SSTI Digest

President Biden signed legislation that reauthorized the Economic Development Administration (EDA) on Jan. 4. With the Heritage Foundation, among others, consistently calling for EDA’s elimination, EDA’s reauthorization is no small feat on its own. The strong bipartisan support for the bill, which included provisions related to water resources development, is perhaps even more remarkable. The House approved it 339-18 on December 10, and the Senate passed it 97-1 on December 18. As authorizing legislation, it does not include funding, but it does contain provisions that are of importance to the technology-based economic development field. Among the provisions are modifications to cost share, new responsibilities and offices for EDA, and investment priorities that for the first time are approved by Congress. The Tech Hubs and Build to Scale programs are authorized under a different part of the U.S. Code, and while technically not impacted by this legislation, EDA has broad discretionary authority in administering programs and may adopt some of the provisions for those programs unless prohibited by law. Cost share will now be eased under the reauthorization. The…

January 22, 2025, at 2:00 PM ET | Zoom Considering applying for the SBA’s Growth Accelerator Fund Competition? Join our TBED Community of Practice webinar as three past winners walk us through their projects from initial concept to current status. Learn what motivated them to apply, see how they put the funding to work and hear their advice for future applicants. Whether you’re planning to apply for the 2025 competition or exploring funding opportunities to support your TBED projects, come learn how these organizations transformed their initial ideas into lasting community impacts. Featured organizations: The Florida High Tech Corridor FuzeHub Startup Tucson Register now  Also, you may want to check out this replay of SBA’s pre-application webinar for a detailed overview of the competition rules for this year.

The new Tech Hub awards from EDA and the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines (Engines) program support regions advancing a critical technology area with existing traction in their region but for proposers, identifying such areas is often challenging. Recognizing this, SSTI has recently updated a data tool comprised of two interactive visuals and a downloadable data file that can aid in identifying the critical technologies in an applicant’s geographic location to assist applicants with the upcoming full proposal deadline for Engines on February 11, 2025. The tool leverages PitchBook data exhibiting investment activity across 18 PitchBook industry verticals aligned with many of the 10 key technology focus areas (KTFAs) established with the passage of the 2022 Chips and Science Act. SSTI launched the tool in August 2023 and has since updated the underlying data through December 31, 2024. All individuals and organizations can access the data tool for free through SSTI’s Tech-based Economic Development (TBED) Community of Practice, supported by EDA. SSTI analyzed the 59 industry verticals for which PitchBook collects investment data,…

The United States’ global competitiveness rank, as calculated by the International Institute of for Management Development, fell three points from 9th in 2023 to 12th in 2024. The nation’s ranking for government efficiency had an even sharper drop of nine points, from 25th in 2023 to 34th in 2024. In timely response to these trends, two federal advisory committees recently submitted reports outlining ways for the U.S. Small Business Administration to sharpen its ability to assist companies in becoming more globally competitive while also improving the productivity of the agency’s work. In its report, Enhancing U.S. Economic Competitiveness Through Support for Small Businesses and Innovators, the Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Advisory Committee (IIEAC) offers recommendations around three themes: better, more consistent, and transparent metrics; removing complexity while increasing accessibility; and  broader sharing and, in the case of SBIR/STTR programs, adhering to, best practices aligned with congressional intent.” In the area of metrics, one of the issues the report authors emphasized is the inconsistency of data gathering among…

Higher education R&D expenditures, while continuing to steadily increase, have not grown evenly across state lines. This matters to successful TBED policymakers because a strong R&D enterprise within a state’s public and private institutions of higher education can and should provide a consistent source of skilled workers, new technology, and sources for innovation-driven business growth. So where is R&D growing? The Higher Education R&D (HERD) survey is the primary data source for such information in the U.S. and is used by many to inform policy decisions not just at the university-level, but also the state-level. The majority of growth is due to states with the largest historic higher education R&D expenditures, like California, New York, and Texas by having the largest baseline values. These states, however, are not the ones with the largest relative growths; states with much smaller total higher education R&D portfolios such as Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming, have shown the highest relative growths over recent years, while others like research-intensive Pennsylvania and Georgia have increased in national market share by approximately half a…

A recent working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Self-reinforcing Glass Ceilings by Carlos F. Avenancio-León, Alessio Piccolo, and Leslie Sheng Shen delves into the complexities of the gender pay gap, even after it has narrowed. The authors challenge the conventional understanding that a shrinking gender pay gap automatically leads to greater gender equality. Instead, they argue that the labor market's response to a narrowing gap can paradoxically contribute to the persistence of gender inequities. The authors employ a theoretical model to analyze the impact of compositional shifts in the labor market on the persistence of the gender pay gap. This model incorporates elements of labor economics, specifically focusing on job search and matching theory. To empirically validate their theoretical framework, the authors use a structural estimation approach with data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Population Survey and Compustat to identify patterns and relationships between these variables. Specifically, they estimated a discrete choice model of job search and matching. This model allowed them to analyze how individuals, both men and women…

The most recent  Higher Education R&D (HERD) survey revealed the largest year-over-year percentage increase in higher education R&D since 2002 to 2003 and dollar increase across all fiscal years (FYs) captured by the survey. HERD expenditures breached the $100 billion mark in 2023, having grown 11% from $97.8 billion in 2022 to $108.8 billion in 2023 (7% in constant 2017 dollars, from $82.9 to $89 billion). Federally funded HERD expenditures continue to increase in dollars, but decrease in overall share, while business and institution funds grow as a proportion. As seen in Figure 1, since 1973, the earliest data available, HERD expenditures have shown a consistent upward trend in both constant and current dollars. However, growth in current dollars has been more pronounced due to inflation. Expenditures reflect real growth when adjusted for inflation (constant 2017 dollars). HERD has grown steadily, increasing an average of 8% annually in current, and 4% annually in constant, dollars since 1973. HERD expenditures have fallen four times in constant terms (1973-1974, -4%; 2011-2012, -1%; 2013-2014, -1%; and 2020-2021, -1%). Several economic…

The U.S. Department of Commerce recently announced the third major R&D facility as part of its CHIPS for America program. This new facility will be located at the Arizona State University (ASU) Research Park in Tempe, Arizona. It will host the world’s first 300mm front-end semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging research center, allowing researchers and industry leaders to develop cutting-edge materials, devices, and packaging solutions. A press release from Arizona State University notes that the university’s semiconductor research and workforce development components of its total $992 million research portfolio in 2024 will play “a pivotal role in the success of the new facility. The university’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, the largest engineering school in the nation with more than 33,000 students and 600 faculty members, will support the facility through Core Research Facilities and state-of-the-art labs.” The university also will provide immediate access for Natcast, the operator of the National Semiconductor Technology Center, to ASU’s cutting-edge resources, including the MacroTechnology Works—a 250,000-…

January 22, 2025, at 2:00 PM ET | Zoom Considering applying for the SBA’s Growth Accelerator Fund Competition? Join our TBED Community of Practice webinar as three past winners walk us through their projects from initial concept to current status. Learn what motivated them to apply, see how they put the funding to work and hear their advice for future applicants. Whether you’re planning to apply for the 2025 competition or exploring funding opportunities to support your TBED projects, come learn how these organizations transformed their initial ideas into lasting community impacts. Featured organizations: ·        The Florida High Tech Corridor ·        FuzeHub ·        Startup Tucson Register now 

The federal government spending on non-defense AI R&D has increased from $560 million in fiscal year 2018 to $2.1 billion in 2023, according to the bipartisan House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence report released in the closing month of the 118th session. The report encourages Congress to continue federal R&D efforts, with specific recommendations for Congress to support fundamental R&D for continued global leadership in AI innovation, increase technology transfer from university R&D to market, and promote public-private partnerships for AI R&D. The report also encourages Congress to align national AI strategy with broader U.S. technology strategy, explore how to accelerate scientific discovery across disciplines with AI, and support AI R&D for small businesses. Findings and recommendations are distributed across 15 topics, including government use, privacy, national security, civil liberties, intellectual property, authenticity, R&D, energy requirements and AI application within small business, agriculture, health care and finance. Opportunities for expansion of government efforts that complement state and regional TBED…

In last November’s general election, Massachusetts voters approved Question 3: the Unionization and Collective Bargaining for Transportation Network Drivers Initiative, allowing the state’s more than 80,000 Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize and collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions. (The measure only covers ride-hailing service drivers not those delivering goods for companies such as DoorDash.) Aiming to address such issues as sub-minimum wages and other driver concerns, it is a groundbreaking result that could spur similar unionization efforts in other states. It is the latest development in ongoing battles over the role of gig workers in the U.S. economy, specifically, whether they should be considered independent contractors or employees entitled to benefits or wages. Question 3 was approved with 54% support of the vote. Once implemented, the new Massachusetts law will grant ride-hailing drivers the right to form unions and negotiate pay, benefits, and work conditions. It will also establish what constitutes unfair work practices and allow drivers to take their cases before the Massachusetts Employment Relations Board. The state will have the…

Enterprise Minnesota, the official Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Center for the state, recently released its annual State of Manufacturing survey. The yearly report found unprecedented anxiety among respondents, noting that the sectors’ mood is one of worry paired with concerns about the economy and business prospects; it also revealed that the state’s manufacturing executives believe Minnesota’s business climate is worse than any time in the 16-year history of the survey. The report is a stark difference to sentiments in neighboring Wisconsin. The annual Wisconsin Manufacturing Report, released in November 2024, found Wisconsin manufacturers and respondents both optimistic about the economy and their businesses. The Enterprise Minnesota 2024 State of Manufacturing, which surveyed over 400 industry executives, business owners, and manufacturers, reports their growing concerns and fears, including: Economic anxiety: a record high 56% of respondents believe that the state’s business climate is worse than before (up from 50% recorded last year). This percentage is the highest recorded since the Great Recession in 2008. Per the report, it is also an “…