SSTI Digest

Public and private efforts to attract more women into high-tech fields of information technology have a significant hurdle to overcome: 60 percent of women already in IT jobs wouldn’t choose the same career path if starting over, according to Women In Technology, a recent survey by DeLoitte & Touche. Many of the reasons women cited for the dissatisfaction – pay equity, glass ceiling for promotions, and few role models – are already long-standing and too-common issues for women in more traditional industries. Findings include: Is there a glass ceiling in the high tech industry? Nearly two-thirds of women surveyed believe a glass ceiling is a reality for women in the high technology industry (62 percent), whereas 62 percent of men felt that this barrier is a non-issue for women in the high tech industry. High tech is defined as computer hardware or software, telecommunications, dot-coms, or e-commerce departments.

Camden, Arkansas The June 19, 2001 issue of The Bond Buyer reported that Camden, with a population just over 13,000, approved a one-cent sales tax to raise $6 million over four years to support downtown business revitalization efforts. Plans include construction of a business incubator and development of a 500-acre business park. Missouri

Washington has the second highest employment growth rate in the U.S., according to the 2001 Index of Innovation and Technology for Washington — a report released by the Washington Technology Center. The state's 33 percent increase in employment growth rate over the last five years allowed it to move up four positions, second only to Utah.  The report reinforces numerous trends found in the 2000 Index. Among them is the growth of capital investment in Washington companies. Washington's overall rate of growth in venture investment during the past two years has grown at more than half the rate of other major regions. However, Washington's rate is much smaller than that of most other areas of the country. The report suggests that this trend could cause the state to fall behind other regions. 

On Tuesday, President Bush announced the nomination of Phillip Bond to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology. The position oversees the Technology Administration which includes the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), the Office of Technology Policy, and the National Technical Information Service. The Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Advanced Technology Program are part of NIST. 

The Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) received unanimous endorsement by four federal agencies during a recent House committee hearing, although two federal witnesses emphasized the Administration’s opposition to expanding the program. Language to gradually double the size of STTR, which supports small business-university research projects that could lead to commercializable technologies, is included in S. 856, the reauthorization bill working its way through Congress.  Currently limited to 0.15 percent of the extramural R&D budgets of five federal agencies, STTR’s set-aside would increase to 0.3 percent in 2004, and 0.5 percent in 2007, if Senate Bill 856 passes in its introduced form. STTR was first created in 1992 as a pilot companion program to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The set-aside for STTR has not changed since its inception. SBIR, on the other hand, grew to 1.25 percent during the initial four years from 1982-1986. 

The latest semi-annual state fiscal survey, released jointly this week by the National Association of State Budget Officers and the National Governors' Association, reconfirms the increasing pressure on state coffers found six months ago. Slowing revenues and increasing Medicare and health care costs have resulted in 16 states reducing expenditures in the current fiscal year by $1.6 billion. Eleven states also are reducing their FY 2002 revenue projections. An average of only 1.3 percent growth in state revenues is estimated from 2001 to 2002. Budget officials in seven states are preparing for declining expenditures in FY 2002. The survey can be downloaded at http://www.nasbo.org/Publications/PDFs/FSJUN2001.pdf

On June 25, President Bush named John H. Marburger, III, as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Marburger, 60, currently is the Director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and President of Brookhaven Science Associates. Presently, however, he is on a leave of absence from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he served as President and Professor from 1980 to 1994 and as a University Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering from 1994 to 1997. Among Marburger's tasks will be to review the nation's energy efficiency. As President Bush's science advisor, he will make recommendations on numerous issues including stem cell research, the human genome, nuclear weapons, bioterrorism, space, endangered species, the Internet and the training of scientists. Marburger also will assist the President in filling roughly 75 high-level scientific jobs in the federal government.

After nearly two years of discussion between the state legislature and the Governor’s office, Pennsylvania has enacted a plan for its $11 billion share of the national tobacco settlement. The final plan includes $160 million in one-time outlays for research and commercialization of life science technologies and a formula ensuring research gets nearly one-fifth of the total money received over the 25-year span of the settlement agreement. Highlights include:

To strengthen Maine’s ability to compete in a knowledge-based economy, Governor Angus King proposed last year that the state create a $65 million endowment that would annually purchase and place a laptop in the hands of every seventh grade student in the state. A one-time $50 million state appropriation was to be matched by $15 million in private contributions. Interest off the endowment would have allowed every 7th-12th grader to own a laptop PC by 2007. Sixteen months later, and after considerable revision of the concept by a specially-called Task Force on the Maine Learning Technology Endowment (see February 9, 2001 SSTI Weekly Digest story), the state legislature has authorized a $30 million program to begin. The Governor still plans to pursue $15 million in private and foundation support for the endowment.

Representing ten percent of U.S. manufacturers and accounting for the largest trade surpluses of the non-defense sectors, the chemical industry remains an important contributor to the U.S. economy. Despite substantial growth in R&D investments by chemical companies during the past decade – R&D investment as a percentage of sales grew from 2.47 percent in 1980 to 4.70 percent in 1999 – the industry remains below the national average for several indicators of R&D expenditures. Measuring Up: Research and Development Counts in the Chemical Industry, a new study commissioned by 27 chemical companies, laboratories, and government agencies and released by the Council for Chemical Research, reveals the importance and benefit of increased private and public R&D investment for the sector. The study includes econometric, bibliometric and historical analyses of chemical research investment. Major findings include:

Atlanta, Georgia The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported on June 20 that the  Robert W. Woodruff Foundation is donating $5 million toward the acquisition of land for Midtown Park, a 15-acre development project to anchor the Atlanta Technology Corridor. The article reports Midtown Park will soon house the Advanced Technology Development Center, a state-funded technology incubator, and the Yamacraw Design Center, the state’s $200 million research/economic development initiative.  Coordination of the Midtown Park project is being handled by the University Financing Foundation, a nonprofit organization that assists Georgia colleges and universities to obtain research equipment and facilities. Buffalo, New York

Comment Period on the Policy Directive Extended In response to Congressional requests, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has reopened the comment period on the draft policy directive to guide agencies’ administration of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. Interested parties may now submit their comments to the SBA Office of Technology through July 23, 2001. SSTI has made the SBA’s draft policy directive available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/051801t2.htm

Three perspectives on the proposed draft are included on the following web page: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/060801t2.htm