SSTI Digest

In its annual Money Tree Survey of venture firms, Coopers & Lybrand, which also tracks venture capital activity, reported greater growth in 1996 than Price Waterhouse did. According to this survey, venture capital investment reached $10.1 billion in 1996. Surveyed venture firms participated in 2,163 deals during 1996. The average size of each financing rose in 1996 to $4.7 million, up from the $4.3 million average investment reported in 1995.

The Rhode Island Economic Policy Council has concluded a year-long examination of the state's economy with a call for nine recommendations to be implemented.

Nominations are being accepted through April 4 for the annual Entrepreneur Of The Year awards. Nominees must be owners/managers primarily responsible for the recent performance of a company that is at least two years old. Founders of public companies are also eligible provided the founder is still active in upper management.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting grant proposals to establish a national network of pollution prevention information centers. Currently there are limited mechanisms to coordinate the development, review, and dissemination of pollution prevention information among those promoting source reduction technologies, according to the EPA.

The "Baldrige Index" for 1996 outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 for the third year in a row, according to a study prepared by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The fictitious index is made up of winners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

The steel industry has experienced painful changes over the past 10 to 15 years, but has now emerged in much better financial and operating condition, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Technology Policy (OTP).

The U.S. Senate's Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has established a new subcommittee to focus on manufacturing and competitiveness issues. Spencer Abraham (R-MI) will chair the Manufacturing and Competitiveness Subcommittee.

Only 13 percent of midsize manufacturers reported that the growth of the Internet has had "a great deal of" or "some" impact on their companies over the past two years, according to a survey conducted for Grant Thornton LLP. However, the manufacturers expect that to change in the next two years. The survey found that 50 percent of the manufacturers expected the growth of the Internet to have "a great deal of" or "some" impact on their companies.

Last Thursday, the Clinton Administration released its detailed budget proposal for FY98. The requested 2% rise in research and development funding reflects the constraints facing discretionary spending programs: the call to balance the budget while costs for entitlement programs and debt service are growing.

An agreement between the White House and the National Governors' Association (NGA) to establish a new mechanism, the U.S. Innovation Partnership, for coordinating federal and state technology efforts was announced by Vice President Gore and NGA's Lead Governors on Technology John G. Rowland, (R-CT), and Parris N. Glendening, (D-MD), earlier this week.

A State-Federal Technology Executive (SFTE) to serve in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is being sought. The SFTE, sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), is a one year old initiative designed to encourage broad-scale science and technology cooperation between the states and the federal government. The SFTE will have responsibility for facilitating state-federal collaborative efforts via the newly formed United States Innovation Partnership (consisting of the National Governors' Association, OSTP and the Dept. of Commerce).

The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) of the National Institutes of Health is seeking input as it updates its 1994 strategic plan, NCRR: A Catalyst for Discovery.