Since its inception in 1975, the Alan T. Waterman Award remains the highest honor awarded by the National Science Foundation. The award is conferred annually to the young researcher who has demonstrated exceptional individual achievement in scientific or engineering research of sufficient quality to place them at the forefront of their peers. The awardee receives a $500,000 nonrestrictive grant over a three-year period for continued research.

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP), part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Technology Administration, US. Department of Commerce, partners with the private sector to spur research on to the development stage and into the market. ATP’s early stage investments accelerate the development of innovative technologies that promise significant commercial payoffs and widespread benefits for the nation.

Several state and regional economic development strategies have been released this summer. All recognize the important role of research, science and technology in building tech-based economies. Two states are highlighted this week. 

The Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance (larta) has released its 2001 Federal Technology Funding Guide which profiles 89 regularly scheduled federal programs that support technology development and deployment. Each profile includes descriptions, contact information, timelines, and examples. Targeted to technology companies, the guide presents only programs with eligibility requirements open to for-profit businesses. 

Research collaboration between companies and academia has grown tremendously over the past two decades and is recognized as one of the key elements of building tech-based economies (see the National Governors' Association, Using Research and Development to Grow State Economies, 2000 or the Milken Institute, Blueprint for a High-Tech Cluster, 2000).

The Department of Education has posted its selections under its FY 2000 Phase I and Phase II solicitations in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. There are 50 new Phase I awards, for a total of nearly $2.5 million, and 14 new Phase II awards, for a total of more than $3.4 million. Specific information concerning each awardee is available on the ED SBIR website: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/SBIR/ 

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).

Earlier this year, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and the Arizona State Legislature committed $100 million over four years to support Science Foundation Arizona, a nonprofit public-private partnership to coordinate the state’s R&D investments in science and technology. The catch? The law required a dollar-to-dollar match of non-government funding of the annual $25 million allotment before the state could release its funding to Science Foundation Arizona.

 

At some point, most start-up businesses require an infusion of outside capital to grow into a profitable enterprise. This infusion often comes in the form of venture capital (VC) investment, which provides capital and some degree of managerial guidance in exchange for an equity stake in the company.

Within economic development literature, many researchers believe the success of regional industry clusters is dependent on the strength and quantity of local “gatekeepers” – the organizations, firms and individuals that both draw knowledge from outside the region and distribute knowledge within the region. But what are the characteristics of these gatekeepers that may lead to a more productive exchange of knowledge?

 

Complete descriptions of these opportunities and others are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue this month proposed a new $40 million Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Venture Capital Fund to be fueled by $10 million from the state legislature and subsequently matched with $30 million from the private sector. Of the entire suite of GRA initiatives, this will be the first program not funded entirely by the state of Georgia.

 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty recently unveiled four energy initiatives to promote clean energy R&D and the use of renewable energy technologies in the state. Through a combination of executive orders and legislative proposals, the programs are intended to push Minnesota towards its goals of having 25 percent of the state’s energy come from renewable sources by 2025 and reducing the state’s greenhouse emissions 80 percent by 2050. These new initiatives are:

Referring to his fiscal year 2008-09 budget recommendation as “back to basics,” Gov. Phil Bredesen proposed significant investments in research and workforce initiatives while vowing not to tap into reserves or raise taxes.

 

The fourth installment of the Tech Talkin’ Govs series includes excerpts from governors’ speeches delivered in Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

 

Georgia – see article in this issue of the Digest.

 

Kentucky

Gov. Steve Beshear, State Budget Address, Jan. 29, 2008