SSTI Digest

A recent General Accounting Office (GAO) report on the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV), Cooperative Research: Results of US-Industry Partnership to Develop a New Generation of Vehicles (GAO/RCED-00-81), demonstrates some of the difficulties public-private research collaborations encounter when attempting to measure results or progress. The report focuses on four areas:  progress made by PNGV toward its goals; overview of federal funding levels throughout PNGV’s history; technologies developed through the partnership; and, comparison of research conducted by the automobile manufacturers with that conducted under the auspices of the Partnership. The goals established in 1993 for PNGV included increasing U.S. competitiveness in manufacturing; utilizing commercially viable innovations from research in conventional vehicles; and improving fuel efficiency to 80 miles per gallon by 2004. GAO concluded that it is too early to gauge any increase in U.S. competitiveness. However, there has been some success in implementing commercially viable,…

The Rural Policy Research Institute, a consortium of Iowa State University, the University of Missouri, and the University of Nebraska, has published a Directory of State Assisted Venture Capital Programs on-line. The 17-page directory includes five sections listing: 16 publicly funded and publicly managed venture capital funds; 31 state-assisted private venture capital funds and quasi-public venture capital funds; 22 state tax credits or incentives for individuals or businesses making venture capital investments; 58 state sponsored or assisted angel networks; and 27 state-sponsored or assisted venture capital fairs. Each list is organized by state and includes contact information. The Directory can be downloaded from: http://www.rupri.org/front.html (Editor's Note: our thanks to NASVF for uncovering this story) Return to the top of this page

Two venture capital associations and the Southern Technology Council are offering free electronic newsletters to the general public that may be of interest to SSTI Weekly Digest readers. Occasionally stories offered in these publications overlap with Digest articles, however, each provides additional information and perspectives for the S&T community. The Community Development Venture Capital Alliance (CDVCA) distributed the first issue of its periodic e-mail newsletter this week, which includes updates on the organization and a discussion of the status of the Clinton Administration’ New Markets initiative and the Republican’s Renewal Communities proposal. As the trade association of 82 community development capital funds, CDVCA promotes use of the tools of venture capital to create jobs, entrepreneurial capacity, and wealth to advance the livelihoods of low-income people and the economies of distressed communities. To subscribe please send a message to cdvca@cdvca.org. Membership information can be found at: http://www.cdvca.org The National Association of Seed and Venture…

The inventions listed below are available for licensing by the Department of Navy. U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/563,740 entitled, ``Electronic Devices with Diffuion Barrier and Process for Making Same,'' filing date: May 3, 2000, Navy Case No. 82111. U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/551,364 entitled, ``Collaborative Development Network for Widely Dispersed Users and Methods Therefor,'' filing date: April 17, 2000, Navy Case No. 79260. Requests for copies of the patent application cited should be directed to James B. Bechtel, Patent Counsel, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Laboratory, Code CD222, 17320 Dahlgren Road, Building 183, Room 015, Dahlgren, VA 22448-5100, and must include the Navy Case number. Interested parties will be required to sign a Confidentiality, Non-Disclosure and Non-Use Agreement before receiving copies of requested patent applications. Mr. Bechtel's telephone number is (540) 653-8016.

The Second Session of the 119th Maine Legislature proved to be another watershed event for the state's science and technology sector. More than 20 percent of Maine's appropriated surplus budget was dedicated to increased monies for existing science and technology programs as well as substantial investment in new initiatives. The programs that the Legislature voted to fund include: Maine Biomedical Research Program: $10 million to create the Maine Biomedical Research Fund, which will provide funding to existing not-for-profit biomedical research laboratories to expand and update facilities and purchase new equipment. The fund will also be used to build new biomedical research facilities. Maine Learning Technology Endowment: $30 million for an  endowment to integrate technology into the classroom. This measure grew out of Governor Angus King’s “Lunchboxes to Laptops” proposal that called for an endowment to put laptop computers in the hands of every 7th grade student in Maine. A task force will be appointed to develop a “learning technology plan” that will – upon adoption by…

Collaboration and partnership among public, private, and non-profit entities have taken on a renewed urgency as states and localities seek quick and cost effective methods to cultivate the necessary environment to foster and support technology-based economies. SSTI’s latest publication focuses on two groups of technology-based economic development organizations that have grown in numbers alongside the New Economy: 1) regional technology councils, and 2) industry associations focused on information technology and life sciences, the industrial sectors most associated with the New Economy. As these groups have become larger and more numerous, their strength as allies in S&T policy has emerged. The potential role for these non-governmental organizations to serve in science and technology policy formulation, program design, and service delivery is substantial — and growing. Most technology councils were created during the past five years. Collectively, the 165 councils profiled in The SSTI Directory of Technology Councils already involve more than 56,000 companies and individuals in 41 states…

The National Governors’ Association has released the fourth, fifth, and sixth papers in its series on the New Economy. The latest two are touted as providing “a blueprint for replicating the economic successes of high tech meccas like California’s Silicon Valley [and] Route 128 in Massachusetts. All six papers can be downloaded from the NGA web site: http://www.nga.org. The three new papers are described briefly below. Information Technology: Creating Real Change for Small Business, by Jeffrey W. Blodgett, Vice President for Research at the Connecticut Economic Resource Center. The paper calls on the states to streamline business licensing and permitting processes for entrepreneurs and start-up businesses. Then states are encouraged to create web-based service delivery to facilitate and expedite business growth. Blodgett reviewed states’ current web sites, finding only 16 offered visitors the ability to download business forms. Two states had electronic filing capabilities for limited forms. Blodgett identifies several impediments to changing the current systems within…

Vice President Gore announced the release of Digital Economy 2000, the Commerce Department's third annual report on the information-technology (IT) revolution and its impact on the economy. The Department found while IT industries only represent 8.3 percent of the U.S. economy, they accounted for approximately 30 percent of the country's economic growth since 1995. Nearly one-third of all company-funded R&D investments in 1998 were made by IT industries. IT also accounts for at least half of the recent acceleration in U.S. productivity growth. IT employment doubled to 1.6 million during the six-year period of 1992 - 1998. The full report can be downloaded from: http://www.esa.doc.gov/de2000.pdf Independently, the Center for Research in Electronic Commerce at the University of Texas -- Austin released a Internet Economy Indicators study looking at the impact of the Internet on job growth and revenues for four segments of the Internet Economy: Internet Infrastructure, Internet Network Applications Infrastructure, Internet Intermediaries and Internet Commerce. The study was based on a survey of…

The Air Force and the National Institutes of Health have published lists of 69 and 3 inventions, respectively, that are available for license. A list of the patents, invention titles, and, in the case of NIH, summary descriptions can be found on the SSTI Website: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/060900t.htm

We try hard to be objective in the SSTI Weekly Digest and to present information without editorializing. This is one of the rare instances that we will not even attempt to be objective. We have several items involving SSTI to report: Chris Coburn has accepted a position with the Cleveland Clinic as the executive director of CCF Innovations and chief operating officer of NovaMedics, Inc. CCF Innovations will be responsible for all Clinic activity related to invention disclosures, patenting, licensing of intellectual property, industrially sponsored research, material transfer agreements, technology spin-offs, and collaborating with state and local technology organizations. NovaMedics is a Clinic subsidiary established to incubate start-up companies built around CCF technology.  As a result of Chris’ career change, he has resigned as president of SSTI and as a member of the SSTI board of trustees. Start-up of the Institute was the result of many individuals, but foremost among those was Chris. His vision, energy, and support were critical both to the creation and…

Using a new, proprietary methodology, the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC) has conducted a cluster assessment, determining KTEC should focus its commercialization efforts on those specific technology areas where opportunity is high and where the elements are in place to delivery those benefits to the state’s economy. The results, published in Kansas Strategic Technology Cluster Assessment and a Plan for the 21st Century, form a unique blend of cluster analysis, indicator assessment, and strategic planning. The Opportunity-Capacity Model©, developed by KTEC in partnership with Topeka-based Acumen Strategies, Inc., was used to evaluate the contribution of four sets of partners toward Kansas’ economic and science and technology performance in each of the 27 technologies areas identified by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy as “Critical Technologies” for U.S. economic prosperity and national security. The four sets of technology partners include the federal government, state government, private sector, and the state’s research universities. The model has five…

Three bills have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative Vernon Ehlers (R-Michigan) to help reform science, math, engineering, and technology education in grades K-12. These bills, known as the National Science Education Acts of 2000, are designed to re-focus interest and training for those in grades K-12 in all fields of science and technology. The National Science Education Act (NSEA), the largest of the three bills, focuses on the improvement and expansion of National Science Foundation (NSF) activities. The bill would provide grants for schools to: Hire teachers with backgrounds in math and science to assist in professional development and support; Provide technology use and integration training to staff; Create a national scholarship to recognize those teachers involved in math and science research; and Design systems to inform high school students of the prerequisites needed to pursue the math and science educators tracks in college In addition, NSEA would provide plans to create working groups to…