SSTI Digest

A computer science education is viewed as a valuable prerequisite for many technology jobs, and, as a result, policymakers are responding to make these programs more ubiquitous. In January, the Obama administration announced his $4 billion Computer Science For All proposal, a nationwide effort to help all students from kindergarten through high school learn computer science. A cross-section of businesses, education leaders, and NGOs launched the Computer Science Education Coalition earlier this week, a nonprofit organization focused on encouraging Congress to invest $250 million or K-12 computer science education investments. These federal funds would complement state efforts – such as those detailed here – and spark further state initiatives to expand computer science education, according to the coalition.

This week, the White House announced the ConnectAll Initiative, an effort to reform federal communications programs to focus on bringing more Americans online. The focus of this effort will be on lower-income families who often lack access to affordable service and the devices to make use of them. Under the proposed plan, low-income families could be eligible for a monthly broadband subsidy. Getting more people online is vital to the future of the American economy and to shared prosperity, according to the report released by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in tandem with the White House announcement. Seeing the potential economic benefits, a number of states, including New York and Alabama, have recently made their own investments in Internet accessibility.

Over the last month, several universities have announced new initiatives that look to spur investments in university-related startups to support economic growth and prosperity within their region or state. These include efforts in Triangle Venture Alliance in North Carolina, Purdue Ventures in Indiana, and a partnership between Oregon State University and a local investment fund.

North Carolina

The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that it would commit up to $12.5 million in pilot grants to test novel ways of broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). NSF INCLUDES will make up to 40 two-year, pilot awards to support STEM efforts that improve the preparation, increase the participation, and ensure the contributions of individuals from groups that traditionally have been underserved and/or underrepresented in the STEM including women, blacks, Hispanics, and people with disabilities. In the FY17 budget proposal, NSF has requested $16 million for larger, five-year alliance awards according to Sciencemag.org.

When factoring in the broader manufactured goods value chain – including activities such as research and development, corporate management, logistics operations, and advertising and branding – manufacturing’s footprint on the American economy is much larger than what is measured in most analyses, according to a new report from the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI). In their report, The Manufacturing Value Chain Is Much Bigger Than You Think! researchers from MAPI find that, although traditional analyses typically place manufacturing’s proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) at around 11 percent and its share of economy-wide full-time equivalent employment at 9 percent, the extended manufactured goods value chain accounts for approximately one-third of GDP and employment in the United States.

New National Science Foundation data indicates that the federal government’s support for national laboratories and research centers has continued to decline in constant dollars after peaking with the 2011 infusion of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding.  Six federally funded research and development centers (FFRDC’s) comprise about one-half of all FFRDC spending: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and five Department of Energy national labs. Of these centers, JPL and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory experienced the greatest gains, with budgets increasing by about 9 percent between FY 2013-2014. FY 2014 was the final year for ARRA-based spending, leaving FFRDC support in and uncertain place in the post-Recovery Act period. Read the report…

Over the years, the SSTI Digest has covered every aspect of the innovation economy, touching on entrepreneurship, high-tech research, STEM education, economic trends, global competitiveness, federal, state and local policy, and much more. We have striven to achieve a balance between news and analysis, bringing our readers everything they need to understand the evolving state of tech-based economic development.

To celebrate our second decade, SSTI has assembled some of the most important articles of our past 20 years.

On March 1, 1996, the first edition of the SSTI Digest was sent to a select group of fewer than 60 state tech-based economic development leaders. The original subscribers received the Digest via fax every Friday because Sprint offered unlimited, free calls and faxes each Friday. Since these early days, the Digest has grown to thousands of subscribers from across the country as well as hundreds of subscribers from several countries.

Over the past 20 years, the Digest’s subscriber base has grown and diversified to include not only state economic development professionals, but professionals from local governments, venture development organizations, nonprofit organizations, and universities. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Digest, SSTI reached out to current subscribers of the Digest who also received the original edition to share their thoughts on the Digest and why it remains an essential read for them:

The Department of Energy (DOE) has published a formal response to the final report of the Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories (CRENEL). The commission’s report, Securing America’s Future: Realizing the Potential of the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories found that the DOE Labs need to focus on six key themes: recognizing their value; rebuilding trust; maintaining alignment and quality; maximizing impact; managing effectiveness and efficiency; and, ensuring lasting change. In response to the recommendations offered in the CRENEL report, the DOE’s formal response indicates that the department is committed to executing the following objectives, including to:

Governors around the country continue to lay out priorities for the next legislative session. In the coming weeks, SSTI will review gubernatorial addresses and budget proposals related to economic development. This week, we highlight developments in Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey.

Immigrants play a significant role in American innovation, while women and minorities are underrepresented, according to a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). In the report, the authors utilize a survey of more than 900 individuals who have contributed to the development of a notable technological innovation from 2011 to 2014, allowing them to gain additional insight on items such as their gender, ethnicity, education, funding sources, and age.

While the Department of Commerce’s (DOC) Economic Development Administration (EDA) continues to take steps to implement the Federal Loan Guarantees for Innovative Technologies in Manufacturing (ITM) program, additional steps remain before they can issue loan guarantees according to a new report from the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO). To reduce redundancies across similar programs, GAO recommends that EDA works with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to identify additional gaps in capital access that the program could fill, and conduct outreach to help target those gaps.