Small businesses often are surrounded by a myriad resources and potential partners that could help leverage their products and services to innovate and grow, but they are not always aware of how to access them.

SBA and the Department of Commerce launched Startup University in response to a series of roundtables with accelerators and universities that highlighted the need for a forum to share best practices and build connections between universities and startups. Users can post and comment on specific programs or general ideas that foster these positive relationships. Many programs listed in the forum will be presented at this week's NCET2 Conference. Explore the online forum here...

To encourage communities to strengthen their industrial ecosystems, the U.S. Department of Commerce has announced it will make awards to up to 25 communities to launch implementation strategies. The solicitation for the awards will be released in May, and awards of up to $200,000 each will be issued by the end of September. The awards are one part of a four–phase plan announced by Deputy Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank last week that also includes listening sessions and a proposal to award five to six communities $25 million each.

Last week, the Obama administration announced that it would commit $200 million to establish three new manufacturing innovation institutions in 2013 (see the May 8, 2013 issue of the digest).

Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker recently announced the first ten winners of the Make It in America Challenge, which provides grants to accelerate regional job creation and encourage business investment. Grantees will receive a total of $20.5 million for projects supporting regional economic development, advanced skills training, greater supply chain access and other projects. Funding for this round of awards is provided by the Economic Development Administration, the Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration, and the Delta Regional Authority.

A recent report from the U.S. Department of Commerce highlights university programs across the country working to facilitate student and faculty entrepreneurship as part of a larger federal effort to improve tech transfer activities and external partnerships. Information was collected from the leaders of 131 research universities to understand what universities are doing programmatically and strategically to nurture innovation, commercialization and entrepreneurship.

Fresh off a nationwide listening tour and against the backdrop of 1776, a global hub for startups in Washington, D.C., U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker unveiled the department's strategic vision and priorities focused on three key areas: trade, innovation and data. Pritzker said her department will make sure businesses have a strong voice when it comes to strengthening the digital economy by working to protect intellectual property, ensuring robust cybersecurity infrastructure and championing free and open Internet.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) has announced a new competition to reward communities demonstrating best practices in attracting and expanding manufacturing. EDA will offer the competition as part of its Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP), which helps support comprehensive, integrated efforts to boost manufacturing and jobs. EDA plans to publish a Federal Register notice on Tuesday, December 10, seeking applications for regions to be designated one of up to 12 manufacturing communities.

Two organizations have in recent weeks called on the United States to create a national federal office of innovation to help focus and concentrate innovation across the country.

The Patent and Trademark Office of the U.S. Department of Commerce published final rules of practice for implementing the first-inventor-to-file provision of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) that will take effect on March 16. The AIA is a major step towards harmonizing the patent systems of the U.S. and its major trading partners. The legislation will aid the U.S.

Borrowing from an industry sector phrase used to describe a complete view of investment impact, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) unveiled its new Triple Bottom Line tool to help economic development practitioners and investors assess, compare and communicate the potential impact of projects. EDA says the triple bottom line approach can help better align economic development investments with other community priorities to maximize impact.

The quarterly deadline for submitting grant applications to the Economic Development Administration's (EDA) Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance programs has been extended from Friday, September 14, 2012, to Thursday, September 20, 2012. This extension covers only the first funding cycle of FY13 and does not affect other EDA grant application deadlines. More information...

The Department of Commerce announced the winners of the Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) Challenge, the Economic Development Administration-led competition seeking to help cities and regions develop a comprehensive economic development strategy. Greensboro, North Carolina, Hartford, Connecticut, and Las Vegas, Nevada each were awarded $1 million to assist in the refinement and implementation of their respective plans.

Unless Congress and the White House take action by the end of the year, across-the-board spending reductions will go into effect for all federal agencies as a result of provisions in the Budget Control Act of 2011. The budget sequestration would reduce defense discretionary funding by 9.4 percent and non-defense funding by 8.2 percent from the 2011 baseline.

The White House announced the Make it in America Challenge, a $40 million multi-agency initiative to help regions across the country provide the critical infrastructure, strategic planning, capacity building, technical assistance and workforce development resources necessary to foster insourcing by U.S. firms. Led by the Economic Development Administration, an interagency panel will make up to 16 awards to projects that encourage businesses to bring production back to or expand their operations in the United States.

The Obama administration announced winners of the Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge on Tuesday. The challenge — publicized earlier this year — is one of the key initiatives of the interagency Taskforce for the Advancement of Regional Innovation Clusters and is sponsored by a partnership between the U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Departments of Energy and Labor, and the Small Business Administration.

The Department of Commerce (DOC) is interested in receiving nominations for a 15-member innovation advisory board comprised of business leaders, policy experts and state/local government officials. Board members will contribute in the development of a study on U.S. economic competitiveness and innovation capacity. The board's primary responsibilities will include development of an extended outline of the report and review of the final report's draft. Individual members also may be asked to participate in events across the country related to economic competitiveness and innovation.