SSTI Digest

Last week, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer presented her Fiscal Year 2025 Executive Budget recommendations to a joint session of the House and Senate Appropriations committees. As part of the $80.7 billion proposal, Whitmer outlined a number of priorities that seek to enhance Michigan’s economic competitiveness, and builds upon the “Make It in Michigan” strategy—her plan for investing in the state’s people, places and projects. The strategy focuses on cultivating good-paying jobs, a skilled, talented workforce, and making Michigan an affordable, equitable, and vibrant place to live. Among the proposed budget items is a new $60 million Innovation Fund.

Graduate student enrollment and postdoctoral appointments have shifted in fields of study over the past decades, with many fields exploding in graduate enrollment and postdoctoral appointments. Computer and information sciences graduate students jumped from just 4% of all science enrollments in 1975 to nearly a quarter of the total by 2021, while engineering postdocs in biological, biomedical, and biosystems engineering jumped 5,671%– increasing from 3% in 1975 to 19% of all engineering postdocs by 2021. This edition of Useful Stats uses the full range of NSF GSS data to explore trends in graduate students (1975-2021) and postdoctoral appointees (1979-2021; postdocs) in science and engineering.

Last week, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development (DCED) released what they are describing as the Commonwealth’s first comprehensive Statewide Economic Development Strategy in nearly 20 Years. Seeking to build a more competitive, inclusive, and innovative economy that positions Pennsylvania for the technologies of the future, the administration identified five sectors (Agriculture, Energy, Life Sciences, Manufacturing, and Robotics and Technology) for focus and resource investment. While some of those sectors already are foundational to the state, taken all together, the administration believes they will make Pennsylvania competitive in research and development, entrepreneurship, attraction and retention of businesses and workforce, and economic growth.

In this week’s continuing coverage of gubernatorial addresses as they impact the innovation economy, the common themes from Oklahoma and Tennessee were focused on economic and educational opportunities through tax cuts and education reforms. In contrast, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey focused her address on furthering her state’s recent successes and competitiveness in workforce development and announced that her top priority this legislative session was focused on continued educational reforms, including the implementation of an education savings account program. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro laid out his economic and educational plans for making Pennsylvania competitive in the technologies and industries of the future.

Editor’s note: SSTI is committed to helping its members create economies that are equitable and inclusive. The following article is part of a series highlighting how different organizations ensure all people within their communities can benefit from today’s economy and lessons learned in their work.

The National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship voted today to accept proposed recommendations for a national competitiveness strategy. One recommendation is establishing a National Innovation Council to coordinate entrepreneurship-related federal government activities nationwide. This council would prioritize efforts related to critical technologies through various actions, including “requiring mandatory reporting of demographics of venture capital (VC) investments” and “supporting the development of best practices and standards for evaluating the effectiveness of entrepreneur support programs.”

This month, 65 Fellows will begin their two-and-a-half-year field placements with host organizations nationwide as part of the Economic Recovery Corps (ERC) funded by the Economic Development Administration. Fellows will spearhead projects that, according to according to an International Economic Development Council (IEDC) press release, "advance new ways of doing economic development to build more resilient, inclusive, and equitable economies." The 65 selected projects are located across 44 states and territories. Of the 65 host sites, 62% are rural, 23% are mixed (urban, suburban, and rural), and 15% are urban. Nine of the 65 projects are led by tribes or involve a tribal organization as a primary partner. Each project receives a dedicated, fully funded Fellow for 2.5 years.

The number of graduate students in science, engineering, and health has grown from approximately 328,000 to 760,000 from 1975 to 2021, a 132% increase, according to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS). When compared to a 60% increase (from 9.7 to 15.4 million) in total undergraduate enrollment across all fields of study over the same time period, the scale of growth can be better seen. However, while the number of graduate students in science has seen an upward trend over the 46-year period, the number of graduate students in engineering has stagnated since 2014.

NSF has announced 10 projects as the first cohort of Regional Innovation Engines. The 10 project teams span 18 states. Each of the 10 teams will receive $15 million for the first two years of the awards and could receive $160 million over the full ten years dependent on availability of funding and successful performance.

In this week’s continuing coverage of gubernatorial addresses as they impact the innovation economy, the common themes from Alaska, Michigan, and Maine were issues of opportunity, affordability and housing. Michigan and South Carolina governors proposed initiatives and programs that seek to assist in providing access to post-secondary education, their states’ economic competiveness, and securing jobs of the future for their residents. The following highlights have been excerpted from State of the States or budget addresses given between Jan. 24, 2023 and Jan. 30, 2024. Additional addresses and states will be covered in future Digest issues.

South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA), a public, non-profit corporation chartered in 1983 by the State of South Carolina , had over a $1.19 billion impact on the state’s economy in 2023. Their recently published annual report shows what’s included in the billion-plus-dollar impact, determined by a study conducted at the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business. SCRA provides funding and support to accelerate the growth of academic startups; lab and administrative workspaces; facilitation and funding for partnerships between and among industry, startups, and academic institutions; assistance and funding for the relocation of technology-based companies to South Carolina; and coaching and funding for startups that may also receive investments from its affiliate, SC Launch Inc.

The White House recently published a data tool, accompanied by a downloadable excel file housing two datasets, with recent investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The tool and data provide a view of the spending that is occurring across the United States from the two acts. In addition to a categorical breakdown of awards, agency, department, project name, funding source, and more are available for each award.