SSTI Digest

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/

NASA and the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) have announced 49 and 15 inventions, respectively, that are available for licensing. Invention titles and, for DHHS, abstracts for each are posted at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/090800t2.htm

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. GLITeC works with industry to acquire and use NASA technology and expertise. GLITeC has dedicated in-reach into NASA and bridges the gap between federal discovery and commercial application. GLITeC and its regional affiliates provide industry…

Unprecedented Goals, Unparalleled Progress, a report released in early August by Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove, calls for the state to address several issues to better position the state to compete in the New Economy. Elements of the plan affecting the state’s science and technology base include: making best use of knowledge-based resources through Mississippi by making the ‘University Connection’ through a cluster approach to economic development and university research in areas such as biosciences, engineering, supercomputing and polymers enhancing the information infrastructure to support community and capacity building by hiring a chief technology officer within the Mississippi Development Authority (formerly the Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development) to explore methods to broaden access to the state’s telecommunication backbone matching incentives and innovations to the needs of the New Economy, including having the Mississippi Development Authority serve as a conduit to connect venture capital resources with university-based R&D…

Through its Digital Village Program, Hewlett-Packard is providing up to $15 million in products and resources over a three-year period to three communities who need assistance to participate fully in the New Economy. East Palo Alto, CA already has been designated as a Digital Village; the remaining two will be selected through a competitive process. To be considered, an applicant must meet the following criteria: 1) be an underserved community - facing geographic, technological and/or economic barriers to achieving the desired community vision, 2) have a population of no more than 50,000 residents, and 3) the applying community partnership must include: local school district(s); a local or nearby community college or four-year institution; and a public agency, community college, four-year college or university, or private nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. The program was established to make information broadly accessible in communities facing barriers to communication and also to provide assistance in the development of high-tech skills to the people living there. The components of the HP…

Why do some start-up technology businesses choose to directly commercialize their innovations, taking on the industry titans as is common in the electronics industry, while other new tech firms, such as those involved in biotechnology, choose a path of cooperation with the industry leaders, commercializing through licenses, joint ventures, and outright acquisition? The answer(s) should help economic development practitioners and science and technology policy makers design the most effective strategies for technology-based entrepreneurial assistance. Joshua Gans, David Hsu and Scott Stern set out to define the discerning factors or determinants for choosing each path in When Does Start-up Innovation Spur the Gale of Creative Destruction?, an August 2000 Working Paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER Working Paper #7851). Gans, of the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Hsu and Stern, both of the Sloan School at MIT, work to test how three factors --- intellectual property protection, transactional costs for partnering (including expropriation of the technology), and…

University-centered technology transfer is not new; however, research institutions have been thrust to the center of much of the discussion for building tech-based economies. A Tutorial on Technology Transfer in U.S. Colleges and Universities, a new paper by the Council on Government Relations (COGR), provides a good primer on the subject from the perspective of the academic institution. The document provides the historical and political framework for university involvement in technology transfer as well as advice on establishing an intellectual property policy and managing IP assets. The majority of the 20-page paper provides detailed steps for transforming an idea generated on a campus into a commercial product or service. Software and web-based products also receive treatment. The paper closes with a discussion on addressing the risks or costs of academic technology transfer, including institutional and personal conflicts of interest. The paper is intended for member institutions of COGR, however the organization encourages the use of its materials by others through linkages to the COGR…

Since its inception in 1975, the Alan T. Waterman Award remains the highest honor awarded by the National Science Foundation. The award is conferred annually to the young researcher who has demonstrated exceptional individual achievement in scientific or engineering research of sufficient quality to place them at the forefront of their peers. The awardee receives a $500,000 nonrestrictive grant over a three-year period for continued research. The deadline for nominations for the 2001 award is December 31, 2000. Candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and either be 35 years old or younger or not more than seven years beyond receipt of their Ph.D. More information on the Waterman Award, including past recipients is found at: http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/awards/waterman/

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP), part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Technology Administration, US. Department of Commerce, partners with the private sector to spur research on to the development stage and into the market. ATP’s early stage investments accelerate the development of innovative technologies that promise significant commercial payoffs and widespread benefits for the nation. A number of factors distinguish ATP from most other government R&D programs: ATP projects focus on the technology needs of American industry, not those of government. ATP research priorities are set by industry, based on their understanding of the marketplace and research opportunities.  For-profit companies conceive, propose, co-fund, and execute ATP projects and programs in partnerships with academia, independent research organizations and federal labs. The ATP has strict cost-sharing rules. Joint Ventures (two or more companies working together) must pay at least half of the project costs. Large, Fortune 500 companies participating as a single firm…

Several state and regional economic development strategies have been released this summer. All recognize the important role of research, science and technology in building tech-based economies. Two states are highlighted this week.  New Mexico  The New Mexico Economic Development Department has rolled out a new strategic vision for the state's economy that they believe gives a clear picture of New Mexico's ultimate destination and offers a detailed map of how to get there. The strategic vision document, Quality for Life, is built on six strategies. Those pertaining directly to science and technology include:  Invest in infrastructure for innovation by strengthening existing programs at the national labs, federal research institutions, universities, and private research and development centers. Specifically, the strategic vision calls for linking the public and private institutions through collaborative efforts, especially encouraging the universities and the private sector to make more use of the resources offered by the national labs. It also calls for…

The Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance (larta) has released its 2001 Federal Technology Funding Guide which profiles 89 regularly scheduled federal programs that support technology development and deployment. Each profile includes descriptions, contact information, timelines, and examples. Targeted to technology companies, the guide presents only programs with eligibility requirements open to for-profit businesses.  The free, 152-page Guide is downloadable from: http://www.larta.org/ecommerce/FTFG2001.htm

Research collaboration between companies and academia has grown tremendously over the past two decades and is recognized as one of the key elements of building tech-based economies (see the National Governors' Association, Using Research and Development to Grow State Economies, 2000 or the Milken Institute, Blueprint for a High-Tech Cluster, 2000). Many states' science and technology programs have dedicated significant financial resources to encouraging the growth of these research partnerships. The National Science Foundation funds several programs to foster industry-university cooperative research, including among others, the Science and Technology Centers and the Engineering Research Centers.  Surprisingly, little has been written on the impact of these initiatives from the perspective of the industrial client, customer, or constituent. Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRCs), written by James Adams, Eric Chiang, and Katara Starkey, presents one of the first independent econometric analyses of the effects of university-industry centers on industrial R&D…