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SSTI has released a new data tool that defines investment activity, one indicator of the vibrancy of a region’s innovation economy, in each of 18 technology areas. Comprising two interactive visuals and a downloadable data file, this tool includes the number of investment-backed companies, investment deals, and amount of capital invested by state, year (2013-June 2023), and investment stage (e.g., seed, angel, venture) for technology verticals that were selected to align with many of the key technology areas defined in the CHIPS and Science Act and included in the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) Tech Hubs program.

A report from ITIF warns that China is catching up with the U.S. in private R&D funding. If this trend continues, China could surpass the U.S. in innovation in nine critical advanced technology sectors: aerospace and defense, electronic and electrical equipment, general industrials, industrial engineering, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, software and computer services, technology and hardware equipment, alternative energy, and automobiles and parts.

Representatives from leading AI companies (Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI) gathered at the White House on July 21 for the announcement of their voluntary commitment to “help move toward safe, secure, and transparent development of AI technology.” According to a White House statement, the companies have made commitments to ensuring products are safe before introducing them to the public, building systems that put security first, and earn the public’s trust.

The White House has released a new report, Building the bioworkforce of the future: Expanding equitable pathways into biotechnology and biomanufacturing jobs. The five core recommendations in the report are intended to help propel continued investment in the bioeconomy and maintain the U.S.’ leadership in this sector. The report follows an Executive Order President Biden signed in September 2022.

The Department of Defense (DOD) receives about $95 billion annually to support research and development efforts. But some members of Congress feared that requesting and allocating those funds took too long. It usually takes two years, which hinders response to evolving threats. The Senate addressed this issue in the Senate Report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, calling for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review DOD research funding flexibilities. GAO reports that service officials responsible for R&D efforts were not familiar with all of the flexibilities available to them.

Last month, NIH came out with a policy statement that prohibits using generative AI to analyze or critique NIH grant applications and contract proposals. Specifically, as written in NIH Notice NOT-OD-23-149, “NIH prohibits NIH scientific peer reviewers from using natural language processors, large language models, or other generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies for analyzing and formulating peer review critiques for grant applications and R&D contract proposals.” The problem with using generative AI in peer review is that it compromises confidentiality. As expressed in the notice, once information is loaded onto a generative AI platform, “AI tools have no guarantee of where data are being sent, saved, viewed, or used in the future, and thus NIH is revising its Confidentiality Agreements for Peer Reviewers to clarify that reviewers are prohibited from using AI tools in analyzing and critiquing NIH grant applications and R&D contract proposals. Such actions violate NIH’s peer review confidentiality requirements.”

The U.S. Economic Development Administration has recently made multiple staff appointments for its national program offices. Cristina Killingsworth is now EDA’s deputy assistant secretary for policy and external Affairs, having formerly been chief of staff for the International Trade Administration. This new position blends responsibility for four national programs—Tech Hubs, Recompete, Build Back Better and Good Jobs challenges—with oversight of the agency’s legislative and public affairs activities. Eric Smith is now Tech Hubs program director, with Chivas Grannum filling Smith’s position as acting director of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Director. Scott Andes is now Recompete program director and Tech Hubs policy advisor, with Alex Jones taking on the role of director on an acting basis for the Build Back Better Regional Challenge program. For more information on EDA leadership, see: https://www.eda.gov/about/leadership.

Over the past two decades, business has done most of the heavy lifting for research and development (R&D) funding. Calculated in the dollar value of 2012, business funding increased from $10.4 billion in 2000 to an estimated $36.0 billion in 2021.

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) has updated its Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Content Guidelines, effective April 2023. CEDS are strategy-driven plans for economic development prepared through a regionally owned planning process. Designed to build regional capacity and economic resilience, an active CEDS is a prerequisite for EDA designation as an Economic Development District (EDD), which serves as the main conduit through which TBED organizations may seek funding from EDA’s Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance program.

The Senate appropriations committee advanced a set of FY 2024 funding bills this morning that largely continue level funding from FY 2023. While the full bill text is not yet available, a press release about the commerce and science bill identified $200 million for the Engines program at NSF, $175 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership at NIST, and $50 million for Build to Scale, $41 million for Tech Hubs, and $2.5 million for the STEM Talent Challenge at EDA. These amounts are all inline with the funding provided through regular FY 2023 appropriations but do not yet include any of the supplementary amounts included in last year’s omnibus (e.g., Tech Hubs was funded at a total of $500 million in FY 2023); see SSTI’s article on FY 2023 funding for details. The House subcommittee overseeing commerce and science funding is expected to advance its FY 2024 bill tomorrow morning. Senate appropriations also advanced funding for SBA this morning, but program funding levels are unavailable.

Did you use the Recompete Mapping Tool to check your eligibility for this new EDA funding opportunity when the fact sheet and map were first released? If you did, and you got the response, “Contact your local economic development office” don’t stop there! EDA has updated its mapping tool in the past few days to reflect significant flexibility in program eligibility. These changes mean that many more regions may be able to successfully compete for strategy development awards and, ultimately, implementation awards.

If a recent forecast from McKinsey & Company is correct, climate change isn’t the only rough ride ahead over the next decade for regional and national economies.