In the middle of the frenzy around the crumbled Dubai ports deal, Treasury Secretary John Snow held court in a conference room at Cecil-based software firm Ansys Inc. with a bevy of local executives for a "roundtable discussion." But the group of about 12 company chiefs, including Pittsburgh Technology Council's Steve Zylstra and Ansys' Jim Cashman, were more interested in engaging on ways U.S. companies could remain competitive in the international marketplace.

The discussion ran the gamut -- from outsourcing, to health care savings accounts to grooming an American work force well-trained in math and science. Mr. Snow heralded the Bush administration's proposals to boost the federal investment in funding basic research and in math and science education, and Mr. Zylstra agreed dollars for basic research was critical. But he added that the government should consider ways to increase the volume of technology developed at research institutions that commercialized for the marketplace. "Far too little gets into the private sector," Mr. Zylstra said.

Mr. Snow, in turn, said the Bush administration wants to encourage greater "linkages" between industry, research institutions and government. But he also noted that the country had become "way overdependent on certain energy sources" and that basic research has put the nation "on the brink of developing" alternative energy technologies.

The tech council will host two more cabinet members for breakfast next week: former Pittsburgh resident and Ariba Inc. president David H. McCormick, who was tapped last year by Bush to be the under secretary of export administration, will speak Wednesday at the Omni William Penn, Downtown; on Friday, again at 7:30 a.m., Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt will talk about National Institutes of Health funding at Sheraton Station Square. Call the council for more information at 412-687-0200.

Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business kicks off its 2006 McGinnis Venture Competition next Friday, with 23 teams of ambitious entrepreneurs from the United States and Canada pitching their business plans. Their goal is to land the $30,000 cash prize and the option to join the portfolio of companies assisted by Pittsburgh tech-focused economic development engines Innovation Works and the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse. Both organizations are offering $100,000 investment packages to the winner -- if they choose to build the company in Pittsburgh. Two CMU teams will compete this year, including Micky Inc., a software firm born out of CMU's West Coast campus in Silicon Valley, and the Oakland-based biotech upstart NeuroLife.

NeuroLife, which already has won more than $14,000 from two other business plan competitions, has landed $100,000 from the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse and has been guided behind the scenes by Tepper professor Dr. Art Boni, who conceived the McGinnis competition. NeuroLife is led by a trio that includes two physicians, Ernest Braxton and Daniel McChesney, and Franco D. Harris, the ex-Steelers Hall of Fame running back's son. It is commercializing a non-invasive tool to measure intracranial pressure to allow doctors to treat patients at risk for brain damage and death.

Bits and Bytes has learned that state Sen. Jane Orie is planning to introduce a bill next week that would authorize the state to conduct a study on how and where Pennsylvania's tobacco settlement investment dollars have been spent. The senator could not be reached for comment, but a staffer confirmed that the bill was being circulated among other state legislators for co-sponsors before its introduction.

David Jaffe, the attorney who used to co-chair the emerging business practice at Downtown law firm Schnader Harrison, Segal & Lewis, has jumped to another law firm, FoxRothschild, to beef up its technology practice. The firm, which already has a tech practice in New Jersey and Delaware, has created an angel investor network and a nonprofit organization providing expertise to pre-seed and early-stage life sciences companies. Mr. Jaffe is expected to build that network locally.