GRANT FUND SHIFTS WILL BOOST TELECOM AND TECH, COMMERCE OFFICIALS INSIST
Commerce Dept. Undersecy. Phillip Bond and heads of various agency departments praised President Bush’s FY 2003 budget at briefing Tues., insisting that shift in priorities for high-tech grant programs would benefit telecom and high- tech. Administration plans to eliminate Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) and scale back Advanced Technology Program (ATP) while shifting focus to other areas such as National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) and Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) (CD Feb 5 p1). Bottom line, Bond said, is that Bush budget contains “more in science and technology than any budget in history.” He praised Administration for making technology “one of the essentials” in time of budget restraint between needs of economy and war on terrorism.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Report from Commerce Secy. Donald Evans outlined in greater detail restructuring of ATP. The Advance Technology Program: Reform with a Purpose outlined 6 reforms a much- reduced ATP ($108 million in FY 2003 vs. $185 million in FY 2002) would undertake to avoid its stigma as “corporate welfare” program: (1) More leadership by universities in funded projects. (2) More university and nonprofit ownership of ATP-funded patents. (3) Limit on large-firm participation in ATP to joint ventures with small firms. (4) Ensure ATP funding would be used early in process, not when product was near market release. (5) Greater review of projects. (6) Royalties payable to U.S. Treasury for profitable ventures funded by ATP grants.
Under ATP royalty, or recoupment, proposal, ventures that succeed commercially with ATP-funded innovation would pay federal govt. 5% of gross revenue up to 500% of initial funding. Bond defended recoupment, saying “perhaps taxpayers deserve some dividends” if their tax money funds successful venture. NIST Dir. Arden Bement compared ATP program with private sector venture capital firm: “As an investor, if the risk is high and the project fails, we're not entitled to royalties. If the project is successful, we're entitled to an investor’s share.” ATP program began in early 1990s with recoupment component, but Bement said it proved to be too cumbersome to execute, something that wouldn’t be issue in Bush proposal.
TOP was described at 2 Commerce Dept. briefings Tues. as irrelevant. At afternoon briefing NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory cited programs such as $100 million broadband initiative at Rural Utilities Service as providing better opportunities to assist in closing digital divide. Still, pressure already is mounting on Congress to reverse Administration and preserve TOP. Alliance for Public Technology wrote Congress Tues. urging its survival, saying its loss would be “crippling blow” to communities struggling to close digital gap. “TOP has provided funds to over 500 community projects that have helped millions of Americans obtain better access to technology,” APT Pres. Paul Shroeder said. However, Evans said its $20 million budget couldn’t be expected to make much of impact and said other federal funding such as homeland security projects would more than cover TOP’s absence.
Bond said federal R&D funding would rise 8% in Bush budget, federal IT spending 15% and science and technology spending related to homeland security 200%. Bureau of Export Administration Undersecy. Kenneth Juster emphasized telecom upgrades that would come from investment in first responder spending, saying antitrust concerns would be resolved so competing companies could cooperate in communications linkages.
Victory said NTIA would receive $3.3 million for 3 spectrum-related initiatives. The largest program would be $2.7 million to upgrade the Table Mountain spectrum testing facility in Colo. Funding for spectrum summit to work out possible relocation of federal spectrum users to make way for private sector licensees (primarily for 3G) would be $340,000, while $285,000 would go to create “paperless” spectrum license application process modeled on FCC’s paperless filing system. Announcement on spectrum summit to be held this spring will come “soon,” she said (Evans is expected to make an announcement Thurs.).