In the February 4, 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.

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South Carolina S&T Plan Unveiled

The South Carolina Technology Alliance has released South Carolina Technology Initiative 2000, a science and technology strategic plan outlining six specific recommendations for strengthening the state’s position in a knowledge-based economy. The plan, requested by Governor Jim Hodges in a July 1999 executive order, addresses four short-term and three long-term goals outlined by Governor Hodges to increase South Carolina’s competitive position with its neighboring states, as well as improve its global posture as a technology leader.

The recommendations focus on developing the state’s infrastructure to support technology businesses and enhance the quality of the education system. The Alliance also emphasized that, while additional public financial resources would be required to implement the plan, the most important requirements are high profile leadership by the state, and coordination and cooperation among the various state agencies, research institutions and private businesses.

The six recommendations are:

Several action items are identified for each recommendation.

Governor Hodges has included $8.5 million in his FY 2001 budget request to begin to implement the plan's recommendations:

For more information on the South Carolina Technology Initiative 2000 contact Thomas Persons, Sr., President of the South Carolina Technology Alliance, at: tep@att.net or (803)748-1323. The Alliance’s web address is
http://www.sctech.org

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EDA Offers Funds for Distressed Areas
The Economic Development Administration (EDA) is accepting applications to support projects designed to alleviate conditions of substantial and persistent unemployment and underemployment in economically distressed areas and regions of the nation, and to address economic dislocations resulting from sudden and severe job losses. Distress may exist in a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, high levels of unemployment, low income levels, large concentrations of low-income families, significant decline in per capita income, substantial loss of population because of the lack of employment opportunities, large numbers (or high rates) of business failures, sudden major layoffs or plant closures, military base closures, natural or other major disasters, depletion of natural resources, and/or reduced tax bases. Special need criteria that is described in the announcement must be met for eligibility.

EDA has a total of $360,550,000 available to fund projects in FY 2000 across several programs. More than half of the funds are allotted to the Public Works and Economic Development Assistance Program. Other programs range from trade adjustment and defense economic conversion to university centers and planning districts. Applications are accepted on a continuous basis and will be processed as funds are available.

Since EDA has already received and begun processing requests for funding under its programs for fiscal year 2000, the agency points out new requests that require approval during this fiscal year will face substantial competition.

During FY 2000, EDA will give priority consideration to projects that support the Clinton Administration's ``New Markets'' and ``Liveable Communities'' initiatives and the priorities of the Department of Commerce, including the following items:

More information may be found at the EDA website http://www.doc.gov/eda

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Identifying E-Commerce Barriers
The Department of Commerce, on behalf of the Subgroup on Legal Barriers to Electronic Commerce (``Legal Barriers Subgroup'') of the U.S. Government Working Group on Electronic Commerce, requests public comments and suggestions concerning policies, laws or regulations that need to be adapted in order to eliminate barriers to and promote electronic commerce, electronic services, and electronic transactions.

President Clinton created the Working Group on November 29, 1999 (see the 12/3/99 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest) to identify ways the federal government can increase U.S. electronic commerce activity. The Department of Commerce was given lead responsibility for the group’s work.

The agency has identified a dozen questions for public response or input. Comments are requested by March 17, 2000. (See the February 1, 2000 Federal Register, pages 4801-4803). According to the Register announcement, comments will be accepted via the Web at http://www.ecommerce.gov   Alternatively, electronic submissions may be sent as documents attached to E-mail messages addressed to ebarriers@ita.doc.gov   Submissions made as E-mail attachments or submitted on floppy disks should be in WordPerfect, Microsoft Word or ASCII format. For more information, contact Kenneth Clark, phone: 202-482-3843; E-mail kclark@doc.gov .

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Defense and NIH Pick SBIR Phase I Awards
SSTI thanks Chris Busch, Director of the Wyoming SBIR Initiative, for forwarding the NIH information to us, and to BRTRC's Christine Villa for providing the Defense stats.

The Department of Defense has posted the abstracts for 370 projects selected to receive Phase I funding under the 99.2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program solicitation. The awards, selected from a total of 2,778 proposals, were distributed to companies in 31 states. The accompanying table http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/020400t.htm presents the distribution of proposals and awards by state. Abstracts for each 99.2 Phase I award may be found at: http://www.sbirsttr.com/   The department's first 2000 SBIR Phase I solicitation is currently open; proposals are due March 1. More information on this opportunity may be found at: http://www.acq.osd.mil/sadbu/sbir/00/dod_sttr00.htm .

The National Institutes of Health has compiled state statistics for the 1999 SBIR and STTR solicitations. Figures are provided for both Phase I and Phase II competitions. The information is available for review on the accompanying table http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/020400t.htm. SSTI also has figures available by e-mail request for the total dollars received by each state for the 1999 NIH SBIR and STTR competitions. Email skinner@ssti.org   for the information.

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Best Practices for Biotech Assistance to be Explored
Cincinnati and St. Louis are partnering to hold a three-day symposium to examine best practices in biotechnology-based economic development. Growing the Life Science Industry will be held March 1-3 at the Kingsgate Conference Center on the University of Cincinnati Medical Campus. Speakers from a dozen states will share their regions' approaches for life science economic development.

The event is sponsored by BIO/START, the Ohio Department of Development, the Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise, and the Cincinnati and St. Louis Chambers of Commerce. For more information, contact BIO/START President, Patricia Snider, at psnider@biostart.org or by phone at (513) 475-6610, ext. 2007.

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