SSTI Digest

SBA recently announced its 2023 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition Stage Two prize winners. The 35 award-winning accelerator partnerships will receive $150,000 each in unrestricted funds. In 2023, the SBA introduced a two-stage format for the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition. In May, Stage One Catalyze winners received $50,000 to build capacity and connections across the U.S. innovation ecosystem, focused on the national priorities mentioned above. The SBA awarded 40 Stage One prizes to organizations from 30 states and territories, including D.C. and Puerto Rico, and invited them to apply for Stage Two of the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition.  Growth Accelerator Fund Competition Stage Two winners in national security and global competitiveness are: DE: Delaware Technology Park  KY: - XLerateHealth (dba XLerator Network)  MS: Mississippi State University  NH:  Hannah Grimes Center  NM: University of New Mexico (dba New Mexico Bioscience Authority)   ND: University of North Dakota UND Center for Innovation Foundation  TX: BioMedSA  VA: Virginia Small Business Development Center at George Mason University  WA: - Greater Seattle Partners…

As of this writing, Congress has yet to agree to fund the federal government beyond this Saturday, Sept. 30. Major media outlets are covering the play-by-play of these developments—i.e., the Senate’s slow progress toward a weekend vote on a continuing resolution and uncertainty about the House—and providing some information about broad effects, but how would a shutdown affect tech-based economic development (TBED) programs? The answer varies by agency and program, with many details remaining unclear, even at this late hour. General approach to shutdown activities According to guidance provided by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on agency contingency plans for a government shutdown, activities funded by a lapsed appropriation generally must stop unless the activity is necessary to protect life or property (or implied to be necessary for the continuation of such activities). Most TBED activities do not meet this standard, which is reflected in agency plans. For example, the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) 2023 plan is to continue with 22% of their staff, who are primarily working with patients and securing/maintaining important…

The United States boasts the world’s largest economy and is home to many of the most prestigious, highly ranked universities across the globe, leading to a highly educated population. Overall, advanced education pays off in terms of personal earnings and national innovation. Factors like field of study, skills, and job demand can greatly affect earning potential. For example, many engineering jobs require a bachelor’s degree, not a master's or doctorate, yet have the highest average starting salaries of any field. The divide becomes even larger when looking at specialized fields of study. This divergence is particularly true for jobs in medicine and law, which have high entry requirements. In the United States, average earnings increase alongside both age and educational attainment. Workers with advanced degrees earn the most, while those with the  least amount of education earn the least. This difference in mean earnings widens with age and experience. For example, those aged 25 to 34 earn an average of $73,700 with a bachelor’s degree and $121,400 with a professional degree, while those aged 45 to 54 average $100,900 with a bachelor’s and $213,…

The Department of Defense announced yesterday that it issued $238 million from "Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act" funding for the establishment of eight Microelectronics Commons (Commons) regional innovation hubs. With $2 billion in funding for Fiscal Years 2023 through 2027, the Microelectronics Commons program aims to leverage these hubs to accelerate domestic hardware prototyping and "lab-to-fab" transition of semiconductor technologies. The hope is this will help mitigate supply chain risks and ultimately expedite access to the most cutting-edge microchips for U.S. troops. The eight awardees are:   1. Northeast Microelectronics Coalition (NEMC) Hub Awardee (Hub Lead): The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech) Hub Lead State: Massachusetts FY23 Award:  $19.7 M 90 Hub Members   2. Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons (SCMC) Hub Awardee: The Applied Research Institute (ARI) Hub Lead State: Indiana FY23 Award:  $32.9 M 130 Hub Members   3. California Defense Ready…

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) recently announced the 11 recipients of the 2023 STEM Talent Challenge. The challenge supports programs to train science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) talent and fuel regional innovation economies across the nation. The $4.5 million competition provides up to $500,000 in funding for programs that complement their region’s innovation economy, create pathways to good-paying STEM careers, and build talent pipelines for businesses to fill in-demand jobs in emerging and transformative sectors. The 11 awardees, selected from a pool of 90 applicants, will leverage an additional $4.7 million in matching funds from a variety of private and public sector sources. The grantees’ projects support work-and-learn programs to increase America’s STEM-capable workforce in sectors such as aerospace, biomanufacturing, cybersecurity, data science, geospatial, artificial intelligence, information technology, and advanced manufacturing. The STEM Talent Challenge grant recipients are: Austin Community College District (Austin, Texas Project: STARS Training Program (Semiconductor…

Those who gather data know that the results collected in 2020 during pandemic shutdowns do not reveal actual trends. This phenomenon was the case for a recent survey by Babson College researchers for the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey (GEM APS). They found that rates of entrepreneurship, which had been on the rise since 2015, dropped in 2020. However, their newest research shows an upward trend in 2021 and 2022, when the U.S. had the highest levels of entrepreneurial activity since their first survey in 1999. In 2022, 19% of working-age adults were in the process of running a business or were running a company less than 42 months old. The current U.S. survey found such trends a rise in manufacturing and logistics companies since the pandemic, an increasing focus among entrepreneurs on their businesses' social and environmental impacts, and a rising rate of companies bringing innovative new products to market. The rise of manufacturing and logistics since the pandemic A supply chain survey from Capgemini published in 2020 found that 65% of companies in the U.S. saw a need to shift their supply chain strategies after the pandemic…

Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo testified Tuesday to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on the implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act. During the hearing, Raimondo spoke about the importance of the Regional Innovation and Technology Hubs and CHIPS manufacturing programs for national and economic security and emphasized the need for additional funding to make Congress’s vision for these programs successful. The focus of the hearing was the Department of Commerce’s implementation of incentives for semiconductor and related manufacturing, but a wide range of topics was covered. Committee members asked Secretary Raimondo to comment on skilled workforce, national security, reliance on other nations, and guardrails on funding, among other issues. The Tech Hubs program, mentioned by over a half-dozen committee members, also received significant attention. Some questions, like those of committee members Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Claudia Tenney (R-NY), prompted Raimondo to mention the need to appropriate more money for the program. Raimondo stated, “The reality is, we just need more money for these Tech Hubs” and that “all of the ones that are…

Less than half of one percent of Americans attend Ivy-Plus colleges, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Yet these twelve colleges account for more than 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs, a quarter of U.S. Senators, half of all Rhodes scholars, and three-fourths of Supreme Court justices appointed in the last half-century. With the above information in mind, Raj Chetty, David J. Deming, and John N. Friedman concluded from their research for NBER that the eight Ivy League colleges plus Chicago, Duke, MIT, and Stanford could diversify the socioeconomic backgrounds of America’s leaders by changing pieces of their admissions practices. They shared their conclusions in a July 2023 study that found that highly selective private colleges currently amplify the persistence of privilege across generations. The authors strove to answer these main questions throughout their study: Do highly selective private colleges amplify the persistence of privilege across generations by taking students from high-income families and helping them obtain high-status, high-paying leadership positions? Conversely, to what extent could such colleges diversify the…

SSTI’s 2023 Annual Conference was Sept. 6-8 in Atlanta, and nearly 400 practitioners and policymakers working on tech-based economic development attended to discuss their latest activities, challenges, and successes in strengthening their regional innovation economies. Conference highlights include U.S. Economic Development Administration director Alejandra Y. Castillo confirming the agency’s commitment to spurring globally competitive regions through Tech Hubs; SSTI president and CEO Dan Berglund discussing what has changed—and what hasn’t—over 25 years of observing trends in TBED; workshops on advancing equity, strategic communications, and new approaches to TBED; and, a new format for engaging with federal funding agencies that included nearly 90 one-on-one meetings between attendees and program staff. Thank you to our speakers, facilitators, partners, and attendees for helping to make this event a success!   Assistant Secretary Alejandra Y. Castillo speaks with conference attendees. Attendees tour Tech Square in Atlanta. SSTI president and CEO Dan Berglund speaks before a full house.

The Internal Revenue Service recently published new interim guidance for companies to use when amortizing research or experimental expenditures — a new requirement for tax year 2022 created in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The law’s changeover from allowing deductions to requiring amortization was expected to create significant tax burdens for small businesses, which could prove particularly destructive to newer companies funded primarily through nonfungible grants or contracts. According to an initial analysis by Grant Thorton, the proposed rules provide additional direction to help companies identify the appropriate costs for amortization but also could require further accounting method changes. A notable clarification in the rules seems to state that companies providing research services must amortize only those research expenditures that either entail financial risk to the company or would allow the company to use any resulting product for its business. Congress has proposed legislation allowing companies to return to deducting their research expenses, but these rules have not moved forward despite widespread support.

SBA's Office of Investment and Innovation has launched an Investment Capital Advisory Committee (ICAC) to serve as an independent source of advice and recommendations to SBA on institutional investment market trends, innovation, and policy impacting small businesses’ ability to access patient investment capital. Committee members will examine the challenges facing capital markets, investment managers, small business entrepreneurs, and the stakeholders supporting them in these subject areas and recommend policy and programmatic changes to help strengthen and refine SBA’s programs and services to facilitate better the flow of investment capital to undercapitalized small businesses. The committee will provide information and recommendations on how SBA can: Promote greater awareness of SBA investment and innovation division programs and services. Cultivate greater public-private engagement, cooperation, and collaboration. Develop or evolve SBA programs and services to address long-term capital access gaps faced by small businesses and the investment managers that seek to support them. The committee members are: Arjun Gupta (…

A group of technology-related organizations, including SSTI, is asking Congress to support the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs program with additional, substantial appropriations in FY 2024. This new letter is a follow-up to one sent by SSTI and a broader group of organizations earlier in the year. So far, the appropriations committees in each chamber have proposed $41 million for Tech Hubs in FY 2024. While this amount is consistent with the level funded by last year’s regular appropriations bills, it is much less than the $500 million in total provided in FY 2023—and well short of the $3 billion authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act. SSTI’s Innovation Advocacy Council and organizations signing onto both letters continue to urge Congress to fund the program at its authorized level so that EDA can implement Tech Hubs at a scale that can achieve its mission of catalyzing globally competitive regional economies throughout the country.