With the goal of assembling “a consistent set of state-level data that approximates the ‘technology infrastructure’ of the states,” the Office of Technology Policy (OTP) has released on the web, The Dynamics of Technology-based Economic Development: State Science and Technology Indicators. OTP, part of the Technology Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, cautions repeatedly throughout the report that no attempt is made or intended to analyze, benchmark, or assess any state’s performance along any of the 37metrics included. Dynamics is meant to serve as a reference guide for policymakers and researchers to use as they develop, implement, and evaluate state science and technology policies and programs. Data has been normalized and ranked for ease of comparison or understanding a state’s relative position, however. 

The latest issue of the National Commission on Entrepreneurship's E-News brought our attention to survey results revealing that, despite the media and Wall Street attention given to dot-coms, only 13.1 percent of recent college graduates would like to work for the start-up, Internet-based businesses given a choice. Fortune 500 companies were the preferred choice for 42.2 percent of the survey respondents, while 24.7 percent opted for small businesses (specifically not dot-coms). One-in-five respondents wanted to work for their own companies. Released in June, the survey was conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). 

The Technology Administration of the Department of Commerce has prepared a web-based database of public, private, and educational programs and activities dedicated to developing the information technology workforce. The site is searchable geographically, by program type, by sponsor, or by keyword. Entities are invited to add information for additional programs and initiatives to the site as well. More information is available at: http://www.go4it.gov 

The National Governors’ Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices, with support from the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (KCEL), will convene an 18-month policy academy this fall to help officials from ten states to develop strategies governors can use to support entrepreneurship. Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Utah, Washington and Wyoming were selected to participate in the policy academy project.

DoD 2000 SBIR Phase I Awards Announced


The Department of Defense has posted the Phase I selections for the 00.1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program solicitation. Out of the 4,829 proposals received, DoD awarded 856 SBIR Phase I grants, which equates to a 


17.73 percent success rate.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, as big defense contractors closed their doors and unemployment climbed, San Diego looked as if it might not recover. Between 1990-1993 alone, nearly 60,000 high-paying jobs were lost to defense and aerospace cutbacks. Although the region had some of the ingredients to be successful (defense technologies, a strong university, medical and bioscience institutes, and a desirable climate), the players did not come together to face their economic woes. It took losing two major bids for federal R&D facilities to spur community leaders to action.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requests cooperative agreement proposals to support an intervention epidemiologic research study of HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the program is to evaluate how different levels of antiretroviral therapy affect HIV-1 infection. Eligible applicants include public and private nonprofit organizations, governments, universities, research institutions, hospitals, and Indian tribal organizations. A total of $400,000 is anticipated to fund two awards. Proposals are due by August 17, 2000. To view the complete RFP, visit: http://www.cdc.gov and click on “funding.”

The July-August issue of Technology Review, MIT's Magazine of Innovation, includes a special report on university research. The TR University Research Scorecard, written by TR associate editor Rebecca Zacks, ranks the top U.S. universities for their performance in patent quality (called "technological strength") and licensing revenues.

According to a study by Scarborough Research, a market research firm, Salt Lake City leads the country with 73 percent of households owning a PC. San Francisco and Washington DC follow closely behind with 72 and 71 percent respectively. The average home PC penetration across the 64 metropolitan markets measured is 59 percent. The survey, which has been done since 1997, found even the lowest ranked cities were nearing 50 percent; computers are in the homes of 46 percent of 64th-ranked Charleston, West Virginia.

Last week, Governor Gray Davis signed into law California’s $99.4 billion budget which provides nearly $305 million for science and technology related programs plus an additional $20 million in research and development tax credits. Specific 


initiatives include:

The 21st Century Workforce Commission has released its final report, A Nation of Opportunity, and recommendations for developing the nation's new high tech workforce. The report provides an analysis of how leadership in regional partnerships of education, business and government can effectively address critical shortages of skilled workers in information technology jobs.

In an effort to provide quality, high-speed telecommunications services throughout the state, North Dakota has committed $3 million for the first phase of a broadband telecommunications network that is expected to cost the state $20 million when completed. When the first phase is finished later this year, 218 locations in 64 communities will be connected.

Public and private sources in the United States invest approximately $45 billion each year into medical research, but attempts to measure the return on that investment have been few. Exceptional Returns: The Economic Value of America’s Investment in Medical Research presents a preview of the findings of nine economists from the University of Chicago, Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University and Columbia University. The paper’s release is timed to be of value for the 2001 budget debates in Congress.

The Federal Railroad Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation is soliciting proposal concept papers for research projects, technology advancements and/or demonstrations directed at enhancing the deployment of high-speed rail service. Technologies which are high-priority research candidates for evaluation include: 1) grade crossing hazard mitigation systems, 2) innovative, low cost technologies to improve track and structures, 3) advance train control systems, 4) and non-electric locomotives and passenger equipments systems.

Our Digest archives are back on-line! The Calendar of Events and S&T Resources have also been updated. We apologize for the problems many of you encountered trying to use the site during the past two weeks.

Increasing globalization of research and development (R&D) and the prolific growth of information technology (IT) are major elements in a "science and engineering enterprise that is in transition," the National Science Board (NSB) reports in Science and Engineering Indicators 2000.

A call for action for states from the Northwest region was the result of Linking Regional Resources, a conference of approximately 150 business, government, national laboratory, and university representatives held in Seattle.

How does E-commerce and the Internet affect copyrights for businesses, universities, organizations, and individuals in your state? The United States Copyright Office and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration invite public comments on the issue before August 4, 2000. Comments are sought specifically for the effects of the amendments made by Title 1 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, (``DMCA'') and the development of electronic commerce on the operation of Sections 109 and 117 of Title 17, United States Code.

The most comprehensive accounting of federal R&D investment in each state was released by the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy last Friday. Discovery and Innovation: Federal Research and Development Activities in the Fifty States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico offers a wealth of information on federal research activity and investment in each state. 

Oklahomans need “to make fundamental changes in the way we see ourselves and the way we do things...to prevent us from slipping farther and farther behind, languishing on the sidelines of the New Economy,” according to a 14-member committee of public and private sector leaders. 

The Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) remains in the news this week as the National Research Council released a report calling the program "an unqualified success." The report is the sixth completed by NRC since the inception of PNGV in 1993. For more information or to order a copy of the report, visit: http://books.nap.edu/catalog/9873.html 

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is sponsoring a three-day conference on the critical importance of entrepreneurship in creating more and better jobs in rural America, September 17-19 in Batavia, Ohio (just 30 minutes from the Cincinnati airport). 

The US Department of Agriculture and NASA have published lists of four and fourteen inventions, respectively, that are available for license. SSTI has reproduced the lists and contact information on the following web page: http://www.ssti.org/062300t.htm 

The 2000 session of the Connecticut legislature proved to be an active and favorable one for the state’s technology community and Connecticut Innovations, Inc. The Connecticut Technology Council summarized the session this way, “For the first time in recent memory, the debate at the Capitol was not over whether legislation affecting tech companies would pass, but which legislation affecting tech companies would pass.”

A recent General Accounting Office (GAO) report on the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV), Cooperative Research: Results of US-Industry Partnership to Develop a New Generation of Vehicles (GAO/RCED-00-81), demonstrates some of the difficulties public-private research collaborations encounter when attempting to measure results or progress.