The number of U.S.-trained female science, engineering, or health (SEH) doctorate holders residing and working in the U.S. has more than doubled, going  from 119,350 in 1997 to 287,250 in 2017, according to a new report from the National Science Foundation (NSF). In 1997, less than one-fourth (23 percent) of the U.S.-trained SEH doctorate holders working in the U.S. were women. Twenty years later, that number had increased to 35 percent.

How likely would you be to leave your current job to form a startup if you had $3,600 in the bank? Would your interest increase if you had $147,000? While neither amount is enough to scale a business, the latter case obviously affords more cushion to learn the ropes or absorb the impacts of a few missed paychecks. These amounts are the median wealth for black and white households, respectively, according to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies.

The National Science Foundation (NSF), the fifth largest distributor of SBIR awards among federal agencies, received more than 20,000 proposals over the decade long period from 2008 to 2017, approving more than 3,600 (16.8 percent), according to an SSTI analysis of NSF data. NSF SBIR awards are the least concentrated of all federal agencies, as measured by share of awards going to firms with more than 10+ awards.

Governors are reaching into their toolkits to build tech-based economies, utilizing Opportunity Zones, tax credits, broadband infrastructure and workforce development initiatives among other things. This week, as we continue to review their state of the state addresses for TBED news, we see some governors still trying to reshape their states’ struggling economies while others are building on past successes and proposing new initiatives.

Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), co-signed by Senators Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), re-introduced the Startup Act today. The bill would enact an array of innovation policies, including reauthorizing Regional Innovation Strategies, creating a new commercialization grant program, and implementing a startup visa.

While competition between states over business incentives and headquarters attraction is often derided, new research published in the Journal of Technology in Society suggests that competition in technology-based economic development is hardly a zero-sum game.

The SBIR/STTR program, which dubs itself as “America’s Seed Fund,” is one of the broadest forms of early-stage capital available to small technology companies. During the five-year period from 2013 to 2017, the 11 federal agencies participating in the SBIR/STTR program distributed 25,524 awards. Using charts, maps, and a downloadable spreadsheet, this Digest article looks at trends in SBIR/STTR awards by state over the period, including the companies with the most awards and states where SBIR/STTR awards outnumber VC deals.

Several recent articles covered in the National Bureau of Economic Researchers (NBER) Digest suggest that current understanding of policies surrounding wages, clusters and labor concentration may warrant revisiting. In one piece of academic research, a historical argument of shared productivity gains with employees is challenged, while another article shows a loss of bargaining power for employees in concentrated labor markets.

Industry consolidation slowing wage growth, productivity

This June, the Innovation Growth Lab's (IGL) third global annual conference will explore future innovation, entrepreneurship and small business policies. The summit, happening in Boston June 12-14 at Harvard Business School and MIT, includes more than 50 world-leading experts and participants from over 20 countries coming together as part of a global community at the forefront of innovation.

State economic growth relies on the availability of a workforce capable of filling open positions. But increasingly around the country, one of the top concerns of employers is finding the right talent to fill these roles. Beyond corporate strategies in hiring, states are increasingly developing new initiatives to keep their pipeline of talent flowing.

The President’s Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion released a new report focused on “strategies and recommendations to promote apprenticeships, especially in sectors where existing apprenticeship programs are insufficient.” A key element of President Trump’s federal workforce development agenda,

NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership program launched a new Policy Academy focused on manufacturing this week. Funded by NIST MEP and organized by SSTI and  the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC), the Policy Academy is designed to help states build upon existing strategies, leverage available resources, and spur creative new ideas about how to address major challenges or leverage opportunities around the manufacturing sector.

Last week, SSTI examined the geography of “America’s Seed Fund,” the SBIR/STTR awards, on a state-by-state basis. A look at how the more than 25,500 awards were distributed at the regional level over the five-year period from 2013 to 2017 yields additional insight. The metropolitan areas with the largest concentrations of SBIR/STTR awards include knowledge hubs with large universities and access to federal R&D, such as Boston, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C.

Myriad data point to a decline in the number of new American business starts, but there have been fewer indicators of whether this overall trend was also true for firms with high growth potential. Recent research now provides evidence that these high growth firms are also becoming rarer.

Congress so far has ignored administration budget requests that call for reducing U.S. investment in research and development.  Science and innovation advocates interpret the legislative branch’s decision as good for many reasons. Authors Nicholas Bloom, Charles I. Jones, John Van Reenen, and Michael Webb add another reason in their NBER working paper Are Ideas Getting Harder to Find? They find U.S.

Noting that we have reached a point in time where STEM “influences every aspect of our education, work, and community life,” STEMconnector, a professional services firm, has released a new report that examines the current state of the field, identifies gaps and makes recommendations for action and investment. State of STEM highlights “five critical gaps” in the STEM workforce: a fundamental skills gap; belief gap; postsecondary education gap; geographic gap; and, demographic gap.

Six years after the passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (JOBS Act), SSTI continues to examine the impact that the legislation has had on startup capital. In previous weeks, SSTI has looked at Regulation A+ offerings and equity crowdfunding (also known as regulation crowdfunding or Reg CF).

EDA’s Regional Innovation Strategies program — which makes i6 challenge and seed fund support awards — has released its notice of funding opportunity for FY 2018. Applications are due August 29. SSTI hosted a free webinar featuring EDA’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship on June 14.*

Jennifer Roche prepared the following summary of a recent Enrico Moretti working paper for the November 2019 issue of the NBER Digest. The summary has been edited here for length and clarity; SSTI comments are in brackets.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Google released a new analysis of export activity by U.S. small businesses. Results, based on surveys and Global Trade Analysis Project data, find $541 billion in national economic output, just 2.8 percent of the U.S. total.

Corrected version.*

From 2006 to 2018, income inequality has risen continuously both nationwide and in all states (but not in the District of Columbia). Annual changes vary widely for state income inequality, with some states experiencing increases year after year, and others displaying more volatile trends consisting of both sharp annual decreases and increases.

Access to reliable and fast internet service is a foundational element for the modern economy. Since the advent of broadband service its delivery has been highly divided between urban and rural areas. Many states are continuing to address this divide and took action in 2019. Several states repealed laws prohibiting local electric companies and co-ops from providing broadband services, other states initiated official planning efforts to expand internet services, and many approved and dispersed funding to develop broadband infrastructure in rural areas.

The importance of business and industry R&D investment for competitiveness and economic growth is a well-entrenched dictum of national and state innovation policy across most of the developed world. Approaches for incentivizing increased research expenditures fall into two broad categories, direct grants and subsidies to offset R&D costs or R&D tax credits companies may take post-investment for research expenditures.

As employers continue to face a shortage in trained and skilled workers, federally registered apprenticeship programs (RAPs) continue to grow as a response. However, the ability to evaluate these programs depends on the quality of data collection and reporting practices. While there are variations in the federal data collection and reporting standards for adult RAPs, new and innovative programs such as state youth apprenticeship programs face a greater disparity in the quality of data management practices.