SSTI Federal Budget Special Issue
Budget Overview
As in any budget there are winners and losers, but for the
tech-based economic development community, there are far more
winners than losers in the Obama
Administration's FY11 budget proposal.
Percentages referenced in this summary reflect the change from FY10
appropriations.
Among the winners:
- The National Science Foundation, NIST laboratories, and the
Department of Energy's Office of Science
continue on the path to doubling their budgets.
- The Administration tries to move regional innovation and
clusters forward with proposals in a number of agencies,
including:
- $75 million in the Economic Development Administration in the
Department of Commerce for regional planning and matching grants
within EDA to support the creation of Regional Innovation
Clusters
- $135 million in budget authority at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture for a Regional Innovation Initiative for rural
communities which could translate to $280 million in program
activities
- $108 million at the Department of Labor for the
proposed Workforce Innovation Fund that would provide funding for
the demonstration of promising new ideas and for the replication of
proven practices
- $11 million at the Small Business Administration to support
enhanced small business participation in regional economic clusters
by awarding competitive grants to facilitate greater coordination
of resources
- The Manufacturing Extension Partnership would increase by 4
percent to $129.7 million.
- The Technology Innovation Program (TIP) would increase 14
percent or $10 million to $79.9 million.
- The U.S. Global Change
Research Program would increase 21 percent or $439 million to
$2.6 billion. The program is designed to improve understanding of
uncertainties in climate science, expand global observing systems,
develop science-based resources to support policymaking and
resource management, and communicate findings broadly.
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration's (NOAA) R&D budget would
increase by 22 percent or $171 million to $949 million.
- The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) would
receive its first regular appropriation of $300 million.
- New and previously approved Energy Innovation Hubs would
receive $107 million through the Department of Energy.
- The Department of Energy would launch a new $50 million
program, Regaining our Energy Science and Engineering Edge
(RE-ENERGYSE) to inspire students and workers to pursue careers in
science, engineering, and entrepreneurship related to clean
energy.
- Solar energy, wind energy, and geothermal energy programs in
the Department of Energy's Office of Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy would all see double digit
percentage increases.
- Myriad National Science Foundation programs are proposed for
increases, some double digit increases, including Partnerships for
Innovation (109 percent increase), the Engineering Research Centers
(22.9 percent increase), Science and Technology Centers (14.3
percent increase), and the Experimental Program to Stimulate
Competitive Research (EPSCoR) (4.9 percent increase).
- The total amount spent on Pell Grants for college students
would increase by 29 percent or $7.9 billion to $34.9 billion.
Among the losers:
- One of the most publicized budget casualties was
NASA's Constellation program, the program to
return astronauts to the moon. Coming on the heels of the findings
of the Review of U.S.
Human Space Flight Plans Committee, the shift in strategy away
from returning to the moon was not surprising.
- NSF programs that did not fare as well as some others in the
agency, include: the National Nanotechnology Initiative (3.9
percent decrease), Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers (13.1
percent decrease), the Industry/University Cooperative Research
Centers (level funding), and the Education and Human Resources
Directorate with a 2.2 percent increase.
- The Department of Defense's Research,
Testing, Development and Evaluation (RTD&E) would receive $71.6
billion (5 percent decrease). RTD&E spending supports
defense modernization through basic and applied research,
fabrication of technology-demonstration devices, and development
and testing of prototypes and full-scale preproduction
hardware.
- The Department of Homeland Security's
Science and Technology Directorate would receive $1 billion (1
percent decrease).
- The Office of Fossil Energy in the Department of Energy would
be cut by 20 percent to $760.4 million.
A detailed write-up in a special pdf report on the FY11 budget
proposal can be downloaded here. Agencies included in the report
are:
<#UNSUBSCRIBE#> from all SSTI publications
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