In the March 26, 1999 Issue:

Copyright State Science & Technology Institute 2002. Information in this issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest was prepared under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration. Redistribution to all others interested in tech-based economic development is strongly encouraged — please cite the State Science & Technology Institute whenever portions are reproduced or redirected. Any opinions expressed in the Digest do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

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EPSCoT ROUND 2 UNDERWAY

The U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Administration (TA) has announced the availability of approximately $2 million in funding for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Technology (EPSCoT). The program will provide 6-8 matching grants to support technology development, deployment, and diffusion through public-private partnerships in states which traditionally do not receive significant federal R&D funding.

While EPSCoT is conceptually modeled to parallel the multi-agency EPSCoR, the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, EPSCoT has expanded its eligibility this year to include nine non-EPSCoR states. Alabama, an EPSCoR state and a $300,000 award recipient in the first round of EPSCoT, is not included in the current list of EPSCoT-eligible states.

Applications for FY 1999 EPSCoT awards will be accepted for projects from companies, government agencies, academic institutions or organizations headquartered in one of the following 27 states: Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Puerto Rico.

No more than one award will be made in any state in a given year. Joint proposals from multiple states are encouraged, do not count toward the one-award-per-state limit, and receive a less stringent match requirement. Single state proposals must match federal funding dollar for dollar with no more than half as in-kind. Multi-state proposals must fund only 25 percent of the total project costs.

This is the second, and possibly final, round of EPSCoT funding since the President's budget requested no additional funds for grants in FY 2000. The President's budget request for FY 2000 indicates the results of the program will be evaluated next year based on the awards made in 1998 and 1999. Since funding is available for projects of  12-36 months in duration, many of the EPSCoT awards will not be completed until after FY 2000.

In January, six awards totaling $1.6 million were announced for the  first round of funding. In addition to Alabama, winners included  Maine, Puerto Rico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Idaho, and a four-state project involving South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming.

Proposals in response to the solicitation must be received by TA on or before May 14, 1999; postmark date is not sufficient. No electronic or fax submissions are permitted either. Questions concerning the program should be directed to EPSCoT Program Director, Anita Balachandra at epscot@ta.doc.gov or 202/482-1320.

Copies of the announcement and forms may be downloaded from the EPSCoT web site: http://www.ta.doc.gov/epscot.

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$16.5M PROPOSED FOR ILLINOIS S&T PROGRAMS

In his first budget address, Illinois Governor George Ryan outlined a series of initiatives which would catapult Illinois into the top tier of states for technology-based economic development spending. Coupled with the $3-million-plus technology initiative announced earlier this year by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, Illinois S&T investments could grow to $20 million annually, a threshold only six other states have crossed and maintained: Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

Citing Pennsylvania's "Tech 21 Initiative" as the model, Governor Ryan outlined $100 million in technology investments, the vast majority to support information technology acquisition for educational institutions. The Governor's S&T proposals include:

Governor Ryan also recently announced the creation of the Illinois Technology Office, which will be responsible for Amanaging technological innovation in state government, improving public service and standardized operations among state agencies. A role for the office outside of information technology was not identified.

Some of Governor Ryan proposals for Illinois are in his FY 2000 budget request and others are incorporated in Illinois Senate Bill 40, which cleared the Senate Revenue Committee unanimously last week.

For more information, contact the Illinois Coalition at 312/814-3482.

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NEW RESOURCES FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA

Two new, free resources are available that provide access to statistical data that can be used for a wide variety of analytic processes, including impact assessment, regional measurement, strategic planning and program design.

Socioeconomic Data for Understanding Your Regional Economy: A User's Guide, provides an overview of various sources of data valuable in regional economic analysis. The document was designed for people who want to use readily available socioeconomic data to characterize activities and trends, especially at the state, regional or local level.

The User's Guide:

The second resource is EconData.Net, a Web site with links to over  125 public, university, and private sources of regional socioeconomic data. Access to on-line data is provided to the various series profiled in the User's Guide as well as many others. The site can be found at http://www.EconData.net

Both efforts were prepared by Andrew Reamer and Joseph Cortright with funding by the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The User's Guide is available by e-mail by contacting John McNamee of the Economic Development Administration, at jmcnamee@doc.gov. EDA has printed a limited number of copies of the book, available on a first-come, first-served basis.

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DIGEST CELEBRATES #150 WITH READERS SURVEY

Last week's issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest was our 150th since beginning the publication on March 1, 1996. Since that time, the Digest has grown more sophisticated in its news coverage and value largely due to the input we receive from our readers. Accompanying this week's issue of the Digest in a separate e-mail is a short survey that we hope you will complete and send back to us. [NOTE: survey is not included with the arcvhive version of the Digest.]

Your comments and suggestions are critical tools for making the publication as valuable as possible for your organization. Please fax the survey back to us at 614/ 901-1696.

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