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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has the following four solicitations open for research and development projects.

The Department of the Navy has published a list of 140 inventions that are owned by the federal government and are available for exclusive or partially exclusive licenses. The list and contact information are available for review on the SSTI web site at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/040700t.htm

“[I]f this nation is to succeed in the new century, the covenant between our insitutions and the public they serve must be renewed and again made binding.” So begins Renewing the Covenant: Learning, Discovery, and Engagement in a New Age and Different World, the sixth and final report of the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities. Released last week, the 30-page report outlines several significant challenges facing higher education in the New Economy: 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has several solicitations open currently. Four opportunities of particular interest to the S&T community are highlighted below. These and additional funding opportunities from NSF can be found on a web page that conveniently lists the solicitations by deadline: http://www.nsf.gov/home/deadline/deadline.htm 

Reliably measuring performance in federal programs, particularly programs involving state-federal partnership is difficult, according to the U. S. General Accounting Office (GAO). Managing for Results: Challenges Agencies Face in Producing Credible Performance Information (GAO/GGD-00-52) and the two supporting written testimonies, Challenges in Producing Credible Performance Information (T-GGD/RCED-00-134) and Using GPRA to Help Congressional Decision making and Strengthen Oversight (T-GGD-00-95), identify several of the same issues state technology-based economic development programs have encountered for years as they attempt to define their own success for state legislatures and constituencies. 

Arizona 

The Ways & Means Committee of the Arizona House of Representatives has passed a bill to eliminate $250 million in sales tax exemptions for a number of products and services, including telecommunications equipment and solar devices. If the bill passes, proceeds would be used to raise teachers' salaries. 

President Clinton has nominated Arthur C. Campbell as Assistant Secretary for Economic Development at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Mr. Campbell, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, currently serves as the Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development at the United States Department of Agriculture. 

Steven Zylstra, chair of the Technology Transfer Committee of the Arizona Governor's Strategic Partnership for Economic Development, has accepted the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pittsburgh Technology Council and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center. 

Last week, Mary Harney, Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, announced the establishment of a £560m ($681M U.S.) Technology Foresight Fund to establish Ireland as a location for world class research excellence in niche areas within biotechnology and information and communication technologies. According to Reuters’ reports, funding for the new initiative will be spread over seven years. The Technology Foresight Fund — the country’s single largest investment ever for research, technological development and innovation — was conceived and designed by the Irish Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation (ICSTI), a publicly created organization to advise the Irish government on the strategic direction of science, technology and innovation policy. Separate Task Force panels or subcommittees investigated technology development issues in eight industrial sectors: natural resources; chemicals/pharmaceuticals; health and life sciences; information and communications technology; materials and manufacturing; transport and logistics; construction/infrastructure; and energy. From the panels’ findings, the Task Force advanced several recommendations for consideration by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Commerce. The culmination was the decision for the Technology Foresight Fund to focus its activities on biotechnology and information and communication technologies — sectors identified to hold significant potential for Ireland as it moved to a technology-oriented economy. A new research foundation will be established to evaluate research projects and to manage and allocate funding from the Technology Foresight Fund. The foundation’s objective will be to create a critical mass of world-class research within the biotech and information technology niche areas to be identified by the foundation. The new research foundation, to be established over the next three months, will support researchers in Ireland’s colleges and research institutes through competitive international peer reviewed solicitations. In addition, the foundation will have the authority to established its own laboratories, if necessary, to secure world class performance. More information on the Technology Foresight Fund can be found at: http://www.entemp.ie/pressrel/080300.htm

NASA and the Department of the Navy each have published lists of two inventions and one invention, respectively, that are owned by the federal government and are available for licensing. Foreign patent applications are filed on selected inventions to extend market coverage for companies and may also be available for licensing.

Commerce Secretary William Daley announced this week that Gary Bachula, Deputy Under Secretary for Technology, will be leaving his post April 7 to move to the private sector. Throughout Bachula’s tenure with the Clinton Administration, he has served as a the leading advocate for efforts to build stronger partnerships between federal R&D agencies and state technology programs. His willingness and commitment to explore new approaches to state-federal partnerships was demonstrated through the creation of the U.S. Innovation Partnership, the development of the pilot Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Technology (EPSCoT), and his support of the State Science and Technology Institute.

This past winter, the National Science Foundation (NSF) released most of the statistical tables compiled from the 1998 surveys of federal, academic and industrial research and development expenditures. Also included are early release tables presenting federal support for science and engineering to universities, colleges and nonprofit institutions. These early releases provide researchers and data users — including state science and technology programs completing innovation indices — the most timely statistics available on the topics. The full reports will be published on the web later this year. Following are brief summaries of early release tables currently available:



Academic R&D

The series of 74 tables of academic research and development expenditures for 1998 include eleven tables presenting the data geographically and/or by state and 34 tables by individual institution. Five more tables address R&D expenditures at university-administered federally funded research and development centers.