SSTI Digest

In response to a request for information, SSTI submitted a letter to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s CDFI Fund about the certification process and standards for community development financial institutions (CDFIs). Just 1.4 percent of all CDFIs and 0.2 percent of total assets are registered by the CDFI Fund as “venture capital,” which is concerning given the importance of equity for many startups. SSTI’s recommendations include launching a campaign to make more venture development organizations aware of certification’s benefits and establishing more flexible subsidiary guidelines and target market thresholds for these organizations until investment capital is better-represented in the CDFI Fund’s portfolio. Read the full letter.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced dates for this year’s SBIR Road Tour, a national outreach effort to highlight funding opportunities through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Combined, these two programs invest more than $2.5 billion annually as a way to spur innovation. At each of the road tour’s 16 stops, innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers, and small technology firms will have the opportunity to meet directly with SBIR and STTR program managers at the state and federal levels to discuss the program. The tour begins in May 2017 and will continue through October.

Proposed state budgets in Louisiana, Massachusetts and North Carolina show support for innovation and higher education, with some states better positioned in their levels of support while some programs are experiencing cuts. North Carolina unveiled new programs supporting a variety of tech-based economic development initiatives, while Louisiana is restoring full funding for its state scholarships for residents despite its budget deficit.

Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) funding is showing signs of a positive return on investment, according to recently published results by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA). RIS, an initiative within EDA’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OIE), supports innovation-based and cluster-focused activities that seek to spur job creation and economic growth. In just two years, RIS awardees have leveraged $1.30 for every federal dollar requested and created nearly 1,000 jobs, according to the EDA.

Educational initiatives continue to dominate in state of the state, budget and inaugural addresses, with governors in North Carolina, New Hampshire and Oregon all acknowledging its importance in the workforce development sphere and the future competitiveness of the states.

The White House Office of Management and Budget today released America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again, an overview of the administration’s proposal for the FY 2018 federal budget. This is a precursor for the full budget proposal, expected in May. The administration would increase spending authority for defense and security by $54 billion while decreasing all other discretionary spending by an equivalent amount. The White House would eliminate the Economic Development Administration, Appalachian Regional Commission and Delta Regional Authority, among others, along with all funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and ARPA-E, and would impose significant reductions in research spending by most agencies.

The Trump Administration’s skinny budget proposal released today calls itself, “A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again.” From the information contained in the document, it is clear the Administration does not view science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship and the economic development efforts built around those activities as the path forward to making “America great again.” The program eliminations and drastic cuts are not the way to move the country forward economically. So what is behind this proposal? Two things: 1) a fight over the proper role of the federal government in the economy, and 2) a negotiating tactic to attempt to lull advocates into thinking program survival or lesser cuts are a victory. A full community response is needed and all of us must get off the sidelines and on to the playing field.

Ranging from diligent research to coin flips, pure chalk to cutest mascot, everyone has their own strategy for completing an NCAA college basketball championship bracket. At SSTI, we’ve completed our brackets based on NSF’s university data for R&D expenditures and doctorates produced, as well as the selection committee’s rankings. The chart included with this article displays the data.

Update: The bracket that predicted the men's tournament using a combination of R&D expenditures, doctorates produced and NCAA ranking finished in the top 10 percent of all brackets submitted to the NCAA's tournament challenge. The NSF data-only men's backets finished in the bottom 20 percent. The expenditure and combined women's brackets did predict Stanford's success, but were otherwise not particularly strong. More details for all of the men’s and women’s brackets below.

The SSTI Excellence in TBED awards program is back! SSTI wants to provide you with a national platform to share your organization’s success stories and be recognized during this year’s 2017 Annual Conference as a leader in the economic development field. Tell your story by submitting an application in one of this year’s awards categories.

Research-performing institutions of higher education increased their science and engineering (S&E) research space by only 1.4 percent from FY 2013 to FY 2015, according to the biennial  Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities, the lowest two-year percentage increase since NSF started collecting the data in 1988.  In FY 2015, total research space reached 214.7 million net assignable square feet (NASF) – an increase of 2.9 million in NASF from 211.8 million in FY 2013. The rate of increase was substantially below the average two-year growth rate (4.9 percent), as measured from FY 1988 to FY 2015.

Science and engineering research space in academic institutions, change over two-year period: FYs 1988–2015: (source NSF)

Join us in Washington, DC on Sept. 13-15 for SSTI’s 2017 Annual Conference. During each conference, the leading policymakers and practitioners of regional innovation economies come together to discuss critical opportunities and common challenges. Washington, DC provides an opportunity not only to meet with these peers, but also to showcase the impact of science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship for federal officials and legislators. Learn more about the conference, register at early bird rates and reserve your room at ssticonference.org.

The Midwest and the Greater Philadelphia region have found pathways to build strong life sciences industries and create environments that provide the necessary risk capital for healthcare startups. These life sciences clusters are driven by leading healthcare companies, high quality health systems, and top notch research institutions as well as strong entrepreneurial support ecosystems. The region’s startup ecosystem saw 375 life startups attract over $1.7 billion in investments in 2016, according to the Midwest Healthcare Growth Capital Report from BioEnterprise, a Cleveland-based biomedical accelerator.