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Early data from a number of sources indicates that the venture capital market continued its resuscitation from the 2008 crisis during the third quarter of 2013. CB Insights reports that 857 venture deals representing $7.2 billion were completed last quarter, which, by their data, would be the highest rate of dealflow since the dotcom era. Other sources report a similar number of deals, but find that some quarters in recent years have been more active.

According to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey the percentage of university R&D funded by private sector investment has remained mostly stable since the late 1970s, hovering between 5 percent and 7 percent of total R&D expenditures. In FY 2011 the private sector invested $3.2 billion, or 4.9 percent of the total $65 billion university R&D expenditures.

While the conditions of the U.S. economy continue to hinder growth, stability and efficiency in the financial markets and a positive assessment of public institutions have helped improve the nation’s competitiveness and reverse a four-year downward trend. In World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index 2013-14, the U.S. moved into the number five spot, up from seventh last year, overtaking the Netherlands and Sweden. For the second year in a row, Switzerland, Singapore and Finland held onto their first, second and third rankings, respectively.

A new report by the National Science Foundation (NSF) portrays science and engineering employment in the United States as highly concentrated in a small number of states and metro areas. Most states reflected a lower S&E employment intensity than the United States as a whole. As noted in the report, the availability of a skilled workforce is an important predictor of a region’s population, productivity, and technological growth.

In the second quarter (Q2) of 2013, venture investment totaled $6.7 billion over 913 deals, according to the quarterly survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Compared to the first quarter of 2013, the amount of venture capital investment increased 12 percent and the number of deals increased 2 percent. Although still well below venture capital investment highs in 2007, Q2 2013 had the largest total amount of investment in a year.

Innovation is not a causal, linear process, but a dynamic and ever-changing network of actors connected by activities and linkages, according to a report from the Council of Canadian Academies. Despite this complexity, however, by identifying behaviors that feed firm innovation, regions can make informed decisions about high-tech economic development. In the report, the council identifies quantitative ways to measure the actual and potential impact of innovation investments, along with presenting a new firm-centric model of innovation ecosystems.

While New Mexico continues to lead the country in R&D intensity, California remains at the top in R&D expenditures, according to new National Science Foundation (NSF) data from 2009 and 2010. The new report provides updated, detailed statistical tables on current and historical patterns (1953 to 2010) of U.S. research and development (R&D) expenditures by performing sector, source of funds, character of work and state.

According to a new brief from the National Science Foundation (NSF), preliminary 2011 data indicates that U.S. total research and development (R&D) in 2011 was $414.0 billion (in current dollars), an increase of $7.3 billion from 2010 totals ($406.7 billion). These results mark the second straight year of growth in U.S. R&D expenditures following a $1.8 billion decline in 2009 — only the second decline in current dollars since the early 1950s.

Research collaborations between institutions of higher education are becoming an increasingly important facet of U.S. R&D, according to the National Science Foundation (NSF). A new NSF InfoBrief reveals that pass-through funds, R&D expenditures transferred from one institution to another, represented seven percent of total expenditures in 2009. In 2000, they represented only five percent of expenditures.

An InfoBrief from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) provides a preview of the results of NSF's latest survey of R&D activities performed and funded by state government agencies in FY09. Though the InfoBrief is not a comprehensive guide to state R&D spending, the summary sheds some light on state research priorities. A total of $1.2 billion in spending was reported by state agencies, which also were asked about the type of R&D performed with those funds.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding allowed the U.S. federal government to maintain steady funding of research and development (R&D) during the economic crisis. Now that the vast majority of those funds have been spent, however, the U.S. will have to step up its support of R&D to remain competitive. Earlier this year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics released some illuminating data on how an increase in federal spending helped buoy U.S.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) released a report on federal research and development (R&D) spending — Federal Funds for Research and Development: Fiscal Years 2008–10. It percents data collected from NSF surveys sent to all 27 federal agencies that were conducting R&D programs in early 2008. Total R&D spending is reported as both outlays and obligations for those three fiscal years (FY). In this report, the basis for reporting is determined by fiscal year:

The pace of business startups in the U.S. has exhibited a long-run decline that started in the early 1980s and has continued through 2010, according to a new report — Where Have All the Young Firms Gone? — from the Kauffman Foundation. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS), the report found several other long-run declines in the business activity of U.S.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NSCES) has released a series of InfoBriefs that track U.S. R&D spending from 2009-10, as the country endured and began to recover from the recession. In 2009, U.S. R&D spending suffered its first decline since the 1950s, though that decline was minimal (0.6 percent) and much smaller than the drop in U.S. GDP (2.5 percent). After adjusting for inflation, the $400.5 billion spent on R&D in 2009 represents a slightly larger decrease (1.7 percent) than in current dollars.

The number of annual U.S. patents of all types increased from 82,586 in 2005 to 121,179 in 2010, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). After falling in 2007 and 2008, and making only minor gains in 2009, patents jumped by 27.5 percent last year. Overall, the number of patents grew 46.7 percent between 2005 and 2010, while patents per capita increased by 40.6 percent. California continues to have the highest number of annual patents in the country, generating about one quarter of all U.S. patents in 2010.