It’s clear that the SBIR program reauthorization will not be passed by Congress between now and midnight September 30 when the current authorization expires. However, Rick Shindell’s SBIR Insider newsletter reports that in May 2008 a ‘below the radar’ piece of legislation passed both houses that apparently extends the authorization of a number of SBA programs until March 20, 2009. Rick reports the following:

“Earlier this year, Senate Small Business Committee Chair, John Kerry (D-MA) wrote a short bill, S.3029, "To provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, and for other purposes." It was cosponsored by his ranking member, Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and was passed in the Senate by Unanimous Consent on May 15, and by voice vote in the House on May 20. President Bush signed the bill into Public Law 10-235 on May 23, 2008. Its potential applicability to SBIR was kept low keyed in order to not interfere with reauthorization efforts that were underway in both the House and Senate. …The bottom line is that most insiders agree this legislation will keep the SBIR program running through March 20.”

Also, Travis Jordan, Senator Enzi’s Legislative Assistant for Small Business affairs reports the following:

“The attempt to add the SBIR Reauthorization bill into the Defense Authorization bill was not successful. Democrats were under pressure to pass a DOD Authorization bill because if they hadn’t it would have been the first time in 46 years. The DOD bill did pass, but because of that pressure it was fairly “clean”. During that process, Sen. McConnell put a courtesy hold on the SBIR bill on behalf of the Small Business Administration since there were still concerns about our bill. …The major point of contention was over the VC portions. The agreement is still not yet “public” so I am hesitant to share exact details but I can say it’s a deal that is still good for Wyoming. Naturally, the financial crisis has taken over debate on Capitol Hill so finding a decent vehicle to attach the SBIR bill to is difficult. That being said, the Senate Committee staff still believes there can be forward progress so negotiations with the House continue.

Please let me know if you have any questions on SBIR or what’s going on around here. We’re getting prepared for a weekend of work so I will be available to answer any questions you might have.”

Travis Jordan
Legislative Assistant
Senator Michael B. Enzi
379-A Russell Senate Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-3424

According to National Science Foundation (NSF) data released two weeks ago, companies spent in aggregate $247.7 billion on R&D expenditures performed in the U.S. in 2006. Leading the nation was California, with $58.4 billion in industrial R&D, followed by Michigan ($16.5 billion), Massachusetts ($15.6 billion), New Jersey ($14.6 billion), and Texas ($13.3 billion). SSTI has prepared a table presenting the state rankings for industrial R&D performed in 2006, the per-state gross state product in 2006, and each state's industrial R&D intensity. The industrial R&D intensity is the ratio of industry-based R&D to the gross state product. Using these calculations, Massachusetts experienced the largest industrial R&D intensity in 2006, at 4.64 percent. This was followed by Michigan (4.38 percent), Connecticut (4.04 percent), Washington (3.89 percent), and California (3.35 percent). The industrial R&D intensity for the U.S. as a whole was calculated to be 1.89 percent.

The table may be accessed by visiting: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/082708t.htm

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8.0 Federal R&D Funding declines for Second Straight Year (STTI Weekly Digest)

Federal funding of academic science and engineering (S&E) R&D failed to outpace inflation for two consecutive years, according to the latest annual Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges from the National Science Foundation (NSF).  The decline in two consecutive years has never occurred before in the survey's 36-year history. The survey presents FY07 data obtained from 672 S&E degree granting universities and colleges that expend at least $150,000 in S&E R&D in the survey period. In current dollars, federally-funded academic R&D expenditure rose 1.1 percent in FY07 to $30.4 billion. After adjusting for inflation, the spending represents a 1.6 percent decline from fiscal year 2006 and a 0.2 percent decline from FY05.

Not all of the news is dire. While funding for R&D from federal government continued its decline, academic S&E R&D expenditures financed by non-federal sources rose substantially. Industry-funded expenditures grew by 11.2 percent in FY07 after three consecutive years of decline and funding by state and local governments grew by 6.1 percent. Funding from all nonfederal sources combined grew by 7.8 percent or 5.0 percent when adjusted for inflation.

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