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Since the inception of I-Corps, only 20% of participants have been women, according to the 2023 National Science Foundation I-Corps biennial program report.

State support for higher education in the United States over the last four decades can best be characterized as having fluctuations and shifts in priorities. Using fiscal year (FY) 1980 as a starting point, while overall state support for higher education has grown, it has done so with volatility driven in part by decreased revenue as a result of recessions, and it has frequently taken years for state support to recover to pre-recession levels. In four states, state support on a constant 1983-dollar basis is still less than was spent in 1980.

Connect. Discover. Refresh with your peers in Arizona this December. Our newly released agenda will guide you to immersing yourself at SSTI's 2024 Annual Conference. We will explore nearly the full scope of tech-based economic development in session formats that facilitate conversation, new ideas, and new collaboration opportunities.

Eleven states and two territories, including Puerto Rico, are holding gubernatorial elections this November, with voters in eight of those states (Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Washington, and West Virginia) choosing a new governor to replace either a term-limited incumbent or governors who chose not to seek re-election. In Montana, Utah, and Vermont governors are seeking re-election.

October 30, 3:00 p.m. EDT | Free

In today's competitive landscape, technology-based economic development (TBED) organizations need to effectively communicate their achievements and impact to secure crucial funding and support. This webinar will delve into how TBED organizations can strategically use impact reports as a powerful tool to capture the attention of media, funders, and other key stakeholders.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) could see its first reauthorization since 2004, depending on how the post-election congressional work period progresses. Leaders of the Senate committee that oversees the annual defense bill have agreed to include a proposal to reauthorize EDA’s public works and economic adjustment programs in their negotiations with the House as part of the national defense authorization bill.

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) recently announced $3,889,964 in funding for the Appalachian Investors Alliance (AIA),  a seed fund network that includes several SSTI members.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced the 2024 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) Stage Two winners. Each received between $50,000 and $150,000 in prize awards to advance their work supporting small businesses and startups in STEM and research and development (R&D) across priority areas like national and economic security, domestic manufacturing and production, and sustainability and biotechnology.

SSTI recently hosted an informational session with EDA representatives about the 2024 Build to Scale program. The $50 million program is accepting applications until October 28. The recording and slides are now available here for those who missed it or want to review.

Why are people registering for SSTI's 2024 conference at a record pace?

It might be the timing of SSTI's conference—one month after a tumultuous election season. It could be our focus of the four plenary sessions being what regional innovation and tech-based economic development needs to look like in the future when you consider other great unknowns like what impact artificial intelligence will have on local economies. 

A recent National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper, Immigrant Entrepreneurship: New Estimates and a Research Agenda provides fresh insights into the growth and characteristics of immigrant-founded firms across the United States. The study also outlines directions for future research in this field.

Key findings from the authors’ statistical analysis include:

In this Digest issue, SSTI continues its examination on the state of higher education. Today, we start with rising student loan debt, which research shows has dire consequences on borrowers, including delayed home ownership, hindered retirement savings, and financial stress.

The Fearless Fund and Fearless Foundation, which made awards restricted to Black female entrepreneurs, announced a settlement on September 10 with the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) and will end its Fearless Strivers Grant Contest that was targeted in a racial discrimination lawsuit by AAER. The settlement means that states within the U.S.

While production of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles are expected to decline from 12 million in 2023 to 5.2 million in 2029 and battery electric vehicles (BEVs), powered exclusively by an electric battery, would increase from 1.1 million to 7.3 million vehicles during the same period, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago concludes the change is unlikely to cause much change in the geographic location of automobile manufacturers, according to an

In the last 20 years, college tuition has doubled, making tuition and required fees the major component of the rising costs of attending college. Figure 1 shows that the average tuition and fees at public four-year schools increased by 84% between the 1999-2000 and 2019-2020 academic years, far faster than the 15.7% increase in median household income during that period (note this period was chosen to avoid pandemic era swings in data).

Total student loan debt in the United States increased 558% from the first quarter of 2003 to the second quarter of 2024, increasing from $240 billion to $1.58 trillion, according to Federal Reserve Bank of New York data.

With the release of the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) 2024 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for its Build to Scale program, time has begun ticking towards the October 28 application deadline.

The Economic Development Administration has released the 2024 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for its Build to Scale program. With $50 million in available funding, the program continues to support regional commercialization, entrepreneurship, and capital formation efforts. This year’s competition, however, comes with a restructured application process and updated evaluation criteria.

Key changes for 2024

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs offer opportunities for small businesses to innovate and secure federal funding for their ideas from eleven U.S. government agencies. Every state in the U.S. assists potential SBIR/STTR companies to increase their chances of success. SSTI has created a new SBIR/STTR resource guide that includes examples of state-level initiatives in four broad categories: 

With classes resuming for the fall term, SSTI continues its reflection on the state of higher education. In last week's issue, today's and next week's, we’re examining where higher ed has been and where it currently stands. The post-secondary education system is the cornerstone of the American innovation system—as an R&D performer, moving research into the marketplace, offering technical assistance to companies, and supplying a skilled workforce.

For the last 40 years, higher education has been the dominant performer of basic research in the United States, but there has been a slide in higher education’s share over the last 20 years as businesses have increased their performance of basic R&D (Figure 1). If the current trendline continues, businesses will soon surpass higher education as basic R&D performers and become the predominant basic R&D performer just as they have been in applied R&D for decades.

By 2031, 72 percent of jobs in the US will require postsecondary education and/or training, according to a 2023 report by Georgetown University. The authors contend, “Postsecondary education is no longer just the preferred pathway to middle-class jobs—it is, increasingly, the only pathway.”

Public perceptions of higher education are complex and multifaceted. A Chronicle of Higher Education 2023 report found that while Americans believe in the value of a college credential, they are not convinced higher education is fulfilling its promise to society; nonetheless, many recent polls, surveys, and reports also conclude that people, whether they have a four-year degree or not, would advise others to pursue one.