- DOE Announces 85 SBIR Phase II Grants for 1999
- Hawaii Consolidates Technology Programs, Adds Worker Training and Offers Tax Breaks
- GAO Finds Federal Peer Review Practices Vary By Agency
- SSTI Weekly Digest Story Updates
- 52 Try for Quality Award
- NIST ATP Monies Remain in SBIR
- FY 2000 DUS&T Draws 176 Apps; FY 99 Awards Posted
- Industries of Future Reveals Impacts
- Defense SBIR Phase I Awards Announced
- SBIR Bill Moves in House
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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DOE Announces 85 SBIR Phase II Grants for 1999
The Department of Energy has posted its selections for Phase II awards under the 1999 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The 85 Phase II grants were made to companies in the 23 states listed in the accompanying table. More detailed information for each award can be found on the DOE website: http://sbir.er.doe.gov/sbir
State
# of Awards
State
# of Awards
Alabama
1
New Mexico
1
Arizona
3
New York
3
California
18
North Carolina
2
Colorado
8
Ohio
4
Connecticut
4
Pennsylvania
2
Delaware
1
South Carolina
1
Georgia
2
Tennessee
1
Indiana
1
Texas
3
Maryland
3
Virginia
3
Massachusetts
17
Washington
3
Minnesota
2
West Virginia
1
New Hampshire
1
Total
85
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Hawaii Consolidates Technology Programs, Adds Worker Training and Offers Tax Breaks
In a move to increase Hawaii's technology standing, Governor Ben Cayetano signed legislation last week that will create several new initiatives. Most significant for S&T policy is the planned consolidation of the state's technology-related programs under a new special advisor for technology development. The specific state agencies affected by the legislation were not identified in the Technology Omnibus bill.The technology advisor is to be appointed by the Governor and has nine responsibilities outlined in the legislation which include: developing a plan to reorganize and consolidate "all state high technology agencies;" providing technical assistance and advice to private high technology businesses; coordinating the state's promotion and marketing of high technology industry; and, encouraging the development of educational, training and career programs in high tech industries.
A Governor's special advisory council for technology development was also established to assist the new advisor. The council will consist of 11-25 members appointed by the Governor and will be representative of technology businesses, educators, government leaders, and legislators.
The Legislature appropriated $100,000 each year for the next two fiscal years for costs associated with activities of the technology advisor and council.
Other measures included in Act 178 are:
Creating 10 percent tax credits of up to $500,000 for private investment in high technology businesses that do research within the state;
Enacting a personal or business income tax credit for increased research activities;
Exempting from capital gains or income taxation stock options from qualified high technology businesses conducting research in the state;
Exempting individuals and Hawaii technology businesses from paying taxes on any royalties received from copyrights and patents;
Integrating telecommunications services and technology related industries into the state's tourism and marketing promotional efforts;
Exempting Hawaii-based Internet commerce from state taxation;
Appropriating $4,000,000 from the University of Hawaii's (UH) discoveries and inventions revolving fund for the UH office of technology transfer and economic development to continue the program;
Establishing a new Millenium Workforce Development Training Program in the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to help workers in technology related industries such as biotechnology, health care, information technology, environmental science and technology, and telecommunications. For each of the next fiscal years, $50,000 is appropriated for the training program under the Department of Labor and an additional $436,200 is appropriated to the University of Hawaii;
Offering free e-mail accounts to all students of the University of Hawaii, including among others students in non-degree programs, continuing education, and individuals attending on an "occasional basis" and,
Establishing E AcademiesCvirtual, site-based schools providing industry and academic standards-based instruction and assessments in technology, science, math and engineeringC throughout the state at selected public high schools in each school district. The legislature appropriated $163,800 for the program for each of the next two fiscal years.
A copy of the bill may be downloaded from http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session1999/bills/sb1583_hd1_htm.
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GAO Finds Federal Peer Review Practices Vary By Agency
While there is no uniform federal policy for conducting peer reviews and no written government-wide definition of peer review, there is general agreement among the agencies and the While House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) as to what the term means, according to a new General Accounting Office (GAO) report, Peer Review Practices at Federal Science Agencies Vary. OSTP and the Office of Management and Budget encourage funding of research projects that are peer reviewed over those that are not reviewed through the process.Additionally, GAO found some common criticisms of the peer review process from officials in several agencies. Issues raised included peer review being occasionally elitist (discounting economic considerations over science) and its potential for discouraging the funding of innovative research as peer review practices tend to be conservative.
To address these concerns, OSTP is initiating an interagency effort to examine which agencies' peer review practices might better facilitate innovation. OSTP officials participating in the GAO study felt peer review practices should not be dictated uniformly for every agency or for all types of federally funded research. Rather, the practices should be tailored to agency missions and type of research. A 1996 report from the National Science and Technology Council encouraged the same flexibility across federal scientific agencies.
Each of the 12 agencies GAO studied had a variety of policies, orders, or other internal guidance regarding the conduct of peer review. All of the agencies use peer review to assess competitive research proposals. The report includes descriptions of the peer review practices employed by each of the 12 agencies.
Copies of the Peer Review Practices at Federal Science Agencies Vary (GAO/RCED-99-99) can be downloaded from http://www.gao.gov
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SSTI Weekly Digest Story Updates
52 Try for Quality Award
Update to SSTI Weekly Digest 12/18/98 ArticleNIST reports that 52 U.S. organizations, including four large manufacturers, 11 service companies, 12 small businesses and for the first time, 16 education and 9 health care organizations have submitted applications for the 1999 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Each of the 52 will receive a minimum of 300 hours of review. This year’s winners will be announced in November. More information can be obtained from http://www.quality.nist.gov/
NIST ATP Monies Remain in SBIR
Update to SSTI Weekly Digest 4/9/99 ArticleIncluded with the Commerce Appropriations Bill passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee last week was language requiring the continued inclusion of the Advanced Technology Program in the Commerce allocation for the SBIR Program. The issue is not over most likely, as the bill now moves to the entire Senate.
FY 2000 DUS&T Draws 176 Apps; FY 99 Awards Posted
Update to SSTI Weekly Digest 2/12/99 ArticleThe FY2000 Solicitation for the Department of Defense Dual Use Science & Technology Program yielded 176 proposals in response to the various service focus areas. The solicitation remains open until February, 2000. Proposals submitted after the deadline will be considered, pending funding availability upon conclusion of the initial selection process.
More information and a list of FY 1999 DUS&T winners is available at: http://www.dtic.mil/dust/
Industries of Future Reveals Impacts
Update to SSTI Weekly Digest 2/12/99 ArticleThe Department of Energy Office of Industrial Technologies has released Impacts — A Summary of Program Results, The report describes 120 emerging technologies supported through the "Industries of the Future" initiative. Each identified project is expected to be commercialized within the next two years. To receive a copy of Impacts, call the OIT’s Resource Center at 202/586-2090
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Defense SBIR Phase I Awards Announced
The Department of Defense has posted the Phase I selections for the 99.1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program solicitation. Out of the 5,832 proposals DoD received, it awarded 960 SBIR Phase I grants, which equates to a 16.46% success rate.The accompanying table presents both the distribution of awards and the number of proposals submitted by state and by agency (# of awards received/ # of proposals submitted). The state ranking corresponds to the number of awards received.
Abstracts for the each Phase I award can be found on the agency's SBIR-STTR website. http://www.sbirsttr.com
Rank
State
NAVY
AF
DARPA
BMDO
DTRA
SOCOM
CBD
Total
1
CA
41/294
114/627
11/97
42/134
7/48
0/13
3/40
218/1253
2
MA
39/192
58/386
8/52
24/97
5/19
1/4
4/27
139/777
3
VA
30/151
18/165
4/23
9/38
1/15
0/1
1/11
63/404
4
MD
25/117
13/123
8/23
9/35
4/11
0/0
0/8
59/317
5
OH
8/64
29/188
2/10
4/19
1/4
0/0
1/15
45/300
6
CO
7/48
16/112
2/22
9/33
0/6
0/3
0/7
34/231
7
NJ
9/62
7/87
3/15
13/37
0/5
0/0
0/4
32/210
7
FL
9/49
17/83
0/9
6/15
0/3
0/3
0/5
32/167
9
AL
3/28
18/77
3/7
5/25
0/6
0/0
0/3
29/146
10
NM
2/25
19/65
0/8
3/11
4/12
0/1
0/3
28/125
11
PA
15/67
7/61
2/9
2/12
0/6
0/1
1/5
27/161
12
TX
9/72
9/97
2/10
5/17
0/5
0/3
0/9
25/213
13
NY
8/68
5/100
3/10
8/30
0/5
0/1
0/5
24/219
14
AZ
7/32
7/57
1/6
6/42
0/4
0/1
1/7
22/149
15
MN
5/19
7/38
0/9
5/10
1/2
0/0
0/4
18/82
16
CT
5/34
8/45
1/2
1/8
1/6
0/1
0/3
16/99
17
NH
7/18
3/23
0/4
4/18
0/0
0/0
1/1
15/64
17
WA
5/26
3/42
2/8
1/9
0/1
0/1
4/11
15/98
19
MI
3/30
7/55
1/7
1/2
0/3
0/0
0/2
12/99
20
GA
3/12
5/34
0/4
3/7
0/3
0/0
0/1
11/61
20
IL
2/14
4/32
1/4
3/9
0/2
0/1
1/3
11/65
22
TN
1/16
3/25
0/5
3/6
0/1
0/0
1/2
8/55
23
HI
3/8
1/5
2/4
0/0
0/0
0/0
1/2
7/19
23
NC
2/21
3/23
0/3
2/4
0/2
0/2
0/4
7/59
23
DC
4/10
1/11
2/3
0/2
0/1
0/0
0/0
7/27
23
UT
1/12
3/28
0/5
3/4
0/4
0/0
0/4
7/57
27
NV
0/3
2/9
1/1
3/9
0/0
0/0
0/0
6/22
28
OR
2/7
3/9
0/1
0/3
0/0
0/0
0/1
5/21
28
WI
0/1
1/16
2/4
1/3
0/0
0/0
1/3
5/27
30
MO
0/9
2/14
0/0
2/3
0/0
0/0
0/1
4/27
30
MT
1/2
1/13
0/0
2/5
0/1
0/1
0/1
4/23
32
NE
1/5
2/14
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
3/19
32
VT
0/1
3/9
0/0
0/1
0/0
0/0
0/1
3/12
34
DE
1/5
1/6
0/0
0/3
0/0
0/0
0/0
2/14
34
OK
0/2
1/4
0/1
0/2
1/5
0/0
0/0
2/14
34
AR
0/8
1/6
0/1
1/2
0/0
0/2
0/1
2/20
34
IN
2/10
0/7
0/2
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
2/19
34
ME
2/4
0/2
0/0
0/2
0/2
0/0
0/1
2/11
39
ND
0/1
1/2
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
1/3
39
LA
1/8
0/1
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/1
1/10
39
MS
1/4
0/0
0/0
0/1
0/0
0/0
0/0
1/5
39
IA
1/3
0/3
0/1
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
1/7
39
KY
1/8
0/2
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
1/10
39
RI
0/18
0/15
0/2
1/9
0/0
0/0
0/0
1/44
39
WY
0/3
0/3
0/0
1/3
0/0
0/0
0/0
1/9
39
KS
1/5
0/10
0/1
0/5
0/1
0/0
0/1
1/23
39
SC
0/4
1/8
0/3
0/1
0/0
0/0
0/0
1/16
48
AK
0/1
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/1
48
ID
0/0
0/8
0/0
0/4
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/12
48
SD
0/0
0/1
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/1
48
WV
0/2
0/2
0/0
0/0
0/1
0/0
0/0
0/5
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SBIR Bill Moves in House
The House Committee on Small Business approved a bill to extend the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program until September 30, 2007. H.R. 2392, introduced by Representatives Taalent, Bartlett, Kelly and Velazquez, also was referred to the House Committee on Science for consideration. The ASME International Capitol Update reports a House floor vote on the bill is expected in Mid-July.H.R. 2392 also clarified that companies retain proprietary rights to data developed under the SBIR program for four years following the last federal funding received, which then could include Phase III awards. Other provisions in the bill addressed minor housekeeping issues related to SBA reporting requirements.
No other topics of current debate were addressed in the bill, such as whether or not to increase the set-aside percentage from 2.5 percent or to allow agencies to use some portion of the set aside to cover administrative costs.
A copy of the bill can be downloaded from http://thomas.loc.gov
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