Arati Prabhakar, director of the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), announced this week that she will be leaving NIST to become senior vice president and chief technology officer of the Raychem Corporation, Menlo Park, Calif.
Two recent reports indicate the amount of venture capital financing increased in 1996, although the two reports differ on the amount of financing and the most active investors. Both surveys agreed that California and Massachusetts were the lead states in attracting venture capital.
Price Waterhouse, in conjunction with the National Venture Capital Association, recently published the results of the 1996 National Venture Capital Survey. Venture capitalists reported investing $9.5 billion in 1996, a 25% increase over 1995.
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 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.
Calls for an end to "corporate welfare" increased this week with an unusual coalition unveiling a list of targeted programs and nine senators calling for a commission to review federal subsidies to companies.
A coalition of liberal and conservative organizations has agreed to a list of twelve federal programs, including three technology-related programs, that should be terminated or modified because they are "corporate welfare."
The final appropriation for federal science and technology (FS&T) for FY 1997 is $43.4 billion, a slight increase (0.7 percent) over the FY 1996 appropriation, according to a new report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
Women and minorities continue to take fewer high-level mathematics and science courses in high school; earn fewer bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in science and engineering (S&E); and remain less likely to be employed in S&E jobs than white males.
The new Guide to NIST, a one-stop information resource on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is now available. The 164-page volume describes hundreds of different research projects, grants, industry outreach programs, services and facilities. The publication updates a 1993 edition. Requests for the guide can be faxed to 301/926-1630. An electronic version will be available online later this year on the NIST home page at http://www.nist.gov
The National Governors' Association (NGA), the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Technology Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce are holding two more regional meetings to get input from state officials and others on the direction of the U.S. Innovation Partnership (USIP).
During the past decade, the European Union (EU) invested heavily in civilian R&D by building first-class laboratories and expanding higher education in science and engineering. Its efforts, according to the Data Brief for a new National Science Foundation report, Human Resources for Science and Technology: The European Region, are narrowing the lead the U.S. holds in R&D.
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Department of Defense figures show there is approximately 35 percent excess capacity in its laboratory infrastructure, according to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report.
Ohio's Edison Technology Centers generated a direct economic impact for Ohio of more than $730 million from 1992 to 1995, according to a new study prepared by Battelle Memorial Institute for the Edison Centers. The seven Edison Centers are non-profit organizations that combine state, industry and academic resources to solve industrial problems and develop new technologies.
The first recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers were announced earlier this week. The 60 winners will receive up to $500,000 over a five year period to further their research.
Criteria used by one of the largest funders of basic research to evaluate research proposals is slated to change in 1997. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is revising the criteria used to evaluate approximately 30,000 proposals per year and is seeking comments on the proposed criteria.