SSTI Digest

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, senior public affairs specialist with the National Science Foundation's Office of Legislative and Public Affairs, is on detail to NSF's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) until the end of July.

Terri Adams is serving as Chief of the Science, Technology and Energy Division of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. Martha McInnis resigned from ADECA in January.

U.S. dominance as a source of technology for other economies is in serious trouble, according to "R&D Trends in the U.S. Economy: Strategies and Policy Implications," a new report by Gregory Tassey, senior economist with the Strategic Planning and Economic Analysis Group of the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST). The report highlights trends and global developments that are changing the nature of innovation and underlying research and development activities. NIST concludes that without the merger of R&D policy and a long-term economic growth policy, the U.S. role in innovation and the world economy is threatened. Only seven percent of US industries have the necessary R&D intensity, measured by R&D-to-sales ratios, to maintain world class innovation, Tassey observed. Equally discouraging is the shift of US private R&D objectives to shorter-term projects and quicker paybacks. The report reviews the economic dimensions of technology policy, the role of technology in the increasing volatility of the global markets, characteristics of market…

An interagency task force of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has released its findings on the state of the science and technology partnership between the federal government and universities. The review of the government/university partnership began three years ago in response to letters from leaders in industry and academia, state governors, and Congress stating that incremental changes in government policy and administrative practices were undermining national objectives and harming universities. They urged a thorough review of the government-university research partnership to strengthen it and make it more effective. A review of the issue was conducted by a task force under the auspices of the NSTC. The task force, comprised of the major federal research agencies (NIH, NSF, DOD, DOE, NASA, USDA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and chaired by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), solicited input from universities and federal agencies on matters considered most pressing and in need of review. The task force made the following…

The United States Innovation Partnership (USIP) reported on a recent roundtable discussion on the 21st Century Economy. The topic of the discussion was the role of states in science and technology. The roundtable highlighted "best practices" in technology-based economic development in five states (Oklahoma, Kansas, Indiana, Utah, and Pennsylvania). USIP is a state-federal partnership, created in 1997, to establish a new working relationship between the states and the federal government which will promote the development of a national innovation system. The roundtable was profiled in the most recent issue of PACESETTER, a publication of the Technology Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. A complete copy of the text of this article will be available soon at http://www.ta.doc.gov/Newsletters.htm  

The Mid-America Commercialization Corporation (Manhattan, Kansas) announced that the Eaton Corporation is donating a substantial portfolio of patented technologies for the benefit of the corporation and Kansas State University. The patent donation, valued at approximately $17 million, will be used as a technology platform upon which additional research programs in automotive, semiconductor and other areas might be developed at Kansas State University. The patents will be available for commercial licensing as well. Eaton, which has its headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, is a manufacturer of highly engineered products that serve industrial, vehicle, construction, commercial, aerospace and semiconductor markets. The Eaton portfolio of donated patents includes 57 patents across six different technology areas, including: vehicular four wheel steering systems; excimer laser-based processes for semiconductor manufacturing; AC frequency conversion techniques for controlling electric motors; electromechanical sensors and controls; hypergolic combustion; and anti-…

The number of technology degrees awarded have declined by 5 percent since 1990, according to a new report issued by the American Electronics Association (AEA). The one area in which there has been a significant increase in degrees conferred is business information systems, which increased by 24 percent. The report, CyberEducation: U.S. Education and the High-Technology Workforce, A National and State-by-State Perspective, examines technology education trends in both K-12 and higher education. At the college and university level, the report examines the number of students awarded associate, bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in six core technology fields (engineering, engineering technology, computer science, business information systems, mathematics, and physics). The top five states, ranked by technology degrees conferred are: California (20,809) New York (16,437) Texas (12,991) Pennsylvania (11,074) Ohio (10,315) The top five states in terms of percentage increase in the number of technology degrees conferred are: Virginia Texas North Carolina…

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced two new programs to assist small businesses. Y2K Loans SBA will begin accepting applications in early May for a loan program to help small businesses with problems related to the date change from 1999 to 2000 (Y2K). The new loan guaranties are designed to meet two needs. First, the program will enable small businesses to purchase systems, software, equipment, and services necessary to become Y2K compliant. Second, the program will assist small firms that suffer economic injury as a result of the date change. More information about the program is available on the SBA's web site at www.sba.gov/y2k  or by calling 1-800-U-ASK-SBA. Free Financial Software The SBA, working in partnership with the Intuit corporation, will distribute free copies of Quickbooks Pro software to new business owners. The partnership is part of the agency's efforts to support the use of technology in small business management. More than 4,000 copies of the accounting…