SSTI Digest

The Air Force Dual Use Science & Technology Program (DUS&T) will be holding a pre-solicitation conference to provide businesses an opportunity to participate in the process of generating topics for the Air Force DUS&T solicitation to be released in January.

The DUS&T Program is designed to help the Department of Defense partner with industry to jointly fund the development of technologies that have both military utility and sufficient commercial potential to support a viable industrial base. This is accomplished through streamlined contracting procedures, and cost sharing between the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the individual Services, and industry.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded almost $13 million in grants for distance learning and telemedicine projects in rural areas of 34 states and Puerto Rico. The announcement was made on the 50th anniversary of the program. Since the program’s inception, $11 billion in loans and grants have been made, resulting in more than 1 million miles of phone lines and thousands of miles of optic cable being laid.

The distance learning grants will provide students in rural schools the opportunity to take college preparatory classes taught by an instructor located miles away.  The telemedicine grants will provide life-enhancing and life-saving health technology, allowing patients in rural clinics to be examined by medical specialists in distant locations, providing speedier diagnosis.

The accompanying table provides the number of grants awarded in each category as well as the total dollar amount by state. 

The Economic Development Administration has funded the creation of EconData.Net (http://www.econdata.net/), a website providing a searchable database with approximately 400 links to web-related socioeconomic data resources. EconData.Net provides a single site for referencing many materials used for developing science and technology indices or for comparing a state or region’s economic posture with other jurisdictions. More than 300 information links are sorted across ten subject categories, including:

The Florida legislature recently approved legislation creating the Florida Space Research Institute (FSRI), an independent, industry-led organization designed to coordinate the space-related research capabilities of several public and private universities. FSRI will strive to expand the universities’ involvement in space research and education, and to insure that state academic resources are available to support the space-related needs of industry, NASA, and the military.

The seven-member board, which includes representatives of Enterprise Florida, the Spaceport Florida Authority, the Florida Space Business Roundtable, the Florida Aviaiton Aerospace Alliance, Bionetics, Command & Control Technologies, and Boeing, held its first board meetings in early October.

The U.S. Department of Education has selected 40 awards for the Community Technology Centers program, a new federal initiative to promote the development of model programs that demonstrate the educational effectiveness of technology in urban and rural areas and economically distressed communities. Community Technology Centers provide access to information technology and related learning services to children and adults.

Pennsylvania’s $187 million investment in the Ben Franklin Partnership boosted the state’s economy by $2.9 billion between 1989 and 1996, according to a new economic impact study. A Record of Achievement: The Economic Impact of the Ben Franklin Partnership concludes that between 1989 and 1996 the Ben Franklin Partnership achieved the following:

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has selected 22 organizations to receive funding to support outreach and proposal assistance for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The organizations will split $1 million for an average award of just over $45,000.  The exact amount for each award was not provided.

Each recipient must match the federal award 50 cents on the dollar. Awardees include:

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.