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The winding down of the space shuttle program in Florida’s Space Coast by the Obama administration in 2010 spurred a transition in NASA’s areas of focus, including an increased emphasis on commercializing technologies and industry partnerships. NASA recently announced several new initiatives with tech firms, universities, and state agencies geared toward investing in cutting-edge research and technology and developing an educated workforce.

America is moving back to its cities. A majority of people on this planet live in metropolitan areas with one million people moving to cities and metros every five days. In the U.S., the nation’s top 100 metropolitan areas account for two-thirds of the nation’s population and generate 75 percent of national GDP. This is more than a trend, according to Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley of the Brookings Institution … this is a revolution.

Foundations increasingly are tapping into the unique skills of institutions of higher education by partnering with them to support entrepreneurial growth within their surrounding communities. These foundations view institutions of higher education as the ideal partners to provide education and business services necessary for entrepreneurs to reach their potential. Several foundations recently have announced funding to support entrepreneurship development activities at universities including the Ratcliffe Foundation and the Allstate Foundation.

New legislation passed by the California legislature would expand the state’s Innovation Hub (iHub) program, which supports commercialization and entrepreneurship at a regional level. The program initially was launched in March 2010 through the state’s Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.

While the conditions of the U.S. economy continue to hinder growth, stability and efficiency in the financial markets and a positive assessment of public institutions have helped improve the nation’s competitiveness and reverse a four-year downward trend. In World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index 2013-14, the U.S. moved into the number five spot, up from seventh last year, overtaking the Netherlands and Sweden. For the second year in a row, Switzerland, Singapore and Finland held onto their first, second and third rankings, respectively.

This week, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) hosted a debate between ITIF’s President Robert Atkinson and Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business in the MIT Sloan School of Management and co-author of Race Against the Machine. The lively debate revolved around the impact of technology innovation on the U.S.

The European Commission is offering a €500,000 (US$655,700) prize to accompany designation of an "iCapital" — the single city in the Union, which is building the best "innovation ecosystem", connecting citizens, public organizations, academia, and business. Should the U.S. federal government follow suit? Probably not without modifications.

The Obama administration is seeking closer economic cooperation with Latin America to enhance opportunities for startups and SMEs in the U.S. and across the hemisphere. This week, the U.S. State Department is launching the Small Business Network of the Americas to promote international cooperation between TBED institutions in the Americas.

The U.S. Department of Defense Office of Naval Research has announced a $30 million investment in Energy Excelerator, an accelerator for cleantech companies within the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR). Energy Excelerator originally launched three years ago with $10 million in seed funding from the Department of Energy.

The field of technology-based economic development strives to provide opportunities and support for budding entrepreneurs and technology-based startups in hopes of strengthening our economies. But, policymakers and governments have much to gain directly from the pool of talented tech entrepreneurs. Technology startups are tapping into the $142 billion public sector market and are helping governments reduce costs and improve their services through innovative web applications and, in some cases, total system overhauls.

Under a new set of proposed rules issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, companies will be able to claim the federal research and experimentation (R&E) tax credit on eligible expenditures regardless of any subsequent actions taken by businesses with the purchases. The change would allow businesses to claim the credit on research expenses used to create prototypes, pilot models and process improvements.

Georgia Tech has launched a crowdfunding resource for university-based students and faculty. Originally announced in the spring, Georgia Tech joins several other universities that are using crowdfunding to finance commercialization and the development of startups based on university research. The field has become common and relevant enough that an online community has started tracking this growth.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin announced that Jonna Kirschner, executive director of the Oklahoma Commerce Department, will serve on a transition team to establish a new workers’ compensation system. Vaughn Clark , the Commerce Department’s director of community development, was named as interim executive director.

According to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey the percentage of university R&D funded by private sector investment has remained mostly stable since the late 1970s, hovering between 5 percent and 7 percent of total R&D expenditures. In FY 2011 the private sector invested $3.2 billion, or 4.9 percent of the total $65 billion university R&D expenditures.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) released a five-year report highlighting the progress it has made since its creation in 2007. In that time it has hosted 40 town hall meetings, won a Campaign Excellence Award, released a number of research reports and publications, and has worked with federal, state and local governments to advocate for American Manufacturing.

The Nevada Office of Economic Development, with guidance and funding from the U.S. Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), has launched the Battle Born Venture Program. “Battle Born” is a state venture capital program that makes equity and equity-like investments in early stage, high-growth Nevada businesses.

The agenda for the upcoming legislative session unveiled by Gov. Scott Walker promotes investment in technical schools to provide skill development and quickly fill critical needs of employers. The governor outlined a package of eight workforce development bills, which include funding for youth apprenticeships, tuition reimbursement for apprentices and employers, technical education incentive grants, and scholarships for students to attend technical schools. Much of the new investment would augment funding for existing programs.

Last week, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Production in an Innovation Economy (PIE) Commission released its findings from two years of research on how to remove the barriers that prevent the U.S. from turning its strengths in science and research into jobs, businesses and products. In order to ensure that American innovations reach the marketplace, the U.S. must rebuild its manufacturing sector, with particular focus on improving the support ecosystem for smaller advanced manufacturing firms, according to the commission.

Earlier this week, the Securities Exchange Commission’s (SEC) final rules allowing general solicitation went into effect. General solicitation broadly means the public advertisement that an entrepreneur or business is raising capital via the sale of securities (e.g., stock, loans, and bonds).

The Social Venture Connection (SVX), a new impact investing platform in Toronto, was launched to catalyze debt and equity investments in socially driven ventures that have demonstrable social and/or environmental impact and the potential for financial return.

Startups spun out of university research parks stayed in business longer than the overall national average and helped to improve regional competitiveness by establishing their companies within the area where they were incubated, according to a recent survey from the Association of University Research Parks (AURP). The survey reported the findings of 108 university research park directors over the past five years to demonstrate the extent to which the parks are focused on advancing innovation in their region.

As the TBED community seeks to diversify its funding partners, corporations would seem to be logical prospects. Pickings are getting slimmer, however. Despite tallying record profits and stock market values over the past few years, corporations are getting stingier with their giving programs, according to a new report from the Foundation Center.

In the days before the federal government shutdown, the White House released details of a $300 million cross-agency strategy to revive the Detroit economy following the city government’s bankruptcy filing. Most of the funding comes from existing programs that will either continue to support efforts in Detroit or will now allocate a portion of their grants, loans or services to Detroit-based recipients. However, while innovation and entrepreneurship is a major plank of the strategy, little of the $300 million will directly benefit technology-based economic development programs.

Google recently designated seven local entrepreneurial support organizations as the inaugural members of its new Tech Hub network. These organizations will receive financial support, technical content, business tools, and infrastructure upgrades, to support increasing demand from software developers and startups. Google’s announcement notes that these specific organizations were chosen because of their innovative approaches to launching businesses and their success in creating jobs in their respective communities.

Only two states will hold gubernatorial elections this year: New Jersey and Virginia. But those states have garnered a great deal of media attention because of the candidates’ stark policy differences on a wide range of issues, including jobs and the economy. This week, SSTI takes a look at the plans for economic growth and higher education put forth by Virginia Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe and Republican nominee Ken Cuccinelli.