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November 12, 2002

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CONTENTS

1) Upcoming Events

2) Current Releases

3) New Projects

4) Upcoming Releases

Click on links for more detailed information

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UPCOMING EVENTS

"A Patent System for the 21st Century" February 2003 (date tbd)

A public symposium for the release of the final report of the

Committee on Intellectual Property Rights in the Knowledge-Based

Economy. Contact Craig Schultz at cschultz@nas.edu for details.

"Deconstructing the Computer" February 2003 (date tbd)

As part of the STEP Board's project on Measuring and

Sustaining the New Economy, this major workshop, chaired

by STEP chairman Dale Jorgenson, will gather leading

industrialists and academic researchers to investigate

the contribution of computers to the remarkable growth of the

1990s and the underlying components and technologies that

contributed to that growth. The overall project is identifying and

reviewing key issues associated with the measurement and

analysis of the New Economy, the technologies underpinning its

development, and the government-industry collaborations and

regulatory framework necessary to support the development of

these technologies.

Contact Chris Hayter at chayter@nas.edu for details.

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CURRENT RELEASES

"Government-Industry Partnerships for the Development

of New Technologies: Summary Report"

As one reviewer noted, "This is a very valuable and timely

report that offers a solid assessment of several current

cooperative government/private sector mechanisms to stimulate

the creation and commercialization of important new technologies.

Drawing on the results of ten focused reports on a range of

federal government/industry technology partnerships published by

the [NRC] Committee since 1999, this report puts these cooperative

efforts in historical perspective and synthesizes the lessons learned

from both recent and past efforts to use federal funds to stimulate

private sector technology development. The strengths and

weaknesses of recent government/industry partnerships are

presented and the importance of ongoing objective assessments

to maximize program success is demonstrated. Finally, the

vapidity of much of the current political rhetoric that passes for

informed debated about recent programs is exposed and

assessment metrics to better inform future debate are identified."

This project was chaired by Gordon Moore, Chairman Emeritus,

Intel.

Contact chayter@nas.edu copies of this publication.

"Partnerships for Solid State-Lighting"

This report summarizes the 26 March 2001 workshop which

gathered leading academic researchers, government officials

and policy makers, as well as representatives from large and

small firms to explore the potential contributions, technical

challenges and opportunities for government-industry-university

collaboration in the area of solid state-lighting. Among the

related topics discussed were the national security and energy

efficiency implications of solid- state lighting and the investments

in research and measurement required to bring this promising

technology forward to the marketplace.

Contact chayter@nas.edu copies of this publication.

Copies also available:

"Capitalizing on New Needs and New Opportunities: Government-Industry

Partnerships in Biotechnology and Information Technologies" - To capture

the benefits of substantial U.S. investments in biomedical R&D, parallel

investments in a wide range of seemingly unrelated disciplines are also

required. This report summarizes a major conference that reviewed our

nation's R&D support for biotechnology and information technologies.

The volume includes newly commissioned research and makes

recommendations and findings concerning the important relationship

between information technologies and biotechnology. It emphasizes

the fall off in R&D investments needed to sustain the growth of the U.S.

economy and to capitalize on the growing investments in biomedicine.

It also encourages greater support for inter-disciplinary training to support

new areas such as bioinformatics and urges more emphasis on and

support for multi-disciplinary research centers. This report can be read

online at http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10281.html

Contact chayter@nas.edu for requests for this publication.

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NEW PROJECTS

The Nation's Research Portfolio

In a series of reports, the STEP Board has documented the

significant shifts in public support of research and graduate

training in 22 fields of science and engineering in comparison

with support from other sources -- industry, states, and philanthropic

donors. A new project is developing techniques for assessing the

output and productivity of research fields and for identifying

complementary capabilities across sectors and countries.

Contact Craig Schultz at cschultz@nas.edu for more information.

See also

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10162.html

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9467.html

Additional data not included in the report at

http://www7.nationalacademies.org/step/STEP_Projects_Federal_Support_of_Research.html

Innovation Indicators and Data

"Using Human Resources Data to Track Innovation" (see report

releases above) represents one in a series of STEP workshops

that have examined how to improve the measurement of and

collection of data on changes in innovation processes such as

the shortening of investment time horizons and the greater

reliance on partnerships among firms and between industry and

universities. A workshop, planned for Spring 2003, will consider

improvements in the National Science Foundation's surveys of industrial

and federal R&D performance.

Contact Craig Schultz at cschultz@nas.edu for more information.

For the recent workshop report cited above, see

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10475.html

New Approaches to Early Breast Cancer Detection and Diagnosis

The healthcare system is experiencing a re-escalation of costs and a wave

of innovation at the same time people are concerned about medical care

access and quality. An initial conference and subsequent workshop report

(see link below) examined the relationship between medical innovation and

costs and possible reasons for very different patterns of innovation in two

disease

categories - cardiovascular disease and melanoma. A new collaboration

with the Institute of Medicine will look prospectively at new breast cancer

detection technologies, their development and adoption in clinical practice.

The objective is to understand how to promote high-value medical innovation.

A workshop on the economics of breast cancer detection technologies is

planned for February 2002. The study committee is chaired by STEP member

Ed Penhoet, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and STEP member Kathy

Behrens, RS Investments, serves on the panel.

Contact Craig Schultz at cschultz@nas.edu for more information.

http://www7.nationalacademies.org/step/STEP_Projects_Medical_Marketplace.html

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UPCOMING RELEASES

"Securing the Future: Regional and National Programs to Support

the Semiconductor Industry"

As part of its analysis of public-private partnerships, the Committee

convened a major conference on regional and national programs to

support the semiconductor industry. The conference brought together

a rare assemblage of international experts to examine the technical

challenges facing the semiconductor industry, the scope and design of

programs to strengthen national and regional industries, and

opportunities for international cooperation. The conference focused

on the role of government-industry partnerships (or consortia), the

influence of the SEMATECH model, and the exceptional technical

challenges faced by the industry as it seeks to maintain the rapid

advance postulated by Moore's Law. The report reviews past and

current challenges faced by the U.S. industry and emphasizes the

need for public-private research cooperation to ensure the industry's

continued progress.

Expected Release: November/December 2002

Contact Chris Hayter at chayter@nas.edu for information

"Patents in the Knowledge-Based Economy" (tentative title)

A collection of commissioned original research on patent

administration, licensing, and litigation. Includes papers on

business method patenting trends, access to research tools in

biotechnology, and patent suits in the semiconductor industry.

Originally presented at an October 2001 conference in Washington,

the papers have been revised and expanded.

Current versions, along with other project work product can be found at

http://www7.nationalacademies.org/step/STEP_Projects_Intellectual_Property_Rights.html

Final committee report with recommendations of the STEP Committee

on Intellectual Property Rights in the Knowledge-Based Economy.

The committee's charge is at

http://www7.nationalacademies.org/step/STEP_Projects_IPR_Phase_II_Description.html

Expected release date for both volumes: January, 2003

Contact cschultz@nas.edu for information.

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