In the lead-up to the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s (BIO) International Convention held this week, the organization released a series of reports on the health of the industry. Collectively, the reports indicate that the bioscience industry is seeing greater employment with better wages, increasing venture investment, but university and federal funding, patent filings and clinical trial success are leveling off or decreasing.

Despite increasing demand for life sciences research funding and larger budgets from Congress, access to the investigator research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is getting harder, according to data released May 31 by Michael Lauer, NIH deputy director for Extramural Research.  R01 grants, the oldest and predominant funding mechanism NIH uses to distribute project-specific research grants, are becoming larger in size and more exclusive in who receives the grants.

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) released a federal funding opportunity (FFO) for the America’s Promise Job Driven Grant Program.

While the recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) has some economists concerned that the U.S. economy is running out of qualified workers to fill existing openings, several states have announced workforce programs that are intended to address the skills-gap and build the talent pipeline in their respective states.

Federal obligations for science and engineering research and development to universities, colleges, and nonprofit institutions increased by 5.7 percent from FY 2013 to FY 2014, according to recently released data from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development.

In an attempt to support their respective  innovation economies, several countries have announced new national investment strategies and other entrepreneurial support efforts that help startups access the capital necessary to move their business from an idea to a sustainable businesses. Efforts include a fintech focused-fund in Ireland, expansion of existing programs in two Oceanian countries, and a partnership between two of Asia’s largest economies.

New Zealand

Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed a bill (HB 233) last month that authorizes cities and villages to create Downtown Redevelopment Districts (DRDs) that can address innovation districts and/or historic rehabilitation. The DRDs permit tax abatements of up to 70 percent of increased assessments in conjunction with payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) or a redevelopment charge that functions as a special assessment tax. In the case of innovation districts, these charges may be used to fund loans or grants to technology businesses—specifically including R&D and technology transfer activities—or to incubators or accelerators in the district.

On June 3, the Department of Commerce’s Economics & Statistics Administration (ESA) released Digital Matching Firms: A New Definition in the 'Sharing Economy' Space.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre launched Capital Intelligent Mtl – a 100 million CD (77.3 million USD) investment fund aimed at smart city startups and established businesses offering solutions to urban challenges that also will spur job creation in Montreal. The new public-private partnership will backed by 23 founding organizations including venture capital firms, financial institutions and corporations that have pledged over 100 million CD in private capital to establish the fund.

In addition to several new moonshot R&D initiatives and other joint research efforts, several universities recently have announced public-private partnerships that will build multi-million dollar, world-class R&D facilities.

When employees discover potentially significant inventions during their line of work, they can decide whether to leave their company and form a new startup around the idea, or to transfer the knowledge to the parent firm and attempt to gain financial compensation through a spinoff. As seen in the 2016 summary report from Failure Aversion Change in Europe (FACE) Entrepreneurship, the two main fears for entrepreneurs are financial security and losing a stable, professional job. Recent research also suggests that granting employees extended leaves of absence with guaranteed options for returning increases the likelihood of entrepreneurship. Coupled together, these results prompted SSTI to further review the relationship between corporate-leave policies and entrepreneurship.

President Obama announced  the creation of the new Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (Smart MII) – a $140 million public-private partnership to develop smart sensors for use in advanced manufacturing. Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC) – a consortium of nearly 200 partners from academia and industry as well as nonprofit organizations – will lead the Smart MII.

Much of the media coverage on the latest NASBO Fiscal Survey of States, suggests the Great Recession is finally behind the states as aggregate general revenue funds finally surpassed fiscal 2008 levels. But unlike the federal government, there are 50 individual state budgets and they tell very different stories, influenced by the economics, demographics, tax structures and politics of the particular state.

This week, the White House is celebrating its third National Week of Making – an important part of its Nation of Makers initiative that seeks to expand opportunities for students and adults to engage with the maker movement. In addition to numerous commitments and announcements made at federal agencies, several other projects rooted in strong partnerships were announced.

When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released his administration’s proposed 2016 budget in late March, SSTI covered the significant funds it would allocate for science, research, and technology-based economic development, as well as the country’s plan for a national innovation agenda.

Because a research base that generates new knowledge is a key pillar of a technology-based economy, an important strategy in technology-based economic development is the expansion of research capacity. While states may go about addressing this in a variety of ways (e.g., R&D tax-credits, university-industry partnerships, recruiting eminent scholars), Florida drew national attention when it took a different approach last decade, allocating more than $450 million to attract nine research institutes through its Innovation Incentive Program (IIP).

Throughout the United States, innovation districts have been proposed with varying degrees of emphasis on inclusivity and opportunity.

Occurring on the first Friday of October, Manufacturing (MFG) Day is October 7 this year. MFG Day is an annual event that showcases the strength of American manufacturing, as well as those who produce its goods and services, and which continues to advance the new technologies that grow the U.S. economy, create jobs, and keeps the nation competitive globally.  It empowers manufacturers across the nation to come together to address their collective challenges, highlight their successes, and illustrate how they can help their communities thrive.

A spate of recent news challenges many common perceptions of venture capital. Academic researchers have identified critical shortcomings with widely used industry data. Major investors have revealed smaller than anticipated returns. An analysis of thousands of investments indicates fund success requires superstar deals of well more than 10x. These articles should drive new evaluations of public policy and programs to support early stage capital.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced that 30 individuals will serve in the third membership cycle of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE). NACIE, which was established in 2010, advises the secretary of Commerce on transformational policies to help communities, businesses and the American workforce become more globally competitive.

As U.S. cities increasingly focus economic development strategies on technology and innovation to spur economic growth, they should be cognizant that growing these businesses and jobs can also exacerbate local inequities and should, therefore, develop plans to address this issue, according to a newly released report from the Equitable Innovation Economies Initiative (EIE).

U.S. research and development (R&D) performance rose to $477.7 billion in 2014 – an increase of $21.1 billion over 2013, according to a recent National Science Foundation (NSF) InfoBrief. When adjusted for inflation, growth in U.S. total R&D performance (1.2 percent annually between 2008 and 2014) matched the average pace of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).

Over the last several months, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) has announced millions of dollars in grants to support tech-based economic development efforts in communities across the country (see recent Digest articles from August 18 and September 8).

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) requests public comment on the overarching regulatory framework for the Regional Innovation Program. Comments should focus on the structure and implementation of the Regional Innovation Program, including Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) grants.

Millennials internalized the effects of the most recent recession and revealed their beliefs about the economy and jobs future in a recent poll conducted by EY, a professional services company, and the Economic Innovation Group. Nearly one-third believe their community is still in a recession and 78 percent are worried about having good-paying job opportunities, according to the poll.