SSTI Digest

The latest Science and Engineering Indicators from NSF’s National Science Board shows the U.S. share of S&T activities declining as other nations like China continue to rise. The report presents a wealth of data on how science and engineering R&D are tied to economic and workforce development, including indicators in education; workforce; R&D; industry, technology and the global marketplace; invention, knowledge transfer, and innovation; and public attitudes and understanding. The report includes an interactive data tool presenting U.S. state-specific trends in S&E.

The Department of Energy’s annual portfolio of federal funding opportunities (FFOs) — an announcement for the solicitation of research applications on a specific technical area — published on grants.gov declined by more than 45 percent between 2012 and 2017 from 81 FFOs in 2012 to 44 FFOs during the last calendar year. The decline had the most significant impact on the number of FFOs published in technical areas related to renewable energy, energy efficiency, and storage/other energy-related systems. 

DOE’s portfolio of FFOs has also become more concentrated in three technical areas over that time period. In 2017, more than 60 percent (27 FFOs) of the 44 FFOs were categorized by SSTI as focused on one of  three areas: fossil fuel, nuclear energy or fusion/physics related research projects. In 2012, those areas only accounted for approximately 30 percent of DOE’s FFOs. This significant increase in concentration is directly attributable to a significant decline in the number of FFOs published in the other 10 technical areas of DOE interest. 

In this first part of a two-part series, SSTI will look at the common themes and trends of 2017 that were highlighted in the 2017 MoneyTree Report. In part two, SSTI will provide insights on some potential new trends observed last year that may continue to affect the investment of venture capital in 2018.

The U.S. venture capital industry’s annual funding topped $70 billion in 2017 for the second time ever, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and CB Insights' 2017 MoneyTree Report. The $71.9 billion invested marked a 6.8 percent increase from 2016 — the record high-water mark of $76.8 billion was achieved in 2015.  

SSTI is excited to announce Salt Lake City as the site for the 2018 Annual Conference, which will be held Dec. 3 through 5, with the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR) as the host partner.

“We are excited to bring the conference to Salt Lake City, and we think attendees will have a lot to learn from the growing technology hub,” said Dan Berglund, president and CEO of SSTI. “Many places are struggling with ways to grow their innovation economies and Salt Lake City has been able to turn those struggles into positive growth that people will be able to learn from during the conference.”

USTAR has been a vital link in building the innovation ecosystem within the state of Utah. The Salt Lake City region has seen the growth of at least five unicorns, companies that are valued at more than $1 billion. Conference attendees will learn the story of how that success was achieved and USTAR’s role in helping build Utah’s innovation economy.

Financial incentives for company recruitment and retention still dominate state and local economic development expenditures, but recent research estimates that extension programs and customized job training can accomplish development goals in a more cost-effective manner. Despite this, customized services get, on average, five cents of public investment for every dollar that traditional financial incentive strategies receive.

In Shared Prosperity in America’s Communities, a chapter by economist Tim Bartik of the Upjohn Institute explores “labor-demand-side” economic development policies, those that target specific types of firms. Bartik differentiates between financial incentives and customized services, as well as how each works to broaden urban economic opportunity.

SSTI’s Tech Talkin’ Govs feature returns as governors across the country roll out their state of the state addresses. We review each speech for comments relevant to the innovation economy, and bring you their words directly from their addresses. In this second installment, we present excerpts from governors in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Washington.

Workforce development and/or apprenticeship programs receive attention in all of the below excerpts. The Alabama governor said she is seeking an additional $50 million for higher education, while the Georgia governor talked about reorganizing their technical college system. In Indiana the governor is challenging the state economic development department to create thousands of new jobs and said in the first quarter the state will begin to make strategic investments to build and support more innovation and entrepreneurship through the already established $250 million Next Level Indiana Trust Fund.

Can banks meet Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) obligations by helping address high-speed broadband gaps and the digital divide? Participants in a recent Federal Reserve webinar said yes and provided tips on how.

CRA is intended to encourage depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods and the webinar explained how financing broadband initiatives would qualify as an economic development tool that meets the CRA service tests. Our communities would benefit on a number of fronts.

SSTI’s Tech Talkin’ Govs feature returns as governors across the country roll out their state of the state addresses. We review each speech for comments relevant to the innovation economy, and bring you their words directly from their addresses. In this first installment, we present excerpts from governors in Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, New York and Vermont.

States are beginning their next round of budget proposals, following last year’s cautious approach to budgeting. SSTI begins its review of the proposals this week, presenting findings on how states are funding elements of the innovation economy with a review of Alaska, Colorado, Florida and Wyoming state budgets. While Alaska and Wyoming continue to recover from budget shortfalls exacerbated by their dependence on the energy industry, Colorado and Florida both include initiatives to increase funding to higher education and Mississippi looks to join those state offering free tuition with a proposal for free community college through the creation of a Mississippi Works Scholars Program.

Alaska, Wyoming budgets highlight realities of dependence on the energy industry

The American Institute of Physics reports that National Institute of Standards and Technology Director Walter Copan expressed interest in reviewing the Bayh-Dole and Stevenson-Wydler acts for possible revisions. Both pieces of legislation were passed in 1980 to facilitate the transfer of discoveries from the public to the private sector. Copan did not indicate specific changes but mentioned conflicts between federal and state law as a problem.

Last week, the Department of Defense (DoD) released a public announcement on the launch of a new pilot program that supports university-industry basic research collaborations focused on the discovery of novel solutions to challenging defense and national security problems. SSTI members, however, were alerted to the release of the Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) for the pilot program in a December edition of the SSTI Funding Supplement. Each week, the Funding Supplement provides SSTI members with an expansive list of FFOs and other founding opportunities for their client companies, researchers, and own organizations! Learn more about the SSTI Funding Supplement and the other benefits that SSTI members receive by visting: https://ssti.org/membership-benefits.

Mentoring programs may be celebrated across the nation as January marks National Mentoring Month, a movement started in 2002 to raise awareness of mentoring in all its forms. But more could be done to make programs more effective in both university and non-university settings, according to a recent working paper from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Mentoring in Startup Ecosystems, by Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks, et al, found that mentoring is fundamental to founder education, but that such programs could be improved, especially at universities.