SSTI Digest

The California Manufacturing Technology Center has begun a search process for qualified applicants to fill a number of economic development-oriented engineering positions. The CMTC seeks applicants with over eight years of hands-on manufacturing experience to: define and develop proposals, present to potential clients, perform and manage projects, and build a network of consultants. Qualified candidates will have an engineering/science degree (Master's or MBA preferred) and excellent presentation and interpersonal skills. Sales or marketing training and/or experience is a plus. The application process will be open at least through October, 1996. If your qualifications meet the requirements of CMTC, please send your resume to: California Manufacturing Technology Center, P.O. Box 2225, Hawthorne, CA 90250-2225, ATTN: Human Resources For more information, contact Kathy Pearson at 310-263-3084.

Increased company support of R&D offset reduced Federal funding in 1994 and contributed to an overall increase in U.S. industrial R&D, to $119.6 billion, according to the National Science Foundation's Survey of Industrial Research and Development for 1994. The Survey shows that firms spent $119.6 billion on research and development (R&D) in the United States, 2 percent more than during 1993. Company funding continued to increase, from $94.6 billion to $97.1 billion, as it has each year since 1953. Federal funding decreased from $22.8 billion to $22.5 billion, continuing a trend that began in 1988. After adjusting for inflation, company-funded R&D rose 0.6 percent and Federally funded R&D fell 3.5 percent. Although the amount spent for industrial R&D during 1994 increased compared with 1993, total R&D measured in constant dollars decreased 0.2 percent. This downward trend, which began in 1992, is only the second since 1953. The first occurred in the early 1970s when total R&D measured in constant dollars began falling and did not regain its 1969 level until…

The U.S. House of Representatives on a vote of 246-179 on Wednesday approved an appropriations bill that includes funding for the U.S. Department of Commerce. Programs affected by the bill include the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and Advanced Technology Program (ATP), and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Information Infrastructure Grants (IIG).   FY96 Spending President's Request FY97 House Approved FY97 ATP $221.0 million $345 million $110.5 million MEP $80.0 million $105 million $ 89.9 million IIG $21.5 million $ 59 million $ 21.4 million The funding for MEP provides the full amount requested for continuation of existing centers, including the rollover costs of 15 centers originally funded under the Technology…

The General Accounting Office (GAO) has collected and provided information on fiscal year 1993 costs for professional staff, managers and executives at the Department of Defense's (DOD) Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC). FFRDCs were established during World War II to meet the special research needs that the federal and private sector could not provide. Over the years the number of FFRDCs have varied, but in fiscal year 1993 there were 39, with 10 sponsored by DOD. The GAO found that the average base salary for FFRDC executives, managers and professional staff was $73,000. The average employer cost of benefits for all FFRDC personnel ranged from 19 percent to 45 percent of salaries, and executives' benefits had the greatest variance, ranging from 19 percent to 54 percent of salaries. The GAO calculated that the average total compensation in fiscal year 1993 for all FFRDC employees was $90,000. Copies of the report (GAO/NSIAD-96-183) are available from GAO at 202/512-6000 or through the GAO home page at http:// www.gao.gov

Science and Engineering Indicators - 1996 is available from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Science Board. The report is both a reference document and a policy document that provides an extensive array of data. The 1996 report has expanded to include output as well as input indicators as well as some indicators of the impact and outcome of science and engineering in the U.S. Some of the new topics in the 1996 report include: A chapter that seeks to explain and provide examples of how S&E research has affected the economy and society. New and expanded indicators note intensified international interaction and globalization of S&T activity. The report is available from NSF or on the World Wide Web under the NSF home page address http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/stats.htm

Director, NASA Far West Regional Technology Transfer Center (FWRTTC), School of Engineering, University of Southern California The mission of FWRTTC is to play a leading role in the commercialization of NASA technology, with the primary focus on technology developed in the three NASA field centers in its region; Ames Research Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Dryden Flight Research Center. The FWRTTC region includes the eight western states (CA, OR, WA, AK, AZ, HI, NV and ID) and the FWRTTC supports an affiliate organization in each of these states to assist in the commercialization work. The commercialization mission is broadly defined, and includes making industry aware of NASA technology, promoting new NASA technology, assisting companies seeking to acquire and commercialize NASA technologies, forming industry alliances and state-industry relationships to further the commercialization of NASA technology, and assisting in the formation of new enterprises to further the commercial development and application of NASA technology. The FWRTTC Director has…

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) of the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced a public meeting to bring together all ATP awardees of the ATP Tools for DNA Diagnostics program "to present an overview of the non-proprietary aspects of their research and development activities." The goals of the meeting are to: "inform the DNA diagnostics community about activities at this stage of the focused program, promote cross-fertilization of concepts and efforts, promote strategic partnering across companies and other organizations, accelerate commercialization of emerging technologies, and promote networking." The meeting will be held September 9-10 at NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, MD. Since 1994, ATP has supported a focused initiative in Tools for DNA Diagnostics. The goal of this initiative has been "to develop cost-effective methods to determine, analyze, and store DNA sequences for a wide variety of diagnostic applications." Currently, the initiative has provided $106 million worth of ATP funding, includes 22 industrial projects, and has leveraged $99 million of…

We welcome our first SSTI-Kauffman Interns: Cathleen McComas and Nakisha Fouch. Cathleen is a graduate student in public policy and management. Nakisha is pursuing her bachelor's degree in economics. Funding for the SSTI-Kauffman Intern Program has been provided by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. We are sorry to say goodbye to Ellen Moore, SSTI's Services Coordinator. Ellen was responsible for the initial administrative set-up of the Institute and produced the SSTI Weekly Digest.

Last week, the House and the Senate approved the concurrent (final) budget resolution for FY 1997. The $1.63 trillion spending blueprint establishes broad spending targets for the coming fiscal year. Nondefense R&D is budgeted at $32.2 billion in FY 1997, down from the FY 1996 total of $32.7 billion. The AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Project has calculated the impact of the resolution on nondefense r&d. The impact on the major r&d agencies breaks down as follows: Agency/Program R&D FY 1995 R&D FY 1996 (est.) R&D FY 1997 (proj.) HHS 11,690 12,091 11,925 NASA 9,875 9,416 9,316 DOE (nondefense) 3,969 3,577 3,456 NSF 2,544 2,401 2,464 USDA 1,540 1,425 1,425 Commerce 1,284 948 880 All figures in million of…

The General Accounting Office (GAO) has released a report, "Tax Policy and Administration: Review of Studies of the Effectiveness of the Research Tax Credit," that concludes that much uncertainty remains about the responsiveness of research spending to tax incentives. There was mixed evidence that the amount of research and development spending stimulated by the federal credit equals or exceeds the cost of the lost revenue. GAO found that it was "unable to conclude from the recent studies that they provide adequate evidence that a dollar of research tax credit would stimulate a dollar of additional research spending." GAO determined that the studies were limited by both the data and the methodologies used. The lack of adequate data was attributed largely to the use of publicly available data rather than tax return data. Tax return data are confidential and therefore were unavailable for the studies. The primary source of data was the COMPUSAT service, which provides financial information on publicly traded companies drawn from such sources as annual reports and SEC filings. In the…

The International Institute for Management Development has released its annual World Competitiveness Yearbook, and the United States has reclaimed its spot atop the list. The U.S. was followed by Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Denmark. World Competitiveness is defined by IMD as "the ability of a country to create added value and thus increase national wealth by managing assets and processes, attractiveness and aggressiveness, globality and proximity, and by integrating these relationships into an economic and social model." National wealth is the end result of world competitiveness. The World Competitiveness Yearbook 1996 considered eight different factors: domestic economy, internationalization, government, management, finance, infrastructure, science and technology, and people. Altogether, they account for 225 criteria where each of the 46 countries is ranked individually. The World Competitiveness Scoreboard is the aggregation of all these criteria and provides each country's global ranking. According to the report, "the United States (1st) has reinforced its leadership position…

Milwaukee, St. Louis, and San Diego were named to receive a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for developing system-wide reforms in K-12 science, mathematics, and technology education. The awards are part of NSF's Urban Systemic Initiative. The initiative supports science, math, and technology education reform in cities with the largest number of school-aged children living in poverty. Each city will receive a five-year, $15 million grant for system-wide reform. Twenty-seven cities have received NSF urban reform grants since 1993. Nine cities received USI funding in 1994. Seven more received funding in 1995. Milwaukee, St. Louis, and San Diego are the first cities chosen to receive funding in 1996.