SSTI Digest

Despite recent attacks on affirmative action and diversity, equity, and inclusion, the TBED community continues to work toward broadening participation in innovation driven growth. This continuing attention may be attributable—as stated in the recently released report Tech Equity in Action—to the practical knowledge among TBED practitioners that “(e)fforts to grow local economies are hampered when sizable portions of the population are left out of this high-growth sector.” The report, published by the New Growth Innovation Network (NGIN), provides practical advice for TBED professionals who want to continue to ensure their projects are equitable and inclusive.

Even though women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, their involvement in critical occupations going forward does not reflect that. For instance, in 2021, they only constituted 35% of environmental engineers, 17% of civil engineers, and 9% of mechanical engineers, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau analyzed by the Society of Women Engineers. Additionally, the Pew Research Center reported in 2021 that “Women account for 25% of those working in computer occupations. The share of women in this fast-growing occupation cluster declined from 2000 to 2016 and has remained stable” through at least through 2021, the end date of their study.  Furthermore, according to Women in STEM, 2023, “At the current pace, we will not see equal representation in STEM until the year 2070.”

Innovation spreads, but how far can it reach? A new study finds that firms operating in multiple tech clusters act as conduits, transmitting knowledge and boosting productivity across distant locations. However, certain types of firms are better at it—and benefit more readily—than others. This insight, from a recent National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper, “Innovation Spillovers across U.S. Tech Clusters,” challenges our understanding of how innovation benefits spread geographically.

As a part of the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI)’s Technical Assistance (TA) Program, the Treasury Department has announced 14 Small Business Opportunity Program (SBOP) awards to 12 states and two Tribal governments, each ranging from $1.6 to $10 million, totaling $75 million. SSBCI’s TA program is divided into two major programs: the TA Grant program and SBOP.

The TA Grant program is an allocation formula-based grant program for which all eligible jurisdictions having submitted complete and approvable applications are generally recommended for funding. SBOP, however, is a competitive grant program for which only certain applications are selected for approval based on evaluation criteria specified in the NOFO. This information and more can be found in the SBOP FAQs.

As business R&D expenditures continue to increase nationwide, disparities between states deepen, an SSTI analysis of new Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) survey data reveals. States with the largest BERD values, including California, Washington, and Massachusetts, have all increased their share of overall domestically performed BERD values almost every year since 2013. Nearly 50% of the nation’s domestic business R&D expenditures occurred within the borders of these three states in 2022, up from 39% just a decade prior in 2013. California contained over a third of the nation's total value in 2022, totaling more than the bottom 43 states and Washington, D.C. combined.

Forty-one states and Puerto Rico will vote on 151 statewide ballot measures this fall.   

The Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) has announced the Regional Innovation Clusters initiative awards winners. There are 14 winners from a pool of 79 applicants. There are two categories for these awards: emerging and mature clusters. According to the SBA press release, emerging clusters develop and deploy small business support services in their designated regions and industries, and mature clusters have experience building and implementing programming to support small businesses.

Domestic business R&D expenditures have jumped 15% ($89 billion) from 2021 to 2022. This jump continues a decade-long trend of year-over-year increases, as a new 2022 Business Enterprise R&D (BERD) survey shows. Despite concerns over high inflation, with annual rates of 7% in 2021 and 6.5% in 2022, domestic BERD expenditures have also increased in constant USD each year. Adjusted to 2013 USD, expenditures increased 6% ($32.5 billion) from 2021 to 2022 and 71% ($228 billion) over the past 10 years since 2013.

SSTI sourced data for this article from the BERD survey’s 2013 to 2022 data releases. Inflation adjustments were performed by SSTI using the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’ Inflation Calculator.

Doing this work in our separate regions and states, we can feel at times like we're the only ones doing what we do. SSTI recognizes it is even hard to explain your work to friends and family. What is a tech-based economic development practitioner? An ecosystem builder? A commercialization professional?  

A famous guy once wrote, "We few, we happy few..."  The Bard might have been talking about TBED and regional innovation. SSTI gets it. So, we've created a place to fix that. We're bringing our band together in December.

At SSTI's Annual Conference, you'll be among people who understand what it means to be working toward creating a better future through science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. People who know your jargon (mostly). People who have experienced the same challenges in their own regions that you face.

It's a safe place for people like you, like us. We're focused on our shared field and on our shared future.

Listen, refine, apply: Lorain County Community College’s approach to TBED talent development demonstrates a responsive, industry-aligned education strategy. A recent TBED Community of Practice webinar highlighted how this process keeps their semiconductor and microelectronics program in sync with ever-evolving student and industry needs.

Michael Morgenstern, Courtney Tenhover, and Johnny Vanderford from LCCC shared insights on their program’s growth and success. What began with just five employer partners has expanded to 91 partners across Ohio and beyond. Key to their success has been a commitment to industry engagement, with a curriculum constantly refined based on regular employer feedback.

Since the inception of I-Corps, only 20% of participants have been women, according to the 2023 National Science Foundation I-Corps biennial program report. A recent paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, titled Gender Diversity in Academic Entrepreneurship: Social Impact Motives and the NSF I-Corps Program examined this gender gap by investigating how social impact and commercial motives influence engagement in the NSF I-Corps program.

Connect. Discover. Refresh with your peers in Arizona this December. Our newly released agenda will guide you to immersing yourself at SSTI's 2024 Annual Conference. We will explore nearly the full scope of tech-based economic development in session formats that facilitate conversation, new ideas, and new collaboration opportunities. The event will be packed with practical advice, program suggestions, candid sharing of hard lessons learned, and proven practices of success, all for you to take back to your own initiative and region.