The IPL newsletter: Volume 25, Issue 511

A typology of urban knowledge sharing: from a systematic literature review to an integrated model

Jet Bakker, Peter Scholten, Jan Fransen, Ellen Minkman, Science and Public Policy
This paper provides insight into how the conceptualization of urban knowledge sharing has developed. Based on a structured review and categorization of the literature, the authors identify three forms of knowledge sharing in and between cities that are distinctly different: knowledge transfer, knowledge exchange, and knowledge co-creation. The authors find that the three forms have different boosts and barriers, whereby the complexities of knowledge sharing and hence the capacities required of the actors are lowest for knowledge transfer and highest for knowledge co-creation. The authors would therefore like to qualify the recent emphasis given in literature to co-creation; with its complexities and required capacities, it is not to be considered a panacea for solving all urban problems. The paper proposes a model within which knowledge transfer and exchange are more suitable for less wicked problems and may sometimes fruitfully reduce complexities.

EDA funds all Tech Hubs designees

Jason Rittenberg, SSTI
Following its announcement of implementation awards to 12 Tech Hubs regions, the U.S. Economic Development Administration made Consortium Accelerator Awards of $500,000 to each of the additional 19 Tech Hubs designated regions. This funding should enable regions to continue dedicated efforts to strengthen their strategies and partnerships and to pursue alternative sources of implementation project funding. The National Science Foundation made similar awards to the Regional Innovation Engines finalists earlier this year, and SSTI witnessed the potential value of such support while working with RTI International and the Build Back Better Regional Challenge finalists, which did not receive such continuation assistance

Biden administration weighs price support for US critical minerals amid Chinese pressure

James Bikales, Politico
The Biden administration is considering using federal dollars to prop up U.S. critical minerals projects being hammered by an influx of cheaper Chinese materials, an Energy Department official familiar with the potential move told POLITICO.Under the policy, the department would set a price floor and agree to pay the difference when market prices fall below that threshold for critical minerals produced by certain U.S. projects. The effort comes in response to delays and cancellations of many U.S. minerals processing projects, including those that were set to receive a collective $1 billion in grants from the Biden administration.

U.S. Department of the Treasury Issues Proposed Rules to Expand Clean Energy Investments in Underserved Communities

U.S. Department of the Treasury
This announcement by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) discusses a recently issued Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for 48E(h), the Clean Electricity Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program, created by the Inflation Reduction Act. The program promotes cost-saving clean energy investments located in low-income communities, on Indian lands, within affordable housing, or directly benefitting low-income households.  The 48E(h) Clean Electricity Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program builds on the first-of-its-kind Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program, also known as 48(e). The transition from 48(e) to 48E(h) opens the program to additional clean energy technologies beyond wind and solar such as hydropower and geothermal. This expansion also coincides with Treasury’s efforts to make the benefits of the Clean Electricity Production Credit and Clean Electricity Investment Credit available to clean energy facilities with a greenhouse gas emissions rate of zero or less.