SSTI Digest

In an economy driven increasingly by computer literacy and connectivity, leading the nation in the percentage of households not connected to the Internet is a distinction many in the South are working to eliminate. One South, Digitally Divided, the second annual TelecomSouth conference of the Southern Technology Council (STC), and its accompanying report Creating the CyberSouth are efforts in that direction.

After surpassing $1 billion in university-based R&D for the first time ever in FY 2000, and receiving a budget increase of $633 million for FY 2001, NASA has kicked off a major effort to further strengthen its relationship with universities and colleges. On October 19, NASA Administrator Dan Goldin and NASA Science Advisor General Spence Armstrong hosted a NASA/University Cyber-Conference laying out funding opportunities and technical research areas for universities to be more integral partners in NASA research and development programs.

With the goal of developing a common technology agenda among the region’s leaders, the Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance (larta) has compiled its first regional innovation index benchmarking the area’s strengths and weaknesses in S&T. The Southern California Technology Innovation Index compares the five-county Los Angeles consolidated metropolitan statistical area with the California Bay Area (San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose), Austin, Texas, and Massachusetts. The San Diego and Santa Barbara metro areas are not included in the definition of Southern California.

This year’s Global Competitiveness Report 2000, released in September by the World Economic Forum, marks a significant departure from earlier editions by its level of sophistication in addressing the increasingly global nature of the economies of the Forum’s 59 member nations. While past reports have relied on one index providing a snapshot of a country’s economic performance, two indices are used to measure productivity and advances in the standard of living over different time horizons. A third index is introduced this year to measure the role of technology and innovation in a country’s economy while a fourth index is added to reflect the environmental sustainability of nation’s economic growth.

From a pool of more than 1200 applications, NASA has selected 111 projects across 30 states to receive funding through the Cross-Enterprise Technology Development (CETD) program. Designed to support one-to-three year research projects with high payoff technologies to revolutionize future space-flight systems, the $120 million CETD program is a primary method for identifying and developing revolutionary space technologies to stimulate new concepts for missions not yet conceived.

More Americans than ever have Internet access and own computers, but disparities remain in many areas, according to two new reports by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Falling Through the Net: Toward Digital Inclusion, completed by NTIA staff, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities: An Assessment of Networking and Connectivity, which was conducted by the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, offer insights as well as outline work which still needs to be done to address the Digital Divide.

As the digital economy matures and more regions around the country are prepared to offer the telecommunications infrastructure and skilled workforce required to compete for high-tech businesses, the implications for Silicon Valley were presented in a new report from Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network. Internet Cluster Analysis 2000, released last week, outlines several challenges facing the region.

While the Development Report Card of the States, issued annually by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CfED) usually generates a news story in most local papers, a quick scan of several articles reveals the science and technology-related components of the report card get mixed play. This year’s report, funded by the Economic Development Administration, is available on-line in its entirety and has a customizing feature for ease of comparison.

In an effort to improve the image of technology professionals and encourage teens to prepare for technical careers, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Technology Policy (OTP) has kicked off Get Tech, a national awareness campaign directed at America’s youth. The campaign is designed to inspire teens to prepare for the technology-driven jobs of tomorrow.

As mentioned in the last week's SSTI Weekly Digest, access to capital is a challenge for women-owned businesses. Springboard 2000, one nationwide initiative to overcome that obstacle, in less than one year, has assisted women entrepreneurs in science and technology businesses to raise more than $235 million in venture funding. The investments have been raised directly as a result of two forums held this year in Redwood City, California and Dulles, Virginia.

Last Friday, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded 19 grants through the NIH Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program to biomedical research institutions located in states that had not fully participated in NIH funding in the past. Created in 1993, the IDeA Program is designed to enhance biomedical research capacity building among academic institutions and research institutions within the eligible 23 states and Puerto Rico.

During the past two weeks, the Milken Institute has issued two similar reports documenting the difficulties and successes minority- and women-owned business have accessing capital.