SSTI Digest

The National Governors' Association (NGA), the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Technology Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce are holding two more regional meetings to get input from state officials and others on the direction of the U.S. Innovation Partnership (USIP).

During the past decade, the European Union (EU) invested heavily in civilian R&D by building first-class laboratories and expanding higher education in science and engineering. Its efforts, according to the Data Brief for a new National Science Foundation report, Human Resources for Science and Technology: The European Region, are narrowing the lead the U.S. holds in R&D.

Department of Defense figures show there is approximately 35 percent excess capacity in its laboratory infrastructure, according to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report.

In a continuing effort to improve the services the State Science and Technology Institute provides to its users, SSTI has made changes to its World Wide Web home page and the SSTI Weekly Digest.

Ohio's Edison Technology Centers generated a direct economic impact for Ohio of more than $730 million from 1992 to 1995, according to a new study prepared by Battelle Memorial Institute for the Edison Centers. The seven Edison Centers are non-profit organizations that combine state, industry and academic resources to solve industrial problems and develop new technologies.

The first recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers were announced earlier this week. The 60 winners will receive up to $500,000 over a five year period to further their research.

Criteria used by one of the largest funders of basic research to evaluate research proposals is slated to change in 1997. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is revising the criteria used to evaluate approximately 30,000 proposals per year and is seeking comments on the proposed criteria.

A panel of external evaluators has concluded that the National Science Foundation's State/Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (S/I/UCRC) Program supports NSF's strategic goals. The panel also found that "the development of cooperative research centers involving states, industries and NSF can be an important contributing element to maintaining and developing a competitive US industry."

U.S. Representative Robert Walker (R-PA), the retiring chairman of the House Science Committee, was recently awarded NASA's Distinguished Service Medal. The Medal was established in 1959 and is awarded to any person in the federal service who, by distinguished service, ability, or courage, has personally made a contribution representing substantial progress to the NASA mission in the interests of the United States. The contribution must be so extraordinary that other forms of recognition by NASA would be inadequate.

The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) has released a report examining the role of the federal government in economic development activities and proposing a new approach to meet economic development needs. NAPA urges the federal government to help states and localities learn through better information, leverage all available resources, and link multiple federal initiatives to assist local communities.

According to a new report released by the Council on Competitiveness, Competitive Index 1996: A Ten-Year Strategic Assessment, the U.S. has sharply boosted its economic competitiveness over the past decade. The Council attributed the gains to a variety of factors including corporate restructuring, reduction in the budget deficit, a weaker dollar and broadened international markets.

The Oklahoma Alliance for Manufacturing Excellence, Inc. will receive $1.5 million from the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). The Alliance, a program of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology, is an MEP affiliate that received its initial federal funding through the Technology Reinvestment Project.