SSTI Digest

The Department of Defense (DOD) receives about $95 billion annually to support research and development efforts. But some members of Congress feared that requesting and allocating those funds took too long. It usually takes two years, which hinders response to evolving threats. The Senate addressed this issue in the Senate Report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, calling for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review DOD research funding flexibilities. GAO reports that service officials responsible for R&D efforts were not familiar with all of the flexibilities available to them. GAO reviewed U.S. Code, relevant legislation, and DOD documents to identify flexibilities. They selected a nongeneralizable sample of five flexibilities to provide variation in what they allowed DOD to do. They also selected 25 activities as illustrative examples and to assess their use. GAO interviewed DOD and military department officials to gather data. At least 26 authorities related to budgeting and financial management allowed DOD flexibility in its use of funds to support research and development (R&D), innovation, and…

Every year, inadequate childcare causes the US economy to take a $122B hit, according to a study by an economist at the University of Pennsylvania. This economic hit affects everyone—workers, businesses, and taxpayers. Parents lose income when they miss work to take care of a child. Businesses suffer from lower productivity when employees are absent. Taxpayers end up paying more when parents leave the workforce and generate fewer tax revenues. Future economic growth slows when tax revenues decline. The COVID pandemic brought this issue to the forefront. “… COVID amplified how crucial and under-resourced the childcare sector is. And also how vital it is to our economy,” said Tara Colton, executive vice president of economic security at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. “Now we talk about (childcare) as (part of the) economic infrastructure. We see … the significant impacts of (inadequate childcare) on the ability of our economy to function and the ability of people to return to the workforce, advance in the workforce, etcetera.” Throughout the country, these issues are being addressed by SSTI members and their close associates. City of…

Last month, NIH came out with a policy statement that prohibits using generative AI to analyze or critique NIH grant applications and contract proposals. Specifically, as written in NIH Notice NOT-OD-23-149, “NIH prohibits NIH scientific peer reviewers from using natural language processors, large language models, or other generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies for analyzing and formulating peer review critiques for grant applications and R&D contract proposals.” The problem with using generative AI in peer review is that it compromises confidentiality. As expressed in the notice, once information is loaded onto a generative AI platform, “AI tools have no guarantee of where data are being sent, saved, viewed, or used in the future, and thus NIH is revising its Confidentiality Agreements for Peer Reviewers to clarify that reviewers are prohibited from using AI tools in analyzing and critiquing NIH grant applications and R&D contract proposals. Such actions violate NIH’s peer review confidentiality requirements.” NIH's Michael Lauer, deputy director for extramural research, Stephanie Constant, Ph.D., review policy officer, and Amy Wernimont, Ph.D.,…

It appears that innovation is contagious. Maps reveal that once there is a concentration of patents granted to inventors in one U.S. county, innovation starts to percolate in neighboring counties. And the phenomenon isn’t found only in established life sciences hubs like San Diego or Boston. SSTI observed this spillover effect in Washtenaw County, Michigan and Hennepin County, Minnesota, among other places. These data suggest that when a strong base is located, likely due to new companies and startups establishing themselves, innovation lays down its roots and spreads to other counties. SSTI used the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) utility patent data from 1998-2020 across industries to draw insights such as how innovation in the life sciences spreads locally. Our analysis and maps for 22 years of life science-related shows clustering in areas where one would expect it, but also in areas of the country where it might be less expected. We started by identifying life science-related patents, and then explored both the quantity and percent share these patents for each U.S. county. Specifically, SSTI examined the patent data of medical technology,…

The U.S. Economic Development Administration has recently made multiple staff appointments for its national program offices. Cristina Killingsworth is now EDA’s deputy assistant secretary for policy and external Affairs, having formerly been chief of staff for the International Trade Administration. This new position blends responsibility for four national programs—Tech Hubs, Recompete, Build Back Better and Good Jobs challenges—with oversight of the agency’s legislative and public affairs activities. Eric Smith is now Tech Hubs program director, with Chivas Grannum filling Smith’s position as acting director of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Director. Scott Andes is now Recompete program director and Tech Hubs policy advisor, with Alex Jones taking on the role of director on an acting basis for the Build Back Better Regional Challenge program. For more information on EDA leadership, see: https://www.eda.gov/about/leadership.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently launched two Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs): the National Clean Investment Fund and the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator. The National Clean Investment fund provides $14 billion to provide accessible, affordable financing for tens of thousands of clean technology projects nationwide. The Clean Communities Investment Accelerator provides $6 billion funding and technical assistance to public, quasi-public, not-for-profit, and nonprofit community lenders working in low-income and disadvantaged communities The National Clean Investment Fund will provide grants to support from two to three national clean financing institutions to partner with the private sector. At least 40% of the funds from the National Clean Investment Fund will be dedicated to low-income and disadvantaged communities, including rural communities, Tribal communities, communities with environmental justice concerns, energy communities, and persistent poverty counties. The deadline to apply to this grant competition is October 12, 2023. EPA intends to make two or three awards under this competition. Applicants must be eligible…

Over the past two decades, business has done most of the heavy lifting for research and development (R&D) funding. Calculated in the dollar value of 2012, business funding increased from $10.4 billion in 2000 to an estimated $36.0 billion in 2021. The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) keeps track of these types of statistics, and the above data is from Business Sector Increases Funding for Basic Research, one of three InfoCharts released last month. The “Business Sector Increases Funding for Basic Research,” InfoChart, written by NCSES’ Gary Anderson, explains that although federal funding increased from 2000 to 2005, it has remained stagnant since then at near or below $40 billion. Whether looking at a longer or a shorter timeframe, the trend of declining federal funds is apparent. From 1961–70, on average, the federal government funded 70% of basic research, and the business sector funded less than 20%. But, by 2021, the federal government only funded 40% of basic research. At the same time, the business sector’s share of funding had increased to 36%. The increase in business funding represents a return to the 1950s…

Over the last month, the Department of Energy (DOE), National Science Foundation (NSF), and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have released plans for complying with a 2022 White House policy that requires scientific papers resulting from federally funded research to be freely available upon publication, sunsetting the current one-year embargo period by 2025. The 2023 DOE Public Access Plan describes how DOE-funded research and digital data will become more open and available to the public. Building on the previous DOE Public Access Plan of July 2014, the new Plan charts a path to: Provide free, immediate access to peer-reviewed, scholarly publications; Provide quick access to scientific data displayed in or underlying publications and increased access to other data; Use persistent identifiers (PIDs) for research outputs, researchers, organizations, and awards to help ensure scientific and research integrity. NSF Public Access Plan 2.0 includes efforts to: Maintain the NSF Public Access Repository, where NSF-supported publications and other research products are publicly available.  Fund…

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) has updated its Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Content Guidelines, effective April 2023. CEDS are strategy-driven plans for economic development prepared through a regionally owned planning process. Designed to build regional capacity and economic resilience, an active CEDS is a prerequisite for EDA designation as an Economic Development District (EDD), which serves as the main conduit through which TBED organizations may seek funding from EDA’s Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance program.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is expanding a network of research centers across the country to translate university-based R&D into new, and hopefully, better advanced materials. In late June, NSF announced the distribution of $162 million to support the creation of nine more Materials Research Science & Engineering Centers (MRSECs), bringing the total number of centers to twenty. Each of the new centers will receive $18 million over six years. NSF reports the latest MRSECs will expand the centers' portfolios to pursue a broad range of research projects to unlock new capabilities in several areas: semiconductors, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, sustainable energy sources and storage, advanced manufacturing, quantum computing and sensing, and other areas critical for U.S. leadership in materials research. In addition to enabling new commercial opportunities and industries in the U.S., the centers will train students and early career researchers who will become tomorrow's scientific and technical leaders. The nine new MRSECs are the: Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)…

The Senate appropriations committee advanced a set of FY 2024 funding bills this morning that largely continue level funding from FY 2023. While the full bill text is not yet available, a press release about the commerce and science bill identified $200 million for the Engines program at NSF, $175 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership at NIST, and $50 million for Build to Scale, $41 million for Tech Hubs, and $2.5 million for the STEM Talent Challenge at EDA. These amounts are all inline with the funding provided through regular FY 2023 appropriations but do not yet include any of the supplementary amounts included in last year’s omnibus (e.g., Tech Hubs was funded at a total of $500 million in FY 2023); see SSTI’s article on FY 2023 funding for details. The House subcommittee overseeing commerce and science funding is expected to advance its FY 2024 bill tomorrow morning. Senate appropriations also advanced funding for SBA this morning, but program funding levels are unavailable.

SSTI’s Annual Conference is in Atlanta this Sept. 6-8. The event will feature numerous opportunities to connect with your peers from across the country who are working to strengthen their regional innovation economies through roundtables focused on specific areas of practice and workshops on communications, building stronger organizations, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. The entire conference is available for a registration fee of just $390. Reserve your spot today! An overview of the schedule can be found below. Visit 2023.ssticonference.org for the full agenda. September 6 Content options include a full-day introduction to tech-based economic development, a workshop on organization management, and roundtables for attendees to meet with, and learn from, peers working across the country on risk capital and higher education. September 7 Morning plenary sessions will highlight big thinkers and innovation trends. The afternoon will include a financing forum for attendees to learn about programs that fund TBED and include roundtables on state programs, venture development organizations, and entrepreneurship development. …