In many industrialized countries, including the U.S., government spending on research and development (R&D) has stagnated since the beginning of the decade. A new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) highlights this trend, noting that overall government R&D spending in the group’s 34 member countries has reverted to levels at the beginning of the century. Recent data from the National Science Foundation (NSF) reveals that U.S.

Bank or venture capital (VC) financing? This is one of the toughest questions that aspiring entrepreneurs and small firms must answer. A recent academic study contends that VC financing may be the superior financing structure for early stage capital. However, several other studies contend that both bank and VC financing can help create and grow successful startups. For potential entrepreneurs, each provides strengths and weaknesses that are highlighted in the studies.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced a suite of new policies and investments aimed at catalyzing the nation’s economy through science, innovation and entrepreneurship. The National Innovation and Science Plan would fund university research, invest in K-12 and university STEM programs, limit the financial risks of entrepreneurship, invest in technology commercialization programs, and introduce a new class of visa for entrepreneurs. The changes would also enable equity-based crowdfunding and provide tax credits for early stage investment.

A number of governors around the U.S. have already begun rolling out budget proposals for the next legislative session. This week, SSTI examines gubernatorial spending recommendations related to research, commercialization, STEM education and entrepreneurship in Alaska, South Dakota and Utah. See our previous article on proposals in Florida and Wyoming.

The National Governors Association’s (NGA) Center for Best Practices launched the 2016 Policy Academy on Scaling Work-Based Learning – a pilot program in six states that blends work experience and applied learning to develop youth and young adults’ foundational and technical skills to expand their education, career and employment opportunities. The goal of the program is to connect 16- to 29-year-olds with middle-skills career opportunities in STEM-intensive industries such as advanced manufacturing, health care, information technology and energy.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced $2.25 billion in economic and community development awards as part of the fifth installment of the state’s Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) Initiative. Of this total, $1.5 billion over the next five years will go to the three regions (Central New York, Finger Lakes, and the Southern Tier) that were selected as the winners of the Upstate Revitalization Initiative.

Around the country, states are beginning to feel the fiscal impacts of falling oil prices.  In FY 2016, eight states enacted FY 2016 budgets below their FY 2008 levels, largely as a result of challenges associated with their oil and gas industry, according to the Fiscal Survey of States report by the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO). Similarly, a quarterly update of gross domestic product (GDP) by the U.S.

Recent doctoral recipients who enter the private sector are more likely to go to firms with high payrolls per worker and other business characteristics associated with high productivity, according to a new report – Wrapping it up in a person: Examining employment and earnings outcomes for Ph.D. recipients.

This week, congressional leaders reached a deal on spending that would prevent a federal government shutdown. The omnibus appropriations bill would fund the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Regional Innovation Program at $15 million, an increase of $5 million over the previous year. The Regional Innovation program is SSTI's highest legislative priority because of the flexible funding it provides for regional innovation activities. 

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), located within the U.S. Department of Commerce, announced that their closing deadline to submit nominations for the Digital Economy Board of Advisors has been extended to January 12, 2016.

As recently reported in the SSTI Digest, Congressional leaders were able to reach an agreement on federal spending that averted a government shutdown. The FY16 omnibus appropriations legislation and an accompanying bill related to tax provisions were signed by President Obama on December 18.

The U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) plans to fund up to two new institutes within the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). NIST's solicitation will be the first in which the funding agency has not predetermined the industry of focus for the institute, however, the agency is particularly interested in topics deemed critical by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) Advanced Manufacturing Partnership. These include manufacturing robotics and biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

While many states have begun negotiations on budget plans for FY17 and beyond, Pennsylvania has made some progress on FY16 spending. Gov. Tom Wolf signed a partial budget that funded many agencies and programs related to economic development, but that did not include higher education funding and other operations. In the coming months, SSTI will review gubernatorial addresses and budget proposals related to economic development. This week, we highlight developments in Hawaii, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Undergraduate alumni from the top 10 universities for venture capital-backed (VC-backed) entrepreneurs launched over 3,000 companies that were able to attract $33.5 billion in VC funding from 2010 to 2015, according to the third edition of PitchBook’s Universities Report 2015-2016 Edition. Four public research institutions, UC-Berkeley, University of Michigan, University of Texas, and University of Illinois, finished in the top 10.

Researchers from the Federal Reserve Banks of Kansas City and Atlanta, along with the John J Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, recently published a comprehensive examination of the state of contemporary workforce initiatives. Editors Carl Van Horn, Tammy Edwards and Todd Green have assembled chapters and case studies from more than 70 authors that depict challenges, long-term structural changes and policy opportunities in national, state and local workforce efforts in the current economy.

The Department of Energy (DOE) released the 2015 Quadrennial Technology Review (QTR), a more than 500-page report examining the status of foundational energy science and technology (S&T). The QTR also highlights the research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) opportunities with a focus on technologies with commercialization potential in the mid-term and beyond.

As the Federal Aviation Administration continues to propose regulations around the fledging unmanned aircraft system (UAS) industry in order to ensure that it integrates into the current system as well as possible, states are beginning to act in order to improve their own competitiveness.

As a reminder, the closing date for applications to the Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program is Monday, October 5. A program of the EDA’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the 2015 RIS Program Competition includes $10 million to support two unique grant opportunities:

Earlier this week during a keynote address at the United Nations, a U.S. Department of State official unveiled an initiative to bring 1.5 billion people around the world online by 2020. Global Connect, the new initiative, will be a cross-agency effort to make Internet access a top priority in foreign policy. The State Department announcement explicitly states that Internet access is being made a priority because of its role in entrepreneurship, innovation, knowledge flows and market creation.

Venture investors around the world have more confidence in the U.S. market than any other in the world, according to the 2015 Global Venture Capital Confidence Survey from Deloitte and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Israel, Canada, China and the UK also ranked among the top five. The U.S. policy environment, however, received lower reviews.