SSTI Digest

This week, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced 40 new Growth Accelerator Fund Competition awardees. SSTI’s proposal to identify programs and partners that have expanded the participation of minority business owners and researchers in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is among the winners.

With this $50,000 prize, SSTI will work with FAST awardees and other SBIR stakeholders to identify tested, replicable initiatives and build a plan for a national network that will implement similar efforts across the country. Many SSTI members with FAST program experience have already committed to sharing their experiences for the project, and other organizations that have a successful track record of working with inclusive companies on SBIR awards are encouraged to participate—contactus@ssti.org to learn more.

Despite Carnegie Classification as an R2 institution, Northern Illinois University (NIU) and other similar universities do not qualify for existing R&D capacity-building initiatives targeting Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) states or minority-serving institutions (MSIs). In a recent article, Northern Illinois University administrators defended the necessity for a new designation for federal agencies to use to prioritize R&D funding for institutions such as NIU.

This new designation, “Emerging Research Institutions” (ERI), is included in the CHIPS and Science Act. The ERI label applies to all institutions of higher education that have established undergraduate or graduate programs but conduct less than $50 million in federal R&D.

Without information and connections on how to access and leverage the diverse American workforce, foreign multinational companies often have trouble finding qualified workers as they establish new – or expand existing – operations in the United States. Now, these companies have help from the SelectTalent USA initiative, a joint initiative of the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Labor, and Education. The new partnership seeks to help foreign investors build local and state partnerships, adapt their traditional talent-development approaches to the U.S., and harness America’s unique comparative advantage—its diverse and skilled workforce.

SelectTalentUSA supports the three departments' efforts to promote foreign direct investment (FDI) that creates good-paying jobs in America. The U.S. government is encouraging these investments because they can “create an equitable economy for workers and families and revitalize communities that have been overlooked or left behind.” 

The recession brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic (February 2020 – April 2020) saw an extremely sharp drop in both GDP and employment, followed by a relatively fast return to non-recessionary rates of unemployment. This swift recovery was a substantial contrast to the periods of the Dot Com Recession (March 2001 – November 2001) and Great Recession (December 2007 – June 2009). These previous recessions saw both dips in GDP, followed by gradual rises in unemployment rates over several months or years, with a gradual decrease in unemployment over the coming years.

This morning, NSF announced 44 development, or Type-1, awards from its first Regional Innovation Engines competition. According NSF’s visualization, 33 of the lead organizations are from academic institutions, with 13 of those from institutions that are not classified as R1s, and the remaining 11 leads from other types of nonprofits. The Type-1 awards provide up to $1 million over two years for the partners to work toward strengthening their regional innovation ecosystems, with an eye toward developing a stronger Type-2 proposal in the future. Congratulations to the SSTI members that received awards as lead organizations—including Emory University, Kansas State University, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, University of Hawaii, University of Nevada Reno, University of South Carolina, University of Texas at Austin, Washington University in St. Louis, The Water Council—and the many members participating as partners across the awards.

America’s Seed Fund Week, a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) event, will be held online May 15-18. The event connects entrepreneurs and organizations that support entrepreneurs to SBIR and STTR, known as America’s Seed Fund. America’s Seed Fund is the largest source of early stage funding in the U.S.

The event starts at 2 p.m. on May 15 with a Startup Expo, hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Investment and Innovation (OII). Qualified startups will showcase their technology developed through America’s Seed Fund. This year’s startups focus on 14 critical technology areas, including biotechnology, quantum science, artificial intelligence, space technology, renewable energy, and hypersonics. 

The International Economic Development Council (IEDC), in partnership with six national and international associations and the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA), announced the launch of the inaugural Economic Recovery Corps (ERC) program on May 11. The program will place up to 65 ERC Fellows within partnering organizations across the United States. The Fellows will engage in new economic development projects encouraging equitable and inclusive change. Each Fellow will stay at the host organization for 2.5 years.

Organizations or communities ready to advance a local or regional economic development strategy or transformative project but have yet to find the resources to bridge the gap between planning and implementation should apply. Additionally, ERC is looking for partners that are “action-oriented and dedicated to building stronger, more resilient and reimagined local economies.” 

A recently formed coalition of national leaders from higher education, government, business, nonprofits, and the military have created the Council on Higher Education as a Strategic Asset(HESA). Inspired by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), the council will advance recommendations for changes in higher education institutions to enable them to prepare the workforce to support the United States’ most critical national priorities. HESA will create a strategy for this change and deliver it to the president of the United States and targeted members of the administration, select members of the U.S. Congress, state governors and legislators, and higher education governing boards and chief executive officers by June 2024.

An MOU between the Korean Institute for Advancement of Technology, the Korean Battery Industry Association, the Korean Electronics Technology Institute, and the NAATBatt Association, aims to bring Korean battery manufacturers to the U.S. NAATBatt, created in 2008 as an R&D consortium of companies to promote the manufacture of lithium-ion and other advanced batteries in the U.S., focuses on connecting foreign battery industry associations and supporting their members in establishing business relationships. 

In anticipation of America's Seed Fund week on May 15-18, 2023, this article will explore the last 10 years of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program award data. These data cover all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

SBIR is a highly competitive awards-based program that funds small businesses to support R&D projects with potential for commercialization. Eleven federal agencies participate in the SBIR program, each with varying budgets, requirements, and goals.

The treemap below shows a visual, interactive breakdown of agency award share at the state level. Clicking any box zooms further into the map, showing the awards per agency--and branch when applicable--by phase.

The Indiana General Assembly recently passed three bills that have the potential to impact the workforce in the state. Two bills address college affordability while the third exempts active-duty military from paying individual state income tax. House Bill 1449 will automatically enroll eligible students in a state program that offers 100% tuition coverage at public colleges, and Senate Bill 167 mandates high school students to complete and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to increase students applying for financial aid. Meanwhile, House Bill 1034, now signed into law, exempts active-duty military from paying individual income taxes starting with fiscal year 2024.

A recent study published in the Journal of Higher Education reveals that a college graduate’s mix of funding sources may reflect when they were born and how likely they were to obtain a graduate degree. A look at three cohorts of college graduates, those born in 1953-1962, 1963-1972, and 1973-1982 showed that the proportion of students who utilized one or two sources to fund their education decreased, while those who used three or more increased. Additionally, those in the most recent cohort who used more sources were found to be less likely to obtain a graduate degree compared to those who were fully funded by their families.