What's New @ IEEE-USA -
Eye On Washington
Vol. 2007, No. 9 (7 September 2007)
1)
CAPITOL HILL WATCH
- Patent reform legislation to be heard this week
2) WHITE HOUSE & EXECUTIVE AGENCY WATCH
3) REPORTS, SPEECHES &
DOCUMENTS OF NOTE
- The Business Value of Intellectual Property
- Reverse Brain-Drain Threatens Competitiveness
4) U.S. COURTS ACTIVITY
5) U.S. STATES WATCH
6) AWARDS & GRANTS
- National Science Foundation
7) CONFERENCES, FELLOWSHIPS, PROGRAMS & INTERNSHIPS FOR ENGINEERS, and STUDENTS and SCHOLARS OF ENGINEERING
8) LATEST IEEE-USA & IEEE ACTIVITIES
9) OTHER ITEMS OF POSSIBLE INTEREST
1) CAPITOL HILL WATCH
Of utmost importance this week is the House activity on the 2007 Patent Reform bill. On Friday, September 7th, the House, subject to rules to be determined on Thursday, is expected to pass legislation that would overhaul U.S. patent laws. The Senate is likely to contest the bill more than the House and is not likely to hear the bill until the House is finished with it. Senate In addition to the patent reform bill, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says that the Senate’s agenda for the five-weeks between now and the Columbus Day recess will be packed with spending bills, a student loan program overhaul, legislation to grant DC full voting rights, and the energy policy bill.
Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona is the leading opponent on the Senate Judiciary Committee, although Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California has also indicated that she is uneasy about the bill. Their biggest concerns are over provisions that would expand the ability to challenge patents after they are granted and that would apportion damages according to a patent’s contribution to the overall value of a product. Critics say apportionment language would make it difficult to determine damages and would probably result in lower royalty rates for their patents. They also say that adding a new review procedure after a patent is granted would open patent holders to constant challenges. The House Judiciary committee opted to remove the provision and instead bolster the current evaluation procedure.
Opponents are counting on Senate allies to use procedural delays that would require a greater commitment of floor time than Democratic leaders will want to make this fall. Senator Patrick Leahy, chair of the Judiciary Committee and the bill’s chief Senate backer, has said he believes there is only a narrow window of opportunity before election-year politics complicate passage.
Although the legislation has united lawmakers who are often ideological foes, it still faces significant opposition from a coalition of manufacturers, a few large research universities and the biotechnology industry. IEEE-USA voiced opposition in a letter to both chambers on August 27th. Please go to the IEEE-USA Legislative Action Center and voice your opinion about the 2007 patent reform bill. www.ieeeusa.org/policy/lac
2) WHITE HOUSE & EXECUTIVE AGENCY WATCH
3) REPORTS, SPEECHES & DOCUMENTS OF NOTE
- The Business Value of Intellectual Property
A new study finds that two-thirds of the value of American large manufacturers comes from intellectual property, mainly in the form of patents and trademarks. The study, Economic Effects of Intellectual Property - Intensive Manufacturing in the US, by Robert Shapiro and Nam Pham, finds that IP-intensive firms greatly outperform their counterparts. IP-intensive manufacturing industries produce more value per employee and pay higher wages. While these manufacturers do have advantages, they have seen job losses similar to those of non-IP-intensive manufacturers. Pharmaceutical manufacturing employment, which grew eight percent between 2000 and 2004, serves as the sole exception to this pattern. The report concludes by recommending that policymakers do a better job of protecting US-based IP as these assets represent a critical competitive advantage for American manufacturers.
Access the August 2007 NGO World Growth report, Economic Effects of Intellectual Property---Intensive Manufacturing in the US, by Robert Shapiro and Nam Pham. http://www.the-value-of-ip.org
- Reverse Brain-Drain Threatens Competitiveness
While towns throughout the US are doing everything they can to keep bright young minds home, it seems the country as a whole is sending them away in droves. More than one million skilled immigrant workers are competing for 120,000 permanent US resident visas each year, creating a sizeable imbalance likely to fuel a “reverse brain-drain” with skilled workers returning to their home country, according to a new report released by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The group contributes significantly to the innovation process as foreign nationals residing in the United States were named as inventors or co-inventors in 25.6 percent of international patent applications filed from the United States in 2006. This represents an increase from 7.6 percent in 1998. In addition, forty-one percent of the patents filed by the U.S. government had foreign nationals as inventors or co-inventors. Conducted by researchers at Duke University, New York University and Harvard University, the study is the third in a series of studies focusing on immigrants’ contributions to the competitiveness of the U.S. economy. Download the report, "Intellectual Property, the Immigration Backlog, and a Reverse Brain-Drain." At http://www.kauffman.org/items.cfm?itemID=906
Federal Support for Small Manufacturers: At the request of several Members of Congress concerned about the fate of America’s small manufacturers, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has published a detailed summary of all Federal programs that provide support to small manufacturers. The survey results are quite interesting. Overall, GAO identified 254 Federal programs that provide support to the business sector. Within this group, twenty programs provide support to manufacturers, and five are targeted especially to small firms. While GAO could not obtain data on spending in all twenty of these programs, its analysts estimate that Washington spent a total of roughly $35 million (over three years) to support anywhere from 8,000 to 9,000 small manufacturing firms per year. Very few of the Federal programs provide direct financial assistance; most focus on providing technical support and other types of assistance. At first glance, it may appear that, with only five targeted programs, small manufacturers have very few options for Federal support. However, as GAO notes, small manufacturers are more likely to obtain support from general business support initiatives as opposed to programs that are targeted only to their specific niche. Access the May 2007 Government Accountability Office report, Information on Federal Programs and Interagency Efforts that Support Small Businesses Engaged in Manufacturing (GAO 07-714). Highlights only.
Back to School: Five Myths about Girls and Science -
New resources for parents and teachers can help students be successful in math and science. The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Research on Gender in Science and Engineering (GSE) program seeks to broaden the participation of girls and women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education fields by supporting research, the diffusion of research-based innovations, and extension services in education that will lead to a larger and more diverse domestic science and engineering workforce. For more information: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=109939
National Science Board Approves NSF Plan for 21st Century STEM Education - URL : http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=pr07199
ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers - URL : http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf07582
4) U.S. COURTS ACTIVITY
No items at this time.
5) US STATES WATCH
No items at this time.
6) AWARDS & GRANTS
The American Association for the Advancement of Science has a service called GrantsNet Express. Each week GrantsNet will provide a listing of science funding opportunities from private foundations and organizations, and new U.S. government grant announcements in the sciences. AAAS will send GrantsNet by e-mail to AAAS member subscribers. The weekly emails will include: — New science funding programs, divided into opportunities for postdocs/graduate students and undergraduates — Submission deadlines for funding opportunities scheduled in the upcoming week — New listings of funding for science-related research.
- National Science Foundation
Directorate for Engineering Industrial Innovation and Partnerships,
Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs Phase I Solicitation FY-2008 (SBIR/STTR) - Proposals may only be submitted by for-profit organizations: U.S. commercial organizations, especially small businesses with strong capabilities in scientific or engineering research or education. Estimated Number of Awards: 150 awards of which approximately 125 will be SBIR Phase I awards and approximately 25 will be STTR Phase I awards (pending availability of funds). Anticipated Funding Amount: $16,250,000 with approximately $12,500,000 for SBIR Phase I and approximately $3,750,000 and STTR Phase I (pending the availability of funds). A total of $16.5 million for this solicitation. For more information: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2007/nsf07586/nsf07586.htm
Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering, Division of Computing and Communication Foundations - Program Title: Foundations of Computing Processes and Artifacts (CPA) - Synopsis of Program: The Foundations of Computing Processes and Artifacts (CPA) cluster supports basic research and education projects to advance discovery, learning, and application of scientific and engineering knowledge pertaining to the processes and artifacts for building computing systems.
7) CONFERENCES, FELLOWSHIPS, PROGRAMS & INTERNSHIPS FOR ENGINEERS, and STUDENTS & SCHOLARS OF ENGINEERING
- Sloan Fellowship Announcement
The Sloan Foundation is seeking nominations of qualified academic candidates for the Sloan Industry Studies Fellowships. These Fellowships provide support and recognition for junior faculty conducting research in industry studies. The size of the award is $45,000 for a two-year period. To qualify as industry studies research, a candidate’s scholarship should demonstrate significant personal investment in developing an understanding of the markets, firms and institutions that characterize a particular industry. Generally this involves the integration of direct observation with appropriate theory and analysis. Therefore, the role of direct observation should be evident in the research of any fellowship candidate, as reflected in the selection of the topics addressed, the methodologies employed, related analysis, and/or the interpretation of findings. The candidate’s research may be multidisciplinary or it may contribute to a single discipline; however, narrowly technical research within a single discipline will not usually qualify as industry studies.
The deadline for nominations is October 15, 2007. Candidates must be nominated by a senior scholar; direct applications are not accepted. Details are attached, along with the nomination form, and are also available at www.sloan.org.
8) LATEST IEEE-USA & IEEE ACTIVITIES
Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington DC-
September 19, 2007
IEEE-USA would like to invite you to join us in a one-day symposium, “Plug-In Hybrids: Accelerating Progress 2007" on 19 September 2007 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C. Our goal is to focus on current needs and how progress can be accelerated.
Advances across a broad range of electrical and electronic technologies — motors, power electronics, sensors, computation and controls and new batteries — have enabled the recent commercialization of hybrid vehicles. With these advances the opportunity to use larger batteries and create commercial plug-in hybrids has arrived. Plug-in hybrids use electric energy from the grid to displace liquid fuels and reduce dependence on petroleum.
The symposium will cover the following issues in addition to keynotes that will address the broader policy issue.
--Electrification, Fuel Economy and the Environment
--Plug-in Vehicles and the Electric Grid
--New Technology Challenges and Opportunities
--Need for Federal Action Now
- FYI - Recent IEEE-USA Letters to Congress
27 Aug. 07 Letter to House and Senate Leaders and Judiciary Committee members opposing adoption of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1145/H.R. 1908)
27 Aug. 07 Letter to Sponsors of the America Competes Act (H.R. 2272, Public Law 110-69) thanking them for their leadership.
- Track IEEE-USA's Progress
Review IEEE-USA's year-to-date progress in working for the IEEE U.S. members at the new IEEE-USA Year-in-Review Web page. Check out what IEEE-USA activities and programs helped the IEEE U.S. members in 2004 at the new IEEE-USA Annual Report online. And find out what's on IEEE-USA's agenda through 2009, with the new, online IEEE-USA Strategic & Operational Plan.
For the IEEE-USA Year-in-Review, go to:
http://www.ieeeusa.org/about/yearinreview.asp
For the IEEE-USA Annual Report, go to:
http://www.ieeeusa.org/about/Annual_Report/2004.pdf
For the IEEE-USA Strategic & Operational Plan, go to:
http://www.ieeeusa.org/volunteers/strategicplan/index.html
Read a full listing of IEEE-USA lobbying activities on our web site at: http://ieeeusa.com/policy/policy/index.html
Many newly approved position statements are now available online at:
http://ieeeusa.com/policy/positions/index.html
For more IEEE-USA in the News items, see: http://ieeeusa.org/communications/inthenews/default.asp.
9) OTHER ITEMS OF POSSIBLE INTEREST
None at this time.
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IEEE-USA
What's New @ IEEE-USAs Eye on Washington highlights important federal legislative and regulatory developments that affect U.S. engineers and their careers. In addition to this biweekly newsletter, subscribers receive legislative bulletins and action alerts on IEEE-USA priority issues, including: retirement security, employment benefits, research & development funding, computers and information policy, immigration reform, intellectual property protection and privacy of health/medical information.
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Copyright © 2007, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Permission granted to copy for personal use or for non-commercial republication with appropriate attribution.
Updated:
05 September 2007
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