SSTI Digest

A new report from the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), A Toolkit for Evaluating Public R&D Investment, provides useful information to anyone interested in evaluating publicly-sponsored research and development (R&D) programs. While the report focuses on more than 40 evaluations that have been performed for ATP, it offers one of the most comprehensive and understandable overviews of evaluation methods and applying those approaches.

In one section, the authors provide a general framework for evaluation, discussing evaluation fundamentals, including the objectives and steps of evaluation, and choosing various methods of evaluation. The advantages and disadvantages of a variety of approaches, including surveys, case studies, bibliometrics, historical tracing and expert judgment, are described.

William Tew has resigned as director of the Office of Licensing and Technology Development for Johns Hopkins University.

Three I's neatly sum up the 22 recommendations recently released by Maryland Governor Robert Erlich's Commission on Development of Advanced Technology Business — Investment, Innovation, and Image. The year-long study looked at the state's existing physical, financial and intellectual infrastructures to support the state's research and technology sectors, making specific recommendations in three groupings to foster continued growth.

The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) figures prominently in many of the recommendations, and, in partnership with the Department of Business and Economic Development, the research universities and the state's regional technology councils could play an even more significant role in the state's technology strategy if the plan is fully implemented.

Ann Quinn was recently named managing director of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development Venture Capital Fund.

The Greater Baltimore Alliance, now renamed as the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore, has appointed David Gillece as chief executive officer and Christian Johansson as managing director.

Maryland's Department of Business and Economic Development has reorganized into three geographically defined divisions. Robert Hannon has been named to run the regional program.

With the support of Maryland's Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), BrainChild Maryland was launched this week to identify and capitalize on Maryland's most promising new technologies. The for-profit company will identify university and federal lab technologies that have the greatest potential for becoming viable products and services. BrainChild Maryland will then help to transform these ideas into new spin-out companies and licensing deals.

To transform the nation’s medical research capabilities and speed the movement of research discoveries from the bench to the bedside, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) laid out on Monday a series of initiatives collectively known as the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research.

Developed with input from more than 300 leaders in academia, industry, government and the public, the NIH Roadmap provides a framework of the strategic investments NIH needs to make to optimize its research portfolio. The NIH Roadmap builds on the progress in medical research achieved, in part, through the recent doubling of the NIH budget.

Gaining an understanding of the real and potential economic impact of government investments in research and development (R&D) has suffered for decades from a lack of rigorous but broadly applicable methodologies for the assessment. To advance the field toward a more appropriate degree of uniformity, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently released a primer on economic impact analysis of government R&D programs.

Methods for Assessing the Economic Impacts of Government R&D, written by NIST Senior Economist Gregory Tassey, touches on all aspects from metrics to methodology to reasons why these studies are imperative. Tassey also presents guidelines for interpreting the qualitative and quantitative results of various approaches.

Biotechnology is one of the few tech-sectors in which jobs still seem to be in strong demand despite the weak economy, according to local news reports from around the country. As a result, many states, communities and universities have directed a portion of their economic development efforts toward encouraging life sciences research and biotech commercialization. Two of the more recent initiatives launched in Michigan and Maryland have the similar goal of encouraging recent and future college graduates to pursue careers locally in the growing fields.

The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) has issued a new study showing Maryland continues to underperform in some key areas of innovation while leading competitor states in other areas.

The Maryland Innovation and Technology Index 2003 is a detailed assessment of the state's technology assets and the degree to which they are reflected in economic performance. Building on its earlier editions in 1999 and 2001, the Index considers Maryland's competitiveness in three broad categories of innovation:

Neil Shpritz, executive director of the BWI Business Partnership in Maryland, is retiring in October.