News

By Tim Studt, Contributing Editor For 62 years, R&D World and its predecessors have published an annual R&D funding forecast. These reports predict the combined dollar amount of R&D investments expected by industry, government and academia for the upcoming calendar year. Over those years, the publications these reports have appeared in have changed their ownership…

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced its fiscal year 2021 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I topics. NIST’s SBIR program encourages domestic small businesses to engage in federal research and development that has the potential for commercialization with funding of up to $100,000 per project. The…

By Dan Krotz Ninety years ago, in August of 1931, physics professor Ernest Lawrence created the Radiation Laboratory in a modest building on the UC Berkeley campus to house his cyclotron, a particle accelerator that ushered in a new era in the study of subatomic particles. The invention of the cyclotron would go on to…

Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) today introduced the Research Investment to Spark the Economy (RISE) Act to authorize nearly $25 billion in support to U.S. researchers who have been impacted by the pandemic. Although coronavirus-related research is a current federal government priority, most other research has been delayed due to…

As part of the Bay Area Lab Innovation Networking Center (LINC), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Sandia National Labs, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory will give industry leaders insight on how to harness the technologies, tools and capabilities within some of the nation’s premier science and technology research institutions at the…

Six Purdue University researchers have received a total of $208,628 from the Trask Innovation Fund to help their labs commercialize their innovations. The fund is a development program established to support projects that advance the commercial value of Purdue intellectual property. The fund makes awards twice a year to aid faculty and staff with their…

Some of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s most-read news stories include: Polymers get caught up in love-hate chemistry of oil and water (Feb. 27) Researchers at ORNL and the University of Tennessee achieved a rare look at the inner workings of polymer self-assembly at an oil-water interface to advance materials for neuromorphic computing and bio-inspired technologies.…

401 Tech Bridge today announced Canapitsit Customs, Nautilus Defense and TxV Aerospace Composites as the winners of the Materials Innovation Challenge. 401 Tech Bridge will provide $105,000 ($35,000 per project) to the University of Rhode Island College of Engineering. Project funding will support collaboration with URI’s Dynamic Photomechanics Laboratory, led by Mechanical, Industrial and Systems…

By Manette Fisher, [email protected] For responding with innovative solutions during the pandemic, developing solar cell and hydrogen research technology and creatively working with companies, Sandia National Laboratories won six prestigious regional 2020 Federal Laboratory Consortium awards. The awards for the Mid-Continent and Far West regions put a spotlight on Sandia successes in transferring technology, partnerships…

The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) will be hosting a virtual ALL IN Summit to help businesses learn how they can deliver on their commitment to drive real change for the Black community. The summit will take place from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm (EST), on Wednesday, November 18, 2020. It is designed to…

Harnessing the unique strengths of DOE to tackle the biotechnology challenges of COVID-19 WHAT: A virtual symposium to highlight the impact the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory (NVBL) has had utilizing the unique capabilities of the DOE to tackle the science and technology challenges associated with COVID-19, and to discuss areas…

by DePaul University Racial and ethnic diversity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) remains low, continuing to raise concerns for equity and inclusion of scholars from minoritized communities. But there are steps that can be taken now to help make research groups more equitable and inclusive, stressed the authors of a new paper published…

What: The Women in Quantum Summit II Leading women in quantum computing, from around the world, will gather virtually to talk about their own journey in academia, government, investing and entrepreneurship. Quantum computing is recognized as THE hottest science and technology sector. Who are these women already playing key roles – and how did they…

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced the opening of its new Bioprocessing Collaboration Center (BCC) in St. Louis. The facility is adjacent to the company’s biologics manufacturing facility, which recently doubled production capacity with a $50 million expansion. The combined expertise from Thermo Fisher’s bioproduction and pharma services businesses will accelerate innovation and enhance productivity for biopharma…

By Manette Fisher Eligible New Mexico companies can submit statements of intent to work with scientists and engineers at Sandia or Los Alamos national laboratories through a new program to advance technologies derived from the labs into market-ready products and services. The Technology Readiness Gross Receipts Tax Credit Initiative allows selected companies to receive up…

A new, independent report has concluded that the Sandia Science & Technology Park contributed significantly to the local economy in 2018-19 by adding 310 jobs and generating increases in economic activity and tax revenue to the city and New Mexico. The report by the Mid-Region Council of Governments presents the park’s economic impact through 2019.…

CLEVELAND — Due to heightened travel concerns with the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, the R&D World staff has decided to reformat the planned in-person R&D 100 Conference and Awards banquet into virtual events. Thanks to the increased flexibility in timing that this gives our team, we are also allowing a short extension for submissions to the…

By Anne Marie Knott To set the stage for a discussion of R&D metrics, let’s understand why companies do R&D in the first place. This takes us back to the beginning of the 20th Century. Companies formed labs to create new opportunities. In some cases, this was because existing business was disappearing and needed to…

By about 2025, China will likely surpass the U.S. for the first time ever in the amount of dollars spent on R&D. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to sit down with Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a first-term congresswoman from southeastern Pennsylvania (and an industrial engineer), who sits on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs’…

KLA Corp. has announced the formation of KLA Instruments, a group that develops, markets and services measurement and defect inspection systems that are used primarily by research and development departments in universities and industrial labs. KLA Instruments offers a portfolio of products including optical and stylus profilometers, nanoindenters, benchtop film metrology systems and specialized defect…

By Becky Chambers Hennessy Collaboration is among the flagship strategies of innovation for research scientists, engineers and technical professionals. Here, three R&D experts weigh in on China as it rises to become the world’s top R&D investor. They also address some of the benefits and challenges of openness in research, and the inclusion of foreign…

A look at whether “to innovate, collaborate” is always the best strategy when it comes to global R&D By Becky Chambers Hennessy If ever there were a need for innovation through intellectual exchange and collaboration it is this: the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), reportedly first identified in China. R&D experts worldwide know this, and the U.S.…

Dotmatics, a scientific informatics software and services company, announced it has achieved certification to the internationally recognized standard ISO 9001:2015 for its quality management system (QMS). The independent assessment demonstrates Dotmatics’ commitment to service and quality, establishing and implementing systems that enable the company to provide products and services that meet exacting customer and regulatory…

Stantec recently expanded its growing Science & Technology (S&T) team in San Francisco, bringing on sector development leader Kandice Lee and senior laboratory planner Greg Muth. “It’s exciting to bring Kandice and Greg — with a work history focused on collaboration, client service, and excellence — to our San Francisco office,” said Richey Madison, Stantec…

The assembly of an R&D budget is a complicated process, often involving inputs from multiple organizations and/or departments. It also involves getting approvals from supervisors, from supervisors’ supervisors, and from other people with whom you may not work outside budgeting times. There are multiple factors involved in creating an R&D budget, from revenue growth to…