NGA & DOC's Technology Administration Sign MOU

A Memorandum of Understanding has been entered into between the U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Administration (TA) and the National Governors' Association (NGA) to develop the U.S. Innovation Partnership (USIP). USIP will be developed to help combine and coordinate state and federal efforts in science and technology and manufacturing extension programs.

USIP is intended to integrate inter-governmental policies and strategies to support the development of competitive businesses through innovation and the diffusion of technological resources. Seventeen governors have committed to participate on the USIP working group, and each governor has also committed the time of a senior policy advisor to serve on the USIP planning committee. Twelve federal agencies will be participating in the working group.  

TA will analyze past state-federal activities; develop a high-level steering committee in cooperation with other agencies and the NGA to provide state-federal policy input; and develop information resources that will help better explain federal programs and involvement in science and technology (including a "virtual" organization of federal agency technology extension activities). The NGA will document and analyze on-going state-federal science and technology initiatives; provide general staff support; help create a "virtual" organization that will facilitate state-federal collaboration; and help recruit other public and private entities to support the Partnership's mission and activities. The State Science and Technology Institute will provide support to the effort.

USIP builds on the work of the State/Federal Technology Partnership Task Force, which was created at the request of the President's Special Assistant for Science and Technology, Jack Gibbons, and co-chaired by former Governors Celeste and Thornburgh.