SSTI Digest

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:

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.

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).

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.

The overall FY2001 budget request for the U.S. Department of Agriculture reflects a decrease of more than 9% over FY2000. For several research and economic development programs, the Administration is requesting the opportunity to use funds appropriated in previous years but blocked from use by Congressional appropriations language in 1999 and 2000. Selected agency program highlights include:

Several Clinton Administration programs in the Department of Commerce are perennial budget battles, and this year is likely to be no exception. Selected program highlights include:

The Clinton Administration budget request for Defense R&D would be essentially equal in FY2001 to FY2000 levels. Research, Development, Testing & Evaluation would dip from $38.3 billion to $37.9 billion. Selected highlights include:

With 12.6 percent growth, the Department's budget request includes the largest increase in discretionary spending in the history of the Department. Funding for educational research would increase by $30 million. S&T highlights include:

The President's request for the Department of Energy reflects a 9.2 percent increase over last year's budget. Funding for science and technology activities, however, would increase by $12 percent. Research and development funding for nuclear and fossil fuel energy systems would decrease by five percent and ten percent respectively. Program highlights include:

Inventions and Innovations Program – $6 million (up $1 million). NICE3 – $6 million Industries of the Future – $174 million (up $14 million)

There are several environmental R&D initiatives in the Administration's budget request, however, except for the Global Climate Change Technology Initiative, few of these include the Environmental Protection Agency as an active financial participant. EPA's R&D activities are slated to decrease by $6 million in FY 2001 to $530 million (excluding Climate Change expenditures, which is requesting a 120 percent increase).

The Administration’s budget request includes a 5.6% increase of $1 billion in biomedical research within the National Institutes of Health. The funding would support research in the areas of diabetes, brain disorders, cancer, genetic medicine, disease prevention strategies, and development of an AIDS vaccine. The increased funding also would result in approximately $25 million in additional funding for the NIH SBIR Program.