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The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Utilities Service has released the application guide for the 1999 Distance Learning & Telemedicine (DLT) Program. The DLT program provides financial assistance for schools, libraries, and rural medical services to acquire equipment and telecommunications facilities for optimal service delivery.

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division of Materials Research has announced that approximately $22 million will be awarded in FY 2000 for grants to support 10-15 Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSECs).

Adjusted for inflation, state R&D expenditures grew at an average annual rate of 3.3 percent between 1965 and 1995, compared with the nationwide R&D spending growth of 2.5 percent per year for the same period, according to What is the State Government Role in the R&D Enterprise? This report was issued by the Research and Development Statistics Program of the National Science Foundation's Division of Science Resource Studies.

The Ninth Annual Great Midwest Venture Capital Conference will be held November 8-9, 1999 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Indiana Business Modernization & Technology Corp. (BMT) is seeking applications from emerging technology businesses to present their business profiles and capital needs to a variety of potential investors at the event.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Industrial Technologies has issued the solicitation for the Inventions and Innovations Program (IIP). The competitive program provides financial assistance for establishing technical performance and conducting early development of innovative ideas and inventions. Selected projects must have significant energy savings and future commercial market potential.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is seeking nominations for the fourth annual Tibbetts Awards. Named after Rowland Tibbetts, who established the first Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program at the National Science Foundation more than 20 years ago, the award recognizes outstanding contributions of small firms, projects, organizations and individuals involved in SBIR.

The Global Venture Forum is a business development event sponsored by the Osaka Chamber of Commerce to help Japanese and foreign firms find Japanese partners for investment, trade, distribution, and global business.

Since the Global Venture Forum started in 1995, 44 percent of the participants have found business partners.

The State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI) is seeking a Policy Analyst. The Institute serves as a resource center for initiatives in all 50 states that encourage technology-based economic development.

As Wall Street waited for the Dow to top 10,000, venture capital investments were also reaching a new high, according to the latest PricewaterhouseCoopers Money Tree Survey. Venture-backed investments rose to a record $4.286 billion during the first quarter of 1999, a 41 percent increase over the first quarter of 1998. The survey's previous record of $3.77 billion was set during the third quarter of last year.

Washington's technology boom hasn't been enjoyed equally by most communities outside of the Seattle or Spokane urban areas. Two laws recently passed by the Washington legislature are intended to provide tax credits, infrastructure financing, and other incentives to spread the economic benefits of technology into the state's most rural counties.

The Department of Energy has announced 16 awards under the 1999 solicitation for the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. The following table presents states with companies and academic institutions or federal labs selected in the competition. Only five of the awards were made to projects in which the company and university are located in the same state.

Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology is seeking a new President and Chief Executive Officer. The CIT president's primary responsibility will be to assist the Secretary of Technology in implementing the Commonwealth's technology strategy by developing and directing CIT's key role in the strategy. Applications are due by June 22, 1999.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation have announced approximately $5 million will be awarded in FY 2000 for grants to support research toward "Technology for a Sustainable Environment."

Entities eligible to submit proposals include universities and not-for-profit institutions. The agencies anticipate making 20 grant awards for the solicitation in January 2000. Proposals are due July 26, 1999.

Delaware increased its commitment to technology businesses recently with two new initiatives: the creation of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute and the passage of a state research and development tax credit.

Delaware Biotechnology Institute

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Commerce have announced their selections for the 1999 Small Business Innovation Research Program Phase I competition. The following table provides the statistics by state for both agencies. Lists of the winning firms and award information may be found on the agencies' SBIR websites at the following:

702 Vie for TIIAP Funds

Update to SSTI Weekly Digest 1/22/99 article:

The new Michigan Economic Development Corporation has released its strategic plan to increase the growth of technology-related jobs in the state. The report, State Smart: Michigan, outlines more than $6 million in new initiatives and several tax incentives to encourage technology-based growth in three key industry sectors: life sciences, information technology and advanced manufacturing.

The plan's initiatives are divided among three categories:

Last week, in contrast to the mid-April House and Senate approval of a budget resolution that is projected to result in a double digit decline in federal R&D spending by 2004, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved the Federal Research Investment Act, which would double federal basic research funding over an eleven-year period. S. 296 establishes a long-term plan for federal funding of fundamental, scientific, and pre-competitive engineering.

Cheryl Lyman, policy analyst with the State Science and Technology Institute, will be leaving SSTI today to accept a position with the Ohio Department of Commerce as its fiscal officer. Cheryl has worked with SSTI since its opening in 1996. We wish her well in her new position!

Cheryl Lyman, policy analyst with the State Science and Technology Institute, will be leaving SSTI today to accept a position with the Ohio Department of Commerce as its fiscal officer. Cheryl has worked with SSTI since its opening in 1996. We wish her well in her new position!

Robert Templin, president of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), has resigned. Wolfgang Tolle, managing director, has been named acting president. Patsy Brown, CIT's director of public affairs, also has left CIT.

Steve Jarvis resigned as the director of California Trade and Commerce's Office of Strategic Technology. Jeff Newman has been named as acting director.

Marty Grueber has left the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council (RIEPC) to join Battelle Memorial Institute and the Environmental Technology Commercialization Center. Beth Ashman Collins has been named director of research at RIEPC.