SSTI Digest

NASA and the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) have announced 3 and 14 inventions, respectively, that are available for licensing. Invention titles and, for DHHS, abstracts for each licensing opportunity are posted at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/091500t.htm 

State Industries of the Future, a partnership strategy of the Department of Energy’s Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT), has successfully facilitated development of industry visions and roadmaps for the Agriculture, Aluminum, Chemicals, Forest Products, Glass, Metalcasting, Mining, and Steel industries. Beginning with a pilot project in West Virginia, OIT is now partnering with states to pursue these industry-defined visions and roadmaps on a state level. 

Gross State Products in the nation, after adjustment for inflation, grew at an average annual rate of 3.9 percent from 1992 to 1998, according to a paper released this week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Gross State Product measures value added in production.

Not too surprising, the agency found growth was particularly strong in the sectors driving the New Economy, including software development, communications, and high-tech manufacturing — such as electronics, electronic devices, industrial machinery and computer equipment. Government grew the slowest of the major industry sectors at 0.8 percent on average annually.

Registrations for SSTI’s fourth annual conference, Beyond the Hype: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies, have been brisk. As a result, the Regal Knickerbocker Hotel has no more vacancies at our special conference discount rate -- if any rooms are available at all by the time of this release. The hotel was kind enough to extend our room block by 50 percent before the discount deadline this past weekend. To help those of you planning to attend Beyond the Hype but are without accommodations, we have posted on our web site the phone numbers for several hotels within easy walking distance to the conference site that had rooms available as of Wednesday, Sept. 6.

During its six years in operation, the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Program has awarded more than $150 million in grants to strengthen the education of technicians for the high tech fields driving our economy. The ATE Program is managed jointly by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Division of Undergraduate Education and the Division of Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Education.

The recently released 1999 Awards and Activities for the ATE Program shows the diversity of projects funded in effort to prepare technicians for rewarding careers in strategic technology fields. The program supports the development and dissemination of educational materials and curricula, professional development of college faculty and secondary school teachers, and technical internships for students. In FY1999, 164 projects were funded and 11 Centers of Excellence received continued funding.

NASA has released a listing of its 1999 Phase II awards for the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR). One hundred ten awards were made to 97 firms in 27 states. The big winner was California with 28 firms garnering 31 awards. For more information regarding these and other NASA SBIR awards, visit http://sbir.gsfc.nasa.gov/

As sponsors of Beyond the Hype: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies, the Great Lakes Industrial Technology Center, the NASA Glenn Garrett Morgan Commercialization Initiative and the NASA Illinois Commercialization Center will share space in the conference exhibitor’s area. Brief profiles of each organization are provided below:

Great Lakes Industrial Technology Center -- One of six NASA Regional Technology Transfer Centers (RTTCs), GLITeC provides technology and business solutions to industry in the Great Lakes region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin). GLITeC also works to commercialize NASA Glenn Research Center technologies throughout all 50 states. Its services include matching needs with specific expertise, providing business and technology planning and evaluations, and helping companies acquire and adapt technology.