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NIST ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM
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Description:
Not-yet-possible technologies are the domain of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Technology Program. The ATP is a unique partnership between government and private industry to accelerate the development of high-risk technologies that promise significant commercial payoffs and widespread benefits for the economy. Major forces in the globalization of markets and the pace of technology change continue to drive private R&D to narrower, shorter term investments to maximize returns to the company. Most private capital is reluctant to invest in anything less than a "sure thing" in terms of its own returns. In sharing the relatively high development risks of technologies that potentially enable a broad range of new commercial opportunities, possibly across several industries, the ATP fosters projects with a high payoff for the nation as a whole. The nature of ATP projects, risky but broadly applicable, stimulates joint research ventures to solve a generic problem. ATP strives to promote interdependence by nurturing strong linkages with its industrial partners, among its staff members, within NIST, and with the broader community. Their programs are multi-dimensional; combining technical, business and economic objectives to maximize benefits to the nation's economy. Until 1994, the ATP used general competitions open to proposals in all areas of technology as its sole investment mechanism. Since then, the ATP has added focused competitions, developed in response to specific suggestions received from industry and academia. Areas of the focused programs include Information Technology and Electronics, and Chemical and Biomedical Technology. ATP awards are made strictly on the basis of rigorous peer-reviewed competitions designed to select the proposals that are best qualified in terms of the technological ideas, the potential economic benefits to the nation, and the strength of the plan for eventual commercialization of the results. The majority of companies receiving ATP awards would not have been able to pursue the technology at all without the ATP. The ATP program emphasizes more high-risk, high-payoff, enabling R&D and greater use of cooperative research ventures and industrial alliances. ATP views government and industry as partners rather than opponents.
