchbook.com. Here are some examples from the quarter:
The federal government’s priorities for funding research and development do not necessarily match those of the general public, an analysis of ScienceCounts and National Science Foundation data suggests. ScienceCounts is a national nonprofit with the objective of enhancing the public's awareness of, and support for, federally-funded scientific research.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program dubs itself as “America’s largest seed fund.” Three recent research articles add to the existing literature on the program. First, a study finds that SBIR supports high-risk efforts to convert R&D. A second study suggests that SBIR awardees are more likely to locate in denser regions but in less dense neighborhoods in those regions. A third study finds that SBIR awardees from federal agencies with more diverse workforces tend to perform better.