SSTI Digest

NASA has selected 280 research proposals across 37 states for negotiation of Phase I contract awards for its 2000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The total value of the awards is expected to be more than $19 million, $1 million less than a year ago. The space agency made 290 awards in the 1999 solicitation cycle.



For the 2000 competition, NASA received 1,847 proposals, 413 fewer than 1999, from small, high-technology businesses located throughout the United States.



The selected firms will be awarded fixed-price contracts worth up to $70,000 to perform a six-month Phase I feasibility study. Companies which successfully complete the Phase I activities are eligible to compete for Phase II selection the following year. NASA Phase II awards allow for a two-year, fixed-price contract of up to $600,000.



The accompanying table presents the distribution of proposals, awards, and firms by state. A list of companies selected for the program can be found at http://sbir.nasa.gov

An increasingly recognized and critical component of building a tech-based economy is the integration of university or college research and training capabilities into the local economic development strategy. While considerable attention is paid to the regional impact of large research institutions, not every community is home to an MIT, University of Texas, or Stanford.



Cities like Erie, Pennsylvania, – home to several small institutions of higher learning – are providing useful examples of alternative approaches for businesses and the community to benefit from the intellectual resources and talent available through area colleges and universities.



Ten years of planning and cooperation among Erie’s business, community and academic leaders, in partnership with the state, resulted in the proposal for a Research and Economic Development Center (REDC) at Penn State Erie to serve as a hub for regional economic development. Last week, Governor Tom Ridge delivered $30 million -- the largest-ever state capital investment in Erie County history -- to construct the REDC.



By integrating business and engineering research and economic development activities, the 160,000 square-foot facility is expected to be an economic catalyst for the community. Located adjacent to the university-related research park known as Knowledge Park, REDC will serve existing and future park tenants as well as other area high-tech companies.



The Center will:

Editor’s Note: During the next few weeks, nearly every Governor will present a State of the State and/or budget address outlining new initiatives or priorities for the upcoming year. In the past, SSTI has compiled excerpts relevant to tech-based economic development for publication. This year we will highlight significant proposals in the SSTI Weekly Digest and provide links to the actual speech, related background, press releases, etc. Large or innovative developments will be given separate attention in the Digest.



Addresses and budget items of note for tech-based economic development so far:



Alaska

Governor Tony Knowles, FY 2002 Governor’s Operating Budget Request, Dec. 15, 2000

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb/2002site/Budget/DCED/2002_DCEDcover.html

During the past few weeks, the National Science Foundation has released more than a dozen reports, issue briefs, and early release statistical tables of potential interest to the S&T community. Due to limited space in this week's Digest, we are offering brief descriptions and links for more information.



Federal Funds for Research and Development: Detailed Historical Tables: Fiscal Years 1951-2000 [nsf01308]

-- Table 57 presents federal obligations to intramural performers by state: 1970-1998

URL: http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf01308

Jane Patterson leaves the North Carolina Governor's Office this week to become the Director of the Rural Internet Access Authority, a new state authority.



The NASVF Net News reports Alexa Heffernan has been named Executive Director of the Iowa Business Council. Myrt Levin retired in December.

Jane Patterson leaves the North Carolina Governor's Office this week to become the Director of the Rural Internet Access Authority, a new state authority.

The NASVF Net News reports Alexa Heffernan has been named Executive Director of the Iowa Business Council. Myrt Levin retired in December.

On the SSTI Calendar of Events webpage, we present brief descriptions and contact links for more than 100 regional or national conferences, meetings, and workshops planned for the coming year. The list ranges from workshops on how to secure federal technology funding for programs such as the Advanced Technology Program to venture capital forums to annual meetings for most of the associations involved with tech-based economic development.



Suggestions for additional events for inclusion should be directed to Mark Skinner at skinner@ssti.org

The most common component of state tech-based economic development efforts -- technical and financial assistance to small, technology firms competing for federal research funding -- got a much needed boost last Friday with Congressional approval of legislation creating the Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST). Equally important for proponents of better state outreach for the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) was a $3.5 million initial appropriation for FAST.

On its final day of work, the 106th Congress passed two new programs to encourage community development and reinvestment: the New Markets Tax Credit and the New Markets Venture Capital Program.



The New Markets Tax Credit will provide 30 percent tax credits on a present-value basis to investors in economic development projects in low-income areas; community development venture capital funds would be a major beneficiary of this credit. Credits for up to $1 billion of investments will be available in 2001.



The New Markets Venture Capital Program, to be administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA), will provide $30 million in technical assistance grants and up to $100 million in guarantees for investment matching funds to community development venture capital funds.



The Community Renewal and New Markets Act combines Rep. Jim Talent's (R-Mo.) American Community Renewal Act (ACRA) with President Clinton's New Markets Initiative. The legislation will create 40 Renewal Communities with targeted, pro-growth tax benefits, regulatory relief, savings accounts, brownfield site clean-up, and home-ownership opportunities. At least 20 percent of the communities identified by the SBA must be located in rural areas.



Communities must apply for renewal community status which requires high poverty rates and a local commitment to reduce local regulations, zoning restrictions and tax rates. The selected Renewal Communities would receive a combination of tax, regulatory, and other targeted programs. The tax benefits of Renewal Communities would address the principal hurdles facing small businesses when they are just getting started -- raising capital and maintaining cash flow.



The text of the legislation, H.R. 5661 and H.R. 5662, can be found at: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/omni2000/omni2000.html

Several years of record growth in tax revenues are apparently over for many states, according to Fiscal Survey of the States, released jointly by the National Governors’ Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers on Monday.



Just as many corporations are lowering profit expectations and the stock market takes a nose dive, Governors and legislators in many states are preparing for tighter than expected budgets. Most state coffers are expected to grow, however, but at lower than anticipated rates.



“While the data show positive fiscal health through the time period, tightening of budgets will become more apparent when governors present their fiscal 2002 and fiscal 2003 budget recommendations over the next months,” according to the report’s executive summary.



The survey included budget figures from actual fiscal 1999, preliminary actual fiscal 2000 and enacted fiscal 2001. Twenty-nine states responded to the survey.



Among the factors cited for the darkening budget picture are projected lower tax revenues and outlays for Medicaid, which accounts for nearly 20 percent of all states’ budgets.



Spending on public education grew by 9.1 percent from fiscal 1999 to fiscal 2000, as elementary, secondary and higher education investments consumed one-third of all spending from all funding sources and almost one-half of general fund spending.



For the first time, the semi-annual report also examined state budget expenditures on information technology (IT). States’ use of information technology has rapidly increased over the past five years, the report said. The average annual state IT expenditure is $200 million.



IT highlights included:

Colorado leaders want to encourage more college students to go into science and teaching and two recent proposals, coming from Governor Bill Owens and the state's Commission on Higher Education, are designed to do just that.