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Competition for state, federal and industrial funding to support university research is increasingly fierce in the U.S. Growing interest in developing academic research capacity, eroding state support for higher education and federal R&D budgets barely keeping pace with inflation, let alone absorbing the growing percentage dedicated to Congressional earmarks, are some of the reasons.

Washington State remains poised to capture more benefits from its technology-driven economy, according to the Index of Innovation and Technology released last month by the Washington Technology Center (WTC). As the state's lead organization to support science and technology, WTC publishes the Index to provide the state's decision makers with annual benchmarks for setting policy and  public investments to promote technology-based economic development.

The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) recently held its 18th International Conference in Atlanta, honoring excellence in business incubation programs, graduates and client companies. NBIA, a nonprofit organization, works to advance incubation and entrepreneurship. This year’s recipients include:

Cleveland Fed: "Innovation, Growth, and Economic Policy in an Environment of Change,"

At a time when manufacturing jobs are relenting to the pressures of an expanded service sector, foreign competition and productivity growth, the idea of economic prosperity has a renewed urgency with innovation as the greatest strength and flexibility the greatest asset, argues a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

The Department of Commerce is accepting nominations for the 2005 National Medal of Technology awards, the nation’s highest honor awarded by the President to America's leading technological innovators.

2004 S&E Indicators includes chapter of state-level metrics

The U.S. remains the world's leading producer and net exporter of high-technology products, ranking among the global leaders in research and development (R&D) spending. However, ongoing economic and workforce changes make the outlook for the future uncertain, according to Science and Engineering (S&E) Indicators 2004, a biennial report of the National Science Board (NSB) to the President.

Venture capital (VC) kept up a steady pace in the first three months of 2004, according to the latest PricewaterhouseCoopers/Thomson Venture Economics/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree™ Survey. Investments in the first quarter of 2004 totaled $4.6 billion going into 618 companies, the data show. The figure is below the $5.2 billion invested in the fourth quarter of 2003, but above the first quarter total of a year ago, $4.2 billion.

Amid criticism from taxpayers, legislators in Hawaii agreed to renew the widely debated bill that extends high-technology tax credit for another five years, without a provision requiring the disclosure of companies that receive the credits, the Honolulu Advertiser recently reported.

Governor Tom Ridge’s $90 million plan to create a series of life science research/commercialization centers would be the largest, single technology initiative ever proposed in Pennsylvania, according to a recent press release from the Governor's office. The Life Sciences Greenhouse Initiative would be a network of innovation centers in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg closely connected to university research activities.

The National Journal’s Technology Daily reported Wednesday that the Senate has approved an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization bill (S.1) that would authorize up to $100 million for the Community Technology Centers program. The amendment, introduced by Senator Barbara Miluski of Maryland and passed by a 50-49 vote, also keeps the popular program within the Department of Education.

With the National Conference of State Legislatures saying 23 states already feel the pinch of a slowing economy and large state tax cuts made during the late 1990s, at least one group says the situation will only worsen with the pending federal tax cut. Basing its analysis of the President's original tax cut proposal, Citizens for Tax Justice estimates states stand to lose potentially $35 billion dollars a year in revenues by 2012.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions: Fiscal Year 1999 (NSF 01-323). The data presented in the 33 tables cover all categories of direct federal science and engineering (S&E) support to institutions of higher education in the United States. The 18 agencies listed in these tables provide virtually all of the Federal funding for S&E research and development (R&D) at U.S.

Arkansas

Between 10 and 15 Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSEC) will be funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in early 2002. In a recently released request for proposals, NSF indicates that it has $24 million available for the centers.

Lewis Branscomb, one of the leading voices in science and technology policy, and Harold E. Varmus, former director of the National Institutes of Health and a Nobel prize holder for contributions to understanding the mechanisms of cancer, will receive the Vannevar Bush Award for lifetime achievement in science and public service from the National Science Board (NSB) on May 23.

Lewis Branscomb, one of the leading voices in science and technology policy, and Harold E. Varmus, former director of the National Institutes of Health and a Nobel prize holder for contributions to understanding the mechanisms of cancer, will receive the Vannevar Bush Award for lifetime achievement in science and public service from the National Science Board (NSB) on May 23.