SSTI Digest

Last week's issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest was our 150th since beginning the publication on March 1, 1996. Since that time, the Digest has grown more sophisticated in its news coverage and value largely due to the input we receive from our readers. Accompanying this week's issue of the Digest in a separate e-mail is a short survey that we hope you will complete and send back to us. [NOTE: survey is not included with the arcvhive version of the Digest.] Your comments and suggestions are critical tools for making the publication as valuable as possible for your organization. Please fax the survey back to us at 614/ 901-1696.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced plans to accept applications for funding to support selected local Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) assistance efforts. The program announcement will be available by mail beginning Monday March 22, according to Maurice Swinton, SBA point of contact.   SBA has $1 million available for the awards; the maximum size of any award will be $100,000. Each applicant must provide match of 50 cents for each federal dollar requested under the solicitation. Awards will be in the form of cooperative agreements. Only applicants for those 23 states and 2 territories which received less than $5 million in awards to resident companies through the SBIR and STTR in FY1995 are eligible to compete for the matching funds. Eligible states and territories include: Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The CBDNet announcement on March 5, says not…

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the award of more than $2.1 million in grants to six U.S. manufacturers to help demonstrate and commercialize energy-efficient and environmentally friendly industrial technologies. The grants support technologies being developed for use in the chemicals, metalcasting, aluminum, forest products, and steel industries. The awards are part of the National Industrial Competitiveness through Energy, Environment, and Economics (NICE3) program, a strategic partnership between state energy, economic development and environmental departments, industry and the U.S. Department of Energy. Since 1991, the department has funded 91 projects, including this year's recipients. The program includes more than 200 partners in 32 states and territories. NICE3 has leveraged $81.8 million in state and industry funds with $26.3 million in federal funds. According to DOE, more than half of the recipients have been small businesses. Companies and their state partners for 1999 are: MBA Polymers Inc., Richmond, Calif., with the California Energy Commission…

Michigan Governor John Engler has signed an Executive Order reorganizing the state's economic development and workforce development functions. The reorganization, which was unveiled by the Governor in his State of the State address, permits the formation of a new Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) in partnership with local governments. A 17-member Board will oversee the corporation, which is expected to be formed through an interlocal agreement between the state and one or more local economic development groups. The corporation will assume the economic development function from the Michigan Jobs Commission, which will cease to exist. The new corporation will allow one organization to make economic development decisions, pending a merger with two existing organizations: the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center and Michigan Technologies, Inc. Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center works with small and mid-sized companies to provide consulting services on the latest manufacturing processes. Michigan Technologies, Inc. was created last year to promote the growth and…

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is seeking candidates for the White House Executive Office Fellowship and for the Congressional Fellowship. The White House Fellow will serve a one-year appointment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to support the U.S. Innovation Partnership's state-federal technology partnership activities aimed at enhancing state-federal cooperation and technology-based economic growth. The Congressional Fellow will participate directly in the lawmaking process. The Fellows typically choose placement with congressional committees with authority over science and technology programs. Among the qualifications necessary for becoming a White House Fellow are: an advanced degree or equivalent work experience; clear understanding of the roles of federal R&D programs and state S&T programs; leadership and organizational skills necessary to direct, manage and coordinate administrative and programmatic activities; and, the ability to discern opportunities for state-federal technology programs and to present such…

Two publications that will be useful to those interested in technology-based economic develop-ment have been released recently. They are: Science and Engineering State Profiles: 1998 Data Update This report prepared by the National Science Foundation's Division of Science Resources Studies offers key statistical information for each state. Data in the profiles, includes: number of doctoral scientists and engineers, federal spending; federal obligations for R&D by agency and performer; academic R&D spending; number of SBIR awards; and, gross state product. The report is available only on-line and can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf99311/pdfstart.htm Evaluating Federal Research Programs: Research and the Government Performance and Results Act Prepared by the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP), this report examines the issue of measuring and evaluating research. COSEPUP argues that while useful outcomes of basic research cannot be measured directly on an annual basis that does not mean that there are no meaningful measures of…

U.S. venture capital investments for 1998 were 24 percent higher than record levels set in 1997, according to the latest Pricewaterhouse-Coopers Money Tree Survey. Results from the survey of deals made during the fourth quarter of 1998 revealed venture capital investment for 1998 totaled $14.27 billion — $2.78 billion higher than the total posted in 1997, and 78 percent higher than 1996 totals. A sharp increase in technology sector investments is credited with much of the growth. Technology-based projects accounted for 76 percent of the deals made in 1998, nearly double what they were two years ago. With more than $3.5 billion posted, 1998 Internet-related deals rose 66 percent over 1997. During the fourth quarter, 713 companies received a total of $3.67 billion, 11 percent higher than the same period in 1997. The following table shows the 1998 fourth quarter survey results by state and the state’s share of the total for the quarter. There were no venture capital investments reported for those states not included in the table. More information about activity for the past four…

The Small Business Administration (SBA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program (MEP) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and several other federal agencies have declared March 29 through April 2, 1999 as "Y2K Action Week." Several educational events and technical assistance opportunities are planned around the country, including a 2-hour satellite broadcast by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that will be hosted by Housing Authorities across America. During the period, several Small Business Development Centers, MEP affiliates and SBA offices throughout the country will hold educational seminars, workshops and presentations on the Year 2000 computer problem and protective measures one can take. A complete state-by-state list of Y2K Action Week activities can be viewed on the SBA Y2K website: http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/y2k/ Also, NIST MEP, USDA and the SMA have established the Y2K Help Center for Small Business, a free source of assistance and technical support to help…

The Maine Science & Technology Foundation (MSTF) has released the 1998 Maine Science and Technology Report Card, a first look at the state’s performance across twenty science and technology related indicators. MSTF will use the report’s findings to develop benchmarks for the next revision of the state’s biennial strategic science and technology plan, due out this fall. The 20 indicators used in the Report Card are divided among four categories characterizing the state: financial capacity, human capacity, infra-structure capacity, and innovation. Two indicators of economic growth measuring change in employment and in workers’ wages are used to reflect the effectiveness or outcomes of the four capacity categories. Major findings include: Job growth and annual wages in Maine’s technology-intensive industries outpaced the rest of the state’s economy by 1.7 and 2.5 times, respectively; Indicators for Innovation, Financial Capacity revealed the state has yet to develop…

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has released a new paper that argues that even with maximum utilization of currently available technologies, the U.S. could not meet its carbon emission reduction obligations under the Kyoto Climate Change Protocol by 2008-2012. The Kyoto Protocol calls for the U.S. to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases to a level seven percent below 1990 levels. ASME contends that in order to make significant progress toward meeting the goals, the U.S. would have to phase out the use of coal and maximize the use of natural gas as the primary fuel for electric power generation. Copies of the paper can be found on the web at www.asme.org/gric or by calling ASME at  202/785-3756.

The Department of Defense has released statistics for the 98.2 Phase I solicitation of the Small Business Innovation Research Program. The agency announced selection of 363 Phase I awards in 36 states. DOD funded 10.9 percent of the 3,339 Phase I proposals received. An accompanying table on the SSTI web site http://ssti.org/Digest/Tables/DODPhase1.htm provides the distribution of awards and proposal-to-award conversion ratios by state. Abstracts for the selections may be found on the DOD SBIR website at: http://www.acq.osd.mil/sadbu/sbir/

In the state that created the Ben Franklin Centers in the early 1980s - models for several states’ first forays into S&T - Governor Tom Ridge has proposed a wide range of new initiatives to promote R&D investment, technology development, and commercialization within Pennsylvania. Governor Ridge’s budget request for 1999-2000 identifies $35.5 million for tax cuts expected to benefit start-up technology firms, a new $18.2 million program for high-tech investments, $6.7 million of state funding to leverage private venture capital investments, a SciTech Scholars Program, and $37 million for the state’s "traditional" technology and manufacturing programs: the Ben Franklin Partnership, Industrial Resource Centers, PENNTAP, and incubators. The tax cut is a doubling of the current annual cap on net operating loss deductions to $2 million. The cut is expected to be especially attractive or beneficial to high tech start-ups with long product-development times that often see income losses for the first few years of business. Governor Ridge also proposes creating the Pennsylvania Technology…