SSTI Digest

....This morning, I'd like to explain why we believe that continued federal investments in research and development are so important, and why we're so troubled by the Republican attack on our science and technology budgets. We should all be working toward bipartisan progress -- not playing politics with an issue so fundamentally crucial to our nation's future.

I am encouraged by the Administration’s sudden interest in science funding. Over the last seven years, overall science budgets, which include both defense and civilian R&D, when indexed for inflation, have been flat or decreasing. Science needs a boost.

Buoyed by a strong national economy, venture capital firms have invested at an all-time during the 2nd quarter of 1999, according to the latest quarterly survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers. At $7.61 billion for the quarter, venture capital investments were more than double the total reported only one year ago. The current survey reflects the investment activity of 684 venture capital firms.

Last week, Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon named the Board of Directors to oversee the design and administration of the new 21st Century Research & Technology Fund. By law, the Lieutenant Governor serves as chairman for the board.

Small companies' interests in developing environmental technologies appear to growing. Between 1998 and 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) saw a 64 percent increase in the number of SBIR Phase I proposals submitted. The number of awards made by the agency was unable to keep pace, growing by only 30 percent. As a result, EPA was able to fund less than 9 percent of the 535 SBIR Phase I proposals received in 1999. In 1998, more than 11 percent of the proposals were funded.

Taratec Corporation of Columbus, Ohio has been awarded a $44,500 contract from the Department of Commerce's Office of Technology Policy (OTP) to prepare a report of science & technology indicators for all 50 states. The indicators are intended to assist Commerce in evaluating the impact and outcome of projects funded by the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Technology (EPSCoT) as well as other OTP programmatic improvements.

The September 3, 1999 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest contained some errors in the SBIR tables. The correct information is below. Revised tables are available for review on our website at:  http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/090399t.htm

U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary William Daley has labeled as Amisleading@ a press release issued by the House Science Committee regarding the proposal review and selection criteria of the Advanced Technology Program (ATP). [See August 27, 1999 issue of SSTI Weekly Digest.] In the release, Rep. Sensenbrenner, the Chairman of the Committee, questioned the program's commitment to ensuring federal grants were not displacing private capital.

The Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. (KSTC) has released Kentucky's Science and Technology Strategy, a plan outlining ten specific recommendations in four strategic areas to guide the Commonwealth's future R&D investments. If implemented, the recommendations are expected to have significant impact in just a few years.

NASA has announced the selection of 103 R&D projects to share approximately $62 million as Phase II recipients under the agency's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The 103 awards were chosen from 319 proposals submitted by promising NASA 1998 SBIR Phase I recipients.

The U.S. Department of Education's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program has announced approximately $3.2 million has been awarded through the 1999 SBIR solicitation. The agency funded 40 Phase I projects, totaling nearly $2 million, from 208 proposals received from companies across 40 states. An additional $1.2 million was awarded to ten Phase II projects selected from a pool of 34 proposals. The accompanying table presents the distribution of proposals and awards by state. No proposals were received from firms in those ten states omitted from the table.

Before Congress left for its August break, the House voted 217-210 to pass the Commerce-State-Justice Appropriation Bill. Among other items, the Bill (H.R. 2670) eliminates all funding for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP). With this zeroing-out of funding for ATP, NIST’s total appropriation would be $436.7 million, $300.3 million below the request of $735.0 million, and $210.5 million below FY1999 funding of $647.2 million.