SSTI Digest

With the start of the new year, a number of state legislatures are reconvening. Quite a few states have significant research, science, and technology issues on their legislative calendar, including the following:

One year ago this month, in the midst of a booming economy, Georgia Governor Roy Barnes announced a new $100 million, five-year initiative to advance the state’s position in the research and production of key components of the global economy. The Yamacraw Mission, named after one of the state’s first colonial settlements, focuses on research, education, and economic development in microchip design and high-bandwidth communications.

R&D expenditures are expected to increase by more than eight percent this year to a total of $266 billion, according to the latest Battelle-R&D Magazine research and development forecast. The report predicts increases in R&D funding by industry, universities, and other non-profit organizations, while federal research funding is expected to remain static.

California Governor Gray Davis has appointed Joseph A. Raguso as Deputy Secretary for Strategic Technology for the Trade and Commerce Agency. Mr. Raguso currently serves as President and CEO for the San Diego Regional Technology Alliance (SDRTA), a position he has held since 1997. Mr. Raguso will begin serving in his new capacity on January 31.

NASA has announced the selection of 25 additional 1998 Phase II R&D recipients under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The new awards bring the total for the 1998 NASA SBIR Phase II awards to 128.

The Department of Education has posted 13 white papers presented during its July 1999 Conference on Technology. The conference and papers focused on evaluating the effectiveness of technology in education. Among the titles are two covering the experiences of Idaho and West Virginia: "The Idaho Technology Initiative: An Accountability Report to the Idaho Legislature on the Effects of Monies Spent through the Idaho Council for Technology in Learning" and "WEST VIRGINIA STORY: Achievement Gains from a Statewide Comprehensive Instructional Technology Program." The papers, conference agenda and "spotlight schools" can be viewed at: http://www.ed.gov/Technology/TechConf/1999/  

Virginia, through its Office of the Secretary of Technology and Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), has created a unique collaborative public-private partnership to increase Internet access and e-commerce capabilities for Virginia's businesses. In December, CIT and Virginia Tech launched VirginiaLink, a multi-vendor, broadband telecommunications program providing businesses with inexpensive advanced telecommunications services such as Internet access and voice, data, and video capacity.



To participate in VirginiaLink, businesses must join the VirginiaLink Consortium, a cooperative permitting individual small companies to bundle their purchases to take advantage of volume discounts available to larger buyers. Companies particularly expected to benefit from the program are smaller firms in rural parts of the Commonwealth.



VirginiaLink is a new approach for a state science and technology program to take to overcome the issue of inequities in Internet access. In concept, VirginiaLink is a twist on the farmers' cooperatives formed to increase the economies of scale and selling power of small farmers. VirginiaLink differs from traditional cooperatives, however, in that all profits from the effort will flow to the contracted service providers, not the Consortium nor its member businesses. CIT will manage the Consortium and administer the individual contracts of the underlying providers. Also, the seven regional CIT offices will serve as marketing agents for the service. Virginia Tech will provide technical assistance and advice to the VirginiaLink program on a cost-recovery basis. No state subsidies are provided to the program.



Through March, CIT is offering an introductory offer for one-year consortium memberships. Any Virginia business can join the consortium for only $100 per location with a maximum cost of $1,000 for any firm. Service resellers and ISPs can join for $500 with a $2500 per year maximum. After the March 31st deadline, CIT may re-evaluate the membership fee structure. Contracted service providers currently include Sprint and MCI Worldcom. More information can be obtained online at: http://www.virginialink.net  

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued several requests for research proposals during the past month that may be of interest to Digest subscribers and their clients. The following are requests whose deadlines occur during the next two months.



The Office of Research and Development (ORD)in partnership with NASA’s Office of Earth Science (OES) is soliciting grant applications to establish Estuarine Indicator Research Programs. These programs will be designed to identify, evaluate, recommend, and potentially develop new, innovative indicators of ecological conditions. A total of $6 million in funding will be awarded to four programs that include plans for large geographical areas. The deadline for applications is March 7, 2000. For more information, contact http://www.epa.gov/ncerqa and click on “announcements.”



The Pollution Prevention Incentives for States grant program expects to have $5 million available to award in the area of reduction or elimination of pollution across all environmental media and in strengthening state technical programs to disseminate source reduction information to businesses. The deadlines for applications and proposals will be determined by region. For specific regional information, contact Christopher Kent at kent.christopher@epa.gov 



The Office of Research and Development, National Center for Environmental Research and Quality Assurance (NCERQA) in collaboration with the Office of Policy and Innovation is soliciting grant proposals in the area of Market-based Mechanisms and Other Incentives for Environmental Management (MM&I). This competition encourages research that will aid in the development of approaches for designing programs to meet environmental goals cost effectively. Ten awards will be made for a total for $2 million in funding. The deadline for applications is February 2, 2000. For complete information, visit http://www.epa.gov/ncerqa/rfa/market2000.html  

The 18 governors who comprise the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) have agreed to create a Western High Technology Council to serve as a strategic alliance among states, technology firms and universities to advance the region's common interests in the technology-driven and knowledge-based New Economy. Hawaii Governor Ben Cayetano, WGA Chairman, proposed the idea at the WGA winter meeting held in Las Vegas during December.



The governors asked Intel, Silicon Graphics, and other interested companies to work with university partners and WGA staff to develop a business plan for the proposed council. A concept paper prepared for the governors' discussion suggested the Council's membership initially include 15 to 20 high-level representatives from information, health, and biotechnology industries and leaders from academia and the public sector.



The paper also suggests that the council form broad-based work groups comprised of stakeholders and academia to develop recommendations on specific issues. Any council recommendations developed in the next six months would be reviewed by the governors at their annual meeting to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, June 11-13, 2000.



The concept paper listed several issues the council could consider related to: privacy and security of information; ethics; workforce development; appropriate protection of intellectual property rights; and, trade and international competitiveness. The council's actions would be expected to advance both economic and social goals. One key goal would be the development of a working partnership between the public and private sector to ensure technology and the "high-tech culture" benefits both rural and metropolitan areas throughout the Western states.



The governors also discussed Arizona's strategic approach for supporting clusters of businesses as a successful strategy for focusing state economic development efforts. The WGA website suggests regional cluster analysis will serve an integral role in the development of specific strategies or recommendations for the Council.



More information, including the concept paper, can be found at the Western Governors' Association website: http://www.westgov.org/ 

The SSTI Weekly Digest has typically focused on state and federal activities in technology-based economic development. This special issue of the Digest, however, focuses on the important role that foundations can play in technology-based economic development by:

At first glance, the Baltimore-based Abell Foundation’s quiet contribution of almost $25 million over the past ten years to support local economic development may not raise much interest from state and federal technology-based economic development professionals across the country. However, the reaction might be different after learning that most of the investment was to emerging businesses in the form of venture capital.

The Foundation Center is an independent, nonprofit organization established in 1956 with the mission to “foster public understanding of the foundation field by collecting, organizing, analyzing, and disseminating information on foundations, corporate giving, and related subjects.” Audiences include grant seekers, grant makers, researchers, policymakers, the media, and the general public.