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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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

"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.

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.

Companies seeking venture capital investments through the Great Midwest Venture Capital Conference have until August 25 to apply for consideration. The conference, this year taking place October 30-31 in Knoxville, Tennessee, annually draws around 200 investors and other financial professionals. The tenth annual event is organized by the Indiana Business Modernization and Technology Corporation and Technology 2020, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 

The National Institutes of Health, the Departments of Energy, and the Navy have announced a total of 46 inventions available for license. The invention titles, descriptions, and contact information is provided on the following SSTI web page: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/081800t.htm 

With significant emphasis on academic research and commercialization, the New York Office of Science, Technology, and Academic Research (NYSTAR) has provided Governor George Pataki its first strategic plan. The $130 million NYSTAR, which absorbed the functions of the NY State Science and Technology Foundation, was formed in 1999 as a result of the state’s Jobs 2000 legislation (see the 12/3/99 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest). 

The next U.S. supercomputing system operating at speeds well beyond a trillion calculations per second will reside at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) through an expected $45-million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Last week, the National Science Board (NSB), NSF's governing body, authorized the three-year award following a national competition.

Ten multi-state consortia have been selected to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Education through the FY 2000 competition of the Eisenhower Regional Mathematics and Science Education Consortia Program. Each consortia will receive $1.47 million in the first year and $1.475 million annually for years 2-5 of the award. 

The Department of Energy has posted its selections for Phase I and Phase II awards under the FY 2000 competition of the agency’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. SSTI has been unable to obtain proposal statistics from DOE.

Two-thirds of all U.S. research and development (R&D) expenditures in 1997 were concentrated in just ten states according to a July 10, 2000 Data Brief from the National Science Foundation. In contrast the 20 lowest ranking states in R&D expenditures accounted for only four percent of the $199 billion total. 

Increased cooperation among the private sector, federal and state governments, education, and the nonprofit community will be critical for sustaining our current economic boom, according to the National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM), in its recent white paper, Smart Prosperity: An Agenda for Enhancing Productivity Growth.

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) has released a new report on the growing importance of development venture capital funds in attracting more private capital investment into the Appalachian Region.

The key for converting a community or region into the next high-tech hot-spot is an economic development strategy promoting the growth of fast-growing, high-risk companies and a strong networking culture, according to Building Companies, Building Communities, the latest report from the National Commission on Entrepreneurship.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has issued a special update to its 1997 study of the impacts of federal R&D on the New England states. The report is one of several AAAS has done examining the impacts of federal research investments on states and regions; others include the Midwest (Aug 96), the Pacific Northwest (Feb 97), the South Atlantic (Sep 97) and the Gulf States (April 1999).

After a frustrating week for many, the SSTI web site is back on line. We apologize for the problems with the site and email while we transitioned to a new web host. We've updated the conference web center (see related below), calendar of events, job postings and Digest archives for you. Please let us know (skinner@ssti.org) if you experience any problems (images or pages missing, bad links, etc.)