In the August 11, 2000 Issue:

NYSTAR Completes First Strategic Plan  
With significant emphasis on academic research and commercialization, the New York Office of Science, Technology, and Academic Research (NYSTAR) has provided Governor George Pataki its first strategic plan. The $130 million NYSTAR, which absorbed the functions of the NY State Science and Technology Foundation, was formed in 1999 as a result of the state’s Jobs 2000 legislation (see the 12/3/99 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest). 

The plan calls for several new academic initiatives: 

In addition, the STAR centers, CATs, and other New York research facilities will be linked through the state’s fiber-optic network, permitting absolute, real-time multitasking, video and audio conferencing, and document sharing. 

NYSTAR also will create new programs and policies to facilitate technology transfer and business commercialization, including: 

The plan includes eligibility, program details and timeline for targeted implementation for each of the new programs. Copies can be downloaded from NYSTAR’s new web site: http://www.nystar.state.ny.us 

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Recent Awards 

 NSF Awards $45 Million to Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center  
The next U.S. supercomputing system operating at speeds well beyond a trillion calculations per second will reside at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) through an expected $45-million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Last week, the National Science Board (NSB), NSF's governing body, authorized the three-year award following a national competition. Pending negotiations between NSF and PSC, the Terascale Computing System (TCS) would begin operation in February 2001, reaching peak performance by the end of that year. 

The TCS will be incorporated into the NSF Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure program as a third leading-edge site, joining the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at Urbana, Illinois and the San Diego Supercomputer Center in California. Computational scientists and engineers across the U.S. will access the TCS through a nationwide grid of research networks. 

The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center was established in 1986 by its partners at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Westinghouse. To be built by Compaq Computer Corporation, the TCS is expected to reach 6 trillion operations per second at peak performance. 

NSF's proposed budget for fiscal year 2001 includes requested funds for a second terascale facility. Pending approval by Congress, that competition would begin in late 2000, with an award decision by fall 2001. 

More information on the Terascale Computing System can be found at: 
http://www.interact.nsf.gov/cise/descriptions.nsf/pd/tcs/  The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center’s web address is http://www.psc.edu/ 

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 Eisenhower Regional Math & Science Consortia Awards  
Ten multi-state consortia have been selected to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Education through the FY 2000 competition of the Eisenhower Regional Mathematics and Science Education Consortia Program. Each consortia will receive $1.47 million in the first year and $1.475 million annually for years 2-5 of the award. 

The consortia program supports a regional and national technical assistance and dissemination system that focuses on mathematics and science education to help build the capacity of states and schools to implement their school reform initiatives. Grantees also help coordinate federal, state and local education plans and activities, and assist educators to adopt, adapt and implement promising and exemplary practices for improving teaching and learning. 

The awardees are: 

More information on each consortium and other resources for science and math education can be found on-line at the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse: http://www.enc.org/partners/consortia/ 

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 DOE SBIR and STTR Awards Posted  
The Department of Energy has posted its selections for Phase I and Phase II awards under the FY 2000 competition of the agency’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. SSTI has been unable to obtain proposal statistics from DOE. Lists of the SBIR Phase I and Phase II awards can be found at: http://sbir.er.doe.gov/sbir/  and the STTR award lists are located at: http://sttr.er.doe.gov/sttr/  

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Recent Reports

 NSF Issues Data Brief on State R&D Growth  
Two-thirds of all U.S. research and development (R&D) expenditures in 1997 were concentrated in just ten states according to a July 10, 2000 Data Brief from the National Science Foundation. In contrast the 20 lowest ranking states in R&D expenditures accounted for only four percent of the $199 billion total. 

The top 10 states by total R&D expenditures were: California ($41.7 billion), Michigan ($14.0 B), New York ($12.3 B), New Jersey ($12.1 B), Massachusetts ($11.1 B), Texas ($9.5 B), Pennsylvania ($8.2 B), Illinois ($8.0 B), Washington ($7.5 B), and Maryland ($7.4 B). 

The Data Brief also graphically presents the ten-year trends for state R&D expenditures. With an annual, inflation-adjusted growth rate of 14 percent, New Hampshire experienced the greatest increase in R&D expenditures. Alabama saw the greatest decline at six percent. Real R&D growth for the country as a whole averaged two percent per year over the same period. States with real growth over the three percent threshold for statistical significance were (in alphabetical order): Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Washington. 

Also of note are the state rankings by R&D intensity, as measured by R&D expenditures as a percentage of gross state product. The top ten are: New Mexico (6.7 percent), District of Columbia (5.3 percent), Michigan (5.1 percent), Massachusetts (5.0 percent), Maryland (4.8 percent), Washington (4.4 percent), Idaho (4.4 percent), New Jersey (4.1 percent), California (4.0 percent), and Rhode Island (3.7 percent). Nationally the ratio of R&D to gross domestic product was 2.6 percent in 1997. 

Most of the statistics for the Data Brief are taken from the latest edition of the State S&E Profiles. Both reports are available on line at: http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/sepro/start.htm 

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 NACFAM Issues Strategic Agenda for Advanced Manufacturing 
Increased cooperation among the private sector, federal and state governments, education, and the nonprofit community will be critical for sustaining our current economic boom, according to the National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM), in its recent white paper, Smart Prosperity: An Agenda for Enhancing Productivity Growth. The plan is the culmination of the 20-month Advanced Manufacturing Leadership Forum, organized by NACFAM to provide strategic guidance and direction for policy development efforts. 

After discussion of the role increases in manufacturing productivity has played in the strong economy, Smart Prosperity focuses on three key elements to continued growth: national research investment, workforce skills development and enhancing the small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprise supply chains. The paper outlines a six-point policy agenda: 

Copies of Smart Prosperity: An Agenda for Enhancing Productivity Growth are available for $39 from NACFAM. More information, including a six-page synopsis of the report, can be found at: http://www.nacfam.org

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 Capitalizing on Rural Communities Released by ARC 
The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) has released a new report on the growing importance of development venture capital funds in attracting more private capital investment into the Appalachian Region. Co-sponsored by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Housing Finance Board, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, the report outlines the need for development venture capital funds in rural and distressed communities, and presents several specific investment opportunities within Appalachia. 

Capitalizing on Rural Communities notes that during the past two and one-half years, more than $50 billion in venture capital has been invested in the United States, mostly in high technology firms. However, only a small percentage of these investments—about one percent—has flowed into new businesses in the 13-state Appalachian Region. 

To attract more equity financing and help small businesses expand, Appalachian communities increasingly are looking at development venture capital (DVC) funds as a first step toward attracting more private investment capital, according to the report. Like traditional venture capital funds, DVC funds seek a strong return on investments, but unlike most traditional funds they have a ‘double bottom-line’, requiring that investments return a social benefit to the communities in which investments are made. In many cases DVC funds help to make local firms stronger so they can attract traditional venture capital investment. 

So far, ARC has funded five DVC projects in the Appalachian region. The Commission estimates that investments in the development of six to seven new DVC funds capitalized at $10 million each will result in the creation of 75 new firms and 1,300 jobs in Appalachia over a five-year period. The report is available on line at http://www.arc.gov under "What’s New." 

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 NCOE's Building Companies, Building Communities
The key for converting a community or region into the next high-tech hot-spot is an economic development strategy promoting the growth of fast-growing, high-risk companies and a strong networking culture, according to Building Companies, Building Communities, the latest report from the National Commission on Entrepreneurship. The brief report presents the findings of 18 focus groups held with more than 250 entrepreneurs across the country to discuss two topics: "what factors, other than their own business acumen, help them to succeed, and what factors make a community entrepreneurial?" 

The four issues identified through the process were: 

NCOE then discusses the policy implications of the findings, making broad recommendations for governments to consider as they develop strategies for cultivating a technology-based economy. The report can be downloaded from the NCOE web site: http://www.ncoe.org/research/index.html 

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 AAAS Reports on Federal R&D in New England
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has issued a special update to its 1997 study of the impacts of federal R&D on the New England states. The report is one of several AAAS has done examining the impacts of federal research investments on states and regions; others include the Midwest (Aug 96), the Pacific Northwest (Feb 97), the South Atlantic (Sep 97) and the Gulf States (April 1999). The latest includes state-level data on R&D, highlights of New England R&D, and several data tables. All eleven of the state and regional reports can be found at: http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rd/states.htm 

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Federal Funding Opportunities

 Analysis of S&T in the Appalachian Region  
The Appalachian Regional Commission has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the analysis of the science and technology base of the Appalachian region. According to the RFP, the analysis is to be accomplished "by identifying the spatial concentrations and trends in federal funding of R&D and science and technology programs; assessing the research, employment, and sales of private sector research-intensive industries; documenting the support by each of the 13 Appalachian states for research and science and technology programs; reviewing the research funding and activities at research-oriented universities and colleges and at scientific institutions in the region; and determining the distribution of science, engineering and technical graduates of different degree programs." 

The Commission anticipates allocating up to $45,000 for the project through a firm, fixed price contract. Proposals are due August 21, 2000. A copy of the solicitation can be found on the ARC web site: http://www.arc.gov  under "What’s New." 

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NSF Seeks Proposals for S&T Indicators  
The National Science Foundation (NSF) seeks applications for its Grants for the Analysis of Science and Technology (S&T) Resources program. Formerly the Program for the Analysis of Science and Technology Resources, this initiative seeks to identify new approaches to the analysis and presentation of data as indicators. Three types of research will be supported: those that develop advances in the presentation of policy indicators, those that enhance the understanding of available data and trends, and those that develop new data and indicators about subjects related to S&T resources and S&T policy issues. Research results may be used for future NSF science resources studies. 

Eligible applicants include colleges, universities, non-profit and commercial organizations, and individuals. Four to six awards are anticipated with total project funding estimated at $400,000 annually. A one-percent cost share is required. Proposals are due September 18, 2000. To view the complete proposal, visit: http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf00111 

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 NHTSA Looks for Passenger Vehicle Occupant Protection Technologies
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) seeks applications from for-profit organizations (small or large), non-profit organizations and educational institutions for a discretionary cooperative agreement to advance occupant protection technology in passenger vehicles. NHTSA's objective is to develop and evaluate new technologies and methodologies which have the potential for improving the crashworthiness of passenger vehicles and protecting their occupants. It is intended that no single award shall exceed $150,000 per year for up to four years. Applications must be received on or before September 14, 2000. More information is available from Ms. Lori Summers, Crashworthiness Research, NHTSA, Room 6226 (NRD-11), 400 Seventh Street S.W. Washington, DC 20590, (202) 366-6734 (E-mail: lsummers@nhtsa.dot.gov ) The complete solicitation was made available in the July 31, 2000 on-line edition of the Federal Register. 

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SSTI News 

Our Web Site Is Back
After a frustrating week for many, the SSTI web site is back on line. We apologize for the problems with the site and email while we transitioned to a new web host. We've updated the conference web center (see related below), calendar of events, job postings and Digest archives for you. Please let us know (skinner@ssti.org) if you experience any problems (images or pages missing, bad links, etc.) 

SSTI Conference Agenda Set!
Reservations for Beyond the Hype: Tools for Building Tech-based Economies and limited-seating, pre-conference workshops started coming in only hours after we posted the date (October 3-4), price (extremely reasonable) and location (Chicago) on our web site. We’re glad to see so many of you are as excited about this year’s conference as we are. 

Sticking to this year’s theme, Beyond the Hype, we’ve identified great people from across the country to lead us in our exploration of 14 topics handpicked by SSTI’s state sponsors. The conference speakers will provide a good balance between discussion of the burning policy issues and practical techniques for tech-based
economic development. The conference agenda and many of the speaker bios are now available on our conference web center at: http://www.ssti.org/Conf00/conf--00.htm 

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