SSTI Digest

The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation have announced approximately $5 million will be awarded in FY 2000 for grants to support research toward "Technology for a Sustainable Environment."

Entities eligible to submit proposals include universities and not-for-profit institutions. The agencies anticipate making 20 grant awards for the solicitation in January 2000. Proposals are due July 26, 1999.

The competition is designed to address pollution avoidance/prevention processes, methodologies, and technology research. Research proposals are invited that advance the development and use of innovative technologies and approaches directed at avoiding or minimizing the generation of pollutants at the source.

Delaware increased its commitment to technology businesses recently with two new initiatives: the creation of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute and the passage of a state research and development tax credit.

Delaware Biotechnology Institute

Governor Thomas R. Carper requested $10 million in his Fiscal Year 2000 budget for the new Delaware Biotechnology Institute. The effort is described as a virtual partnership of the Delaware Economic Development Office, Delaware State University, the University of Delaware, the Delaware Technical & Community College, and the private sector.

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Commerce have announced their selections for the 1999 Small Business Innovation Research Program Phase I competition. The following table provides the statistics by state for both agencies. Lists of the winning firms and award information may be found on the agencies' SBIR websites at the following:

USDA: http://www.reeusda.gov/crgam/sbir  

Commerce: http://ois.nist.gov/sbir  

STATE USDA

Commerce

702 Vie for TIIAP Funds

Update to SSTI Weekly Digest 1/22/99 article:

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the Department of Commerce received 702 applications for the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP). All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands were represented in the pool of applicants.

Total funding requested by the applicants was $278 million; TIIAP has only $17 million available for awards in Fiscal Year 1999. Awards will be announced in September.

The new Michigan Economic Development Corporation has released its strategic plan to increase the growth of technology-related jobs in the state. The report, State Smart: Michigan, outlines more than $6 million in new initiatives and several tax incentives to encourage technology-based growth in three key industry sectors: life sciences, information technology and advanced manufacturing.

The plan's initiatives are divided among three categories:

Last week, in contrast to the mid-April House and Senate approval of a budget resolution that is projected to result in a double digit decline in federal R&D spending by 2004, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved the Federal Research Investment Act, which would double federal basic research funding over an eleven-year period. S. 296 establishes a long-term plan for federal funding of fundamental, scientific, and pre-competitive engineering.

Also last week, the Committee approved the NASA reauthorization bill for fiscal years (FY) 2000 through 2002. S. 342 would authorize $13.4 billion for FY 2000, $13.8 billion in FY 2001, and $13.9 billion in FY 2002. Senators Conrad Burns (R-MT) and John D. Rockefeller (D-WV) offered an amendment to provide three-year funding for the NASA Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The adopted funding authorizations include $10 million in FY 2000, $15 million in FY 2001 and $20 million in FY 2003.

Cheryl Lyman, policy analyst with the State Science and Technology Institute, will be leaving SSTI today to accept a position with the Ohio Department of Commerce as its fiscal officer. Cheryl has worked with SSTI since its opening in 1996. We wish her well in her new position!

Robert Templin, president of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), has resigned. Wolfgang Tolle, managing director, has been named acting president. Patsy Brown, CIT's director of public affairs, also has left CIT.

Steve Jarvis resigned as the director of California Trade and Commerce's Office of Strategic Technology. Jeff Newman has been named as acting director.

Cheryl Lyman, policy analyst with the State Science and Technology Institute, will be leaving SSTI today to accept a position with the Ohio Department of Commerce as its fiscal officer. Cheryl has worked with SSTI since its opening in 1996. We wish her well in her new position!

Robert Templin, president of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), has resigned. Wolfgang Tolle, managing director, has been named acting president. Patsy Brown, CIT's director of public affairs, also has left CIT.

Steve Jarvis resigned as the director of California Trade and Commerce's Office of Strategic Technology. Jeff Newman has been named as acting director.