SSTI Digest

A $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) was established by the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act to help ease the educational impact on students of school closures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. While much instruction transitioned to an online environment, many students were inadequately equipped to properly participate. To address issues with access to technology, the program provides funding to schools and libraries across the nation to purchase connected devices and equipment needed for students to use off-campus. The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) latest commitment of $421 million brings the program’s total funding to more than $3 billion.

The U.S. Small Business Administration is hosting its first innovation ecosystem summit, a free virtual event that is open to all. The summit is expected to connect entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs) that work with startups and small businesses — particularly those serving underrepresented communities — that are trying to build out and commercialize their technologies. The three-day summit takes place next week, Nov. 15-17.

SBA says attendees will learn how to navigate the SBIR/STTR world; leverage each other’s strengths on how to best connect entrepreneurs working on advanced technologies to the country’s largest source of early- stage funding; discover ways to build a network that is inclusive of underrepresented communities; and more.

Sessions will cover a variety of entrepreneurial topics including SBIR Catalyst and collaborative partnerships; funding for ecosystem builders; entrepreneurship in regional innovation economies, which will be led by SSTI Policy and Development Director Jason Rittenberg; and more.

As the manufacturing sector rebounds, it is expected to need over two million new workers over the next decade to meet supply shortages and increasing demand in sectors such as infrastructure, energy efficiency, and medical equipment. To help recruit and support a more diverse workforce, the Urban Manufacturing Alliance (UMA) and The Century Foundation (TCF) are seeking proposals to participate in the Industry and Inclusion Cohort 2.0, a national initiative focused on community colleges delivering impactful credentials and addressing barriers in manufacturing careers. Impactful credentialing includes credential programs (both non-degree and degree) that are well-aligned and developed in partnership with industry and situated within a broader ecosystem of support partners.

Participants will engage in an “18-month, tailored technical assistance program focused on building knowledge and capacity, expanding networks, sharing best practices with a national audience, and increasing program impact.”

Last week, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced $100 million in grants for the Community Navigator Pilot Program that will be distributed to 51 organizations to connect entrepreneurs with government resources to help recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a part of the American Rescue Plan, the program’s objective is two-fold. It aims to (1) address barriers to small business growth and “supercharge” recovery and (2) “close historic and current resource gaps and advance equity” by focusing aid toward disadvantaged populations across the country including “veterans, women, rural communities and communities of color.”

National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) will see its 7th annual celebration from Nov. 15 to 21 this year. Key individuals in areas such as government, industry and education will host events that highlight the importance of apprenticeship in the workforce. These events will showcase how apprenticeship programs can address challenges such as supply chain demands, public health issues, and advancing initiatives in diversity and equity — especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), there has been a 70 percent increase in new apprentices since 2011. While the number of new apprentices fell 12 percent from FY 2019 to FY 2020 — likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic — DOL found that 3,143 new apprenticeship programs were established nationwide in FY 2020, representing a 73 percent growth from 2009 levels.

Faculty of the nation’s higher education institutions have long used research publications and citations as a measure of success. A new working paper posted by the National Bureau of Economic Researchers (NBER) suggests a select group of research publications may do more than gain the authors tenure and celebrity in their chosen field: these works are correlated with reductions in local disease-related mortality. In an era of marked increases in anti-intellectualism among legislatures, is this finding an additional argument to add to TBED policymakers’ arsenal for increasing state and regional investments targeting R&D?

Does Research Save Lives? The Local Spillovers of Biomedical Research on Mortality, written by Rebecca McKibbin (University of Sidney) and Bruce A. Weinberg (Ohio State University), reports the findings of the authors’ study using the PubMed database, the geographic location of the publishing biomedical researchers, and the timing and intensity of local mortality rates by disease. They conclude each “additional research publication on average reduces local mortality from a disease by 0.35 percent.” 

The New Mexico Economic Development Department released a new strategic plan that identifies core challenges to the state and a multi-part approach to the future. The six challenges include talent attraction, misalignment between higher education and industry, public sector “dominance” of innovation, and concentration in a few industries. The plan includes recommendations related to the state’s innovation economy: develop state-sponsored investment funds to match investments in target industries; help academic researchers to advance new technologies; establish persistent funding for incubators and accelerators; fund university-industry research partnerships; and, develop a mentorship network across entrepreneurship support organizations in the state.

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) recently announced it received more than 500 applications to its Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC. Applicants are competing for 50 to 60 Phase 1 awards of $500,000 each to support the planning of “bottom-up, middle-out” economic development projects designed to advance and accelerate an equitable economic recovery, create good-paying jobs, and build resilient regions across the country. Winners of the Phase 1 awards will go on to develop a full proposal for Phase 2, and in March between 20 and 30 of the projects will receive up to $100 million each to implement their projects.

President Joe Biden this morning delayed his planned departure for Europe to announce a framework for the Build Back Better Act, a $1.75 trillion plan that the president said he was confident could pass both houses of Congress. While the Build Back Better Framework is not as large as initially proposed, the White House says it represents the largest effort to date to combat climate change, promises to create millions of good-paying jobs, spur long-term growth and meet clean energy ambitions. The plan includes $40 billion for higher ed and workforce by raising the maximum Pell Grant and providing support to Historically Black Colleges & Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Minority Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and Universities. It also would invest in workforce development, including community college workforce programs, sector-based training, and apprenticeships.

Five clusters have been added to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Regional clusters Initiative, according to information available through USASpending. The Regional Cluster Initiative was launched in 2010 to maximize the potential of clusters and better support small businesses. The initiative connects innovation assets so that small businesses can effectively leverage them to commercialize new technologies and expand into new markets.

While the SBA has not formally announced the winners, the five new award recipients listed on USASpending.gov  as receiving funding include AgLaunch Engine, LLC ($300,000); Development Capital Networks, LLC ($299,932); Acendian, LLC ($292,760); Larta, Inc., ($225,000); and Startup Junkie Consulting, LLC ($201,633). As with previous RIC awards, each organization has the potential to renew these awards through up to four additional option years (with a corresponding increase in the value of the contracts). At this time, it is not clear which clusters these organizations will be supporting.

Support for small companies has long been a pillar of federal and state policies meant to drive business formation, job creation, and the resulting spillover economic benefits for regional economies. The debate remains, however, about whether smaller or larger businesses play an outsized role in the nation’s economy. This edition of Useful Stats provides some context to the argument, finding that although smaller and newer establishments accounted for the greatest amount of total job creation, job losses from small business closures reduced the group’s net job creation significantly, leaving larger companies to account for the greatest share of net job creation in 2019.

Foundations, in almost all of their stripes, represent an underutilized but often willing partner to encourage regional innovation. Relationships may take time to nurture, but the resulting collaborations can be of critical importance for advancing your local TBED agenda. To spur your thinking, the six examples below from the past three weeks alone show the various ways foundations are stepping up to help support regional innovation and entrepreneurship. On the principal or endowment management side of a foundation, they can be and have been willing partners for seeding or co-investors in a local early stage equity capital fund.