SSTI Digest

Technology 2020, a public-private partnership, is seeking a Director of New Business Development. Technology 2020is supported by a number of large corporate "technology partners" in the Knoxville/Oak Ridge Area of east Tennessee. Technology 2020's primary objective is to leverage talent and reputation of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and grow new technology businesses that will create new jobs and help diversify the economy of the region. Oak Ridge is the nation's largest multi-disciplinary laboratory and is a primary source for technology commercialization.

The omnibus spending bill signed into law last week also includes extensions of several tax credits, including the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit which expired on June 30 of this year. The R&E Tax Credit is now in effect, retroactively, for the period from July 1, 1998, to June 30, 1999.

Maine and Oklahoma voters both approved ballot initiatives designed to encourage technology-based economic development, while voters in other states elected 13 new governors. Eight legislative chambers also switched control.

November 17, 1998

The National Association of Seed Venture Funds is sponsoring a seminar entitled "Seed Investing as a Team Sport" to be held in Des Moines. The purpose of the seminar is to expand the attendees' understanding of business investing, help locate a team of like-minded investors in the region, and provide new tools to help optimize investment dollars. For more information, visit NASVF's website at http://www.nasvf.org

The Department of Energy has been unable to demonstrate that it can effectively manage the reform of its national laboratory system, the General Accounting Office (GAO) says in a new report. Consequently, GAO recommends that Congress consider alternatives to the present relationship between DOE and the laboratories. In response to on-going congressional concerns about DOE’s progress in making systemic changes, GAO evaluators were asked to:

California is considering expanding its network of Regional Technology Alliances (RTA), which is a component of the Goldstrike Partnership. The Goldstrike Partnership, a program of the California Trade and Commerce Agency's Office of Strategic Technology (OST), supports the development, application, and commercialization of technology to create jobs, respond to industry changes, and foster competitiveness.

Nearly 70,000 manufacturers received services from the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) from July 1995 through December 1997, according to a new report released by MEP.

Two of the state-wide issues Oklahomans will decide on November 3 would allow major changes in the way the state conducts technology transfer activities. The purpose of the initiatives is to promote the commercialization of university research and support university innovation.

A new report issued by the Council on Competitiveness maintains that the U.S. must have a strong, sustained commitment to investment in science and technology to maintain its global competitiveness. In Going Global: The New Shape of American Innovation, the Council focuses on support for basic research, the need for a skilled talent pool, and favorable legal, regulatory and accounting rules to promote U.S. innovation as three key factors for innovation.

Mainers will vote on Election Day on a research and development bond issue that if passed would allocate $20 million to improve the Maine economy by supporting innovative research and development in the fields of biotechnology, computers and other information technology, aquiculture and marine technology, forestry and agriculture, and advanced materials.

Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships announces a competition for U.S. citizens in leadership positions with significant professional experience (10-20 years) for Fellowships to:

"State-based organizations have considerable advantages over the federal government in assisting in the commercial development of new technologies including their proximity to the firms that will actually employ new technologies, their close relationships with local university systems, and their ability to focus their efforts," says an extensive policy study recently completed by the U.S. House Science Committee.