SSTI Digest

Students who receive a bachelor's degree in science or engineering (S&E) frequently find themselves on non-technical career paths, but according to a recent study, most of these graduates later report that their S&E education plays an important role at work. Nearly 73 percent of people whose highest level of education is an S&E bachelor's degree do not work in traditional S&E occupations. However, almost two-thirds of that group report that their current job is related to their degree. This finding suggests that there are benefits to additional state and university investment in S&E programs beyond filling jobs that have traditionally been considered part of the high-tech economy.

 

The potential opportunity for bio-based fuels to supplement or supplant some of the nations fossil fuel addiction has enticed two entities with deep pockets - one public, one private - to separately offer $750 million to support research in the growing field. Working independently, both entities are planning to concentrate their investments in only 1-2 research institutions, creating instant anchors for growing localized clusters for the new industry.



On Aug. 2, the U.S. Department of Energy launched a competition for proposals to select two new bioenergy research centers as part of the Office of Science Genomics program. The winning centers will receive up to $125 million over a period of five years $25 million in the first year for start-up costs and up to $25 million per year for operations during the subsequent four years.

There are a number of reasons why developing a business incubation program may be appropriate for your organization or community. Whether it is creating new jobs or developing and commercializing new technologies, business incubators can provide a variety of resources to help ensure that companies succeed. Two new handbooks document some of the best practices and successful business incubation models across the country.



Developing a Business Incubation Program

In Developing a Business Incubation Program: Insights and Advice for Communities, the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) sheds light on ways to strengthen or expand business incubation programs. Because each incubator development project is different, a how-to book on the topic is not possible, NBIA states in a press release. Instead, author Kathleen Boyd spent more than a year interviewing experts and practitioners about the underlying assumptions, challenges and activities that are essential to the process.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez recently announced the creation of a 15-member advisory committee to examine methods used around the country to measure innovation. The panel, dubbed the Measuring Innovation in the 21st Century Economic Advisory Committee, will be composed of academia and private industry representatives and will convene this fall to identify new ways to assess regional innovation activity and the impact of innovation policies. An interim report is due in early 2007, with a final draft to follow by the end of next year.



In his announcement, Gutierrez singled out the need to expand the commonly understood definition of innovation to include not only new products and services, but also process improvements that boost business productivity.

In 2004, U.S. academic R&D expenditures totaled $42.9 billion up 7.21 percent from 2003, according to the National Science Foundation's Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges, FY 2004. The NSF report details R&D expenditures at public colleges and universities by geographic location, institution, science and engineering fields, and source of funding.

 

Using NSF data, SSTI has prepared a table presenting state rankings and figures for academic R&D from 2000 to 2004. Over the five-year period, North Dakota and South Dakota more than doubled their academic R&D expenditures, with an increase of 125.07 percent and 107.27 percent, respectively. In addition to the Dakotas, six other states increased academic R&D by more than 60 percent: New Hampshire, Vermont, West Virginia, Indiana, Tennessee and Mississippi.

 

Griffin Analytical Technologies, a producer of premium chemical detection systems, is seeking a proposal coordinator to generate research proposals in response to federal and state funding solicitations. Griffin serves U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security applications, environmental health and safety monitoring, and research and teaching laboratories. The proposal coordinator will work with Griffin's R&D and management teams and will report directly to the companys vice president of research and development. Applicants should have a Master of Science or Ph.D. degree in a scientific discipline, or a bachelor's degree with five or more years of applicable proposal writing experience. More information on this opportunity is available through the SSTI Job Corner at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.