Despite recent attacks on affirmative action and diversity, equity, and inclusion, the TBED community continues to work toward broadening participation in innovation driven growth.
The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) could see its first reauthorization since 2004, depending on how the post-election congressional work period progresses. Leaders of the Senate committee that oversees the annual defense bill have agreed to include a proposal to reauthorize EDA’s public works and economic adjustment programs in their negotiations with the House as part of the national defense authorization bill.
October 30, 3:00 p.m. EDT | Free
In today's competitive landscape, technology-based economic development (TBED) organizations need to effectively communicate their achievements and impact to secure crucial funding and support. This webinar will delve into how TBED organizations can strategically use impact reports as a powerful tool to capture the attention of media, funders, and other key stakeholders.
October 30, 3:00 p.m. EDT | Free
In today's competitive landscape, technology-based economic development (TBED) organizations need to effectively communicate their achievements and impact to secure crucial funding and support. This webinar will delve into how TBED organizations can strategically use impact reports as a powerful tool to capture the attention of media, funders, and other key stakeholders.
A recent Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City working paper explores the relationship between inter-state mobility, earnings gains, and initial wealth of young college graduates over time, highlighting the impact of debt. The paper Should I Stay or Should I Go? Inter-state Mobility and Earnings Gains of Young College Graduates by Andrew Glover and José Mustre-del-Río proposes a model to explain the decline in mobility.
Eleven states and two territories, including Puerto Rico, are holding gubernatorial elections this November, with voters in eight of those states (Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Washington, and West Virginia) choosing a new governor to replace either a term-limited incumbent or governors who chose not to seek re-election. In Montana, Utah, and Vermont governors are seeking re-election.
Connect. Discover. Refresh with your peers in Arizona this December. Our newly released agenda will guide you to immersing yourself at SSTI's 2024 Annual Conference. We will explore nearly the full scope of tech-based economic development in session formats that facilitate conversation, new ideas, and new collaboration opportunities.
Technology-based economic development organizations work with economic development professionals throughout the U.S. to help build their local innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems. Sometimes, bringing in outside expertise with established networks to R&D and finance can accelerate the local capacity to support innovation-driven startups. gener8tor, a venture capital and startup accelerator founded in Wisconsin, is one such example of external partners supporting TBED capacity building anywhere.
The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) recently announced that it is awarding Fordham University $3 million from its Greenlight Innovation Fund. The university will also receive additional funds, including a $1.1 million grant from Councilman Oswald Feliz, to create the Bronx Green Job Center (BGJC), a workforce development and entrepreneurship hub that aims to create an equitable green-job pipeline in the Bronx.
July 29
3:00 p.m. EDT
Free
Please join us for the Innovation Finance subcommunity meeting where we will discuss Innovation Finance 101. This meeting is intended to be the first in a series of foundational conversations on innovation finance and will focus on the terminology, process, and structure of venture capital investment. Register here.
As policymakers consider how to invest limited dollars to stimulate R&D across the U.S. while other countries increase their investments, it’s important to examine whether newer regional policy approaches have the potential to increase national competitiveness versus traditional individual programs.
Vaccine and therapeutics storage and delivery may never be the same as Emory University and Micron Biomedical recently announced the first clinical trial of a novel rotavirus vaccine, CC24, delivered via dissolvable microarray technology. This clinical trial was the first clinical evaluation of any drug or vaccine delivered via patch or microarray that is sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Massachusetts’ Gov. Maura Healey recently proposed a multi-year funding strategy (Five-Year Massachusetts Capital Investment Plan (CIP) [FYs 2026-2030] that would include investment of $890.4 million, including general obligation bonds and private sector contributions, for many of the state’s TBED and innovation initiatives (programs are outlined below).
The Opportunity Zone (OZ) program, first established in 2017 with a ten-year lifespan, has been made permanent in Public Law No: 119-21. As noted in a
After the tremendous learning and community-building experience at SSTI’s conference last December at the beautiful Sheraton at Wild Horse Pass in Arizona, many people are looking forward to our next gathering. We are too, but have decided to postpone the event until next year with dates to be determined.
The U.S. Small Business Administration announced a new funding opportunity through the Regional Innovation Cluster (RIC) Program. The program is designed to enable new RICs to assist small businesses in matching innovative technologies to industry needs, with the aim of reshoring critical industrial and manufacturing capabilities, securing domestic supply chains, and spurring job creation.
SBA is interested in competitive offers from organizations with relevant partnerships and small business expertise in critical industries, including:
The White House Fiscal Year 2026 discretionary budget proposal outlines a significant shift in federal spending priorities, proposing substantial reductions in non-defense discretionary funding, which, if enacted by Congress, would impact scientific research and regional economic development support across numerous federal agencies.
As federal funding for science research decreases, it may be tempting to think that philanthropy might be able to fill the gap. However, a recent study from the Science Philanthropy Alliance illustrates that it cannot replace the robust funds that government allocation once contributed.
Conventional TBED wisdom for decades has been that small businesses generate more innovation in the United States. All big tech companies started as scrappy little companies in their respective eras of IT’s rapid growth. But there remains a long-running debate about whether large firms with financial resources and R&D capacity have an innovation advantage over smaller but more agile firms.
Conventional TBED wisdom for decades has been that small businesses generate more innovation in the United States. All big tech companies started as scrappy little companies in their respective eras of IT’s rapid growth. But there remains a long-running debate about whether large firms with financial resources and R&D capacity have an innovation advantage over smaller but more agile firms. Understanding the arguments for each side is important for policymakers and business leaders as they seek ways to support small and medium-sized enterprises and leverage the innovative capacity of larger corporations. In their paper, Firm Size and Innovative Performance: A Meta-Analysis Across 25 Years of Evidence, Federico Bachmann and Rodrigo Ezequiel Kataishi provide a comprehensive meta-analysis that synthesizes 25 years of research to clarify this relationship.
Understanding the composition of local economies requires looking beyond broad statewide or national trends. County-level data reveals the unique mix, or lack thereof, of industries and businesses in each area. Policy makers, by identifying which sectors drive employment and business activity within a locality, can influence the impact and design of regional innovation strategies to reflect local realities and potential.
Understanding the composition of local economies requires looking beyond broad statewide or national trends. County-level data reveals the unique mix, or lack thereof, of industries and businesses in each area. Policy makers, by identifying which sectors drive employment and business activity within a locality, can influence the impact and design of regional innovation strategies to reflect local realities and potential.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) allows examination of county-level employment and establishment counts across all private sectors at the 2-digit NAICS level. In this article, SSTI uses annualized private sector data for all provided 2-digit NAICS sectors at the county level for 2015 and 2024.
As attention-grabbing as AI might be for the media and large investors (see previous SSTI analysis of AI investment), economic growth through innovation in life sciences and biotechnology is a priority for many state and regional TBED initiatives. The venture capital market recognizes that as well.
As the end of the fiscal year approaches, Congress is again at a critical juncture in reauthorizing the SBIR and STTR programs.