Gross State Products in the nation, after adjustment for inflation, grew at an average annual rate of 3.9 percent from 1992 to 1998, according to a paper released this week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Gross State Product measures value added in production.

Registrations for SSTI’s fourth annual conference, Beyond the Hype: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies, have been brisk. As a result, the Regal Knickerbocker Hotel has no more vacancies at our special conference discount rate -- if any rooms are available at all by the time of this release. The hotel was kind enough to extend our room block by 50 percent before the discount deadline this past weekend. To help those of you planning to attend Beyond the Hype but are without accommodations, we have posted on our web site the phone numbers for several hotels within easy walking distance to the conference site that had rooms available as of Wednesday, Sept. 6.

During its six years in operation, the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Program has awarded more than $150 million in grants to strengthen the education of technicians for the high tech fields driving our economy. The ATE Program is managed jointly by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Division of Undergraduate Education and the Division of Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Education.

NASA has released a listing of its 1999 Phase II awards for the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR). One hundred ten awards were made to 97 firms in 27 states. The big winner was California with 28 firms garnering 31 awards. For more information regarding these and other NASA SBIR awards, visit http://sbir.gsfc.nasa.gov/

NASA and the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) have announced 49 and 15 inventions, respectively, that are available for licensing. Invention titles and, for DHHS, abstracts for each are posted at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/090800t2.htm

As sponsors of Beyond the Hype: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies, the Great Lakes Industrial Technology Center, the NASA Glenn Garrett Morgan Commercialization Initiative and the NASA Illinois Commercialization Center will share space in the conference exhibitor’s area. Brief profiles of each organization are provided below:

Unprecedented Goals, Unparalleled Progress, a report released in early August by Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove, calls for the state to address several issues to better position the state to compete in the New Economy. Elements of the plan affecting the state’s science and technology base include:

Through its Digital Village Program, Hewlett-Packard is providing up to $15 million in products and resources over a three-year period to three communities who need assistance to participate fully in the New Economy. East Palo Alto, CA already has been designated as a Digital Village; the remaining two will be selected through a competitive process.

Why do some start-up technology businesses choose to directly commercialize their innovations, taking on the industry titans as is common in the electronics industry, while other new tech firms, such as those involved in biotechnology, choose a path of cooperation with the industry leaders, commercializing through licenses, joint ventures, and outright acquisition? The answer(s) should help economic development practitioners and science and technology policy makers design the most effective strategies for technology-based entrepreneurial assistance.

University-centered technology transfer is not new; however, research institutions have been thrust to the center of much of the discussion for building tech-based economies. A Tutorial on Technology Transfer in U.S. Colleges and Universities, a new paper by the Council on Government Relations (COGR), provides a good primer on the subject from the perspective of the academic institution.

Since its inception in 1975, the Alan T. Waterman Award remains the highest honor awarded by the National Science Foundation. The award is conferred annually to the young researcher who has demonstrated exceptional individual achievement in scientific or engineering research of sufficient quality to place them at the forefront of their peers. The awardee receives a $500,000 nonrestrictive grant over a three-year period for continued research.

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP), part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Technology Administration, US. Department of Commerce, partners with the private sector to spur research on to the development stage and into the market. ATP’s early stage investments accelerate the development of innovative technologies that promise significant commercial payoffs and widespread benefits for the nation.

Several state and regional economic development strategies have been released this summer. All recognize the important role of research, science and technology in building tech-based economies. Two states are highlighted this week. 

The Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance (larta) has released its 2001 Federal Technology Funding Guide which profiles 89 regularly scheduled federal programs that support technology development and deployment. Each profile includes descriptions, contact information, timelines, and examples. Targeted to technology companies, the guide presents only programs with eligibility requirements open to for-profit businesses. 

Research collaboration between companies and academia has grown tremendously over the past two decades and is recognized as one of the key elements of building tech-based economies (see the National Governors' Association, Using Research and Development to Grow State Economies, 2000 or the Milken Institute, Blueprint for a High-Tech Cluster, 2000). Many states' science and technology programs have dedicated significant financial resources to encouraging the growth of these research partnerships. The National Science Foundation funds several programs to foster industry-university cooperative research, including among others, the Science and Technology Centers and the Engineering Research Centers. 

The Department of Education has posted its selections under its FY 2000 Phase I and Phase II solicitations in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. There are 50 new Phase I awards, for a total of nearly $2.5 million, and 14 new Phase II awards, for a total of more than $3.4 million. Specific information concerning each awardee is available on the ED SBIR website: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/SBIR/ 

The Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) of the U.S. Department of Education is currently embarking on a new and challenging agenda designed to enhance the quality and usefulness of educational research for improved teaching and learning. To help shape and lead this effort, the agency is seeking exceptionally qualified individuals to direct four of its five National Research Institutes. The positions fall within the classification of Supervisory, Education Research Analyst (GS 15) with an annual compensation range of $84,638 to $110,028. Each Institute Director reports directly to the Assistant Secretary of Educational Research and Improvement. More information can be found at:


http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/dirvacancies.html 

Despite the stock market's rocky ride last Spring, the PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTreeTM survey for the second quarter of 2000 found investments of $19.58 billion, climbing 14 percent over the first quarter results. The total number of deals only rose by one percent to 1,432, resulting in the average investment size growing by 13 percent to $13.67 million. 

Saying Congress is threatening to stall "our progress toward our shared national goals and toward balance in a healthy R&D portfolio," Neil Lane, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, has issued a mid-summer status report on the FY 2001 R&D appropriations. The report outlines the effect of the current appropriation scenario on the President's civilian R&D goals, collectively marketed as the 21st Century Research Fund. An agency-by-agency break out is provided of congressional funding levels versus the President's FY 2001 requests. The brief report and accompanying letter from Lane can be found at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/html/00810.html 

Using the microsystems industry in the Southwest as a model, Ross DeVol, Director of Regional and Demographic Studies of the Milken Institute, has written Blueprint for a High-Tech Cluster, a 40-page policy brief on one of the hottest trends for tech-based economic development. Recognizing the importance of technology and knowledge in the New Economy, and that "knowledge is generated, transmitted and shared more efficiently in close proximity," DeVol asserts that those regions with leading clusters in key technologies will enjoy greater economic growth and stability. "Success in creating high-tech clusters is now the distinguishing determinant in regional vitality," states DeVol. 

Using patent filing and quality as a measure of innovation, “a dollar of venture capital appears to be about three times more potent in stimulating patenting than a dollar of traditional corporate R&D,” according to a July 2000 paper by Samuel Korton (Boston University) and Josh Lerner (Harvard University). The authors report in Assessing the Contribution of Venture Capital to Innovation that, although venture capital averaged less than three percent of corporate R&D from 1983-1992, it was responsible for almost eight percent of US industrial innovations during the same time period. 

With the rapid expansion of the research budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the high profile role of biotechnology in the New Economy, concerns have been raised in Congress as to whether or not NIH was keeping up on licensing and royalties. At the request of Congressmen Tom Bliley and Fred Upton, the General Accounting Office (GAO) has reviewed NIH’s internal controls. The results, reported in Financial Management: Improvements Needed in NIH’s Control over Royalty Income (GAO/AIMD-00-210), are less than positive: 

Americans say they take pride in our nation's leadership role in science and technology and believe the U.S. needs to continue investing in scientific research and development (R&D) in order to remain at the forefront of discovery and innovation, according to a Gallup survey conducted on behalf of the Bayer Corporation in partnership with the National Science Foundation. At the same time, many Americans also expressed concern about whether our educational system is preparing students for the challenges that accompany new technologies. 

"How we view -- and treat -- the environment is a critical question for the 21st century," begins the letter from Eamon Kelly, chair of the National Science Board, that accompanies Environmental Science and Engineering for the 21st Century: The Role of the National Science Foundation. The study outlines the scope of the $600 million in current NSF environmental activities and conveys policy guidance for NSF to design a future $1.6 billion portfolio of programs and initiatives. Twelve recommendations are described in detail, including, in addition to the increased funding for NSF: 

The U. S. Department of Commerce Technology Administration (TA) has announced the establishment of a joint public-sector private-sector Technology Demonstration Center. The purpose of the Center will be to demonstrate state-of-the-art and future technological advances in a variety of technologies and to encourage future development. The Center is a joint activity, conducted under the auspices of Cooperative Research and Development Agreements between TA and one or more private sector parties. TA will not be providing financial assistance through the center. Nor will the center be used for sales of merchandise, solicitations, orders or for the advertisement of specific products or services. The Center will be physically located at the United States Department of Commerce's Herbert C. Hoover Building, in Washington D.C.