In 2024, nearly 628,000 job postings demanded at least one AI skill, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity. The research also revealed that the percentage of all job postings requiring at least one AI skill increased from approximately 0.5% in 2010 to 1.7% in 2024.
If you are an entrepreneurship service organization (ESO), you likely are seeing more companies within your scope adopting artificial intelligence (AI). But how well do you understand their needs for further assistance with the transformative platform technology?
Patents serve as a powerful tool that promotes the disclosure and diffusion of new innovations while allowing inventors an exclusive period to commercialize and profit from the technology. The U.S., while a hub for innovation and a leader in patents, has experienced stagnation in the growth of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications and USPTO-granted utility patents in recent years. Ever since 2021, China has surpassed the U.S. in PCT applications, and more than half of all USPTO utility patents are owned by foreign entities, including Japan and the European Union.
Two recent research reports, one from Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) and another from Ivy Tech Community College, in collaboration with TEConomy Partners, LLC, focus on credential shortages that are keeping many jobs that don't require a bachelor's d
The U.S. Department of Commerce recently announced that the agency formerly known as the U.S. AI Safety Institute has been renamed the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI). The center’s priority focus areas also have been adjusted so that CAISI can serve as industry’s primary point of contact within the U.S. Government to facilitate testing and collaborative research. According to the Commerce announcement, CAISI will:
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s (ASPI) report, ASPI’s two-decade Critical
Technology Tracker: The rewards of long-term research investment, aims to identify
which countries and institutions are leading in high-impact research across 64 critical
technological domains, including defense, space, energy, environment, artificial
Many SSTI members will attend the annual BIO International Convention, which will be held this year in Boston from June 16 to 19. There, they join a cohort of organizations with various connections to the life sciences, including contract research and manufacturing companies, academic centers, "big" pharma, "little" pharma, and foreign nations representing their life sciences efforts.
With Q1 2025 venture capital (VC) data stabilized and reports coming out on investment activity, it is a good time to review 2025 VC investment from a TBED perspective. Many published reports on VC activity include deals at the top end of the size range that—with individual transactions now reaching- billions of dollars—can swing some of the metrics and mask the underlying nuances facing smaller companies and markets. While investment levels are trending up, the totals are driven by mega deals and AI companies.
In fiscal year (FY) 2023, federal obligations for science and engineering (S&E) to universities and colleges totaled $49 billion—$29 billion more than FY 2000, and a 10% increase from the prior year. The growth is less rapid when adjusted for inflation (2017 USD), with just over $40 billion in real obligations in FY 2023, a 5% increase over the year prior and $12.6 billion (or 46%) increase over the FY 2000 value.
In 1978, Massachusetts took a risk and made an $8.5 million investment into one of the earliest technology-based economic development (TBED) initiatives in the world. The commonwealth, among the states hard-hit by the global manufacturing restructuring underway at the time, which led to the deep recession of the early 80s, knew it needed to try something different to restore its economy and its long-term competitiveness.
The U.S. Small Business Administration posted a notice in the June 9, 2025, Federal Register of SBA’s intent to establish a Manufacturing in America Advisory Committee to “provide strategic guidance, advice, and recommendations to the U.S. government and relevant stakeholders on matters related to growth, supply chain resilience, and innovation of small manufacturing businesses across the country. The committee will act as the collaborative body to ensure the sector's needs, challenges, and opportunities are addressed.
For the United States to achieve greater security in chip manufacturing, the critical sector requires a much larger, better trained workforce.
Tuesday, July 1 | 3:00 p.m. EST
Whether your region is just beginning to address market failures in risk capital availability and performance for innovation-centered companies or your current efforts could use a refreshing check-in among peers, please plan to join us for the kick-off of our Innovation Finance Community of Practice Series.
Note: TBED101 is a new, occasional series for Digest readers visiting and revisiting fundamental topics for nurturing strong regional innovation economies. SSTI is introducing this series, with EDA support, as the field has entered one of its most significant periods of disruption and change in its 45-year history.
On June 3, SSTI will host a webinar exclusively for Innovation Advocacy Council members to receive an in-depth update on many of the confusing factors in play in the federal policy and budget environments—the key factors influencing the future of your state, regional and university TBED strategies. IAC partners at Van Scoyoc & Associates will be on hand to provide the latest news from the Hill and answer questions to help make sense of any new developments.
The list of technology-based economic development initiatives within the newly created Technology and Innovation Office of the New Mexico Economic Development Department covers the spectrum of critical policy aspects required for a strong state innovation economy: increasing R&D, business incubation, targeted emerging technologies and strong existing assets, startup capital, venture development, and innovation talent development and recruitment.
If you’re leading a knowledge work[1] organization and considering introducing generative artificial intelligence into your workflow, it likely would be helpful to know how its use may impact the day-to-day aspects of your team’s work, and the potential risks involved.
The SSTI Board of Trustees has appointed Kristy Campbell, president & chief operations officer at Rev1 Ventures, and John Fernandez, chief executive officer at The Mill, as members of the board. “I look forward to working with Kristy and John as new board members,” Dan Berglund, SSTI’s president, said with their appointments. “Both are proven, inspiring leaders, have been long time friends of SSTI, and demonstrated strong commitments to advancing the TBED community.”
The United States faces intense competition in global markets for advanced technology industries.
SSTI has recently expanded its staff to include Aaron Hagar as their vice president for innovation finance. Hagar brings over twenty years of experience spanning biomedical research, heath care, public policy, and technology-based economic development to share with SSTI's members. He has significant experience building partnerships, creating innovative solutions, shaping public policy, and developing data-driven strategies.
America's Seed Fund returns to the J.W. Marriott in Austin, Texas, for the SBIR/STTR Spring Innovation Conference from June 9 -11. SSTI Weekly Digest readers may use these discount codes to reduce their cost for attending:
The AI market is projected to reach $4.8 trillion by 2023—a 25x increase in just 10 years, according to the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 2025 Technology and Innovation report. The technology will be leap-frogging other “frontier tech markets,” including the Internet of Things, which currently dominates 36% of the market for emerging platform technologies. The super-charged AI market will impact up to 40% of global jobs, both positively and negatively.
Most countries have dramatically increased their investments in R&D over the past two decades, with OECD nation spending reaching a record high nearly $1,600 of gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) per person in 2023 (PPP[1] converted), approximately triple the value recorded in 2000. Although the U.S.
SSTI’s recent webinar for its EDA-funded TBED Community of Practice work explored the emerging trend of creating centralized tech transfer offices (TTOs) serving multiple institutions. Centralized approaches are intended to more efficiently help develop and commercialize inventions from smaller or regional colleges and universities.
May 20, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. ET | Zoom