NIST Advanced Technology Program

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Posted-Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 14:00:50 -0400
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 94 12:00:47 MDT
From: alpert () bldr nist gov (Bradley K. Alpert)
To: farber () central cis upenn edu
Subject: NIST Advanced Technology Program


Dave:


I have enjoyed your IP posts (received via Bernie Galler) and I thought
the following item might be of interest.


Brad Alpert




FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:             NIST 94-16
April 25, 1994


Media Contact:                     ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM
Michael Baum, (301) 975-2763       ANNOUNCES FIVE MAJOR TECHNOLOGY
                                   AREAS FOR LONG-RANGE, FOCUSED
                                   SUPPORT


     The Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards
and Technology today announced five areas of technology for
industry development through the department's Advanced
Technology Program.  These are the first subjects for focused
technology programs under the ATP.


     The ATP has received over 550 "white papers" from
industry detailing suggested program areas since last October.
Based on ideas from more than 150 of the papers, the five new
R&D programs will be cost shared and carried out by industry.
A five-year government investment of $745 million is expected
to leverage an equal investment by industry.


     It is anticipated the five new ATP focused program
areas -- all driven by industrial concerns -- will yield real
benefits to the nation's economy by fostering powerful
technologies leading to new or improved world-class products
and industrial processes.  They range from advanced materials
technology to innovative information technologies, and
include:


  >  Tools for DNA Diagnostics -- a five-year, $145 million
     program to develop compact, low-cost, automated DNA
     analysis technologies and equipment to enable fast,
     inexpensive detection and diagnosis of human, animal and
     plant diseases.


  >  Information Infrastructure for Healthcare -- a five-year,
     $185 million program to develop critical information
     infrastructure technologies to enable enhanced, more
     fully integrated medical information systems across the
     healthcare industry, greatly reducing costs and errors in
     handling medical information.


  >  Manufacturing Composite Structures -- a five-year,
     $160 million program to reduce the high initial costs of
     using advanced composite materials, traditionally found
     only in military and sports applications, to enable the
     use of these strong, lightweight, durable materials in
     large-scale commercial applications such as bridges and
     automobiles.


  >  Component-Based Software -- a five-year, $150 million
     program to develop the technologies necessary to enable
     systematically reusable software components -- small,
     carefully engineered software elements suitable for
     automated assembly in a broad array of applications.


  >  Computer-Integrated Manufacturing for Electronics -- a
     five-year, $105 million program to develop a flexible,
     software-based framework needed to promote greater
     manufacturability, productivity and product variety in
     the electronics industry -- allowing U.S. firms to more
     easily scale up and reconfigure their manufacturing
     operations.


     Specific program areas such as the five announced today
are based on ideas suggested by industry and evaluated against
four criteria:  the potential for U.S. economic benefit, the
strength of the technical ideas, evidence of strong industry
commitment, and the opportunity for ATP funds to make a
significant difference.


     The ATP accepts proposals for research projects only in
response to specific competition announcements published in
Commerce Business Daily.  Today's announcement does not
constitute a call for proposals under any of the five program
areas.  Competition announcements will be made in each of the
announced program areas within the next few weeks.


     The proposed funding levels for the five programs in
FY 1995 and beyond are contingent on future appropriations for
the ATP.


     Since 1990, the ATP has worked with U.S. industry to
advance the nation's economic competitiveness by helping to
fund the development of high-risk but powerful new
technologies that underlie a broad spectrum of potential new
applications, commercial products and services.  The ATP
accelerates technologies that, because they are risky, are
unlikely to be developed in time to compete in rapidly
changing world markets without such a partnership of industry
and government.  By sharing the cost of such projects, the ATP
catalyzes industry to pursue promising technologies.


     The ATP selects specific research projects for support
based on competitions in which project proposals are evaluated
for the strengths of their technology and business plans.


     The five programs announced today reflect the continued
growth of the ATP, which will seek to maximize its impact on
the economy by focusing a significant share of its resources
on specific programs with well-defined technological and
business goals.  These typically involve the parallel
development of interlocking R&D projects that will complement
and reinforce each other.


     Programs run five or more years -- with an established
termination date -- and require about $20 million to
$50 million per year from the ATP, although both the duration
and level of funding depend on the scope of the program as
project proposals are received from industry.


     The ATP continues to evaluate program recommendations
already received and welcomes additional program suggestions
at any time.  The ATP plans to announce as many as six
additional focused programs around November 1994 for the next
year, depending on funding and industry suggestions for
programs.


     The ATP continues to conduct general competitions open to
all areas of technology.  The fifth general competition,
announced March 21, is now under way.


     An agency of the Commerce Department's Technology
Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by working
with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements
and standards.


Contact points for the ATP are:


     telephone:     (800) ATP-FUND
     fax:           (301) 926-9524
     e-mail:        atp () micf nist gov