SSTI Digest

John Wasilisin was named deputy executive director of the Maryland Technology Development Corporation.

Approximately $60 million is expected to be available under a new Advanced Technology Program (ATP) competition to support high-risk industrial R&D projects, the program announced today. As part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, ATP offers funding for specific research projects by individual companies or industry-led joint ventures to accelerate the development of innovative technologies. Multiyear awards are made on a cost-shared basis for technically challenging, high-risk research that has the potential for broad national benefit. The program encourages path-breaking research on emerging or enabling technologies that lead to revolutionary new products and industrial processes and services that address national priorities and generate large societal benefits.   A single company can receive a total of up to $2 million for R&D activities over a three-year period. For single-company recipients, ATP funds may only be used to pay direct costs. A joint venture can receive funds for R&D activities for up to five years, with no funding limitation other than available funds.

C. Robert Eaton is resigning as president of MdBio, effective March 31, 2007, to pursue other opportunities in the private sector.

Aris Melissaratos is the new special adviser to the president for enterprise development at the Johns Hopkins University. The position was created for Melissaratos following his departure as secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently announced the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) will conduct a new competition in fiscal year 2007 for cost-shared awards to support high-risk industrial R&D. The ATP provides brief support to single companies or to industry-led joint ventures to accelerate the development of innovative technologies for broad national benefit through partnership with the private sector. ATP projects are selected in a competitive, peer-reviewed process. Further details will be available when the competition is formally announced in the Federal Register this spring. Proposals will not be accepted before that time. Notices containing specific information, such as anticipated funding, eligibility criteria and proposal deadlines, also will be posted to www.atp.nist.gov and www.grants.gov.

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. has appointed Renée Winsky as its new executive director.

Increasing federal funding for life science research is one of the most significant ingredients for improving a state’s position in building a strong biotech and biomedical sector. As appropriations for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were increasing annually – as they did in the last half of the 1990s and the first few years of this decade – this was not a zero-sum game. All states could win.   That is less likely to be the case if increases in NIH appropriations barely keep pace with inflation as Congress and the Administration shift research priorities toward other areas of science and engineering.   So how did everyone do during times of plenty? To answer this, SSTI has compiled a table of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards in total dollars and state rankings from fiscal years 2001-05. The states, ranked by percent change over the five-year period, show South Dakota (132.28), Louisiana (115.52), Montana (113.13), Indiana (96.61) and North Dakota (96.60) posted the greatest gains.  

Gov. Martin O'Malley has appointed Clarence Bishop to serve as interim secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, replacing Aris Melissaratos.

As you begin to fill in your 2007 calendar, remember to mark Oct. 18-19, 2007 to attend SSTI's 11th annual conference in Baltimore! Past attendees know SSTI's conference is the perennial premiere professional development event for the TBED community. And 2007 will be no exception. The conference will be held at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel, right on the city's exciting waterfront. As in past years, the conference agenda will be set by our members and affiliates to ensure the most timely and relevant topics for transforming regional economies. Look for more information on SSTI's website soon. Please contact Noelle Sheets, director of membership services, at 614.901.1690 if you have any questions.

Wes Blakeslee is the new acting director of the Office of Licensing and Technology Development at Johns Hopkins University. Blakeslee replaces Jill Sorensen, who resigned last month.

Ray Dizon is the new managing director of the Maryland Venture Fund, replacing Elizabeth Good.

For the third year, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) has been named the nations most active source of early-stage or angel capital. TEDCO leads the list of the 100 top venture capital firms, based on the quarterly MoneyTree survey published by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). The 2005 list appears in the July issue of Entrepreneur magazine. Each venture capital firm on the list reported at least three deals in 2005. Because of ties, this years ranking includes 120 firms. Maryland TEDCO improved on its figure of 15 deals in 2004 to fund 23 early-stage firms. TEDCO bucked the national trend, which showed the number of initial venture capital deals dropping significantly. Entrepreneur reports the total number of companies that won initial capital fell from 654 in 2004 to 608 last year. On average, these companies received $4.8 million, for a total of $2.9 billion. Both figures are at their highest point in four years.