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House and Senate subcommittees with oversight for Commerce, State and Justice appropriations differ on funding recommendations for the EDA Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs program, commonly referred to as Tech Hubs. While any funding in a tight budget environment is good, the $50 million in the House version of the CJS bill or the Senate subcommittee’s $60 million is far short of Congress’s original vision for the Tech Hubs, authorized at $10 billion over ten years.

The Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) subcommittee of House Appropriations has turned against the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership in its budget recommendations for the Small Business Administration, zeroing out the only program that provides funds to help states level the competitive field of applicants for the SBIR/STTR program. While the FAST funds were decreased from the $9 million enacted in FY2024, the SBDC line item received a $10 million increase in the FSGG appropriations proposal.

The nearly status quo nature of the FY 2026 budget of $9.0 billion for the National Science Foundation advanced by the Senate Appropriations Committee stands in striking contrast to the Administration’s $3.9 billion request. House appropriations, meanwhile, appropriated $7.0 billion for NSF, a reduction of $2.06 billion or 23% from the FY 2025 enacted level.

In perhaps the most difficult budget season of the last 25 years, where the President’s budget has proposed eliminating funding for scores of programs, both the House and Senate subcommittees with budget oversight for the Economic Development Administration (EDA) have proposed continuation funding of $50 million for FY2026 for the popular Build 2 Scale (B2S) program—referred to as the Regional Innovation Program Grants in budget language.

The U.S. Small Business Administration adopted new rules in 2023 that made it easier for venture capital funds to leverage federal resources under the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program, thereby increasing the capital they have available for early-stage investments.

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 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 

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). 

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.

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).

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

The overlap between applicants and recipients of the three large regional innovation approaches attempted by the federal government so far continues with the July 9, 2025, NSF narrowing of the field for the second NSF Regional Innovation Engines competition to 29 semifinalists across the country.

Please note: this article is not intended as a comprehensive review of Public Law No. 119-21, nor should our reading of the law be treated as tax or legal advice.

Over the past 40 years, many people involved in SBIR and empirical analysts in the research, finance, and technology sectors have said SBIR awardees, as a group, are uniquely important for America’s innovation goals.

SSTI has updated its Key Technology Area Investment Data Tool with new and refreshed data spanning January 1, 2013, through June 30, 2025. The tool comprises two interactive visuals and uses Pitchbook technology verticals selected to align with many of the key technology focus areas (KTFAs) defined in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (CHIPS).

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is requesting information from the public to help shape potential future updates to its Key Technology Focus Areas (KTFAs). NSF’s KTFAs directly influence and shape innovation- and economic development-related programs.

In 2024, nearly 628,000 job postings demanded at least one AI skill, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity. The research also revealed that the percentage of all job postings requiring at least one AI skill increased from approximately 0.5% in 2010 to 1.7% in 2024.