The House of Representatives approved an amendment to H.R. 2, the Student Results Act, that would require all states to develop standards and testing requirements for science education. Similar standards and testing requirements already exist for math and reading. The amendment to add the words “and science” to the list of standards and testing requirements in section 1111 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was offered by Congressman Vernon J. Ehlers (R-Michigan) and Congressman Tom Petri (R-Wisconsin).

The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) seeks proposals that support innovation, invention, and entrepreneurship programs in U.S. colleges and universities. Through December 1999, NCIIA will award $400,000 in grants to faculty and students of member institutions. The next deadline is December 15, 1999.

The North Carolina Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) will host a six-state regional conference promoting three federal business technology investment programs: the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded almost $13 million in grants for distance learning and telemedicine projects in rural areas of 34 states and Puerto Rico. The announcement was made on the 50th anniversary of the program. Since the program’s inception, $11 billion in loans and grants have been made, resulting in more than 1 million miles of phone lines and thousands of miles of optic cable being laid.

The Economic Development Administration has funded the creation of EconData.Net (http://www.econdata.net/), a website providing a searchable database with approximately 400 links to web-related socioeconomic data resources. EconData.Net provides a single site for referencing many materials used for developing science and technology indices or for comparing a state or region’s economic posture with other jurisdictions.

The Florida legislature recently approved legislation creating the Florida Space Research Institute (FSRI), an independent, industry-led organization designed to coordinate the space-related research capabilities of several public and private universities. FSRI will strive to expand the universities’ involvement in space research and education, and to insure that state academic resources are available to support the space-related needs of industry, NASA, and the military.

The U.S. Department of Education has selected 40 awards for the Community Technology Centers program, a new federal initiative to promote the development of model programs that demonstrate the educational effectiveness of technology in urban and rural areas and economically distressed communities. Community Technology Centers provide access to information technology and related learning services to children and adults.

Pennsylvania’s $187 million investment in the Ben Franklin Partnership boosted the state’s economy by $2.9 billion between 1989 and 1996, according to a new economic impact study. A Record of Achievement: The Economic Impact of the Ben Franklin Partnership concludes that between 1989 and 1996 the Ben Franklin Partnership achieved the following:

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has selected 22 organizations to receive funding to support outreach and proposal assistance for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The organizations will split $1 million for an average award of just over $45,000.  The exact amount for each award was not provided.

A five-university partnership led by Vanderbilt University (TN) will develop bioengineering educational technologies and curricula at a new Engineering Research Center funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Through a five-year, nearly $10-million cooperative agreement, the center will support and enhance the education of a new generation of bioengineers needed to strengthen the industry.

NASA has selected 290 research proposals across 34 states for negotiation of Phase I contract awards for its 1999 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The total value of the awards is expected to be more than $20 million.  

Ten individuals and five institutions have received the 1999 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. The mentoring awards honor those whose personal and organizational activities have increased participation of underrepresented groups in mathematics, engineering and science from kindergarten through graduate level.

After only ten years of investments, Connecticut Innovations, Inc. achieved a net income of $21.4 million in 1999, according to Connecticut Innovations’ latest annual report. The corporation reversed a deficit of over $20 million in retained earnings accumulated through 1995 to a positive $24.7 million by June 30, 1999. The corporation's record provides one of the strongest examples of successful state-funded, technology-based seed and venture capital investment to date.

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP), managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has selected 37 projects from the 1999 solicitation to receive awards. Recipients will share $110 million of ATP funding for high-risk R&D projects with the potential to spark important, broad-based economic benefits for the United States. ATP funds will be matched by at least $102 million from private industry.

The 1999 Advanced Technology Program National Meeting, Nov. 15-17 in San Jose, Calif., will feature more than 30 workshops for industry, academic and government researchers to discuss current ATP work in

high-risk, high-potential technologies and future R&D opportunities. The meeting also will feature general information presentations on ATP and a showcase exhibit of a broad array of successful ATP-sponsored

The Indianapolis-based Lilly Foundation is providing nearly $60 million in two grants to help make Indiana more competitive for technology research and education and high-tech business development. The grants were made to Indiana University and the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Total annual research and development (R&D) expenditures — expected to pass $247 billion in 1999 — have grown 7.2 percent over 1998 levels (adjusted for inflation), according to a recent Data Brief from the National Science Foundation. Growth in R&D expenditures has been accelerating since 1995. The annual real R&D growth for 1995-99 is expected to average 6.1 percent. Almost all of the growth is attributed to a resurgence in industrial R&D.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced selections for the second — and perhaps final — round of funding for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Technology (EPSCoT). Nearly two million dollars will be distributed among eleven projects selected from 29 proposals submitted last spring. The program is designed to assist state and local efforts to initiate technology-based economic development efforts in areas historically lacking federal research funding.

Dr. Lura Powell, Director of the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) since 1995, has decided to take early retirement from the National Institute of Standards & Technology and pursue career opportunities in the private sector. Because of the voluntary early retirement option deadline, Dr. Powell’s retirement was effective September 30.

While many states are adding multi-million programs to their science and technology portfolio, state-led S&T efforts in much of the North Central United States are still suffering. The latest example was the elimination of North Dakota’s two largest programs this summer.

The on/off binary fundamental of information and communication technology (ICT) could just as well describe the U.S. position in the field. For the third time in five years, the U.S. leads all nations on the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) contained in the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report 2005-2006.

African-American and Hispanic students begin college interested in majoring in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields at rates similar to those of white and Asian-American students and persist in these fields through their third year of study, but do not earn their bachelor’s degrees at the same rate as their peers, according to a new analysis conducted by the American Council on Education (ACE).

The advances being made in nanotechnology-based research are likely to impact most industry sectors eventually as more commercial applications are identified. As a result, the National Nanotechnology Initiative has been a research priority for the federal government for many years. Nanotech research is occurring around the world, but, at this point, the majority of effort is concentrated in several leading universities and private companies.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne recently received some good news about his future when President Bush nominated him to serve as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior. The news was not as rosy on the home front for Idaho's economic future, however, as the state legislature in late March rejected the governor's plans for Idaho to take a more proactive role toward building a tech-based economy.

Just as bread won't rise without yeast, the key knowledge-building ingredients for many state tech-based economic development strategies - increasing investments in university-based research, emphasizing workforce development and science and math education, and identifying clusters of co-located firms in related industry sectors - won't lead to the spillovers of knowledge critical to sustaining growth without an active reagent.