SSTI Digest

Sean O'Kane, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development, is resigning from the position at the end of his two-year term in March to return to the private sector.

BioFlorida President Diana Robinson is leaving to join a private venture capital company once her replacement is selected.

Tim Rubald, interim executive director of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, was appointed to the position on a permanent basis.

Harvard University President Lawrence Summers announced his resignation this afternoon. Former Harvard president Derek Bok is to serve as interim president for the university.

Over the last year, there has been increased public and government attention on issues involving tech-based economic development. For much of the year, Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat has dominated the New York Times bestseller list. A series of reports from the AeA, Council on Competitiveness, and the National Academy of Sciences call for increased action by the federal government. To help address a flattening world, Congress is now considering significant bi-partisan legislation addressing those report's recommendations. And just in the last month, a series of governors have unveiled plans for dramatic new investments in innovation, science, and technology. It is fitting, then, that President Bush made competitiveness a major theme of his State of the Union and, in his budget proposal, unveiled his American Competitiveness Initiative (see below for details). A key portion of the American Competitiveness Initiative calls for major increases over the next 10 years in the physical sciences budgets at the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National…

During his 2006 State of the Union Address, President Bush outlined a decade-long $50 billion American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) for R&D, education and entrepreneurship. The FY 2007 downpayment on ACI is $5.9 billion, which is accomplished by shuffling priorities within a shrinking federal discretionary budget environment to find $1.3 billion in new funding and $4.6 billion in R&D tax incentives. Specifically, ACI calls for: Doubling federal funding over 10 years for research in physical sciences and engineering within selected agencies: the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy Office of Science and the National Institute for Standards & Technology within the Department of Commerce. Combined funding for these specific offices is increased by $910 million in the FY07 request, up 9.3 percent from FY06 figures, although NIST Core funding decreased by 5.8 percent. Makes the Research & Experimentation tax credit permanent. The total 10-year impact is projected to be $86.4 billion. Creating new programs to support K-12 math and science education within the Department of Education (see the agency summary below).…

Perennially a favorite target for Congressional earmarks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) budget, at $92.8 billion, is nearly $3 billion below the FY 2006 level of anticipated expenditures. More than three-fourths of the USDA budget outlays for FY 2007 are dedicated to mandatory spending programs such as nutrition assistance, conservation, export promotion and farm commodity programs. The remaining balance of $21.5 billion, $1.7 billion or 7.3 percent less than the FY06 outlay level, is for discretionary programs. All USDA research and TBED-related programs fall within the discretionary section of the budget. The FY07 budget request includes $322 million for the USDA portion of the multi-agency Food and Agricultural Defense Initiative (FADI), an increase of $69 million or 27 percent above FY06 levels. Since the research and diagnostic facility in Ames, Iowa, was fully funded in 2006, the FY07 request represents a programmatic increase of $127 million or 65 percent. The largest line-item FADI increases within the USDA are for Enhanced Surveillance for Pest Detection/Animal Health Monitoring ($43 million; 49 percent increase); …

The Administration's FY 2007 $6.138 billion discretionary budget request for the Department of Commerce reflects a 4.23 percent decrease from the FY06 appropriation of $6.410 billion. However, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) would receive a $46.7 million increase to support programs within the Administration's new American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), announced in the president's State-of-the-Union Address. The NIST Hollings Manufacturing Extension Program, on the other hand, is slated for a cut of $58.3 million in the FY07 request. EDA is charged with leading the federal economic development agenda by promoting innovation and competitiveness while preparing regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. The Administration's FY07 budget request of $327.2 million reflects a 16.7 percent increase compared to the FY06 appropriation of $280.4 million. Additional funding is requested to assist distressed communities with integrating development strategies with the activities of the ACI, which includes investments in R&D, science, education and workforce training, and support for business environments that encourage…

The Administration's FY07 budget request for the Department of Defense (DoD) totals $439.3 billion, an increase of 7 percent from FY 2006. However, funding for DoD science and technology decreased 15.9 percent, to a total of $11.1 billion for FY07. All stages of DoD R&D are anticipating cuts: budget category 6.1 basic research (3.3 percent decrease), budget category 6.2 applied research (13.4 percent decrease), and budget category 6.3 advanced technology development (21.5 percent decrease). The story on the defense component level is more mixed. Total 6.1 through 6.3 research expenditures for the Army and the Navy would decrease, whereas Defense-wide programs (which includes DARPA, SOCOM, etc) would increase. The Air Force, on the other hand, would increase funding in 6.1 basic research, but would sustain a decrease for 6.2 applied research. Additionally, advanced technology development funding would decrease significantly for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Defense-wide. The breakdown by DoD departments is as follows: Army 6.1 Basic Research - $311.9 million (16.2 percent decrease) 6.2 Applied…

Discussion on competitiveness and innovation take very different tacts between the statehouses and Washington, D.C. Education is the fundamental building block for a skilled workforce and for creating future scientists and engineers. While most states are investing more in education, the Administration's FY07 budget request for the U.S. Department of Education totals $54.41 billion, a 5.5 percent decrease from FY06 total spending of $57.55 billion. The 2007 request, proposes to eliminate 42 programs that totalled $3.5 billion in FY06. Many also were proposed for elimination in 2006, but Congress disagreed with the Administration's plans. Some of the proposed program cuts include: Educational Technology State Grants - $272.3 million to finish phaseout begun in FY06 of formula -based grants to integrate technology into classroom instruction. Federal Perkins Loans Cancellations - $65.5 million, as part of the effort to phase out the Perkins Loan program. In addition, the Administration is requesting colleges return $664 million used as a revolving fund to support new Perkins Loans. Gaining Early…

The Administration's FY 2007 budget request for the Department of Energy (DOE) is $23.6 billion, a $5 million decrease from the FY 2006 appropriation. While overall funding for the DOE is virtually flat, the FY07 request includes significant shifts for many offices to reflect the Administration's realignment of energy priorities. Real decreases will be absorbed largely by DOE's $6.6 billion Environment and $2.6 billion Energy budgets, with decreases of $589.6 million (8.2 percent) and $130 million (4.8 percent), respectively. The National Nuclear Security Administration budget request is $9.3 billion, a 2.3 percent increase over the FY06 appropriation. DOE’s Office of Science FY07 budget requests $4.1 billion, a 14 percent increase over the FY06 appropriation, as a part of the American Competitiveness Initiative. Funding for this initiative will go toward new technologies in such areas as nanotechnology, material science, biotechnology and high-speed computing. The Science budget includes $539 million for the Advanced Energy Initiative, a $2.1 billion DOE program intended to reduce America’s dependence on imported energy sources. Total…

The $698 billion FY 2007 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reflects an increase of $58 billion over FY 2006, most of which occurs in mandatory spending programs such as Medicare. Total discretionary spending drops by $1.5  billion. Funding levels for discretionary programs such as the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are diverse. For example, FDA would receive a $71 million increase over its FY 2006 level, while CDC would experience a $367 million decrease. The Administration is proposing to terminate three HHS programs related to community and economic development -- Community Services Block Grants ($630 million in FY06), Community Economic Development ($33 million) and Rural Community Facilities grants ($7 million). Although the total NIH FY07 request of $28.587 billion is the same as the FY06 program level, FY07 funding for all but one of the 24 institutes, centers and the National Library of Medicine that comprise NIH would decrease, based on the Administration's request. The…