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An Electronic Newsletter
for the International S&T Community

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ITRInews           July and August, 2002, No. 45
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Free newsletter on international S&T from ITRI, Inc.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.wtec.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/itrinews

Click on this link to see the present and past newsletters in color http://itri2.org/ITRInews/
 

R. D. Shelton, Editor:  rds@itri2.org
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In This Issue of ITRInews
Internet Growth Halts in the U.S.
7th International S&T Indicators Conference
9th International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics
AAAS Scoreboard of FY2003 R&D Budgets
PCAST Endorses Increased Physical Sciences R&D

Featured Organizations in International S&T:
(European S&T Sites)
European Commission Website on Research in the EU
The Sixth Framework Program of EU Research
Phillipe Busquin, Commissioner of Research for the EU
London Tri-Service Technology Watching Site
NSF Europe
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Internet Growth Halts in U. S. The February ITRInews reported that Internet growth, as measured by domain names, was slowing down in the January 2002 data. The latest data for July 2002, recently posted by the Internet Software Consortium, confirms this shift in trends. While the curve is still going up, its basic shape seems to have changed  from the long term exponential through the 1990s to merely a straight line for the last two years -- a change with many implications for the IT industry.

Even more profound is that growth  in the U.S. seems to have stopped entirely. U.S. domains are hard to count, since they are mostly in the .com top level domain (TLD), which is also used to a certain extent by foreign companies.  Even so, the TLDs mostly used by U.S. organizations (.com, .edu, .org, .gov, and .us) actually declined in the last six months, after decades of rapid growth. One (.mil) was about constant.

What growth there was in the last six months was fueled by countries where Internet penetration is still relatively small. For example all of the 15 European Union countries were up in the last six months. Why the declines in the U.S.? Probably there is some saturation in the U.S. market, and the dot.com bubble burst led to some organizations, and their domain names, disappearing from the Web. http://www.isc.org

7th International S&T Indicators Conference    The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research and the University of Karlsruhe have organized the Seventh International S&T Indicators Conference to be held September 25-28, 2002 in Karlsruhe, Germany.   Held since 1988, the conference has come to be one of the most important international symposia on S&T indicators. The program has just been posted.  http://www.indicators-conference.isi.fhg.de/

9th International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics   A call for papers has just been issued for this conference, which will be held in Beijing August 25-29, 2003.  It is being organized by the Chinese Association for Science and Science & Technology Policy, under the auspices of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics. http://www.cscd.ac.cn/issi2003

AAAS Scoreboard of FY2003 R&D Budgets As the 13 appropriations bills wind their way through the legislative maze, the AAAS keeps track of their progress in determining the budgets of the U.S. R&D agencies.  At this writing in late August, they have a long way to go before they emerge to be signed by the President. Only three of the bills have passed both the House and Senate. http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/approp03.htm    The NSF budget has only passed the Senate Appropriations Committee, but there it was greatly increased over the President's request and set on a path of doubling the R&D component in five years.  http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/nsf03s.pdf  AAAS also has an interesting analysis of what R&D organizations would be transferred to the new Homeland Security Department.  http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/dhs0621.htm

PCAST Endorses Increased Physical Sciences R&D The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has prepared a draft letter to President Bush urging significant increases in federal research funding for physical sciences and some fields of engineering. http://www.ostp.gov/PCAST/PCASTDraftLetterPublic2.pdf  The letter follows the release of a PCAST report recommending "the R&D budget be adjusted upward for the physical sciences and engineering, bringing them collectively to parity with the life sciences over the next 5 budget cycles."   http://www.ostp.gov/PCAST/AssessingRD82202%20final.pdf From the FYI newsletter of the American Physical Society.  http://www.aip.org/enews/ftm/

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FEATURED ORGANIZATIONS THIS MONTH

European Commission Website on Research in the EU
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/index_en.html

The Sixth Framework Program of EU Research     On 15 May, the European Parliament gave its go-ahead to the Commission’s proposal for next EU Research and Development Framework Programme. The €17.5 billion budget is a 17% increase on the last programme.  http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/index_en.html

Phillipe Busquin, Commissioner of Research for the EU
http://europa.eu.int/comm/commissioners/busquin/index_en.html

London Tri-Service Technology Watching Site    The U. S. Army, Navy, and Air Force now share a web site in London as well as physical space in Edison House.. http://www.ehis.navy.mil/

NSF Europe Office The National Science Foundation (NSF) is the agency of the U.S. Federal government that promotes excellence in basic research and education in science and engineering. NSF maintains a small office in the U.S. Embassy in Paris. This NSF Europe Office represents the Foundation to the countries of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, and to the multinational science organizations located in Europe.  http://www.nsf.gov/home/int/europe/index.htm
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Copyright © 2002 ITRI, Inc. Comments to rds@itri2.org please.

ITRI, Inc.
P. O. Box 41810
Arlington, VA 22204
703.328.7026
 
 
DATE FEATURE ARTICLE URL
Jul/Aug 02 U. S. Internet Growth Halts http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N45.html
Jun 02 U.S. Raises the Stakes in the Supercomputer Game; 
Japan Raises that Raise
http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N44.html
May 02 Double-Double in U.S. S&T Investments http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N43.html
Apr 02 Japanese Lap the U.S. in the Supercomputer Race http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N42.html
Mar 02 Criteria for Basic Research Performance http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N41.html
Feb 02 Internet Growth Slows http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N40.html
Dec 01 /Jan 02 Japan Ups S&T Paper Quality and Quantity as U. S. Declines http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N39.html
Nov 01 Marburger Shakes Up OSTP http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N38.html
Oct 01 Impact of Terrorism on R&D http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N37.html
Sep 01 US Technologies Lead; 
US Technologists Lag
http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N36.html
Aug 01 Doctors of Economic Warfare http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N35.html
Jul 01 Marburger to be OSTP Director http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N34.html
Jun 01 Nano is Huge, and Getting Bigger http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N33.html
May 01 R&D Budget Crash http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N32.html
Apr 01 As DotComs Wilt, Internet Sprouts http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N31.html
Mar 01 Research Famines: FY2002 Budgets http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews30.html
Feb 01 Sherwood Boehlert: 
New Science Committee Chair
http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews29.html
Jan 01 Andreessen's Law for the Internet http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews28.html
Dec 00 S&T Policy of the Bush Administration  http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews27.html
Nov 00 Research Feasts: FY2001 Budgets http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews26.html
Oct 00 Gingrich Praises Clinton http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews25.html
Sep 00 Industry Leads U.S. R&D http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews24.html
Aug 00 
(Extra)
Americans Like Being No. 1 
and Want to Keep It That Way
http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews23.html
Aug 00 Pale Green Manufacturing: 
US is 3rd out of 3
http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews22.html
Jul 00 Science and Engineering Indicators 2000 Released by NSF http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews21.html
Jun 00  American Leadership of S&T: Reality or Myth? http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews20.html
May 00 Think That Government is Investing More in Research? Think Again. http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews19.html
Apr 00 Who's Getting U.S. Patents? http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews18.html
Mar 00 Bottom Line II: Trade Deficit Skyrocket Explodes http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews17.html
Feb 00  S&T: Ready for Prime Time? http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews16.htm l
Jan 00 / 
Dec 99
New Technology Czar(ina) http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews15.html
Nov 99 Output in Papers: We're Number One? http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews14.html
Oct 99  Is International S&T Assessment Needed? http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews13.html
Sep 99 200GB Disk: 40 Films on One CD http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews12.html
Aug 99 Rep. George Brown Adjourns http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews11.html
Jul 99 More Good News / Bad News 
from the Academy
http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews10.html
Jun 99 / 
May 99
Teraflops Computers Meet Gates' Law http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews9.html
Apr 99 GPRA Metastasizes Abroad http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews8.html
Mar 99 Who's On First? 
(US, But Not for Long)
http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews7.html
Feb 99 Who's the Bear, and Who's the Bull? Japan Doubles R&D; The US Cuts It http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews6.html
Jan 99 / 
Dec 98
The Bottom Line: 
US Trade Deficit Skyrockets
http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews5.htm
Nov 98 NRC to State: 
Ignoring S&T is Ignorant
http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews4.htm
Oct 98 Is S&T to Blame for the Asian Financial Crisis? http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews3.htm
Sep 98 The Y1.998K Problem: Y2K Arrives 0.002K Early. Markets Crash, PMs Fired, Orioles 31 Games Behind http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews2.htm
Aug 98 Left Hand/Right Hand: NSF and NAS Both Assess US Math Research http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews1.htm