Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

The always informative SSTI Weekly Digest had some sobering news about federal funding for FY26 for a number of programs focused on the innovation economy.

1. Both the House and Senate subcommittees with budget oversight for the Economic Development Administration (EDA) have proposed continuation funding of $50 million for the popular Build 2 Scale (B2S) program—referred to as the Regional Innovation Program Grants in budget language.
2. The House and Senate subcommittees with oversight for Commerce, State, and Justice (CJS) appropriations differ on funding recommendations for the EDA Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs program, commonly referred to as Tech Hubs. While any funding in a tight budget environment is good, the $50 million in the House version of the CJS bill or the Senate subcommittee’s $60 million is far short of Congress’s original vision for the Tech Hubs, authorized at $10 billion over ten years. Congress provided EDA $500 million in FY25 for new Tech Hubs.
3. The Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) subcommittee of House Appropriations has turned against the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership in its budget recommendations for the Small Business Administration, zeroing out the only program that provides funds to help states level the competitive field of applicants for the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs.
4. The nearly status quo nature of the FY26 budget of $9.0 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF) advanced by the Senate Appropriations Committee stands in striking contrast to the Administration’s $3.9 billion request. House appropriations, meanwhile, appropriated $7.0 billion for NSF, a reduction of $2.06 billion or 23 percent from the FY25 enacted level. The fate of the popular Regional Innovation Engines program, as well as NSF’s entire R&D funding portfolio, remains in play for a future conference bill.

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