California Gov.

A recent Executive Order from the White House could jeopardize the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund and put at risk investments in small businesses. The EO calls for the “non-statutory components and functions” of several governmental entities, among them are the CDFI and the Minority Business Development Agency, “to be eliminated ...

White House

The Senate has confirmed Michael Kratsios to serve as director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. 

In a country marked by regional diversity, gaining insights into economic performance often means looking beyond conventional state and county boundaries to economic hubs. This edition of Useful Stats uses Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data to first compare U.S. metropolitan and micropolitan GDPs broken down by industry for the last 20+ years, then consider each Metropolitan Statistical Area’s GDP by private industry, highlighting patterns and changes over the past decades.  

NOTE: The nation's community of technology-based economic development organizations is in its annual report season, and we've already seen several releases from SSTI members. All document TBED's impact on advancing research, moving it to market, and helping businesses improve their profitability and competitiveness.

In a recent executive order, The White House is calling for the federal government to establish a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) that will "promote fiscal sustainability, lessen the burden of taxes on American families and small businesses, establish economic security for future generations, and promote United States economic and strategic leadership internationally.”

NOTE: The nation’s community of technology-based economic development organizations has entered annual report season, and already we've seen several released from SSTI members. All document the impact TBED can have for advancing research, moving it to market, and helping businesses improve their profitability and competitiveness.

The Feb.

The National Science Foundation, on behalf of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP), is providing the opportunity for public input toward the development of a national Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan, as directed by President Trump’s Executive Order 14179.

As U.S. research institutions face funding uncertainty, countries and universities worldwide are launching initiatives to lure away our scientific talent:

Pennsylvania Gov.

April 16, 2025, 2:00pm EDT
Free, registration required

How one applies and has their proposal reviewed to gain a small share of the world's largest funding source for life science research is changing. The following highlights modifications affecting grant applications submitted to the National Institutes of Health for due dates on or after January 25, 2025, as posted on their Implementation of New Initiatives and Policies page.

The April 2025 issue of NBER Digest, a publication of the National Bureau of Economic Research, includes the following summary of a recent working paper. NBER grants permission to reproduce the piece here. While the research focuses on students’ experiences only in Texas, SSTI believes the findings likely could have policy value in other geographies striving to increase workers’ skill sets in an increasingly innovation driven economy.

States with economies based on resource extraction are among the least diversified in the country—they know well the boom-and-bust cycles that come with that concentration.

Gov.

SSTI is following personnel and policy changes across the federal government that will likely affect programs of importance for innovation-driven businesses and for growing stronger regional innovation systems across the country. There have been several announcements in the past week alone, so this week’s federal news column is fairly lengthy.

In this week’s continuing coverage of gubernatorial addresses as they discuss the innovation economy, the following highlights have been selected from the State of the States or budget addresses given between Feb. 5 and Feb. 13, 2025, by the governors from Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire, and West Virginia.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Kelly Loeffler to run the Small Business Administration by a vote of 52-46 on Wednesday, Feb. 19. Spending more than two decades in technology and financial service businesses, Loeffler is a former owner of the WNBA team, the Atlanta Dream and served in the U.S. Senate by appointment from 2019-2021.

NOTE: The nation's community of technology-based economic development organizations has entered annual report season, and we've already seen several releases from SSTI members. All document the impact TBED can have on advancing research, moving it to market, and helping businesses improve their profitability and competitiveness.

Higher education R&D (HERD) expenditures have steadily increased over time. They’ve soared past $100 billion in the most recent data year, fiscal year (FY) 2023, growing in every state. However, the gains are not shared equally in all fields of research.

As this week’s recent research article mentions, R&D tax credits work, so it isn’t surprising several states have either proposed, amended, or enacted research and development (R&D) tax credits for both the current fiscal (2025) and new (2026) fiscal year in efforts to encourage innovation and economic growth. Some specifically target life sciences or biotechnology sectors while others focus on attracting new or existing companies and startups or to further develop life sciences and/or biotech sectors and hubs.

Research and development (R&D) tax credits are a common cornerstone of federal and state innovation policies and are offered to companies in hopes of spurring economic growth. But do R&D tax credits deliver the economic boost policymakers expect? Previous studies addressing this question often focused exclusively on either firm-level data or aggregate economic data. Firm-level studies typically found that R&D tax incentives significantly boost companies' investment in research and development.

On Feb. 10, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee presented his 2025 State of the State address along with his FY 2025-2026 budget proposal and legislative agenda.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s Narrative Profiles is an online resource that presents American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates as easily digestible analytic reports.