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If a recent forecast from McKinsey & Company is correct, climate change isn’t the only rough ride ahead over the next decade for regional and national economies.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has reduced its funding for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The cut at the Office of Science—the agency’s primary program administrator—appears to be about 35%. The change resulted from congressional direction that the agency had miscalculated its SBIR set-aside and is intended to make the Office of Science’s calculation more consistent with that of the other programs in DOE.

Did you use the Recompete Mapping Tool to check your eligibility for this new EDA funding opportunity when the fact sheet and map were first released? If you did, and you got the response, “Contact your local economic development office” don’t stop there! EDA has updated its mapping tool in the past few days to reflect significant flexibility in program eligibility.

SSTI’s Annual Conference is in Atlanta this Sept. 6-8. The event will feature numerous opportunities to connect with your peers from across the country who are working to strengthen their regional innovation economies through roundtables focused on specific areas of practice and workshops on communications, building stronger organizations, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. The entire conference is available for a registration fee of just $390.

The Senate appropriations committee advanced a set of FY 2024 funding bills this morning that largely continue level funding from FY 2023.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is expanding a network of research centers across the country to translate university-based R&D into new, and hopefully, better advanced materials. In late June, NSF announced the distribution of $162 million to support the creation of nine more Materials Research Science & Engineering Centers (MRSECs), bringing the total number of centers to twenty. Each of the new centers will receive $18 million over six years.

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) has updated its Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Content Guidelines, effective April 2023. CEDS are strategy-driven plans for economic development prepared through a regionally owned planning process.

Over the last month, the Department of Energy (DOE), National Science Foundation (NSF), and National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Over the past two decades, business has done most of the heavy lifting for research and development (R&D) funding. Calculated in the dollar value of 2012, business funding increased from $10.4 billion in 2000 to an estimated $36.0 billion in 2021.

The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) keeps track of these types of statistics, and the above data is from Business Sector Increases Funding for Basic Research, one of three InfoCharts released last month.

On June 14, 2023, NSF announced 34 semifinalists for the first-ever NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) competition. The NSF Engines will be led by universities, nonprofits, businesses, and other organizations from across U.S. states and territories. Each NSF Engine could receive up to $160 million over 10 years; actual amounts will be subject to a given NSF Engine's status and overall progress, as assessed annually.

As states continue to grapple with the effects of low unemployment and a tight labor market, lawmakers and workforce development organizations also continue to explore how to increase labor participation among nontraditional or marginalized workers – including several states which relaxed child labor laws during this year’s legislative sessions – to address areas or sectors that are experiencing workforce shortages.

In a recent installment of SSTI’s federal funding video series, SSTI program director Jerry Coughter conducted a two-part interview with Amanda Kosty, management and program analyst with the Economic Development Administration’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) have all made recent announcements on new funding provided either through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law or the CHIPS and Science Act. DoE is accepting applications for an $80 million program focused on benefiting small and medium-sized manufacturing firms. USDA and MEP announced more than 170 awards to expand innovative uses of wood and to address supply chain issues.

On May 30, 2023, FCC released a broadband map that had been updated to reflect states' challenges to the availability data for more than 4 million locations throughout the U.S. Seventy-five percent of those challenges had been resolved in the new map. The new map reflected a net increase of more than one million new serviceable locations that had not appeared on the previous map.

The Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program (Recompete Pilot Program)—authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act— will invest $200 million toward interventions that spur economic activity in geographically diverse and persistently distressed communities nationwide. The program will support economic revitalization in distressed communities across the country.

The House and Senate are working toward FY 2024 appropriations, but not even a negotiated agreement has kept the chambers moving in the same direction. Today, the Senate appropriations committee directed its subcommittees to produce bills that align with the slight reduction in non-defense spending agreed to in the debt ceiling agreement reached earlier this month.

The U.S.

The U.S.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont has signed into law a bill that establishes a green jobs corps program. This program will identify a talent development strategy for communities to address the impacts of climate change and reduce carbon emissions. The bill includes several provisions to accomplish those goals and a plan to market and recruit these jobs to individuals, especially from underrepresented populations.

In anticipation of America's Seed Fund week on May 15-18, 2023, this article will explore the last 10 years of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program award data. These data cover all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

An MOU between the Korean Institute for Advancement of Technology, the Korean Battery Industry Association, the Korean Electronics Technology Institute, and the NAATBatt Association, aims to bring Korean battery manufacturers to the U.S.

A recently formed coalition of national leaders from higher education, government, business, nonprofits, and the military have created the Council on Higher Education as a Strategic Asset(HESA). Inspired by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), the council will advance recommendations for changes in higher education institutions to enable them to prepare the workforce to support the United States’ most critical national priorities.

The International Economic Development Council (IEDC), in partnership with six national and international associations and the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA), announced the launch of the inaugural Economic Recovery Corps (ERC) program on May 11.

America’s Seed Fund Week, a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) event, will be held online May 15-18. The event connects entrepreneurs and organizations that support entrepreneurs to SBIR and STTR, known as America’s Seed Fund. America’s Seed Fund is the largest source of early stage funding in the U.S.

This morning, NSF announced 44 development, or Type-1, awards from its first Regional Innovation Engines competition. According NSF’s visualization, 33 of the lead organizations are from academic institutions, with 13 of those from institutions that are not classified as R1s, and the remaining 11 leads from other types of nonprofits.