SSTI Digest

A five-university partnership led by Vanderbilt University (TN) will develop bioengineering educational technologies and curricula at a new Engineering Research Center funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Through a five-year, nearly $10-million cooperative agreement, the center will support and enhance the education of a new generation of bioengineers needed to strengthen the industry.

The partnership includes Northwestern University (IL), University of Texas at Austin, and the joint Division of Health Sciences and Technology of Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

NASA has selected 290 research proposals across 34 states for negotiation of Phase I contract awards for its 1999 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The total value of the awards is expected to be more than $20 million.  

NASA received more than 2,260 proposals from small, high-technology businesses located throughout the United States in response to the 1999 Phase I solicitation. The 220 selected firms will be awarded fixed-price contracts worth up to $70,000 to perform a six-month Phase I feasibility study. Companies which successfully complete the Phase I activities are eligible to compete for Phase II selection the following year. NASA Phase II awards allow for a two-year, fixed-price contract of up to $600,000. 

Ten individuals and five institutions have received the 1999 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. The mentoring awards honor those whose personal and organizational activities have increased participation of underrepresented groups in mathematics, engineering and science from kindergarten through graduate level.

Each recipient is given a $10,000 grant and a commemorative presidential certificate. The monetary award is to be directed back into the recognized mentoring activity.

This year's awardees were selected from among 36 nominated for the individual awards and another 19 from institutions.

1999 INDIVIDUAL WINNERS

After only ten years of investments, Connecticut Innovations, Inc. achieved a net income of $21.4 million in 1999, according to Connecticut Innovations’ latest annual report. The corporation reversed a deficit of over $20 million in retained earnings accumulated through 1995 to a positive $24.7 million by June 30, 1999. The corporation's record provides one of the strongest examples of successful state-funded, technology-based seed and venture capital investment to date.

Surpassing another significant milestone, total fund equity for Connecticut Innovations grew to slightly more than $103 million. The return on fund equity was 20.8 percent in 1999, also a new best for the corporation. Connecticut Innovations reported an internal rate of return on its equity and near-equity portfolio of 40 percent since inception.

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP), managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has selected 37 projects from the 1999 solicitation to receive awards. Recipients will share $110 million of ATP funding for high-risk R&D projects with the potential to spark important, broad-based economic benefits for the United States. ATP funds will be matched by at least $102 million from private industry.

The 37 new awards were selected from more than 400 proposals received last Spring. The selected projects target a broad array of technologies, including pharmaceutical design, tissue engineering, industrial catalysts, energy storage, image processing, manufacturing control systems, electronics manufacturing, computer software, and electro-optics.

The majority of the 1999 ATP awards, 26, went to small businesses, either for single-company projects or as the lead company in an industry joint venture. More than 20 universities are involved as joint-venture partners or subcontractors.

The 1999 Advanced Technology Program National Meeting, Nov. 15-17 in San Jose, Calif., will feature more than 30 workshops for industry, academic and government researchers to discuss current ATP work in high-risk, high-potential technologies and future R&D opportunities. The meeting also will feature general information presentations on ATP and a showcase exhibit of a broad array of successful ATP-sponsored technologies. More details can be found on the meeting web site: http://www.atp.nist.gov/nationalmeeting.

The Indianapolis-based Lilly Foundation is providing nearly $60 million in two grants to help make Indiana more competitive for technology research and education and high-tech business development. The grants were made to Indiana University and the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

During the press announcement for the grants, Clay Robbins, Lilly Endowment President, cited the state's low ranking in educational achievement as a motivation for the Foundation’s awards. Indiana ranks 48th in the percentage of adults with a college degree and 50th in the percentage of the work force in professional positions or specialty occupations.

The two grants are:

Total annual research and development (R&D) expenditures — expected to pass $247 billion in 1999 — have grown 7.2 percent over 1998 levels (adjusted for inflation), according to a recent Data Brief from the National Science Foundation. Growth in R&D expenditures has been accelerating since 1995. The annual real R&D growth for 1995-99 is expected to average 6.1 percent. Almost all of the growth is attributed to a resurgence in industrial R&D.

R&D’s share of the gross domestic product is forecasted to be 2.79 percent in 1999, the highest level since 1967's 2.80 percent share. The lowest R&D/GDP ratio was 2.12 percent in 1978. R&D as a proportion of GDP has risen sharply since 1994, following a three-year decline during the early 1990s.

The SSTI Offices will be closed Wednesday, October 6 - Monday, October 11 due to the SSTI conference and in observance of the Columbus Day holiday.

Due to SSTI’s 3rd Annual Conference next week, the SSTI Weekly Digest will not be  published on October 8.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced selections for the second — and perhaps final — round of funding for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Technology (EPSCoT). Nearly two million dollars will be distributed among eleven projects selected from 29 proposals submitted last spring. The program is designed to assist state and local efforts to initiate technology-based economic development efforts in areas historically lacking federal research funding. These 11 projects join the seven original EPSCoT projects announced last January.

The future of the program is up in the air; the Clinton Administration did not request any EPSCoT funding for FY 2000. The Department of Commerce has explained it will evaluate the success of the 18 projects during the next fiscal year in lieu of making any new awards.

Dr. Lura Powell, Director of the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) since 1995, has decided to take early retirement from the National Institute of Standards & Technology and pursue career opportunities in the private sector. Because of the voluntary early retirement option deadline, Dr. Powell’s retirement was effective September 30.

Dr. Powell joined the then-National Bureau of Standards in 1972 in the Center for Analytical Chemistry and held several research and management positions before being assigned to establish the NIST Biotechnology Division in 1991. She received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for leadership of ATP and the Silver Medal for building the NIST biotechnology research program.

Cita Furlani, who is currently serving as the Acting Deputy Director of the ATP, will take over as Acting Director of the ATP, subject to departmental approval.

While many states are adding multi-million programs to their science and technology portfolio, state-led S&T efforts in much of the North Central United States are still suffering. The latest example was the elimination of North Dakota’s two largest programs this summer.

Technology Transfer, Inc. (TTI) and the North Dakota Manufacturing Technology Partnership were closed effective June 30. Staff for the state’s Department of Economic Development & Finance, which inherited administration and oversight of TTI’s outstanding projects, was cut by 30 percent as well.