SSTI Digest

A full week after the Administration's budget request was released, NSF made available details on the foundation's $7.05 billion request. With the new information, SSTI is presenting below its summary regarding the NSF budget proposal's impact on programs of importance to state and regional TBED efforts. This profile, along with similar budget summaries of 17 other agencies, is available in an updated version of SSTI's Special Federal Budget Issue. The PDF document may be found at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2009/fy10budget.pdf.

Lawmakers across several western states have reached budget agreements for the upcoming fiscal year or biennium allocating decreased or level funding for tech-based economic development efforts. Lawmakers also passed new legislation supporting job-creation efforts and investments in alternative energy. While funding for many of these programs appear secure in FY10, additional spending cuts are anticipated in the coming months if state revenues continue to decline.

A new report published by BIO, Battelle and the Biotechnology Institute finds that student achievement in biosciences varies widely between and within states. It also finds that many states lag behind in programmatic efforts to improve bioscience education, even as the life science industry grows in stature as a common priority for TBED initiatives.

The report, which was released to coincide with the start of this year's BIO convention, argues that state education systems across the country must improve to make the U.S. competitive in biotechnology. On average, only 28 percent of students taking the ACT obtained a score indicating readiness for college-level biology. Only 52 percent of 12th graders were at or about a basic level of achievement in the sciences. Science achievement among twelfth graders actually declined between 1995 and 2005 nationwide, though this was not true for all states.

Last week the NIH issued a request for comments regarding potential changes to existing federal regulations covering conflicts of interest in the design, conduct, or reporting of NIH-affiliated research. Through an Advanced Notice of Public Rule Making (ANPRM), the regulations include topics such as:

• Expanding the scope of regulation and disclosure interests;
• Refining the definition of a "significant financial interest";
• Determining how institutions can identify and manage conflicts;
• Assuring institutional compliance;
• Providing additional information to the Public Health Service (PHS); and,
• Broadening regulations to address institutional conflicts of interest.

The comment period is open until July 7, 2009 and opinions may be submitted online, by fax, or by mail.

Despite the global growth of the industry over the past few decades, U.S. venture capital remains as concentrated as ever in the Silicon Valley region, and to a lesser extent, Massachusetts. Of the 87 venture capital firms included in the PricewaterhouseCoopers list of most active firms of 2008, 40 firms (46 percent) were located in Silicon Valley and San Francisco; only one California firm was located outside of that region (Santa Monica); another 18 of the most active firms were located in Massachusetts.

R&D Flat, but Budget Reflects Obama Administration Priorities

The first budget request of the Obama Administration keeps R&D funding virtually flat, at $147.6 billion, rising only 0.4% over the enacted FY2009 levels. That conclusion is somewhat misleading however, given Congress only approved the FY09 budget two months ago and the massive Recovery Act a month earlier. Recovery Act funding will be spent over both FY09 and FY10, providing agencies more money for research and economic development than at any time previously. The White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) estimates the federal government will spend $165.4 billion for R&D in FY09.

Despite level funding, the Administration refocuses much of the FY10 spending on what it perceives are national imperatives: fighting climate change, finding cures for cancer, making our economy more innovation-based and efficient, and tying education and training to 21st century skill development.

The full report is available for download in pdf format.

For nearly every budget issue SSTI has prepared during the first decade of the 21st century, our opening paragraphs read like obituaries. The previous administration was ideologically opposed to the government taking an active role to support economic development, even tech-based economic development, beyond increases for university and federally based research. Spending for federal programs that support regional community and economic growth were slashed repeatedly. The memories are fresh of having to fight for every dollar in Congress, and, watching appropriation levels slide. Earmarks grew as programs were forced to fend for themselves. Unless you've been in the TBED field for nearly a decade, those may be your only perceptions of the federal role for innovation.

SSTI's review of the FY10 budget proposal includes TBED highlights from these agencies: