In the May 18, 2001 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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Billion Dollar Gift Boosts Biomed Research in Kansas City
With an eye toward helping to make Kansas City a leading center for biomedical research, James Stower Jr., founder of American Century mutual funds, and his wife are donating $1.114 billion to the Stowers Institute of Medical Research. The donation is considered one of the five largest philanthropic gifts in history. The Institute, opened last November after completion of the $200 million campus, is engaged in basic research toward long-term solutions for gene-based diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

Already employing four molecular biologists recruited from California, Utah, Texas and London, England, and their staff, the Stowers Institute plans to have more than 50 independent research programs when fully operational.

The success of the Stowers Institute plays heavily in the plans of local efforts to transform Kansas City into a national biomedical center. Building a strong local research capacity and presence in academic and nonprofit research institutions as well as private companies is widely recognized as a critical element to building tech-based economies. Local leaders see the Institute as being a critical element of their tech-based economic development plans.

In addition to its own scientific and technical staff and any commercialization resulting from technologies spun out of the Institute, the sheer size and national eminence of the Stowers Institute is expected to serve as a magnet for other biomedical research investments and biotech companies growth in the area.

The Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute, a not-for-profit organization founded jointly by the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City and the Kansas City Area Development Council, has been charged with implementing the community's three part life sciences strategy of:

More information about the Stowers Institute can be found at http://www.stowers-institute.org

More information concerning the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute is available under "special features"at http://www.smartkc.com/index.htm

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STTR Reauthorization Introduced
Calling for the program to more than triple in size by 2007, Senator John F Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and several other Senators introduced legislation last week to reauthorize and expand the Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR). STTR currently requires five federal agencies -- the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the departments of Defense, Health & Human Services, and Energy -- to award 0.15 percent of their extramural R&D budgets to research partnerships between small businesses and research institutions. If passed, the new bill would gradually increase the set-aside requirement to 0.5 percent by fiscal year 2007.

S. 856 also calls for reauthorizing STTR through fiscal year 2010 and increasing the size of Phase II awards from $500,000 to $750,000, the same level as awards in the much larger Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

After its introduction, S. 856 was referred to the Senate Small Business Committee for consideration.

Joining Senator Kerry as original sponsors of the bill were senators Kit Bond (R-MO), Max Cleland (D-GA), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Robert F. Bennett (R-UT), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Michael Enzi (R-WY) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA). All but Senator Bingaman are members of the Senate Small Business Committee.

The text of the bill can be found online at: http://thomas.loc.gov

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SBA Seeks Comments on SBIR Directive
In today's edition of the Federal Register, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has issued the draft revised policy directive for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The public is invited to comment on the proposed directive, which provides guidance to the ten federal agencies participating in the program. SBIR annually awards more than $1 billion to small businesses across the country for research and development. Comments must be received by the SBA on or before June 18, 2001.

Legislation passed by Congress in December to reauthorize the SBIR program (Public Law 106-554) required SBA to prepare the first changes to the policy directive since 1993. While the SBIR Reauthorization Act did not include many substantive changes to the federal program, a quick review of the new policy directive reveals several proposed changes of potential interest to the tech-based economic development community.

In general, the new directive would provide the federal agencies greater latitude in meeting the legislated requirements of the SBIR program. For example, while the public law sets specific maximum award size and project duration for Phase I and Phase II awards, the proposed policy directive allows any agency to set its own limits provided the new limits are justified in the agency's annual report to the SBA, which would be submitted after the awards had been made.

The draft directive also expands the flexibility provided to the agencies for administering their SBIR and STTR programs (Small Business Technology Transfer Program) to the extent that Phase I projects of one program could receive Phase II funding from the other.

The current draft also requires the agencies to incorporate use of the Internet to facilitate information dissemination for proposal development. Additionally, the Directive outlines the elements of the commercialization plan that is required of all phase II SBIR proposals. Provisions for the newly mandated public and private databases on awards are included as well.

Apparently lacking in the revised policy directive is any discussion of the requirement in the SBIR Reauthorization Act of 2000 for federal agencies to coordinate and link their SBIR programs to their programmatic efforts to increase research activity within states that traditionally do not capture much federal R&D funding. (e.g., Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), Institutional Development Award Program, or National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program.)

The complete Federal Register text of the SBA's proposed policy directive can be found on the accompanying webpage. 

All comments concerning the proposed revision should be addressed to Maurice Swinton, Assistant Administrator for Technology, Office of Technology, Office of Policy, Planning, and Liaison, Office of Government Contracting/Business Development, U.S. Small Business Administration, 409 3rd Street, SW, Washington, DC 20416 or via email to technology@sba.gov

Editor's Note: SSTI will include its own and possibly other interpretations of the proposed policy directive in an upcoming issue of the SSTI Weely Digest.

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Useful Stats: VC by State for 1st Quarter 2001
PricewaterhouseCoopers has published the detailed statistics for the Moneytree™ survey of venture capital (VC) activity for the first quarter of 2001. As promised in the May 4, 2001 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest when the summary results were announced, SSTI has prepared the accompanying table presenting the distribution of VC by state.

Please note, the table includes only those states in which some VC activity was reported for the quarter. Several states fell out of the latest survey as fewer deals were reported across the country.

The complete detailed statistics can be found on the PricewaterhouseCoopers website: http://204.198.129.80/

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Upcoming Conferences of Note
The following is a sampling of the more than 60 events included in the SSTI Calendar of Events webpage: http://www.ssti.org/calendar.htm

Webcast on 21st Century Agriculture R&D Priorities
On May 22 and May 23, the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources of the National Research Council will hold a web-based workshop Opportunities in Agriculture: A Vision for USDA's Food and Agricultural Research in the 21st Century. Listen in free via live audio Webcast and submit questions to participants using an email form; both are accessible with an agenda and more information on the project's webpage, http://nationalacademies.org/banr/active_projects/agopps

Partnerships for the 21st Century
The Economic Development Administration will hold its National Economic Development Forum May 29 - 31 at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Washington, DC. This year's theme focuses on encouraging and strengthening public-private collaboration and innovation in support of local economic development. More information is available at http://www.edanationalforum.org/

Technologies at the Crossroads: Frontiers of the Future
The NIST Advanced Technology Program will hold its 2001 National Meeting at the Wyndham Inner Harbor Hotel in Baltimore, MD on June 3-5. This year's event, Technologies at the Crossroads: Frontiers of the Future, focuses on forecasting what technologies will be critical to the U.S. economy in 2020. More information is available at: http://www.atp.nist.gov/

Inventing the Knowledge Economy
Focusing on innovation, R&D, and human, financial and social capital requirements for today's economy, this year's annual conference for the Southern Growth Policy Board will be held at the Hot Springs Convention Center in Hot Springs, Arkansas on June 24-26, 2001. More information is available at: http://www.southern.org/conference/conference.shtml

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People

President Bush intends to nominate P.H. Johnson to be Federal Co-chairperson of the Delta Regional Authority. He currently practices law with the firm of Johnson Bobo in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Bill Shipp has been promoted to president and general manager of the Idaho National Engineering & Environmental Laboratory. Currently laboratory director, Shipp will take his new position August 1. Mr. Shipp also serves as Science & Technology Advisor to Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne.

Jackie Norton, director of the Arizona Department of Commerce for the past five years, has announced she will be leaving the position this summer.

Anita Balachandra, formerly in charge of the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Technology (EPSCoT) in the U.S. Department of Commerce, is now working with the Maryland Technology Development Corp.

SSTI welcomes Anulet Jones to our team as a Research Assistant. Ms. Jones has an engineering degree from Georgia Tech and is working on her MBA at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.

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Funding Opportunities

Department of Commerce
The Climate and Global Change Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration seeks to provide reliable predictions of climate variability and change with associated regional implications on time scales ranging from seasons to a century or more. This program focuses on field measurements and modeling of aerosol properties and distributions, with an emphasis on improving the predictive understanding of the role of aerosols in climate forcing. Letters of intent from institutions of higher education, other nonprofits, commercial organizations, international organization, state, local and Indian tribal governments are strongly encouraged and are due no later than July 2, 2001. Full proposals will be due August 27, 2001. Funding is anticipated to be awarded in the form of grants for as many as three years. As funding availability may change, interested parties are urged to check to Climate & Global Change Program web page at http://www.ogp.noaa.gov  for program information and updates. The solicitation may be found there as well.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has $1.3 million to support cooperative agreements for R&D projects in Chesapeake Bay to strengthen, develop and/or improve the stock conditions of the Chesapeake Bay fisheries. Institutions of higher education, hospitals, other nonprofits, commercial organizations, foreign governments, international organizations, and state, local and Indian tribal governments may submit proposals. The projects must address various aspects of Chesapeake Bay fisheries including coastal and estuarine research, monitoring, and assessment; fisheries research and stock assessments; data management; and, multiple species interactions. Applications are due by 5 p.m. on June 14, 2001. For more information, visit the NOAA web site at http://www.rdc.noaa.gov/grants

NOAA is also soliciting proposals for its Education Partnership with Minority Serving Institutions Environmental Entrepreneurship Program. It is anticipated $3.3 million will be available to support approximately six Program Development and Enhancement Grants of up to $250,000 each and six Environmental Restoration Demonstration Projects of up to $300,000. The goal of the program is to strengthen the capacity of Minority Serving Institutions to foster student careers in environmental fields. Environmental fields are defined as those environmental, natural and social sciences and engineering, professional, and technical fields relevant to NOAA’s mission to “describe and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, and conserve and manage wisely the Nation’s coastal and marine resources to ensure sustainable economic opportunities.” Letters of Intent are requested by June 18, 2001. Applications from due from Minority Serving Institutions of higher education by July 20, 2001. For the complete solicitation, go to http://www.noaa.gov

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced in January 2001, availability of funding for thirteen small grants programs. Since that time a shift in focus and appropriations toward nanotechnology has occurred. In three program areas NIST will direct a portion of the funding toward nanotechnology proposals. Proposals that already have been submitted in fields other than nanotechnology will still be considered for the remainder of the funding under each program area. The three grant programs, the amount to be directed to nanotech, and the full program amount available follows (all figures are approximate):

Materials Science and Engineering - $300,000 of the $2.5 million available
Physics Laboratory Grants Program - $210,000 of the $1.4 million available
Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory Grants Program - $150,000 of the $1 million

Contact information for program-specific questions is available in the May 11, 2001 issue of the Federal Register Online at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html

Department of Energy
The Idaho Operations Office is seeking applications from domestic private and public institutions of higher learning to support innovative research in areas that will contribute to the Department’s nonproliferation and national security missions. The purpose of the Nonproliferation and National Security University Research Initiative is to expand our national capability to detect illicit nuclear proliferation activities and to attract new talent to national security research and development organizations. DOE anticipates making 3 grant awards each with a budget of $200,000 per year for three years. Solicitation DE-PS07-01ID14060 can be accessed by clicking on “Browse Solicitations” at http://e-center.doe.gov  Applications will be due June 18, 2001.

Sources Sought

Department of Energy
The National Nuclear Security Administration and the Office of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology are seeking sources for design and development services to support the Advanced Accelerator Application Program. The goal is to conduct research and develop, design, and construct a high power linear accelerator along with a sub-critical multiplier for studies on waste transmutation and other nuclear energy-related studies. A performance-based type contract is anticipated. Full requirements can be accessed through the “How to do Business with the Albuquerque Operations Office” web page which provides a link at http://www.doeal.gov/cpd/howto-al.htm  The solicitation number is DE-RP04-01AL67456. Responses are due fifteen days from the posting date which was May 17, 2001.

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