SSTI Digest

July 25 at 3pm ET | Free

Immigrant talent is a key driver of innovation in technology and entrepreneurship. However, navigating and understanding the many legal options available can be challenging. Join this TBED Community of Practice webinar to learn about pathways for TBED immigration, including lesser-known tools and under-utilized features of common immigration paths.

Speakers:
Sophie Alcorn, Founder & CEO of Alcorn Law
Doug Rand, Senior Advisor to the Director of USCIS

Register here to attend.

During a recent webinar presented by the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC), center representatives announced details of its initial round of R&D funding opportunities, as outlined in its vision for 2024 document. The projects to be funded, which NSTC refers to as Jump Start Projects, are (1) AI-based Radio Frequency (RF) Design and (2) Test Vehicles. ​ During the webinar, Jay Lewis, director of the CHIPS for America NSTC Program, noted that “the aim is to deliver impactful results through early investments in projects with a near-term time horizon.” ​He also announced that approximately $100 million will be available to fund the first set of external teams. ​ Further announcements regarding the NSTC facilities model and selection process, as well as the launch of a workforce center of excellence, are expected in the summer of 2024.

Hear from your Peers—Three Build to Scale Success Stories
June 20 @ 2pm ET | Free

Are you interested in leveraging EDA's Build to Scale program to launch or grow your innovation programs? Go beyond what you can learn from the NOFO and video explainers and hear from three B2S awardees about their experiences with the program. Speakers will discuss what challenge they sought to address, how that process developed in practice, and what impact the award helped them achieve in their communities.

Speakers:

Amanda Hedrick, Director, Grants and Sponsored Programs, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, Shawnee State University/Kricker Innovation Hub

Stacy Nimmo, Executive Director, Red Wing Ignite

Tim Jones, Chief Operating Officer, Innosphere Ventures

Register for free today.

The American Council on Education (ACE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching are seeking input into a social and economic mobility classification. The feedback form, available here, will be open until July 31, 2024.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the reopening of five voucher opportunities (VOs) to accelerate clean energy technology adoption and the launch of two new VOs with $15 million in available funding to support manufacturers via the Voucher Program. The solicitations are structured so the first submission window solicits proposals from potential voucher providers and the second, which should be open soon, will be from potential voucher recipients. The application deadline for the first window is no later than July 9, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Three pieces of federal legislation enacted in 2021 and 2022—the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS Act), and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—collectively authorize nearly $1.5 trillion to reshape America’s industrial landscape. But will this money help the 107 Black-owned and 151 Hispanic-owned companies in the manufacturing supply chains that the legislation is designed to support? 

In the paper, Racial Equity in America’s New Industrial Transformation, Miles Chandler, Peter Eberhardt, and Howard Wial of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) analyze original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and first-tier suppliers in 13 key supply chains to understand how the money from the above-mentioned federal legislation could, via their policy recommendations, lead to a racially and ethnically inclusive industrial future.

In a recent ruling, a U.S. Federal Court of Appeals panel upheld the preliminary injunction against the Fearless Fund, preventing the organization from resuming operations of its Fearless Strivers Grant Contest, which awards winners with a cash prize and access to mentorship and business support services. Following on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court decision ending Affirmative Action in college admissions (previously covered by SSTI here), this legal challenge tests whether private entities, like the Fearless Fund, can operate race-conscious funding programs without violating federal anti-discrimination laws.

Led by increases in retail trade and professional, scientific, and technical services, the number of annual business applications nationwide has increased 119%, or nearly three million, from 2005 to 2023. However, the share of applications classified as high-propensity, or those more likely to result in businesses with a payroll, has decreased in all but the health care and social assistance sector, leading to a 26-percent point drop (58% to 32%) over the same period.

This article builds upon a prior SSTI article covering the same data, but examines which two-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industry sectors are generating more new business applications and which are declining. For a list of all NAICS sectors and their codes, refer to the NAICS Association website.

Two weeks ago, I let the SSTI Board of Trustees know that I wanted to step down as President & CEO and that a search for a successor be launched. After leading the organization since its inception in 1996, I had come to the conclusion now was the right time for a new chapter both for SSTI and for me. The job posting for the new President & CEO can be found at https://ssti.applytojob.com/apply/OSDVL6j7zk/President-CEO with a pdf of the full description at: https://ssti.org/sites/default/files/SSTI%20President%20CEO%20Job%20Des…

I won’t be going away entirely and more on that later.

I have been involved in this field that has become known as tech-based economic development (TBED) for almost four decades, both speaking for and to the field as the head of SSTI for the last 28 years. TBED was largely a new field when I started in it in 1985, but even then the hallmarks of the field were evident:

SSTI, a national nonprofit organization focused on strengthening initiatives to create a better future through science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, seeks a President & CEO, who will work with the SSTI Board of Trustees and staff to set the vision and direction for the organization. The President & CEO serves as both the voice for and to the technology-based economic development (TBED) field, advocating for the field, and encouraging effective action by TBED organizations and personnel.

The President & CEO has the ability to shape the nation’s economic competitiveness, work closely with states and regions as they plan for our innovation-focused economy, and guide the field to operating with maximum impact and efficiency. This opening comes as there is increasing interest at the federal, state and local level in the U.S.’s technological competitiveness and ensuring the benefits of the technology economy reach all regions and people.

In SSTI’s recent TBED Community of Practice webinar, representatives from SourceLink and EcoMap Technologies shared practical insights on how ecosystem mapping supports both entrepreneurship and regional economic development.

The discussion focused on ecosystem mapping as a fundamental first step in understanding and strengthening entrepreneurs. Maria Meyers, founder of SourceLink, explained that ecosystem mapping does more than create a directory of resources—it activates a network. “If you build that network, you will build the ecosystem to create what you want in your community,” she said.

Business applications have greatly increased over the last two decades, jumping 119% from 2005 to 2023. However, the rate of high-propensity business applications—applications identified by the Census Bureau as having higher likelihoods of turning into businesses with payroll—have decreased as a share of all applications every year since 2005, despite having grown 22% over the same period. Breaking these numbers down by states shows uneven trends, with the difference in shares of high-propensity business applications in 2005 and 2023 decreasing by over 20 percentage points in most states.