With help from a $488,000 NASA grant, the University of Alaska Museum of the North and scientists at the UAF Geophysical Institute are joining forces to bring the state's only digital portable planetarium to communities in rural Alaska. Project organizers Robert Herrick, a research associate professor in planetary sciences, and Laura Conner, museum education director, hope the traveling planetarium show and related community activities will inspire students, particularly Alaska Native students, to choose careers in science and engineering.

"Rural Alaska represents a region that's underserved in terms of science education," says Conner. "This project fits perfectly with NASA's educational mission to inspire students, particularly in earth and space sciences."

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) has issued a pre release of their Fy2009.1 SBIR solicitation which opens November 12, 2008 and closes January 5, 2009.

The DHS pre release contains 7 technical topics.  Small businesses can directly contact the Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) to ask pertinent questions about the specific topic.  After the solicitation officially opens on November 12, 2009, you can no longer contact the TPOC.  Take advantage of this pre release TPOC discussion period to ask questions and read the solicitation which suggests what kind of questions are appropriate.  The solicitation  is available on the DHS S&T SBIR web site at https://www.sbir.dhs.gov.  Contact TREND if you are an Alaska company that would like assistance with the SBIR solicitation.  907-274-7232 or email to ancap1@uaa.alaska.edu.

Washington Technology’s annual listing of the fastest growing small government contractors was released earlier this month. While many experts predict a downturn in government spending, the contractors on this list have been doing quite well over the past few years. In previous rankings, Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) or tribally-owned companies, which receive special consideration for government contracts, dominated the list. Because of their large size and market share, these firms have now been included in separate list which is topped by Arctic Slope Regional Corp. Federal Holding Co., which enjoyed total 2007 revenues of more than $621 million. Meanwhile, the top performer on the main Washington Technology list, ESCgov, Inc. of McLean, VA, came in with 2007 government revenues of more than $46 million. This figure topped off an impressive five-year run where the firm grew at compound annual growth rate of more than 275 percent. A third list ranks the top 25 8(a) (i.e. minority-owned) contractors. This ranking is led by Morrisville, NC’s Usfalcon, Inc., a specialist in command and control systems, logistics, and training.

Access the Washington Technology 2008 Small Business Special Report which appears in its October 6, 2008, issue

Have you ever considered trying to market your IP through an auction?

Now that college students have been back in school for awhile, many budding entrepreneurs are working on new business plans and concepts. They’ve got some great role models in Startup Nation’s latest list of the top 20 Dorm-based Businesses in the US. The list includes some unique businesses with some creative names. For example, Digital Wingman provides 3D models of dorm rooms so incoming students can see what their rooms look like before they start school. Bizooki builds virtual teams of students to work on information technology projects. Finally, CaptainU supports sports recruiting through an on-line platform to connect high school athletes with college coaches.
Learn more about Start-Up Nation’s list of the top 20 Dorm-based Businesses in the US.

The Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) has opened its 2009 SBIRsolicitaiton. There is one priority with five invitational topics.  The solicitation is available on Grants.gov at:
http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=LJzMp9bR3QNGTG5gXZpR8402H5ZnFccqdvkK2Q7Jzm31zD1kTdnb!-1606736575?oppId=42803&flag2006=false&mode=VIEW
or on ED's web site at: www.ed.gov/programs/sbir/applicant.html  The point of contact is Lynn Medley Lynn.Medley@ed.gov

Jonathon Keats, an American conceptual artist known for creating large-scale “thought experiments,” believes in planning ahead: he copyrighted his mind in 2003, claiming that it was a sculpture he’d created, neural network by neural network, through the act of thinking.

Keats told the BBC World Service that his goal was to attain temporary immortality, on the grounds that the Copyright Act would give him intellectual property rights on his mind for a period of 70 years after his death. He reasoned that, if he licensed out those rights, he’d fulfill the Cogito (”I think, therefore I am”), paradoxically surviving himself by seven decades. In order to fund the posthumous marketing of IP rights to his mind, he sold futures contracts on his brain in an initial public offering at the Modernism Gallery in San Francisco. Go to: Facet Award

When most people think of innovation, they tend to think of science, technology, or manufacturing, i.e. the development of new products or technologies. But, innovation in services is also an important, and poorly understood, part of an entrepreneurial economy. A new study from within Great Britain’s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), examines the drivers of innovation in five key service sectors: retail, logistics, construction, environmental, and Internet-delivered content services. Together, these five sectors represent roughly 25% of the British economy, so innovations could have a huge spin-off effect. The study describes three big changes affecting service industries: (1) The convergence of manufacturing and service innovation where many firms add a “service wrapper” (e.g. post-sales maintenance and support) to the sale of a manufactured product; (2) The growing role of users and consumers in the innovation process; and, (3) Growing concerns about sustainability and the environment. In this changed climate, businesses must look to innovate in all aspects of their operations. On the government side, agencies must enhance investments in critical areas such as information technology and waste management, support advanced training in innovative business processes, and expand the availability of financing to smaller service businesses that are seeking to develop new innovative processes and tools.

Download the 2008 report, Supporting Innovation in Services, by BERR's Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).

A live webcast of some of the country's most influential business leaders offering their perspective and vision on key issues facing our economy will be available on September 8-9. Watch live or after the conference; the webcast link will be available for 30 days following the event.The series of presentations are part of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) Fall Workshop, focused on "Agriculture, Technology and Innovation," which is being hosted and sponsored in part by the Kauffman Foundation at its conference center.Among the many noted speakers at the conference, those participating in the webcast are:

• Duncan Niederauer, CEO, NYSE Euronext who, together with Carl Schramm, president and CEO, Kauffman Foundation, will address entrepreneurship, innovation and the economy;
• Paul Kedrosky, senior fellow, Kauffman Foundation, who will share his perspective of how technology entrepreneurs can succeed in times of stress;

The Department Of Energy plans to issue the 2009 SBIR/STTR Funding Opportunity Notice mid-September 2008.  The technical topics of interest are listed below.  (These are only the titles and are subject to change prior to release.)  Also, they are not necessarily in the order they will appear in the funding notice.  The solicitation and full topic descriptions will be available at http://www.science.doe.gov/sbir/.  Contact TREND if you need assistance with the SBIR program or have questions:  907-274-7232.