Industry Agglomeration and Innovation-Driven Economic Growth: A Framework for Data, Metrics, and Evaluation

Glasmeier and Lynch are pioneering the analysis of the geographies of investment in current federal programs and policies, including the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines (“NSF Engines, the American Rescue Plan Act (2021), the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (2021), the CHIPS and Science Act (2022), and the Inflation Reduction Act (2022). These programs aim to bring dynamic, innovation-based, higher-wage industries to economically underperforming and lagging technology regions. The catalytic funds accelerate future innovation-based economic growth in lagging regions by identifying the relationship between the technology capabilities of lead firms and proximate yet potentially under-utilized innovative capacity.  The goal is to shrink interregional employment and income growth differentials by reducing income inequality (Muro and You, 2023).