SSTI Digest

As Wall Street waited for the Dow to top 10,000, venture capital investments were also reaching a new high, according to the latest PricewaterhouseCoopers Money Tree Survey. Venture-backed investments rose to a record $4.286 billion during the first quarter of 1999, a 41 percent increase over the first quarter of 1998. The survey's previous record of $3.77 billion was set during the third quarter of last year. The survey results for the first quarter of 1999 reflect venture capital investors' growing concentration on technology-based companies. Technology firms -- defined as companies involved in biotechnology, communications, computers & peripherals, electronics, environment, medical devices, semiconductors, software and information -- and Internet-based firms captured 84 percent of the first quarter's total venture capital investments and rose 63 percent over the technology sector's results for the first quarter of last year. Investments in non-technology decreased by 18 percent compared to 12 months ago. The $1.84 billion invested in Internet-related companies, which cut across all…

Washington's technology boom hasn't been enjoyed equally by most communities outside of the Seattle or Spokane urban areas. Two laws recently passed by the Washington legislature are intended to provide tax credits, infrastructure financing, and other incentives to spread the economic benefits of technology into the state's most rural counties. House Bill 2260 grants 100 percent, seven-year Business & Occupation (B&O) tax credits to businesses in rural counties engaged in providing "help desk" technologies to other businesses. After the seventh year, the credit is reduced to 68 percent. The bill also gives a $1,000 B&O credit for each new software manufacturing or software develop-ment job created by any business in rural counties. The credit may be applied each year for up to six years provided the job is maintained. Final provisions of the bill provide a 50 percent utility tax credit for rural telecommunications and water facility projects, and allows rural counties to retain more of the state sales tax revenues collected to use for infrastructure projects, including…

The Department of Energy has announced 16 awards under the 1999 solicitation for the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. The following table presents states with companies and academic institutions or federal labs selected in the competition. Only five of the awards were made to projects in which the company and university are located in the same state. Award information is posted at http://sttr.er.doe.gov/sttr/  State Companies Institutions or Labs AR 1 -- CA 4 1 CO -- 1 IL -- 1 IN 1 -- LA -- 1 MA 2 -- MN 1 -- MO -- 1 MT 1 -- NV -- 1 NM -- 3 NC -- 1 ND -- 1 OH 1 1 OR 1 -- PA 1…

Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology is seeking a new President and Chief Executive Officer. The CIT president's primary responsibility will be to assist the Secretary of Technology in implementing the Commonwealth's technology strategy by developing and directing CIT's key role in the strategy. Applications are due by June 22, 1999. The Maine Science and Technology Foundation is seeking a Director of Policy Analysis to manage the development and implementation of the state's science and technology policy and the measurement of the impact of science and technology on the state's economy. Applications are due by June 15, 1999. Full position descriptions for both can be found on the SSTI home page at www.ssti.org 

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. Research projects are possible in the general areas of: chemistry for pollution avoidance or prevention; engineering for pollution avoidance and prevention; chemical processes and reaction engineering; simulations, modeling, sensors, and feedback techniques for pollution avoidance and prevention; and industrial ecology. The competition is not…

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 Biotechnology Institute builds off of industry/academia collaboration fostered through the state's Advanced Technology Center program, which first funded the Center for Agricultural Biotechnology at the University of Delaware in 1996. R&D Tax Credit The new Delaware Research and Development Tax Credit permits companies to claim credits against either a business' corporate income tax or, where applicable, against…

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 STATE USDA Commerce AK 1 -- MO -- 2 AZ 2 -- MT 1 -- CA 6 9 NH 1 1 CO 2 -- NJ 3 1 CT 1 1 NM 1 -- FL 1 2 NY 5 -- HI 6 -- NC 3 -- ID 2 -- OH 2 -- IN 3 -- OR 4…

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. A list of all 702 applicants was posted in the Federal Register on April 30 (Vol. 64, No. 83, pages 23518-23524). More information can be found on the TIIAP website: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/tiiap/index.html 29 EPSCoT Proposals Submitted Update to SSTI Weekly Digest 3/26/99 article: The Technology Administration of the Department of Commerce received 29 proposals from 23 states in…

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: "Smart Ideas" to develop a base of university research for commercialization and a marketing program to enhance Michigan's image as a high tech state; "Smart People" for technology-based workforce development; and, "Smart Capital," to encourage technology investments through R&D funding, tax credits and reforms, and infrastructure improvements. Some of the specific "Smart Ideas" initiatives include: establishing a $2-million-per-year university research matching fund to help academic researchers leverage federal and private funding in information technology, electronics and emerging sectors; hiring marketing specialists and…

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. Text of both S. 296 and S. 342 can be found on the Committee's web site: http://…

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. Marty Grueber has left the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council (RIEPC) to join Battelle Memorial Institute and the Environmental Technology Commercialization Center. Beth Ashman Collins has been named director of research at RIEPC. John Dougherty resigned his position with the Illinois Coalition to accept a job in the private sector. Kate Latta Hoffher,…

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!