innovation

The Department of Defense announced yesterday that it issued $238 million from "Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act" funding for the establishment of eight Microelectronics Commons (Commons) regional innovation hubs. With $2 billion in funding for Fiscal Years 2023 through 2027, the Microelectronics Commons program aims to leverage these hubs to accelerate domestic hardware prototyping and "lab-to-fab" transition of semiconductor technologies. The hope is this will help mitigate supply chain risks and ultimately expedite access to the most cutting-edge microchips for U.S. troops.

Those who gather data know that the results collected in 2020 during pandemic shutdowns do not reveal actual trends. This phenomenon was the case for a recent survey by Babson College researchers for the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey (GEM APS). They found that rates of entrepreneurship, which had been on the rise since 2015, dropped in 2020. However, their newest research shows an upward trend in 2021 and 2022, when the U.S. had the highest levels of entrepreneurial activity since their first survey in 1999. In 2022, 19% of working-age adults were in the process of running a business or were running a company less than 42 months old.

A memo sent out last week by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy outlines this year’s R&D priorities. Federal science agencies will use this memo to design their budget requests for the fiscal year 2025.

Health is one of the most pressing issues in the U.S. Now, thanks to National Science Foundation's Type I NSF Engine development awards, teams throughout the U.S. will be focusing on technology-based solutions to this issue. This week we highlight three SSTI members whose NSF Engine Awards concentrate on health. These include Emory University’s project to advance health equity and diagnostic technologies (SSTI member Georgia Tech is also on this team), The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement’s (a health policy center administratively housed within SSTI member The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences) project to promote fair health and economic outcomes in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and Washington University-St. Louis’ project to advance neuroscience technologies to improve cognitive wellness.

The National Science Foundation announced 16 finalists for the first-ever NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) competition, spanning a range of key technology areas and societal and economic challenges highlighted in the "CHIPS and Science Act." The NSF Engines will link up with local and regional partners to expand innovation nationwide and create collaborative and inclusive technology-driven innovation ecosystems.

With a GDP of over $23 trillion in 2021, the United States has the world's largest economy, according to the latest available data from the World Bank. Yet, the U.S. falls behind such countries as Israel and Korea when it comes to how much is spent on research and development (R&D) in proportion to GDP. For example, Israel and Korea spend 5.56% and 4.93% of their GDP on R&D compared to the U.S.’ 3.46%.

On June 14, 2023, NSF announced 34 semifinalists for the first-ever NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) competition. The NSF Engines will be led by universities, nonprofits, businesses, and other organizations from across U.S. states and territories. Each NSF Engine could receive up to $160 million over 10 years; actual amounts will be subject to a given NSF Engine's status and overall progress, as assessed annually. Congratulations to the SSTI members that are finalists—including FuzeHub, Kentucky Science & Technology Corporation, Louisiana State University, Ohio State University, Rocky Mountain Innovation Initiative (Innosphere) and Virginia Tech—and the many members participating as partners across the awards.

Corporate laboratories were hotspots for U.S. innovation for most of the twentieth century. Large firms, such as DuPont or Bell Labs, acted as epicenters for research and development activities, driving investment in frontier technologies underserved by university researchers at the time. By the 1980s, however, many of these powerhouses of industrial research began to cut back on their research programs, paving the way for universities and startups to emerge as new centers of innovation.

The recently awarded NSF Engine Type 1 development awards are intended to bring technology-based economic development to vast swaths of the US landscape, including those that Silicon Valley and Boston have long overshadowed. This week we kick off an examination of some of the proposals led by SSTI members that were selected by NSF for funding.

This morning, NSF announced 44 development, or Type-1, awards from its first Regional Innovation Engines competition. According NSF’s visualization, 33 of the lead organizations are from academic institutions, with 13 of those from institutions that are not classified as R1s, and the remaining 11 leads from other types of nonprofits. The Type-1 awards provide up to $1 million over two years for the partners to work toward strengthening their regional innovation ecosystems, with an eye toward developing a stronger Type-2 proposal in the future. Congratulations to the SSTI members that received awards as lead organizations—including Emory University, Kansas State University, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, University of Hawaii, University of Nevada Reno, University of South Carolina, University of Texas at Austin, Washington University in St. Louis, The Water Council—and the many members participating as partners across the awards.