SSTI Digest

Fantastic Marketing Opportunities Still Available Excitement for SSTI's 11th annual conference is growing as the entire exhibit space is now sold out - several months before the event. There are, however, several other options available to build awareness of your TBED program and generate beneficial relationships with the nation's top state and regional TBED decision makers at this year's event. Learn how your organization can join with our current partners to take advantage of this powerful networking and outreach opportunity. Contact Noelle Sheets, SSTI director of membership services, at sheets @ ssti.org to discuss how an SSTI conference partnership can enhance your marketing strategy. SSTI would like to thank our current 2007 Conference Partners: Conference Kick-Off Breakfast:

Dr. Dean Chang has joined the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute as the new director of MTECH Ventures.

[Editor’s Note: The following article is reprinted from the June 1 issue of the SBIR Gateway Insider Newsletter, with permission from the author, Rick Shindell at Zyn Systems. The entire issue is worthy reading and is available, along with archived issues, through the SBIR Gateway that Shindell maintains as a free, public resource for all things SBIR. The SBIR Gateway is http://www.zyn.com/sbir/.]   As many of you know, the NIST SBIR program was severely impacted by the loss/reduction of funding for the NIST ATP program (considered extramural research by which NIST SBIR obtains its 2.5 percent funding).  

As the 2007 legislative session in Maryland came to a close last week, Gov. Martin O'Malley celebrated an important victory for the future of life sciences with a $10 million increase for stem cell research and the creation of a life sciences advisory board. Gov. O'Malley requested the 66 percent increase during his Jan. 31 State of the State Address (see the Feb. 19, 2007 issue of the Digest).

John Wasilisin was named deputy executive director of the Maryland Technology Development Corporation.

Approximately $60 million is expected to be available under a new Advanced Technology Program (ATP) competition to support high-risk industrial R&D projects, the program announced today. As part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, ATP offers funding for specific research projects by individual companies or industry-led joint ventures to accelerate the development of innovative technologies. Multiyear awards are made on a cost-shared basis for technically challenging, high-risk research that has the potential for broad national benefit. The program encourages path-breaking research on emerging or enabling technologies that lead to revolutionary new products and industrial processes and services that address national priorities and generate large societal benefits.   A single company can receive a total of up to $2 million for R&D activities over a three-year period. For single-company recipients, ATP funds may only be used to pay direct costs. A joint venture can receive funds for R&D activities for up to five years, with no funding limitation other than available funds.

C. Robert Eaton is resigning as president of MdBio, effective March 31, 2007, to pursue other opportunities in the private sector.

Aris Melissaratos is the new special adviser to the president for enterprise development at the Johns Hopkins University. The position was created for Melissaratos following his departure as secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. has appointed Renée Winsky as its new executive director.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently announced the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) will conduct a new competition in fiscal year 2007 for cost-shared awards to support high-risk industrial R&D. The ATP provides brief support to single companies or to industry-led joint ventures to accelerate the development of innovative technologies for broad national benefit through partnership with the private sector. ATP projects are selected in a competitive, peer-reviewed process. Further details will be available when the competition is formally announced in the Federal Register this spring. Proposals will not be accepted before that time. Notices containing specific information, such as anticipated funding, eligibility criteria and proposal deadlines, also will be posted to www.atp.nist.gov and www.grants.gov.

Increasing federal funding for life science research is one of the most significant ingredients for improving a state’s position in building a strong biotech and biomedical sector. As appropriations for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were increasing annually – as they did in the last half of the 1990s and the first few years of this decade – this was not a zero-sum game. All states could win.   That is less likely to be the case if increases in NIH appropriations barely keep pace with inflation as Congress and the Administration shift research priorities toward other areas of science and engineering.   So how did everyone do during times of plenty? To answer this, SSTI has compiled a table of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards in total dollars and state rankings from fiscal years 2001-05. The states, ranked by percent change over the five-year period, show South Dakota (132.28), Louisiana (115.52), Montana (113.13), Indiana (96.61) and North Dakota (96.60) posted the greatest gains.  

Gov. Martin O'Malley has appointed Clarence Bishop to serve as interim secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, replacing Aris Melissaratos.