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Seven new research programs encouraging collaborative research across biology, behavioral sciences, global health and clinical medicine were announced last week as part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund Programs. The programs, which are scheduled to begin in 2010, expect to yield scientific discoveries and new and better treatments by capitalizing on emerging technologies. Programs to create a national stem cell center and increase capacity for global health research are among the new scientific initiatives.

Academic, industrial and federal R&D spending is surveyed annually by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Similar information regarding state R&D investments, however, only is captured periodically. The latest survey results, for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 were released this past December and used to create an SSTI Useful Stats table on state R&D intensity (see the Dec. 9, 2009 Digest). Is this information useful for state and local TBED practitioners and policy makers?

Increasing life science and health-related research remains a major component of many state, local and university TBED strategies. Change in federal R&D obligations from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality among other agencies, could be a good indicator of progress — or an indicator of the need to expand or amend those strategies.

Despite the depth of the economic recession, preliminary estimates by the National Science Foundation indicate that U.S. R&D expenditures totaled $397.6 billion in 2008, up from $372.5 billion in 2007. This increase in overall national R&D performance represented growth in 2008 of 6.7 percent over the 2007 level. It also substantially exceeded the pace of growth in U.S. gross domestic product over the same year, which was 3.3 percent.

Describing the nation’s innovation system as broken, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke yesterday said the Department of Commerce will be “working hard to find solutions” that move more federally funded R&D into the commercial market.

“Even in areas where we are allocating enough funding for R&D, we’re not doing a good enough job getting these ideas into the marketplace, particularly through entrepreneurs.

Gov. Sonny Perdue last week outlined an $18.2 billion budget for FY11 that reduces spending across several state agencies, including a $9.6 million reduction for R&D activities through the Research Consortium. The governor’s budget also would eliminate two science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs within the Department of Education.

Enterprise Florida released its latest five-year strategic plan for the state, calling for increased investment in STEM education, university research, commercialization assistance and early-stage capital access programs. Florida must diversify its economy and strengthen its high-tech industries in order to reduce the state’s reliance on population-based growth, according to the report. Enterprise Florida also endorses a cluster-based strategy to promote high-tech industries based on their relative levels of development in the state.

Current trends presented in the 2010 edition of the National Science Board’s biennial Science & Engineering Indicators suggest as early as the 2012 edition, the U.S. will no longer leads the world for a key indicator: total R&D expenditures – unless corrective action is taken.

There is no simple answer to a frequently asked question that SSTI receives: what should we expect to be a good return on public investment in research? A new working paper available from the National Bureau of Economic Research helps clarify the range of possible answers, though, and strongly suggests the investment is worthwhile.

To help train future scientists and support cutting-edge research in health and environmental issues, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell is recommending $109.5 million in the FY11 capital budget for the University of Alaska Life Sciences Facility in Fairbanks. The multi-purpose teaching and research facility would house the Department of Biology and Wildlife and accommodate a wide-range of research programs, reports Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

To keep alive the underground deep science laboratory, a National Science Foundation (NSF) research priority for scientific discovery in geophysics, Gov. Mike Rounds is asking lawmakers to approve $5.4 million in special appropriations for bridge funding through May 2011. During his budget presentation to the legislature last week, Gov. Rounds told lawmakers the $35 million allocated toward the effort in 2004 and 2005 would run out this month and $250 million in anticipated NSF funding would not be available until 2011.

In FY2007, the states in aggregate expended $1.23 billion in funds for research and development, according to recent data released by the National Science Foundation. This is the second year consecutive annual data from the NSF's State Agency Research and Development Expenditures series has been produced. SSTI has prepared a table that shows for both FY07 and FY06 each state's expenditures for R&D from the state government, the state's GDP, and the spending intensity as measured by R&D expenditures per million dollars of GDP.

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine announced the creation of The Ignite Institute, a nonprofit medical research institute to be housed initially at the Center for Innovative Technology. The state will provide $3 million from the Governor's Opportunity Fund and $22 million in incentive grants, subject to General Assembly approval. The institute expects to draw $200 million in initial financing and create 415 jobs. Read more at: http://www.ignitehealth.org/.

Since the 1990s, Maine has done an excellent job investing in R&D to establish a robust research capacity, but little has been done in terms of building a capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship, according to the 2010 Science and Technology Action Plan. The report identifies three main strategies to position the state as a global competitor and create high-paying jobs and economic prosperity.

Texas leaders have fully embraced the importance that strongly supported top-tier research universities can serve for attracting and retaining high-wage technology companies and as drivers for future economic growth. With Tuesday’s passage of Proposition 4 by a solid 56.7 percent majority, it is evident the voting population of the Lone Star State gets it as well.

Marking the first decline in a decade and despite a then-healthy economy, federal R&D for the Department of Energy (DOE) declined from FY05 to FY06. The percentage of total federal R&D obligations dedicated to DOE R&D also declined from FY05 to FY06.

On a per capita basis, federal R&D obligations to U.S. universities and colleges increased by 7 percent from FY 2003 to 2007, rising to $83.80 per person in FY07, according to the National Science Foundation. Total U.S. federal R&D obligations to academia increased by 11.1 percent over the same five years to $25.3 billion in FY07.

SSTI has prepared a table listing the academic obligations per capita from FY 2003 to 2007, the percent change of these obligations per capita over this period, and the relative rank of this change.

The Obama administration's interest in directing more federal support to innovation and research was evident very early in the President's first weeks in office with more than $100 billion of the Recovery Act funding going toward innovation, education and research infrastructure. Earlier this week, the National Economic Council and Office of Science & Technology Policy released a brief report presenting the guiding principles and priorities for the administration's innovation agenda.

The Montana Department of Commerce has announced that it will provide $2.5 million in grants to support bio-medical research. Montana-based, private nonprofit research institutions are eligible to apply for the funding, which may be used to expand, renovate and purchase equipment for biomedical research. The grants also may be used to expand infrastructure that will enhance scientific collaborations within the Montana University System.

In 2008, the U.S. ranked 17th in R&D tax generosity out of the 21 OECD countries that offered some form of R&D tax credits to businesses, according to a recent brief put out by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF). In U.S. Continues to Tread Water in Global R&D Tax Incentives, authors Rob Atkinson and Scott Andes state even though the U.S.

Gov. Jim Doyle signed the 2009-11 biennial budget last month, providing funding for university-based research and enhancing tax credits for angel and venture investors supporting high-tech R&D.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) last week published the final version of its guidelines regarding human stem cell research, in part determining which human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are eligible for research with NIH funding. The final guidelines contain adjustments from the draft version of the guidelines released on April 23 for public comment, from which the NIH received approximately 49,000 statements from advocacy groups, scientists, medical organizations, religious groups, members of Congress, and private citizens.

SSTI has prepared a table displaying the amount companies spent on R&D in each state from 2003 to 2007, the state's rank in 2007, the percent change over this five-year period, and the rank of that percent change. For the U.S. as a whole, industry-funded R&D was $204 billion in 2003 and rose to $269.3 billion in 2007 - a five-year jump of 32 percent. Note, the amounts in the chart are not indexed to a single year, but reflect values from when the data was released.

Seven emerging research universities in Texas would receive funding and incentives to help advance their status to nationally-recognized tier one schools following passage of HB 51, awaiting Gov. Rick Perry's signature.

During the last week of the legislative session, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed two bills into law - one dealing with R&D tax credits and the other authorizing the development of a statewide biotechnology strategic plan.