SSTI Digest

NSF’s Regional Resilience Innovation Incubator (R2I2) project has awarded Phase 1 funding to six teams, each addressing specific regional climate challenges and demonstrating solutions. The award includes funding for a seventh team to create the R2I2 National Office, which will support the collective and coordinated implementation of R2I2 award activities.

Gov. Phil Murphy and representatives from the founding partners—the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), Princeton University, Microsoft, and CoreWeave—officially opened the New Jersey Artificial Intelligence (NJAI) Hub on March 27, 2023. Together, the founding partners will invest over $72 million to support the long-term success of the hub. New Jersey’s NJEDA has committed $25 million; the remaining $47 million of donated services and support will come from Princeton and the industry partners. A portion of NJEDA’s and CoreWeave’s committed funding will include a planned NJ AI Venture Fund supporting innovation commercialization through equity investments.

With the start of the new year, most governors deliver State of the State addresses or Budget addresses laying out their priorities for the coming year. With revenues for many states relatively consistent with forecasters expectations, lawmakers, with a few exceptions, continue to maintain cautious or constrained views of their funding priorities and proposed initiatives. As a result, many governors in SSTI’s analysis of addresses delivered so far this season, are speaking more about previously implemented programs and their continued successes rather than rolling out many new programs. However, new priorities for growing stronger innovation economies have not been completely overlooked. The following highlights have been selected excerpted from eight of the 20 State of the States or Budget addresses given between Dec. 2024 and Jan. 16, 2025, by governors from Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.   Additional addresses and states will be covered in future Digest issues. On Jan. 14, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave her second State of the State address, proposing a plan to improve access and…

The U.S. Department of Treasury has announced its approval of $801.4 million in SSBCI funding for eleven U.S. states and territories: Arkansas, Delaware, Guam, Kentucky, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The addition of these states and territories means 46 states and three territories have been approved for State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) funding. Treasury has now approved over $7 billion in SSBCI funding. This news comes alongside the upcoming two-year anniversary of the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act on March 11, 2021. Arkansas Arkansas has been approved for up to $81.6 million to operate seven programs: a capital access program, two loan participation programs, two loan guarantee programs and two equity/venture capital programs. The state allocated $15 million to the loan guarantee program and $7.5 million to the loan participation program, with a focus on reaching underserved businesses. The equity/venture capital programs have been allocated a combined $46 million to invest in high growth companies across the state. Delaware …

After a busy election season that saw gubernatorial elections in 36 states, newly elected and re-elected governors delivered their annual State of the State addresses, kicking off new programs and reviewing the conditions of their states. SSTI reviews the speeches every year and covers news of new developments and initiatives the governors have highlighted as they relate to the innovation economy. New programs are laid out here in the governors own words as excerpts from their State of the State or budget addresses. Not all governors delivered a State of the State, and some that did may not have revealed new innovation-related initiatives and so are not included in our coverage. Common initiatives among the governors that touched on innovation included an emphasis on workforce, education and broadband; water issues for Western governors; and, clean energy. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey delivered her 2023 State of the State on March 7 and called on legislators to “look ahead and crate an economic development strategy for the 2030s.” “… I am calling on you to get behind our playbook for economic success, what I am calling The Game Plan.” “We will…

The last of the governors have delivered their State of the State addresses. With 36 gubernatorial elections this fall, many governors appeared to be more conservative in their addresses this year, speaking more about past accomplishments rather than rolling out new programs. This week features comments from California, Louisiana, Nevada and Ohio’s governors as their addresses related to the innovation economy. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (March 8) Gov. Gavin Newsom talked about transformation in the state’s public education system, including free community college. “Infrastructure, research and development, investing in our conveyor belt for talent, the finest system of higher education anywhere in the world: our CSUs, UCs and community colleges. And ensuring society provides a hand up when people need help, maintaining, maintaining our pro-immigrant policies and welcoming refugees from around the world.” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (March 14) Noting that the state has “hundreds of millions in surplus, even more in current year excess, and billions in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan and the Infrastructure Investment…

Across the country, the governors have begun delivering their State of the State addresses, an annual ritual where they have the opportunity to review where the state’s economy stands and preview their plans for the coming year. This year’s remarks reflect the dire conditions most states are experiencing with the pandemic, economic fallout, racial strife and national political upheaval. Despite the heavy focus on states’ efforts to respond to the pandemic, governors have struck a hopeful note and are focusing on recovery. Some governors have noted that the fallout in their state was not as severe as they originally anticipated and there are resources for new initiatives. Some, like Arizona and Virginia are considering gaming revenue to boost their budgets, while legalization of marijuana is being pursued in Connecticut, Kentucky (medical marijuana) and Virginia. Each year, SSTI reviews each of the governors’ addresses for news about initiatives affecting the innovation economy in our Tech Talkin’ Govs series, and this week we bring you the first round of those addresses looking at Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, New…

As the economic fallout continues from the coronavirus pandemic and associated shutdown, states are still uncertain as to what their financial situations might be as they attempt to craft their new spending plans for a quickly approaching new fiscal year, which for most states start July 1. Last month, New Jersey state leaders took a unique approach to the situation by extending the current fiscal year from June 30 to September 30. The extension addresses a number of issues. The extension allows the state to delay adoption of their state’s new 2021 state budget by three months, allowing time for lawmakers and officials to assess the economy and state finances after the worst of the coronavirus pandemic subsides. Additionally, New Jersey, like most states with a state income tax, also extended their deadline for paying state taxes to July 15 from April 15, in order to align with the federal government’s pandemic-related 90-day extension to file federal income taxes. By extending the fiscal year to September 30, it will retain state income tax revenue in the current fiscal year, which will presumably reduce the size of the budget hole the state will have to address.…

In general, the effect of the pandemic on states’ budgets due to the wave of business, retail, and commerce shutdowns, as well as other reduced economic activity across the nation, is not entirely known, or too early to forecast; however, a number of states are beginning to experience the initial impacts of a substantial downturn. With several states having already enacted their 2020-21 budgets, special sessions are expected later this year to deal with declining revenues. Others ended sessions early without a new fiscal year spending plan in place. Many are also acting quickly to help mitigate the effects of lost revenues and an increased demand for services. Some of the states’ impacts and actions are outlined below. Alaska officials report that the drop in global oil prices will likely add $300 million to the state's current year (2020) budget deficit. The Alaska Journal of Commerce reports the state Legislative Finance Division told lawmakers that the state could experience a $600 million revenue reduction in the 2021 fiscal year, which starts July 1. In Arkansas, lawmakers were called into special session to address an estimated $353 million hit to the state’s…

Proving that innovation is appealing to states regardless of their size or political leanings, new initiatives in both Democratic and Republican states, as well as large states like California and small states like Vermont, are driving innovation agendas into action in areas ranging from clean energy and aid for students and colleges, to new venture capital investments and bond financing to support business collaborations with higher education to help translate cutting-edge research into products and companies. It is important to note that these new initiatives are in addition to important work that is already occurring in many states. SSTI continues to bring you news of these actions as governors, legislatures, and economic development organizations capitalize on proven programs to build out their innovation economies, with several examples provided here. In Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey’s proposed budget includes $10 million in one-time General Fund support that would provide the state match portion for Arizona’s public universities to pursue major competitive national research grants. It is part of a larger $165 million plan put forward by the Arizona Board of Regents…

Governors are continuing to roll out their state of the state addresses and this week’s SSTI review highlights differences in the states economies: while Arizona is enjoying population growth Vermont is struggling to attract workers. More states are focusing proposals on climate change and clean energy initiatives, with New York proposing a $3 billion bond initiative to build resiliency, and Colorado, New Jersey and Vermont proposing clean energy and climate initiatives as well.  Rural broadband, higher education and workforce initiatives also are throughout the state addresses. SSTI presents excerpts of the governors’ addresses as they relate to the innovation economy below. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey delivered his sixth state of the state address on Jan. 13, and heralded the in-migration the state is experiencing, noting that Arizona is attracting 120,000 new residents a year and touted its diverse economy and growth: “We’re also going to target more resources toward our trade programs with an eye toward Achieve60AZ. At our community colleges: a full restoration of STEM and workforce development funding. In our public schools: more dollars to CTE…

In 2019, the administrations and legislatures in many states grappled with if and how to adjust state economic development initiatives to leverage the federal Opportunity Zone (OZ) program. The actions of 12 states that implemented new activities are described below. Notably, many of these state efforts require applications and reports on OZ projects — unlike the federal OZ incentive. Some created a new requirement specific to OZs and some states placed the OZ benefits within existing initiatives that already require such information sharing. Investor use of state OZ benefits, therefore, may be one means by which the costs and benefits of the federal program will be able to be evaluated. Readers should be aware that full appreciation of the state-level benefits for OZ investment go beyond the distinct initiatives described below. Of the 44 states that have an income or capital gains tax, all but five conform with the federal OZ benefits — meaning that investors will receive state capital gains deferrals, reductions and waivers. Alabama The state created a multi-tiered incentive structure providing increasing support as projects make a greater commitment…