Office of Technology Policy ■ U.S. Department of Commerce

D r. Graham R. Mitchell, Assistant

S e c re t a ry for Technology Policy,

released a new re p o rt from the Off i c e

of Technology Policy (OTP) entitled

“ K o re a ’s Strategy For Leadership In

R e s e a rch and Development” at the

U . S . – K o rea Business Council’s 10th

Annual G e n e r a l

C o n f e rence held

in Wa s h i n g t o n ,

D.C. in June.

Key observ ations of the

re s e a rc h

i n c l u d e :

■ K o rea is

d e t e rmined to

upgrade its technological infrastru ct u re and improve its competitiveness by implementing a systematic,

integrated globalization strategy that

h a rnesses the strengths of business,

academia, media, and govern m e n t .

■ K o rea employs a wide variety of

methods of technology transfer, ranging from licensing and stock purchases to academic exchanges and

re s e a rch databases.

In addition to releasing the re p o rt ,

D r. Mitchell spoke about his visit to

K o rea as head of the APEC Science

and Technology Ministerial last

y e a r. The U.S.–Korea Council re presents the vast majority of Fort u n e

500 companies that do business in

K o rea as well as the Chairmen of

K o re a ’s largest companies.

OTP re p o rts are available on-line at:

w w w.ta.doc.gov or by calling the

OTP publications request line at:

2 0 2 . 4 8 2 . 3 0 3 7 .■

1

IN THIS ISSUE

Clinton Announces

the 1997 National

Medal of Te c h n o l o g y

Winners

Page 2

EPSCoT Seeks to

Fill Technology Gap

Page 4

Report on People’s

Republic of China

Page 5

New Space: The

Beginning of an Era

Page 6

C o n f e rence on

Japanese S&T

I n f o r m a t i o n

Page 7

o g y. “We have the pieces; now we

must fit them together into a coherent whole,” Daley declare d .

The partnership will facilitate a

close working relationship between

the federal government and the

states to better use national science

and technology re s o u rces in support

of technology-intensive, state-based

economic gro w t h .

In addition, it will facilitate dire c t

collaboration between high-level

state and federal officials in order to

p romote innovation in the public

and private sectors, create new jobs

and help advance 21st century

t e c h n o l o g i e s .

The agreement to form USIP was

announced by the White House and

the nation’s governors in Febru a ry,

1997. Governor Rowland is a lead

g o v e rnor for technology for the

National Govern o r ’s Association. The

p a rtnership is the result of eff o rts by

re p resentatives of 24 states, working

t h rough the National Govern o r s ’

Association and an inter-agency task

f o rce headed by the Commerc e

D e p a rt m e n t ’s Te c h n o l o g y

A d m i n i s t r a t i o n.■

■ C o m m e r c e

S e c r e t a ry Wi l l i a m

M. Daley and

C o n n e c t i c u t

Governor John

Rowland sign the

agreement establishing USIP.

Commerce Secretary Daley Keynotes 

USIP Signing Ceremony

TA Leads Task Force

Graham Mitchell

Releases OTP 

Report On Korea

■ Graham R. Mitchell

PA C E S E T T E R

News From the Office of Technology Policy ■ Summer 1997

At the Connecticut Annual Te c h n o l o g y

Dinner in Plantsville, CT, this June,

C o m m e rce Secre t a ry William M.

Daley and Connecticut Govern o r

John Rowland signed an agre e m e n t

to officially establish the United

States Innovation Partnership (USIP).

A c c o rding to Daley, the

Administration believes that in ord e r

to sustain our global economic leadership into the 21st century, we must

develop and implement an integrated

national innovation strategy. This

strategy must accomplish three goals.

First, the assets within the borders of the U.S. that attract global

investment and the business

activity of the w o r l d ’s multinational corporations must be

s t rengthened. Second, the a s s e t s

that will help businesses based

in the U.S. to grow and cre a t e

high-wage jobs must be stre n g t hened. Third, we must build our

capacity for innovation.

USIP can help implement the strategy by integrating the re s p e c t i v e

s t rengths of the federal and state

g o v e rnments and weaving them

into a seamless innovation system.

This will make it easier for the private sector to capitalize on technol-

© CNES/SPOT Image

■ Daley talks with Conn/Step exhibitors.
2

PA C E S E T T E R ■ Office of Technology Policy Summer 1997

1997 MEDAL

L A U R E AT E S

“These five

m e d a l i s t s

d e s e rve our 

highest tribute.

Their work and

vision embodies

the vital link

between technology and innovation, principles

that remain top

priorities of this

A d m i n i s t r a t i o n . ”

William M. Daley,

C o m m e r c e

S e c r e t a ry

The 1997 

National Medal of Technology Winners

P resident William Clinton

announced the 1997 recipients of

the National Medal of Te c h n o l o g y,

the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement. “This year’s

Medalists are exemplary leaders in

re s e a rch, innovation and imagination,” President Clinton said. “Their

achievements have opened new scientific frontiers, enabled new pro ducts, and created new capabilities

that have transformed our

lives and that will shape our

f u t u re .”

The 1997 National Medal of

Technology winners are :

■ N o rman R. Augustine

C h a i rman, Lockheed Mart i n

C o r p o r a t i o n

C i t a t i o n

For visionary leadership in

maintaining the United States’ preeminence in the aerospace industry

and for identifying and championing solutions to the many challenges in civil and defense systems.

Contribution Category

Technology Management

N o rman Augustine’s career has

spanned more than 30 years of gove rnment and private sector leadership. Along the way he has pioneere d

n u m e rous technological innovations

that have helped make America’s

fighting forces the best equipped in

the world.

S t a rting as chief engineer in 1958

with Douglas Aircraft Company,

Augustine moved to the Defense

D e p a rtment in the mid-1960s to

become Assistant Director of Defense

R e s e a rch and Engineering. Leaving for

a stint in the private sector with LT V

Missiles and Space Company, he

rejoined government in the 1970s as

the Assistant Secre t a ry of the Arm y.

Augustine joined Martin Marietta in

1977, rising to chief executive off i c e r

and chairman. He led this technologyintensive enterprise through bold

m e rgers and acquisitions that culminated in the creation of one of the

w o r l d ’s leading diversified technology

companies, Lockheed Mart i n .

Augustine has chaired numero u s

national panels tasked with identifying solutions to the complex challenges America has faced in maintaining its technological leadership.

He received his BS and MSE fro m

Princeton University in aero n a u t i c a l

engineering. He was elected to Phi

Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi and Sigma

Xi. He holds numerous honorary

doctor degrees and awards including

the Princeton University James

Madison Medal, the National

Academy of Engineering’s Bueche

Aw a rd, the American Institute of

A e ronautics and Astro n a u t i c s ’

G o d d a rd Medal, the American

Association of Engineering Societies’

National Engineering Aw a rd, the

Institute of Electrical and Electro n i c s

Engineers’ Carlton Aw a rd, the

D e p a rtment of Defense Distinguished

S e rvice Medal, and the Air Forc e

Exceptional Service Medal.

■ The Team of Vinton Gray Cerf

and Robert E. Kahn

Vinton Gray Cerf

Senior Vice President of Data

A rc h i t e c t u re, MCI 

R o b e rt E. Kahn

P resident, Corporation for National

R e s e a rch Initiatives

C i t a t i o n

For creating and sustaining development of Internet Protocols and continuing to provide leadership in the

e m e rging industry of intern e t w o r k i n g .

Contribution Category

Technology Tr a n s f e r

When Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn

published their seminal paper o n

i n t e rnetworking via packet switching technology in 1974, few share d

their vision of a world where computer systems communicated with

each other. Computer systems were

p ro p r i e t a ry. Distributed computing

was still years away and personal

computers did not exist. The first

local area network was still an

experiment called Ethernet. Yet Cerf

and Kahn had the vision to re a l i z e

the tremendous potential of computers communicating and the knowhow and perseverance to make such

a vision a re a l i t y. To w a rd that end,

they developed intern e t w o r k i n g

s t a n d a rds that led to the birth of the

I n t e rnet. They believed that widea rea networks could interconnect by

means of “gateways” linking nets

and an end-to-end protocol called

“ Transmission Control Protocol ( T C P ) . ”

In the decade that followed, they led

the development of a working TCP

and refined it into TCP/IP (Intern e t

P rotocol). They also assured its rapid

dissemination by using TCP/IP as a

s t a n d a rd for the U.S. defense computer network (ARPANET). Cerf and

Kahn pioneered not just a technolog y, but an economical and eff i c i e n t

way to transfer that technology. They

steadfastly maintained that their

i n t e rnet working protocols would be

f reely available to anyone. TCP/IP

was deliberately designed to be vend o r-independent to support net-

■ Norman R. Augustine

■ Vinton Gray Cerf
3

Summer 1997 PA C E S E T T E R ■ Office of Technology Policy

working across all lines of computers and all forms of transmission.

TCP/IP enabled the creation of a

network of networks known as the

“ I n t e rnet.” Free access to those

s t a n d a rds allowed the marketplace

to elevate the Internet from an

o b s c u re re s e a rch tool into an internetwork boasting some 30 million

users worldwide.

Vinton Cerf has a BS in mathematics

and computer science from Stanford

U n i v e r s i t y, and an MS and PhD in

computer science from the University

of California at Los Angeles. His

c a reer has spanned government work

for the then-secret Defense Advanced

R e s e a rch Projects Agency to his current position as Vice President of Data

A rc h i t e c t u re for MCI. He has been

h o n o red with the Association for

Computing Machinery Systems

S o f t w a re Aw a rd for TCP/IP, induction

into the Datamation Hall of Fame; the

E l e c t ronic Frontier Foundation

Pioneer Aw a rd; the Institute of

Electrical and Electronics Engineers’

Koji Kobayashi Aw a rd for TCP/IP and

the UNIFORUM Aw a rd .

R o b e rt Kahn has a BEE in electrical

engineering from City College of New

York and an MA and PhD in electrical

engineering from Princeton University.

F rom 1972 to 1986, he was the

P rogram Manager and Deputy Dire c t o r

of the U.S. Defense Advanced

R e s e a rch Projects Agency Inform a t i o n

P rocessing Techniques Office. In

1986, he became President of the

Corporation for National Researc h

Initiatives. He has been honored with

the American Federation of

I n f o rmation Processing Society’s Harry

Goode Memorial Aw a rd; the Pre s i d e n t ’s

Aw a rd from the Association for

Computing Machinery; the Public

S e rvice Aw a rd from Computing

R e s e a rch Board, and twice he has

received the Secre t a ry of Defense

Meritorious Civilian Service Aw a rd .

■ Ray M. Dolby

C h a i rman of the Board, Dolby

Laboratories, Inc.

C i t a t i o n

For inventing technologies that have

dramatically improved sound re c o rding and re p roduction, fostering their

adoption worldwide, and maintaining a vision that has kept the world

l i s t e n i n g .

Contribution Category

General Product and Pro c e s s

Innovation; Technology Tr a n s f e r

Few individuals have had more eff e c t

on sound re c o rding and re p ro d u c t i o n

for the past 30 years than American

inventor Ray Dolby. From the cassettes we enjoy in our car stereos to

the latest digital sound in movie theaters, the world hears music and

sound better because of Ray Dolby

and the company he founded, Dolby

Laboratories Inc. of San Francisco.

Since 1965, consumers have purchased more than six-hundred 

million audio products that incorporate Dolby technologies, with Dolby

sound earning more than $250 million in royalty income. Over 90 percent of that money has come fro m

outside the U.S. More than 6,000 

f e a t u re films have been released with

Dolby encoded soundtracks, and

m o re than 33,000 movie theaters

worldwide have installed the equipment to play them.

Dolby did not gain household name

recognition overnight. It took vision

to recognize and effectively demonstrate new re c o rding and listening formats. It took the decision to manufact u re professional audio equipment on

the one hand, and to license consumer products on the other. And it

took setting up not only R&D, engineering and manufacturing facilities,

but also unique licensing and film

sound programs. All of which has

made the Dolby trademark synonymous with audio excellence.

Ray Dolby holds a BS in electrical

engineering from Stanford

University and a PhD in physics

f rom Cambridge University. He has

been honored with an Academy

Aw a rd of Merit (“Oscar”), as well as

scientific and engineering award s

f rom the Academy of Motion

P i c t u re Arts and Sciences. He is a

Fellow and Past President of the

Audio Engineering Society in which

he has been awarded the Silver and

Gold Medals. Among other honors,

Dolby has also received the

National Academy of

R e c o rding Arts and Sciences

“Grammy” Aw a rd and the

National Academy of

Television Arts and Sciences

“Emmy” Aw a rd .

■ R o b e rt S. Ledley

P ro f e s s o r, Georg e t o w n

University Medical Center

C i t a t i o n

For pioneering contributions to biomedical computing and engineering,

including inventing the whole-body

CT scanner, and for his role in

developing automated chro m o s o m e

analysis for prenatal diagnosis of

b i rth defects.

Contribution Category

General Product and Pro c e s s

I n n o v a t i o n

■ Ray M. Dolby

■ Robert E. Kahn

■ Robert S. Ledley

" I hope that the

Medal will

demonstrate 

how important

technology is to

the U.S. and will

stimulate young

people to enter

the fields of 

e n g i n e e r i n g ,

computers and

b i o t e c h n o l o g y. "

Robert S. Ledley

1997 MEDAL

L A U R E AT E S
4

PA C E S E T T E R ■ Office of Technology Policy Summer 1997

R o b e rt Ledley has applied emerg i n g

computer technology to meet the

rapidly evolving needs of biomedicine. He invented and manufacture d

the first whole-body computerized

scanner to visualize internal org a n s .

This technology revolutionized diagnostic radiology and medical imaging, positioned the U.S. first in the 

field, and set standards for computerized tomographic scanners.

Ledley also developed the instrumentation and computer algorithms

for automating chromosome analysis

used in diagnosing genetic diseases.

These advancements initiated the

field of automated chro m o s o m e

analysis for prenatal diagnosis of

b i rth defects and, most re c e n t l y, for

detecting human genetic traits such

as the propensity for cancer.

Ledley has an MA in mathematical

physics from Columbia University

and a DDS in Dentistry from New

York University. His career spans 47

years and began in 1950 as a First

Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Dental

Corps. He has worked as a physicist

and mathematician for the National

B u reau of Standards, a re s e a rch analyst and instructor for Johns Hopkins

U n i v e r s i t y, a staff member of the

National Research Council of the

National Academy of Science; and

P resident and Chief Executive

O fficer for Digital Inform a t i o n

S e rvices Corporation.

He currently serves as the Pre s i d e n t

of the National Biomedical Researc h

Foundation; Chairman of the Board

of Directors for Potomac Medical

Systems; and Director of Medical

Computing and Biophysics and

P rofessor of the Department of

Radiology and Physiology and

Biophysics for Georg e t o w n

University Medical School. Ledley

holds over 60 patents in the U.S.

and worldwide and has authore d

n u m e rous articles and books. He

was inducted into the Inventors

Hall of Fame in 1990 and re c e i v e d

the Gold Medal for Meritorious

S e rvice to Georgetown University

that same year. He is a Fellow of the

New York Academy of Sciences and

a Founding Fellow of the American

College of Medical Inform a t i c s .■

Call for New Nominations

EPSCoT Seeks To Fill

The Technology Gap

One U.S. Innovation Part n e r s h i p

(USIP) goal is to build the capacity

of states to sustain economic gro w t h

and create jobs through the development of technology-intensive industries.

T h roughout the U.S., powerf u l

industrial sectors built on a family 

of technologies have blossomed in 

distinct regions of the nation. These

regional clusters create jobs and 

generate sustainable economic

g rowth. Many can point to past federal R&D investments as a source of

the indigenous infrastru c t u re that

makes such growth possible.

Other regions lack the scientific and

technological infrastru c t u re that

s e rves as a catalyst for the form a t i o n

of clusters and for attracting global

investment. They have been noticeably under- re p resented in the re c e i p t

of federal R&D funds. These are the

states that the Experimental Pro g r a m

to Stimulate Competitive Te c h n o l o g y

(EPSCoT) serv e s .

EPSCoT will foster the development

of indigenous technology assets and

p romote economic growth thro u g h

s t ronger linkages and cooperation

among federal, state and local gove rnments, universities, industry

g roups and other economic development org a n i z a t i o n s .

To ensure that the program is consistent with the goals of states,the

Technology Administration is soliciting input from the states before

developing the final stru c t u re of

E P S C o T.

It is anticipated that five to seven

grants would be awarded the first

y e a r. Aw a rds would be made on a

competitive, cost-shared, merit basis.

The grants would help create or

build upon unique technology infras t ru c t u res to achieve long-term systemic changes in the state’s R&D

e n v i ronment and the ability of org anizations to participate in national

R&D initiatives.■

1997 MEDAL

L A U R E AT E S

If you know of an individual, team

or company deserving of re c o g n ition for outstanding technological

innovation and leadership, send 

for a 1998 National Medal of

Technology Nomination Packet.

Nominations will be accepted for

achievements that have stre n g t hened the American economy and

s t a n d a rd of living thro u g h :

■ P roduct and process innovation

■ Technology transfer

■ Advanced manufacturing technology

■ Technology management, and/or

■ Human re s o u rce development

Nomination packets for individuals/teams or companies/divisions are

available through mid-September

1 9 9 7. Nominations for 1998 must

be submitted to the Office of

Technology Policy no later than close

of business October 17, 1997.■

For more information or to re c e i v e

your 1998 National Medal of

Technology nomination packet,

contact: Katie Wolf, Dire c t o r

National Medal of Te c h n o l o g y,

O ffice of Technology Policy 

Room 4228

14th & Constitution Avenue, NW,

Washington, DC 20230

P h o n e 2 0 2 . 4 8 2 . 5 5 7 2

e - m a i l n m t @ m a i l . t a . d o c . g o v

U R L w w w. t a . d o c . g o v / M e d a l
5

Summer 1997 PA C E S E T T E R ■ Office of Technology Policy

I was pleased to accept the invitation

to visit China as a participant in the

U.S.-China Civil Industrial

Technology Initiative—the first seminar to be held as a joint activity following the signing of a 1996 agre ement between the Chinese State

Science and Te c h n o l o g y

Commission and the Te c h n o l o g y

Administration here at the

D e p a rtment of Commerc e .

During the trip, I saw both Beijing

and Shanghai and visited components of China’s science and technology system including the Chinese

Academy of Science (CAS), national

engineering re s e a rch centers and

technology developments zones.

At the seminar, we listened to presentations on China’s policies and

p rograms for industrial technology

innovation, including their

P roductivity Promotion Centers

which are modeled after our own

Manufacturing Extension Pro g r a m .

Because the Chinese govern m e n t

has reduced its financial support for

fundamental re s e a rch and is encouraging technology commerc i a l i z a t i o n ,

scientists must learn how to manage

a small business and to commerc i a lize technology.

C h i n a ’s technocrats are committed to

technology-driven economic gro w t h .

They are searching worldwide for

ways to enable non-state owned

enterprises to produce advanced

technology products; to enable scientists to develop emerging technologies; to reinvigorate state-owned

enterprises through automated manufacturing; and to create employment for displaced workers by shifting them to the non-state sector.

One trip objective was to see the

application of China’s technology

policy to the management of activity

in “technoparks.” I found that

technology commerc i a l i z a t i o n

e ff o rts within the techoparks

a re focused on inform a t i o n

technologies, biotechnology,

advanced materials and manufacturing automation.

In general, China’s technology

innovation system is vert i c a l l y

integrated within academia,

industrial ministries, and administrative organs such as the State Science

and Technology Commission.

Horizontal linkages between the

“ c o m p a rtments” are weak. At the

State Council, high level macro e c onomics policy coordination occurs,

but inter-agency interaction and

c o o rdination at lower levels does not

appear to occur re g u l a r l y.

As many We s t e rners would expect,

C h i n a ’s “non-state sector” is stru ggling to emerge. China’s new “hightech enterprises” are not privatelyowned companies. They are usually

collectively owned by the local gove rnment and either a universitybased re s e a rch institute or a CASbased re s e a rch institute. Individuals

a re allowed to own shares, but the

p o rtion held by individuals is re l atively small.

San Huan New materials, Inc. is an

i n t e resting example of how the CAS

c o m m e rcialized its re s e a rch on rare

e a rth magnets. Mr. Ho Boping, Vi c e

P resident, attended our pre s e n t a t i o n s

at the Chinese Academy of Science.

We discussed the company’s development of rare earth magnet batteries for use in electric vehicles.

China holds 80% of the world’s rare

e a rth re s o u rces. San Huan’s pro d u ction capacity for rare earth magnets

is 400 tons per year, re p re s e n t i n g

45% of the total PRC output and

ranking first in domestic market

s h a re. In 1993 GM/ Magnequench

and San Huan concluded an exclusive licensing agreement which allows

San Huan to export its products fre e

of patent infringement claims in particular markets. San Huan Inc. has

developed rare eart h

magnet batteries for use

in an electric bicycle,

c a r, and minivan.

Development of e l e c t r i c

vehicles is a national

key technology comm e rcialization pro j e c t .

By the year 2000, the

SSTC predicts that the

auto industry will be

able to pro d u c e

3,000–5,000 e l e c t r i c

vehicles and establish two or thre e

demonstration areas. The Chinese

g o v e rnment has provided Qinghua

University and San Huan financial

s u p p o rt to develop a van for use in

urban are a s .

All in all, I found China to be pleasant and fascinating. I saw re s e a rc h

institutes that are generally off - l i mits, as well as the re q u i red tourist

stops including the Great Wall. It is

an obvious prediction to say that

China will continue to offer competition and partnerships for some

time to come.■

Graham Mitchell Reports on the People’s Republic of China

■ Street scene

inside Yu Yu a n

(Jade Garden)

in Shanghai, a

restored historical area.

■ Graham Mitchell meeting with Xu Guanhua,

Vice Minister for Industrial Te c h n o l o g y.

C H I N E S E

S & T
6

PA C E S E T T E R ■ Office of Technology Policy Summer 1997

NEW SPACE: THE BEGINNING OF AN ERA

The Office of 

Air & Space

C o m m e r c i a l i z a t i o n

is making sure

U.S. industry is 

in position to seize

the commercial

opportunities in

s p a c e .

The Office of Air & Space Commerc i a l i z a t i o n

(OASC) is a new addition to the

Technology Administration in 1997. It was

c reated in 1988 as the Office of Space

C o m m e rce, the principal unit for the coordination of space-related issues, pro g r a m s ,

and initiatives within the Office of the

S e c re t a ry of Commerce. 

As part of the Administration’s technology

team, the OASC continues to pro m o t e

policies which foster the growth and international competitiveness of the U.S. comm e rcial space sector and the commerc i a l

use of space by U.S. private industry. 

Te c h n o l o g i c a l advance and innovative

thinking are opening a whole universe of

o p p o rtunities for private industry in space.

The commercial potential of technologies

such as satellite imagery, Global

Positioning System (GPS) products, new

launch developments, telecommunications

and space tourism are just beginning to be

e x p l o red. The OASC is making sure U.S.

i n d u s t ry is in position to seize the comm e rcial opportunities in space.■

Introducing 

The Office of Air & Space Commercialization

STRENGTHENING U.S. COMPETITIVENESS IN COMMERCIAL SPA C E

Outer space has changed. Fore v e r.

While virtually no one was looking,

space turned a significant corn e r

and became just another place to do

b u s i n e s s .

This is not to say that space has

realized its full economic potential.

Far from it. There are technological

h u rdles to be overcome before

doing business in space becomes as

routine as doing business in, say,

S i n g a p o re. But the truth is that

businesses using space-based pro ducts and services such as satellite

telecommunications, satellite

i m a g e ry and Global Positioning

System (GPS) location signals pro bably touch our lives today more

d i rectly and more frequently than

business conducted in Singapore .

Yet, public perception of space is

f rozen in time somewhere after the

first moon landing and reflects where

we were 20 to 30 years ago, rather

than where we are now, or more

i m p o rt a n t l y, where we are heading.

We have already entered an era of

New Space, which differs dramatically

f rom the previous era of traditional

a e rospace in three significant ways.

■ New Space is privately funded

and commercial in nature. New

Space products and services are

designed, priced and distributed in

ways to satisfy direct consumer

demands. The proposed mobile

telecommunications constellations,

existing direct-to-home bro a d c a s ting businesses or consumer GPS

receivers are classic examples. While

its heritage is rooted in the early

NASA and military space pro g r a m s ,

New Space is not based on government re q u i rements or built to gove rnment specifications.

■ New Space is international. Doing

business off the Eart h ’s surf a c e

f o rces firms in the era of New Space

to look beyond national boundaries.

The large size of private investments

also encourages New Space firms to

seek regional and global part n e rships. With Cold War ideology no

longer a barr i e r, New Space players

a re now free to form alliances with

i n t e rnational partners who bring

access to mass markets, new technologies, distribution networks

and/or critical financing. The re s u l t

is the emergence of entities that blur

the once clear distinctions among

individual national space pro g r a m s .

Recent satellite imagery distribution

a g reements, telecommunications

s e rvices agreements and intern a t i o nal launch consortia bring these

issues into sharp re l i e f .

■ New Space is the Eart h ’s new economic fro n t i e r. New Space is about

making money for investors h e re on

E a rth. It is a source of limitless potential in satellite imagery, GPS pro d u c t s ,

new launch development, telecommunications and space tourism. New

Space is about exploiting the technology base we have invested billions of dollars developing and providing consumer oriented pro d u c t s ,

s e rvices and revenues here o n

by Mary L. Good, former Under Secre t a ry for Technology and 

Keith Calhoun-Senghor, Director of Office of Air & Space Commercialization, Technology Administration

continued on page 7

AIR AND

S PA C E
7

Summer 1997 PA C E S E T T E R ■ Office of Technology Policy

The objective of the conference was

to communicate to govern m e n t ,

academia and industry that a re a d y

i n f r a s t ru c t u re exists which allows

for the systematic access of inform ation on Japan and the Asia Pacific

region. “The Japanese have traditionally employed information as a

strategic tool,” continued Yo s h i d a .

“American businesses also can benefit from creating a systematic

a p p roach to gathering inform a t i o n ,

which may then be used as part of

an overall competitive strategy. ”

The three-day conference feature d

six panel presentations addressing a

full spectrum of inform a t i o n - re l a t e d

issues, including approaches and

techniques to competitive intelligence; the growth of the Intern e t

and electronic commerce; sources of

strategic information; and changes

in Japanese information disclosure. 

The July conference on Japanese

I n f o rmation in Science, Te c h n o l o g y

and Commerce explored re c e n t

t rends in the information industry

and how such trends may affect foreign entities desiring greater access

to Japan and other Asian markets.

“The globalization of the economy,

together with the development of

i n f o rmation technologies such as

the Internet, have made the

exchange of information more fluid

than in previous years. At the same

time, many of those wishing to do

business in Japan, be they in the

public or the private sector, are not

fully aware of what information is

available, nor how it can be

accessed and leveraged to achieve

competitive advantage,” said Phyllis

Genther Yoshida, Director of

I n t e rnational Policy, Office of

Technology Policy (OTP).

The Fifth International Conference on Japanese Information 

in Science, Technology and Commerce

Topical presentations included: intelligence gathering using the Intern e t ;

v e n t u re capital investing for new science and technology ventures; the

use of patent information to incre a s e

Japanese market share; and the

e ffects of government dere g u l a t i o n

in Japan. 

The conference was sponsored in

p a rt by OTP.■

Abstracts of papers are available at:

h t t p : / / w w w. t a . d o c . g o v / a s i a p a c /

j o h o . h t m

To request a copy of the confere n c e

p reprints call 202.482.6805.

E a rt h — i m p roving crop yields and

estimates through satellite imagery,

aiding drivers with car navigation

systems, assisting insurance companies and relief workers with disaster

assessments using before and after

images, tracking and visualizing

moving cargoes, producing accurate

t e rrain and elevation maps for utilities and mapping

populations for

market assessments—on a global

s c a l e .

This next fro n t i e r

of inform a t i o n

technology is the

result of

C o n g ressional legislation, the

P re s i d e n t ’s 1994 commercial re m o t e

sensing policy, the Pre s i d e n t ’s 1996

GPS policy, his 1996 National Space

P o l i c y, and a series of other

Administration policies designed to

c reate a stable and predictable policy

New Space from page 6 framework for this important comm e rcial sector.

F o rmer Commerce Secre t a ry Ron

B rown used to tell the story of ice

hockey great Wayne Gre t z k y, who

was once asked what made him such

a phenomenal player. Gre t z k y

thought for a moment and then

replied, “I skate to where the puck is

going to be.” Secre t a ry Brown used

that story to illustrate how the success of the U.S. as

a nation is dire c t l y

related to its ability

to be the first to

get to “where the

puck is going to

be;” not where it is

now or where it was, but where it is

h e a d i n g .

T h e re are two messages here. First,

the U.S. Government is beginning,

and must continue, to treat New

Space as an important industry segment where data is tracked and analyzed in much the same way as commodities futures or crop re p o rts. The

G o v e rnment must continue to pay

attention to, and plot the trajectory

of, New Space products and markets

so businesses can intelligently anticipate the future and be the first to get

to where the puck is going to be.

Second, in this era of New Space,

most information technology firm s

and financial investors would do well

to wake up to the fact that some time

between the end of the Cold Wa r

and the announcement of Pre s i d e n t

C l i n t o n ’s umbrella National Space

P o l i c y, we crossed over into a new

phase of global business. The era of

New Space is already here .

The challenge before us is defining

how the Administration and Congre s s

can best work together to help

investors and U.S. companies exploit

the opportunity before us thro u g h

policy stability, facilitating intern a t i o n a l

s t a n d a rds, deregulation and the promotion of space-based industries.■

J A PA N E S E

S & T
United States Department of Commerce

Technology Administration

Office of Technology Policy

Room 4814C HCHB

Washington, DC 20230

Official Business

Penalty for private use $300.00

Something to Talk About!

In the Next PA C E S E T T E R

UPCOMING ART I C L E S

■ The Office of Technology Policy and

the Information Technology Association of

America address the shortage of inform ation technology workers.

■ An excerpt from the recently re l e a s e d

re p o rt The Global Context for U.S.

Technology Policy e x p l o res the re l a t i o n s h i p

between U.S. technology policy and the

rapidly changing world enviro n m e n t .

UPCOMING REPORT S

■ The Office of Technology Policy re l e a s e s

Meeting the Challenge: U.S. Industry Faces

the 21st Century: The U.S. Biotechnology

I n d u s t ry this fall in San Diego, CA.

■ I n f o rmation and statistics obtained fro m

the recent official visit to China will be

included in Innovation and Te c h n o l o g y

Policy in the People’s Republic of China.

P R E S O RT E D

F I R S T-CLASS MAIL

P O S TAGE & FEES PA I D

TECH. ADM.

PERMIT NO. G-797

The PA C E S E T T E R is a publication of the Office of Technology Policy, a division of the United States Department of Commerce Technology Administration.

Any mention of organizations, companies or products is for inform a t i o n a l

purposes only; it does not imply any recommendation or endorsement.

■ E d i t o r s

C h e ryl Mendonsa, Dire c t o r, Public Aff a i r s

Kathleen Sullivan, Public Aff a i r s

■ D i rectors of the Office of Technology Policy 

Graham R. Mitchell

Assistant Secre t a ry for Technology Policy

Kelly H. Carn e s

Deputy Assistant Secre t a ry for Technology Policy

■ Comments and Inquiries

C h e ryl Mendonsa, OTP Public Aff a i r s

P h o n e 2 0 2 . 4 8 2 . 8 3 2 1

■ World Wide Web Addre s s

h t t p : / / w w w. t a . d o c . g o v / o t p

■ Design and Layout

Alpha MicroDesigns, Inc.

Special thanks to Spot Image for providing the satellite view of Boston

shown on the cover page.