Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Just days before Congress passed and sent to the President the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill for FY23, the State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI) issued a summary of the bill’s highlights impacting regional innovation economies. SSTI has not updated the summary since then, and none of the summaries that we have read suggest any changes.

Economic Development Administration (EDA):

• Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs – $500 million ($459 million from supplement | FY 2022: n/a). Authorized this year by the CHIPS and Science Act.
• Build to Scale – $50 million (FY 2022: $45 million). Matches the program’s authorization level.
• STEM Talent Challenge – $2.5 million (FY 2022: $2 million)
• Recompete Pilot Program – $200 million ($159 million from supplement | FY 2022: n/a). Authorized this year by the CHIPS and Science Act.
• Disaster funding – $500 million (all supplement). For Hurricanes Ian and Fiona and all other disasters declared in 2021 and 2022.
• Remaining EDA programs – $295.5 million (FY 2022: $283 million). The agreement includes an additional $68 million for administration (FY 2022: $43.5 million).

EDA issued this news release about the funding.

National Institute of Standards and Technology:

• Manufacturing Extension Partnership – $188 million ($13 million from supplement | FY 2022: $158 million)
• Manufacturing USA – $51 million ($14 million from supplement | FY 2022: $16.5 million)

National Science Foundation:

• Total Funding – $9.9 billion ($335 million from supplement | FY 2022: $8.8 billion). The supplemental funds are all provided specifically for NSF’s programs authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act, with $125 million for the STEM Education programs.

Small Business Administration;

• Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST) – $10 million (FY 2022: $6 million)
• Regional Innovation Clusters – $10 million (FY 2022: $8 million). The accompanying statement directs SBA to restore nonprofit eligibility for the program.
• Growth Accelerator Fund Competition – $10 million (FY 2022: $3 million)

Department of Defense:

• Manufacturing Community Support Partnership – $30 million (FY 2022: $30 million)
• Research, Development, Test and Evaluation – $140 billion (FY 2022: $119 billion). Includes a $100 million increase for basic research; the budget also streamlines prototyping and acceleration activities to create the Defense Innovation Acceleration, Rapid Prototyping Program and Rapid Defense Experimentation Research Fund as the primary three initiatives going forward.

Department of Agriculture:

• Agriculture Research Service salaries and expenses – $1.7 billion (FY 2022: $1.6 billion)
• National Institute of Food and Agriculture – $1.7 billion (FY 2022: $1.6 billion)
• Rural Innovation Stronger Economies – $2 million (FY 2022: $2 million)

Department of Energy:

• ARPA-E — $470 million (FY 2022: $450 million)
• Clean Energy Demonstration – $89 million (FY 2022: $31 million)
• Office of Technology Transitions – $22.1 million (FY 2022: $19.5 million). Includes at least $5 million for Innovation Clusters Program.
• Science – $8.1 billion (FY 2022: $7.5 billion)

Department of Health and Human Services:

• ARPA-H — $1.5 billion (FY 2022: $1 billion). The accompanying statement directs HHS to locate ARPA-H away from the main NIH campus and to update the committee on its search criteria.
• BARDA — $950 million (FY 2022: $745 million)
• National Institutes of Health — $47.5 billion (FY 2022: $45.0 billion)

Additional agencies:

• Appalachian Regional Commission – $200 million (FY 2022: $195 million)
• Minority Business Development Agency – $70 million (FY 2022: $55 million). Includes $3 million for Minority Serving Institutions Entrepreneurship Pilot.
• Office of Science and Technology Policy – $8.0 million (FY 2022: $6.7 million)

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