EPSCoT SELECTIONS ANNOUNCED

The Technology Administration of the Department of Commerce has announced the selection of seven awards under the first round of funding for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Technology (EPSCoT). Matching grants, totaling $1.6 million, will be made to the following seven lead organizations and their partners:

• Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs: $300,000 for developing and implementing technology-based economic development in Alabama, including analysis of the state’s industrial base and private sector technology investments.

• Boise State University: $72,820 for the creation of the Idaho Technology Business Development Network to link and cross-train several economic development and technology service organizations.

• Dakota State University: $80,000 for EPSCoT West, a four state technology business network (SD, ND, MT, and WY), to conduct critical needs assessment and technology business inventory.

• Eastern Maine Development Corporation: $300,000 for the Maine EPSCoT Tech. Commercialization Network to expand the Maine Science & Technology Foundation’s SBIR proposal development and commercialization assistance into remote locations via virtual and human service components.

• Louisiana Board of Regents: $250,000 for accelerating commercialization of university-based technologies in Louisiana through the creation of an Industrial Advisory Council in the Board of Regents, an SBIR/STTR Phase 0 program, and a technology business survey of needs and resources.

• University of Mississippi: $300,000 for the Mississippi SBIR/STTR Project to conduct outreach to small business "inreach" to faculty members, and an annual conference.

• University of Puerto Rico: $300,000 for improving small businesses’ access to technological expertise and increasing the Commonwealth’s participation in federal R&D programs.

More detailed descriptions of the projects can be found on the EPSCoT website, http://www.ta.doc.gov/epscot. EPSCoT is a new Commerce initiative to support technology development, deployment and diffusion through partnerships among state and local government, universities, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector. EPSCoT is intended to help state and local efforts to build statewide capacity to support technology commercialization, to create a business climate more conducive to technology development, and/or to compete in federal R&D programs.

Each EPSCoT award must be matched by the recipient organizations. The Commerce Technology Administration may provide up to 50 percent of the total costs for single-jurisdiction projects and up to 75 percent of the costs for multi-jurisdictional projects. In-kind match was restricted to activities which would not have been performed otherwise and could not exceed 25 percent of the total project costs.

The seven EPSCoT awards were selected from 25 applications received last August from 18 of the 19 eligible EPSCoR/EPSCoT states. Total funds requested exceeded $9.4 million, nearly six times the funds available.

The 1999 request for proposals for EPSCoT is expected to be released soon.