SSTI Digest

The SSTI Weekly Digest will be taking a brief spring break and will resume publication on Friday, April 6.

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) is offering nearly $411 million in financial assistance for distressed areas. The agency has already begun accepting proposals and will continue to do so until the $410,972,866 allocated for FY 2001 is exhausted. EDA seeks proposals for projects that will significantly benefit areas experiencing or threatened with substantial economic distress, and targets assistance to communities with the highest economic distress. Such distress may exist in a variety of forms such as high levels of unemployment, low income levels, large concentrations of low-income families, significant declines in per capita income, substantial loss of population because of the lack of employment opportunities, large numbers or high rates of business failures, sudden major layoffs or plant closures, military base closures, natural or other major disasters, depletion of natural resources, or reduced tax bases.

While venture capital is harder to come by these days in most parts of the country due to the dot-com crash and stock market declines, investment capital may flow more easily in two southern states based on two initiatives. Florida: $450 Million for CAPCOs Considered The state legislature is currently considering CAPCO legislation to triple the maximum limit for tax breaks granted to insurance companies that invest in Florida companies through venture capital funds. Senate Bill 1130, passed unanimously in the Banking and Insurance committee this week, now moves to the Commerce and Economic Opportunities Committee for consideration. More information is available at: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Welcome/index.cfm

During the first days of March, Michigan Governor John Engler announced the implementation of two programs through the Michigan Virtual University to integrate information technology into the state’s education system. Laptops for Teachers On March 6, the Governor ceremoniously distributed the first laptop computers in the Teacher Technology Initiative (TTI) announced last year. The program allocates up to $1,200 for each eligible educator to receive a computer complete with software, including a productivity package, Internet access, a warranty and web-based professional development. It is funded by a one-time $110 million appropriation made last year by the state legislature, providing 90,000 Michigan teachers with computers and Internet access. TTI applications from some 211 school districts were processed during the months of December, January and February, representing 23,839 teachers and an investment of $28.6 million.

Does patenting encourage or speed the transfer of technology from universities? Does the prospect of receiving royalties and licensing fees increase motivation among university researchers to work with businesses to commercialize technology? A recent paper suggests the answers to both questions is "no," but that more empirical and statistical research is needed to determine whether or not increased emphasis on intellectual property rights is achieving the desired results. How Do University Inventions Get Into Practice?, prepared by a team of researchers from across the country, is the first report on a study that attempts to understand:

Research and development activity in the nonprofit sector share of total U.S. R&D held steady at 3 percent from 1973 to 1997, according to a February 15 Data Brief prepared by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Data Brief reports on the first survey of nonprofit R&D activity since 1973. The new study captured R&D funding and performance by nonprofit organizations for fiscal years 1996 and 1997. In 1997 nonprofit organization intramural R&D expenditures totalled $7.3 billion. The average annual current dollar increase from 1973 to 1997 was five percent when adjusted for inflation. Extramural R&D activity for nonprofits was estimated to be approximately $1.5 billion for the same year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health released information on 51 inventions that are available for license. Descriptions and contact information for each invention/patent are presented on the accompanying SSTI web page: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/031601t.htm

Growing and keeping an educated workforce, one ready to help build a technology-based economy, is one of the greatest challenges even the most high-tech areas. The problem can be quite severe. For example, a new statewide survey of Florida college students, conducted by Leadership Florida and Nova Southeastern University, revealed that only 48 percent of the students plan to remain in Florida after graduation. (For a copy of the Florida survey report see http://www.leadershipflorida.org/survey.asp)  Who Will Stay and Who Will Leave?, a forthcoming report from the Southern Technology Council (STC), provides one of the first in-depth looks at what factors influence graduate migration behavior after college. With emphasis on recent science and engineering graduates, STC identified several individual, institutional, and state-level predictors of student retention using a series of regression analyses of 44 different variables. 

Partnerships for Innovation (PFI), a National Science Foundation (NSF) program started just last year, has released its Program Solicitation for FY 2001. The program will support 10-15 new government-university-industry partnerships that explore new approaches to support and sustain innovation. An academic institution must be the lead for the partnership  The program was designed to: 

The Wyoming legislature wrapped up its 2001 General Session on March 1. Several laws and supplemental appropriations were made that affect local efforts to grow a stronger tech-based economy.  Senate Enrolled Act (SEA) 10 permits the Wyoming Business Council to use state funds to provide bridge financing to businesses, not to exceed 35 percent of the total cost of any particular project.  SEA 71 creates a ten-year University of Wyoming endowment challenge program through which the state treasurer will match 1:1 each substantial private donation made to the university’s endowment fund. The legislature appropriated $30 million for the program in this year’s budget.  House Enrolled Act (HEA) 32 repeals the sunset provisions for the University of Wyoming technology transfer center program, which without the law, would have terminated July 1, 2001. 

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has selected six more incubators to join the National Alliance of Clean Energy Business Incubators, formed by NREL in April 2000. Alliance member incubators will focus on accelerating the growth and development of U.S. technology-based start-up companies working on a broad range of clean energy technologies, including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, microturbine, fuel cell, power quality, energy efficiency, alternative fuels and infrastructure, and information technologies.  The Alliance teams NREL with the seven business incubators and a network of venture capitalists and energy industry leaders to provide business and financial services to clean energy entrepreneurs. Each selected incubator received a $1 million grant from NREL to support incubator operations.  Participating incubators include: 

There is often a disconnect between government policies to encourage entrepreneurship and the actual practice of launching fast growing companies, according to the fourth major report from the National Commission on Entrepreneurship (NCOE). Five Myths about Entrepreneurs: Understanding How Businesses Start and Grow is being released to educate policymakers about the vitally different characteristics of entrepreneurs and traditional small business owners. The report also sets out key policy implications based on these different characteristics.  NCOE argues many policies are based on misconceptions about entrepreneurship: