SSTI Digest

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…

Kentucky Governor Paul Patton and House Speaker Jody Richardson have announced a new technology bill to help Kentucky develop an innovation-driven economy. House Bill 572, the Kentucky Innovation Act, is a result of the Science and Technology Strategy designed by the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation in August, 1999 (see September 3, 1999 SSTI Weekly Digest (http://www.ssti.org/Digest/1999/090399.htm). The bill calls for the Commonwealth to make a $53 million investment in several new economic development, research, and technology transfer programs and initiatives. Along with the state’s $4 million match for the National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Research (EPSCoR), the bill includes the following funding proposals: $4.25 million for the Council on Post-secondary Education to develop a statewide network of Regional Technology Corporations to provide resources to specific industry clusters, primarily in rural Kentucky. In addition, the Council would oversee the Kentucky Research and Development Voucher Fund, described below. A $20 million Kentucky…

The Department of Energy has announced the selection of 32 grants under National Industrial Competitiveness Through Energy, Environment, and Economics Program (NICE3) and Inventions and Innovations Program (I&I). NICE3 grants support projects for commercial demonstration of innovative industrial technologies that reduce energy consumption, waste production, and operating costs. Eight NICE3 projects will share $3.8 million from DOE; industry will contribute $6.4 million in match. NICE3 awardees are located in California (2 awards), Colorado, Connecticut (2 awards), Delaware, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. The Inventions and Innovations Program assists inventors and entrepreneurs to bring their energy-saving ideas and technologies to the marketplace. The 24 I&I awardees for 1999 will receive up to $200,000 each for their energy-related inventions. The I&I grants, totaling $3,584,625, were made to companies, universities, and individuals in the following states: Arizona (2 awards), California (2 awards), Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts (3 awards), Michigan, New Jersey (2 awards),…

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act (NITRD), nearly doubling federal information technology (IT) research over the next five years. Introduced by House Science Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., (R-WI), H.R. 2086 focuses federal IT resources towards fundamental basic research and establishes the National Science Foundation (NSF) as the lead agency for federal civilian IT programs. Other agencies included in the bill are: NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). NITRD groups civilian IT programs at the various agencies into one legislative authorization package. H.R. 2086 also provides steady funding increases over multiple years, as opposed to authorization levels that fluctuate each year. NITRD’s authorizes a total of $6.9 billion over fiscal years 2000 through 2004. H.R. 2086 now moves to the…

The Clinton Administration’s final budget request calls for substantial increases in most civilian R&D areas. Overall, civilian R&D would see a six percent increase totaling $2.5 billion and would surpass military R&D spending, which, at $42 billion, essentially would be held level with FY 2000 appropriations. The Administration also proposed funding for several technology-related initiatives in the $1.84 trillion budget; many of these were announced during the last two weeks of January. The centerpiece remains the 21st Century Research Fund, a packaging of new and existing programs used by the Clinton Administration to measure federal investment in basic and applied research. Aggregated, the programs within the fund would receive a seven percent increase of $2.8 billion.