In the January 7 2000 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.

Subscription to the SSTI Weekly Digest is free. If you are reading a forwarded copy of this issue and would like to receive your own copy each week directly, please subscribe at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/digform.htm Requests to unsubscribe should be sent to sstiwd@ssti.org


Virginia Offers Unique Web Access Service
Virginia, through its Office of the Secretary of Technology and Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), has created a unique collaborative public-private partnership to increase Internet access and e-commerce capabilities for Virginia's businesses. In December, CIT and Virginia Tech launched VirginiaLink, a multi-vendor, broadband telecommunications program providing businesses with inexpensive advanced telecommunications services such as Internet access and voice, data, and video capacity.

To participate in VirginiaLink, businesses must join the VirginiaLink Consortium, a cooperative permitting individual small companies to bundle their purchases to take advantage of volume discounts available to larger buyers. Companies particularly expected to benefit from the program are smaller firms in rural parts of the Commonwealth.

VirginiaLink is a new approach for a state science and technology program to take to overcome the issue of inequities in Internet access. In concept, VirginiaLink is a twist on the farmers' cooperatives formed to increase the economies of scale and selling power of small farmers. VirginiaLink differs from traditional cooperatives, however, in that all profits from the effort will flow to the contracted service providers, not the Consortium nor its member businesses. CIT will manage the Consortium and administer the individual contracts of the underlying providers. Also, the seven regional CIT offices will serve as marketing agents for the service. Virginia Tech will provide technical assistance and advice to the VirginiaLink program on a cost-recovery basis. No state subsidies are provided to the program.

Through March, CIT is offering an introductory offer for one-year consortium memberships. Any Virginia business can join the consortium for only $100 per location with a maximum cost of $1,000 for any firm. Service resellers and ISPs can join for $500 with a $2500 per year maximum. After the March 31st deadline, CIT may re-evaluate the membership fee structure. Contracted service providers currently include Sprint and MCI Worldcom. More information can be obtained online at: http://www.virginialink.net  

Return to the top of this page

Environmental Research Proposals Requested
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued several requests for research proposals during the past month that may be of interest to Digest subscribers and their clients. The following are requests whose deadlines occur during the next two months.

The Office of Research and Development (ORD)in partnership with NASA’s Office of Earth Science (OES) is soliciting grant applications to establish Estuarine Indicator Research Programs. These programs will be designed to identify, evaluate, recommend, and potentially develop new, innovative indicators of ecological conditions. A total of $6 million in funding will be awarded to four programs that include plans for large geographical areas. The deadline for applications is March 7, 2000. For more information, contact http://www.epa.gov/ncerqa and click on “announcements.”

The Pollution Prevention Incentives for States grant program expects to have $5 million available to award in the area of reduction or elimination of pollution across all environmental media and in strengthening state technical programs to disseminate source reduction information to businesses. The deadlines for applications and proposals will be determined by region. For specific regional information, contact Christopher Kent at kent.christopher@epa.gov 

The Office of Research and Development, National Center for Environmental Research and Quality Assurance (NCERQA) in collaboration with the Office of Policy and Innovation is soliciting grant proposals in the area of Market-based Mechanisms and Other Incentives for Environmental Management (MM&I). This competition encourages research that will aid in the development of approaches for designing programs to meet environmental goals cost effectively. Ten awards will be made for a total for $2 million in funding. The deadline for applications is February 2, 2000. For complete information, visit http://www.epa.gov/ncerqa/rfa/market2000.html  

Return to the top of this page

Western Governors Create High Technology Council
The 18 governors who comprise the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) have agreed to create a Western High Technology Council to serve as a strategic alliance among states, technology firms and universities to advance the region's common interests in the technology-driven and knowledge-based New Economy. Hawaii Governor Ben Cayetano, WGA Chairman, proposed the idea at the WGA winter meeting held in Las Vegas during December.

The governors asked Intel, Silicon Graphics, and other interested companies to work with university partners and WGA staff to develop a business plan for the proposed council. A concept paper prepared for the governors' discussion suggested the Council's membership initially include 15 to 20 high-level representatives from information, health, and biotechnology industries and leaders from academia and the public sector.

The paper also suggests that the council form broad-based work groups comprised of stakeholders and academia to develop recommendations on specific issues. Any council recommendations developed in the next six months would be reviewed by the governors at their annual meeting to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, June 11-13, 2000.

The concept paper listed several issues the council could consider related to: privacy and security of information; ethics; workforce development; appropriate protection of intellectual property rights; and, trade and international competitiveness. The council's actions would be expected to advance both economic and social goals. One key goal would be the development of a working partnership between the public and private sector to ensure technology and the "high-tech culture" benefits both rural and metropolitan areas throughout the Western states.

The governors also discussed Arizona's strategic approach for supporting clusters of businesses as a successful strategy for focusing state economic development efforts. The WGA website suggests regional cluster analysis will serve an integral role in the development of specific strategies or recommendations for the Council.

More information, including the concept paper, can be found at the Western Governors' Association website: http://www.westgov.org/ 

Return to the top of this page

Federal Funding Opportunities
The following federal solicitations, announcements, and requests for proposals have deadlines approaching over the next few weeks:

Commerce
The Precision Measurement Grant Program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology is seeking proposals from academicians for research in the field of fundamental measurement or the determination of fundamental consultants. A portion of the program’s $300,000 budget will be used to support new projects this year. Abbreviated proposals must be submitted by February 1, 2000 for pre-screening. More information is available at http://physics.nist.gov/ResOpp/grants/grants.html  

The Technology Opportunities Program (formerly known as the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program) is seeking applications for Fiscal Year 2000 awards. The program has $12.5 million available to providing matching grants to promote the development, widespread availability, and use of advanced telecommunications and information technologies to serve the public interest. The deadline for applications is March 16, 2000. More information may be available at: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/tiiap/index.html  

Energy
The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy(NE) is soliciting applications for research programs involving new and innovative uses of isotopes in the diagnosis and therapy of cancer, HIV and other infectious diseases or other medical applications. The deadline for proposals is January 28, 2000. All interested organizations are required to register with the Department’s Industry Interactive Procurement System http://doe-iips.pr.doe.gov  to obtain the full solicitation. Complete details and instructions for the isotope research opportunity may be found at http://www.ne.doe.gov 

Health
The National Cancer Institute is offering pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies opportunities for Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) to discover and identify novel antitumor and antimicrobial leads from natural products. The CRADA collaborator(s) will have the option to negotiate the terms of an exclusive or non-exclusive commercialization license. More information on the NCI research lab is available at: http://dtp.nci.nih.gov/docs/branches/lddrd/lddrd_home.html  

NASA
NASA Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) is requesting information for its Earth Science Extension Network (ESEN) that focuses on development techniques to be used by state and local leaders in solving regional natural resource and population problems. NASA will form partnerships with two to four national associations that represent the interest of all state and local governments. Costs of the partnership would be shared by all parties. All entries are due by January 21, 2000 and should be no longer than seven pages in length. More information can be obtained under "Business Opportunities" at http://nais.msfc.nasa.gov/.

Return to the top of this page

State Science & Technology Institute
5015 Pine Creek Drive
Westerville, OH 43081
Phone: (614) 901-1690
Fax: (614) 901-1696
Email: ssti@ssti.org

  © 2002 State Science and Technology Institute. All rights reserved.