Across the United States, universities’ endowments have seen a large return in their portfolios in the past year, according to a recent PitchBook report. This trend was most notable in well-known universities with large endowments. The University of North Carolina reported a 42.3 percent return, Duke University reported a 56 percent return, and Washington University in St. Louis reported a 65 percent return. These gains are largely attributed to their investments in alternative assets like venture capital and private equity.

A new strategic plan for the Appalachian region reaffirms the Appalachian Regional Commission’s (ARC) primary investment goals emphasizing economic development. It benefits from insights gathered from more than 1,800 stakeholders and is built on multistate and regional collaboration.

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has released a new request for information (RFI) related to a national strategic plan for advanced manufacturing, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are seeking information on how the scientific community uses public data tools. Both RFIs provide an opportunity for the tech-based economic development field to shape the future of federal innovation policy. 

Understanding the industry-level dynamics of business and job creation can help pinpoint which industries in regional economies may be hotspots for innovation activity.

The news that a drug has been developed that appears to significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19, understandably garnered international attention. While most of the coverage centered on Merck, dig a bit deeper and one learns that Emory University researchers developed molnupiravir which Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics have licensed.

Benson Hill, a unicorn (a startup valued over $1 billion) that closed its deal to become a public company last week, was able to leverage several sources of public capital to accelerate its early success. The St. Louis-based agricultural technology company uses machine learning and genome editing to facilitate the production of sustainable and healthy crops.

The Census Bureau is requesting public input on the Economic Census. Conducted every five years, the survey serves as the most comprehensive source of information about American businesses. According to the Census, the survey establishes data for nearly 1,000 industries and more than 20,000 regions, including company revenues, and is used to support measures of gross domestic product and standard industry classifications (i.e. NAICS).

In nearly every research institution, there are individuals who achieve oversized impacts. In the academic environment, publications and citations were the traditional standard bearers for advancing science, engineering and discovery — unfortunately, tenure and title are still stubbornly tied to these measures in universities. Patents became the next tier for measuring performance many years ago.

The incoming Biden administration continues to outline its priorities for the Federal Communications Commission. According to the Brookings Institution, net neutrality, broadband access and 5G security will be among the next administration’s top policies. Executing on these priorities will require both a new FCC chair and legislative action.  

The clean energy sector has continued to feel the economic strain brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, with many businesses citing the need for additional federal assistance to prevent future employee layoffs and furloughs.

In a year that has seen the economy drop off a cliff, unemployment skyrocket and racial discrimination shock the consciousness of a nation, one might think all hope is lost. But there are those who are working to take this moment in time and re-emerge on the other side a stronger, more inclusive nation. As many workers face the prospect of a job that may never return, Americans in a more comfortable position who have been able to shift their work to remote locations have applauded the work of those left on the front lines during the current pandemic.

SBA began offering a second round of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) on April 27, and SBA’s data indicate this round is better distributed across businesses and the states than the first. As of May 8, round two has approved $189 billion across nearly 2.6 million loans, 55 percent more than in all of round one. The average loan size in round two is $73,488, which is a significant drop from the first round’s average of $206,022.

A recent economic-impact study by Summit Consulting and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research analyzed the overall effect of projects undertaken by the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) on the U.S.

While few will be able to escape the resulting hardships of the current economic downturn, America’s most economically vulnerable communities — those where household finances were already unstable and work scarce — will be hit hardest by the recession currently underway.

School buses across the country are helping school children as they finish a decidedly unconventional academic year but they aren’t transporting students, they are acting as mobile Wi-Fi units bringing connectivity capability to students who lack broadband service. As the coronavirus pandemic closed schools across the country, many in rural or low-income areas without internet access were left scrambling as classes went online. Equipping buses with Wi-Fi to help accommodate the online learning is a short-term solution to a much bigger problem.

The U.S. Cluster Mapping Portal has received a data refresh with updated cluster profiles and performance benchmarks for all U.S. regions. This free tool is useful for understanding regional composition of traded sectors and strengths, which could be especially beneficial in these challenging times as businesses attempt to restore their supply chains. The U.S.

SSTI is launching a new initiative to improve innovation policy across the country with support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. To achieve the goal of improving innovation policy, SSTI will be working with its members and other entrepreneurial support organizations to cultivate new policy champions from the ground up.

Early-stage research from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis examines the correlations between an area’s level of financial distress and its vulnerability to both the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fed’s initial findings indicate that areas with low levels of financial distress were infected with the coronavirus and reached the point of exponential growth in new infections before areas experiencing greater levels of financial distress, while the rate of new infections is higher in more distressed areas.

Despite having no coordinated outreach and growth strategy, the Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) program has increased university participation in its Post-Secondary Education Outcomes (PSEO) survey — which illuminates the employment and earnings outcomes of graduates as well as what industries they work in and which region of the country they live in after graduation — and is already in the process of negotiating a significant expansion for the next wave.

A recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) detailed findings of a review of federal efforts to prevent sexual harassment at universities that receive grants for STEM research. The GAO reviewed five agencies (the Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Agriculture, NASA, Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Science Foundation) that provide approximately 80 percent of federal STEM research grants and found that four of the five received few complaints under Title IX from individuals at universities.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is accepting public comments regarding their proposed changes to exempt offerings regulations. These modifications, originally announced last month, aim to streamline and expand the fundraising abilities for businesses while still qualifying as exempt from the SEC’s registration requirements.

While startups consistently create more jobs than older firms, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis took a look at the trends in startup’s share of jobs and found that startup employment share has been declining for more than a decade. The Fed story provides an overview of startup employment dynamics between 1994 and 2018.

A report released earlier this month by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, addresses the barrier of inequality that women, despite making up more than 50 percent of the population, experience in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). Further, women of color are severely underrepresented in every STEMM discipline.

A thriving innovation economy requires a robust R&D enterprise — with participation by academia, government, and the private sector. As a substantial performer and funder of R&D in the United States, the strength of private industry’s R&D activity in a region can provide an indication of the region’s capacity for bringing innovative technologies to market.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has continued to follow through on improvements to federal technology transfer proposed through the Return on Investment initiative. In December, the agency revealed legislative text for statutory changes and, on Monday, released a notice of proposed rulemaking related to Bayh-Dole.