SSTI Digest

Mark Your Calendars! Book your Flights! Make your Reservations! Pack Your Bags! Planning is underway for SSTI's fourth and largest annual gathering of S&T policymakers and practitioners. The event will be held October 3-4, 2000 in Chicago, Illinois. As in the past, two limited-seating in-depth workshops will precede the conference on Monday, October 2. SSTI is particularly excited to hold the conference in Illinois – where technology-based economic development has become a focal point of the state's and Chicago's development strategies. The conference will be held at the historic Regal Knickerbocker Hotel (http://www.regal-hotels.com/chicago). The 305-room hotel provides an intimate-yet-formal setting for the event and is conveniently located on the top of Chicago's "Magnificent Mile" – home to the city's finest dining, shopping, and nightlife. A special room rate of $162 has been reserved at the hotel for SSTI conference registrants (mention the SSTI conference to get the discounted rate when calling 1-800-621-8140 to make reservations.) More details on the conference…

Efforts to transform rural Berkshire County, Massachusetts from an area of economic decline into an equal player for the New Economy through improved telecommunications access are bearing fruit. Berkshire Connect, a consortium of business, cultural, academic, and community leaders has successfully negotiated an agreement with Global Crossing, Ltd. and Equal Access Networks to provide low-cost, equal access telecommunications throughout the region. This agreement will allow area businesses to save 50% over their current rates for T-1 Internet access. Equal Access Networks and Global Crossing, Ltd. have agreed to invest several million dollars into the construction of a new facility designed to house voice, Internet, data, and video telecommunications services. This introduction of competition into the Berkshire market is expected to improve the cost, quality, and service offered throughout the county. It is also expected to encourage growth and educational development through the use of the new, improved telecommunications services. The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) and…

The Army Medical Research and Materiel Command has recently posted in the Commerce Business Daily the following solicitations for research proposals: Breast Cancer Research Program – the Army has approximately $3.5 million available to fund concept awards of up to $50,000 each for the development of initial concepts or theories that could give rise to testable hypotheses. The awards encourage the exploration of untested, innovative questions in breast cancer. The deadline for electronic, one-page submissions is April 12, 2000. Any individual with a masters or doctoral degree, regardless of ethnicity, nationality or citizenship status, may apply as long as they are employed by an eligible institution, including for profit and nonprofit organizations, such as universities, colleges, hospitals, companies, laboratories, and agencies of local, state or federal government. More information can be found on the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program web site: http://cdmrp.army.mil/?/announce Prostate Cancer Research Program – the Army has $75 million available to support research into…

Cliff Numark has been named CEO for the San Diego Regional Technology Alliance, filling the position vacated by Joe Raguso when he became Deputy Secretary in the California Department of Trade and Commerce. Mike Wojcicki, chief operating officer and vice president of research at KTEC, has been named President of the Modernization Forum (ModForum) in Livonia, Michigan. Nola Miyasaki is serving as Acting Executive Director and CEO of the Hawaii High Technology Development Corp. Dan Hill, Assistant Administrator responsible for SBIR activities in the SBA, is leaving to work on international trade issues in the Department of Commerce. Jack MacLennan, Manager of the Office of Business Technology and Competitiveness within the Illinois Department of Commerce & Community Affairs, has announced he will be leaving state government at the end of February.

Cliff Numark has been named CEO for the San Diego Regional Technology Alliance, filling the position vacated by Joe Raguso when he became Deputy Secretary in the California Department of Trade and Commerce.

Mike Wojcicki, chief operating officer and vice president of research at KTEC, has been named President of the Modernization Forum (ModForum) in Livonia, Michigan

Nola Miyasaki is serving as Acting Executive Director and CEO of the Hawaii High Technology Development Corp

Dan Hill, Assistant Administrator responsible for SBIR activities in the SBA, is leaving to work on international trade issues in the Department of Commerce.

Jack MacLennan, Manager of the Office of Business Technology and Competitiveness within the Illinois Department of Commerce & Community Affairs, has announced he will be leaving state government at the end of February.

The following agencies have advertised government-owned inventions and software available for licensing: the Department of Energy (2), the Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Navy (2). Descriptions of each offering are available on the accompanying web page: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/022500t.htm

As part of his FY 2001 budget request, Illinois Governor George Ryan announced a five-year, $1.9 billion package of technology-related initiatives intended to put Illinois in a leadership position among states in science and technology. Illinois VentureTech includes several education and computer technology acquisition programs and the following S&T and research-related initiatives: More than $86 million would be used to boost funding for technology development programs in several organizations and agencies. The proposed budget for the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA) includes the creation of a new Bureau of Technology and Industrial Competitiveness to enhance the state’s technology industry and to prepare workers for high-tech jobs. The bureau’s budget would include $25.8 million for technology programs, including an additional $4 million for the Technology Advancement and Development Act. Under the Act, DCCA would provide assistance to companies and research institutions to analyze, develop, and market technology products or processes that allow…

The most recent PricewaterhouseCoopers Moneytree™ survey reported $35.6 billion in venture capital investments were made in 1999 – 150% higher than the record survey results collected in 1998. In fact, at $14.69 billion, fourth quarter 1999 investments alone surpassed the survey results for all of 1998. For the entire year of 1999, the number of companies receiving funds rose 41% to 4,006. In addition, average funding per company increased 71% to $8.9 million. Technology companies and Internet businesses claimed more than 90% of the venture capital investments for 1999 with investments jumping from $10.8 billion in 1998 to $32.4 billion in 1999. Internet investment companies increased their funding by more than six times, with funding climbing from $3.4 billion in 1998 to $19.9 billion in 1999 – this increase accounted for 56% of the total venture capital investments. Among Internet companies, business to consumer e-commerce sites received $4.46 billion, a 1,092% increase in funding levels over 1998. By region, Silicon Valley received $5.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 1999, with a yearly…