SSTI Digest

A Washington, D.C.-based think tank has issued a call for the creation of a $250 million fund to be directed to the states for Technology Innovation Challenge Grants. The fund would be used by the states to invest in university- industry and other technology and innovation network programs.

Under the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) proposal, states would be required to match the federal funds at a ratio of at least one-to-one with industry required to match all public funds one-to-one. The net effect would be to leverage the federal money into at least $1 billion in funding.

The proposal is contained in a PPI Policy Briefing, "Innovation, Social Capital, and the New Economy: New Federal Policies to Support Collaborative Research," which asserts that investment in innovation is critical and the federal government must develop a targeted and expanded investment program for R&D of scientific and technological advances.

The Research and Experimentation Tax Credit expired on June 30, and there is concern that it may not be renewed this year. Reports indicate that the most likely vehicle for the tax credit would be a general tax bill, but according to the American Institute of Physics, the chances of a tax bill being agreed to by Congress and signed by President Clinton before the end of the session are considered slim.

The State Science and Technology Institute is sponsoring its second annual conference "Science and Technology Programs: Catalysts for Economic Growth" on September 23 and 24.

The conference will explore best practices, trends, and new developments in technology-based economic development programs.

The conference program includes the following sessions:

NASA announced the award of cooperative agreements to establish new technology business incubators at three NASA Centers: the Goddard Space Flight Center (MD), the Langley Research Center (VA), and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), combined with the Dryden Flight Research Center, (CA).

The incubators will provide U.S. start-up or small existing technology firms and U.S. educational institutions with a wide array of critical business development support services for the primary purpose of commercially applying NASA technology.

Each new business incubator will receive funding from NASA in the amount of $400,000 per year for fiscal years 1998 and 1999, and will in turn match (or exceed) NASA's contribution through cash or in-kind funding from non-federal sources.

Updates on activities the United States Innovation Partnership (USIP) are now available through an e-mail distribution list. To subscribe, send an e-mail to USIP@asme.org

USIP establishes a new working relationship between the states and the federal government as an integral part of enhancing a National Innovation System to promote economic growth.

USIP strategies include: building strategic partnerships among federal and state governments, universities and industry; strengthening the national S&T system; defining the role of states in the S&T system; maximizing the return on investment from technology; creating mechanisms to promote innovation; building national excellence in manufacturing; and supporting product development and commercialization.

Industrial research and development spending totaled approximately $145 billion in 1996, a 10 percent increase for the second year in a row. More than 83 percent of that funding came from industry itself with the federal government providing the remaining funds, according to a new Data Brief prepared by the National Science Foundation. Small businesses, those with 500 or less employees, spent slightly more than $20.2 billion or 14 percent of the total industrial R&D spending in 1996. This represented a 21 percent increase over 1995's total.

The increase in total industrial R&D spending was highlighted by a rebound in R&D spending among manufacturers. Following eight years in which nonmanufacturing R&D rose about 15 percent each year in current dollars, while manufacturing increases were approximately three percent, the figures almost reversed themselves in a single year.

On June 25, Senators Bill Frist (R-TN) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced a new bill, the Federal Research Investment Act (S. 2217). The purpose of the bill is to provide for the continuation of federal research investment in a fiscally sustainable way.

The Act is intended to encourage as an overall goal, the doubling of the annual authorized amount of federal funding for basic scientific, medical, and pre-competitive engineering research over the next twelve years. The bill also sets a minimum level of investment in order to maintain the high priority that science, engineering, and technology had previously been afforded in the federal budget.

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Science Resources Studies has released three individual data briefs all pertaining to federal research and development funding trends.

In FY 1996 total expenditures by universities and colleges for separately budgeted research and development activities in science and engineering (S&E) increased 3.5% over the FY 1995 level, reaching nearly $23 billion, according to data brief "Academic R&D Expenditures Maintain Steady Growth in FY 1996." When adjusted for inflation, academic R&D increased 1.4% over the 1995 level.

Academic R&D expenditures financed by the federal government increased 3% in FY 1996 to $13.8 billion. This represents 60% of the R&D dollars expended at universities and colleges.

Lou Tornatzky has announced that he will be stepping down from his position as Director of the Southern Technology Council (STC), a position he has held since 1993. Tornatzky will be relocating with his family to the West Coast, but will continue to serve as an STC Research Fellow.

STC is seeking to fill the position left vacant by Tornatzky's departure. The Director reports to the Executive Director of STC's parent organization, the Southern Growth Policies Board (SGPB). The STC Director has primary responsibility for building the projects and activities of the Council, but also participates in and leads projects of SGPB as well.

The Education Commission of the States has released a report entitled "Transforming Postsecondary Education for the 21st Century." This report is the result of an extensive survey of Governors from the fifty states and Puerto Rico. Their perceptions regarding the need to reshape the higher education system to meet fundamental state needs is the focus of the study.

The findings suggest that while some differences exist between governors in terms of how they view post-secondary education, there is more general agreement than may be commonly understood. Concerns about the economic competitiveness of the future workforce and public accountability of the post-secondary systems are themes that emerge from the data, suggesting that there will continue to be a growing emphasis on performance-based funding, vocational/career training and lifelong learning.

The following points were uncovered in the survey and analyzed in the report:

The environmental technology and services industry, and its contribution to the national economy, have been evaluated in a new report entitled "Survey of Environmental Products and Services." The report is the product of a collaborative effort between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration, and the Department of Commerce's Bureau of the Census.

The survey is the first attempt to measure the extent of commercial environmental activity using a comprehensive list of products and services. The report found that the value of products, revenues for services, and receipts for construction projects related to environmental activities totalled approximately $102.8 billion in 1995.

The State of Maine, the University of Maine, the US Navy, and the Maine Science and Technology Foundation (MSTF) have signed an agreement that initiates a partnership to improve the stewardship of the state's natural resources.

The partners will work together under a memorandum of agreement to gather and exchange environmental information using the Navy's remote sensing technology. This technology can be used to monitor erosion, pollution, sea level rise, fishery stocks, and the conditions that would be ripe for algae blooms which kill countless fish and shellfish each year.

Remote sensing is a process in which extremely clear pictures are taken from distant equipment, such as a satellite, an airplane, or radar. Scientists match these crystal clear photographs with the information known about landscape and topography to obtain nearly perfect descriptions of the environment. This matching process is called "ground truthing."