General and Focused Program Competitions

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Advanced Technology Program (ATP) conducts competitions each year, in which it reviews submitted proposals and selects awardees. The number of projects funded varies with the total program budget.

Two types of competitions are supported: general and focused. General competitions are open to all technology areas. Past general competition awards have covered a very broad spectrum of technologies in agriculture, biotechnology, microelectronics, machine tools, advanced automotive manufacturing, advanced materials, information and communication technology, flat-panel display manufacturing, and other areas.

Each focused program competition concentrates on a set of technology and business goals. Focused program competitions enable the ATP to channel significant support to clusters of related projects, each attacking a critical element and reaping the benefits of this synergy.

Key criteria for selecting program areas include:

• potential U.S. economic impact, including the credibility of the program's proposed pathways to economic growth, the importance of the existing or potential sector affected, and the probability of subsequent commercialization;
• good technical ideas that are "cutting edge," high risk, strategically important, and based on sound scientific and technical concepts;
• strong industry commitment to participate, including breadth and depth of interest and willingness to share costs and to work with the government and other partners; and
• opportunity for the ATP to make a major difference by supporting work that is unique or complementary to other industrial and government efforts, that offers timely and significant acceleration of research progress, and that requires a critical mass of funding.

Advanced Technology Program

The NIST Advanced Technology Program (ATP) provides competitive, cost-shared awards for industry to develop high-risk, enabling technologies with broad-based economic benefits. The ATP seeks to help industry fill the gap between basic research and product development, and to invest in technology that wouldn't be developed in a competitive time frame without government cost sharing. Along with General Competitions, which are open to proposals from all technical areas, the ATP has also funded Focused Programs, each with specific business and technical goals. The ATP will hold a one-day workshop for parties interested in digital data storage technologies on Monday, March 10, 1997, at the Beckman Center, Irvine, CA, starting at 9:30 a.m. and adjourning at approximately 3 p.m.

Workshop on Digital Data Storage

To date, ATP has funded a portfolio of projects in the area of digital data storage. In previous General Competitions, ATP funded four projects in data storage and in 1995, the ATP funded five additional projects in the Digital Data Storage Focused Program competition. ATP's average contribution to a project is approximately one million dollars per year.

The objective of the Digital Data Storage Focused Program is U.S. predominance in the high-performance digital data storage market over the next decade. The program will achieve its goal through industry-proposed, supported, and conducted research directed at the major components of data storage systems: the hardware typically associated with data storage such as disks and tapes, and the software needed for the efficient location and retrieval of the desired information.

The business goals of the program are to reduce costs of R&D and reduce R&D cycle time through effective collaboration among data storage industry firms and between industry, universities, and government. R&D intensity and synergy are critical to success in the international marketplace. In addition, to remain competitive, it is necessary to bring advanced data storage technology into the marketplace faster. In markets where the life-cycle of products is already short (typically less than 18 months), continuous roll-out of new products with a technological edge is necessary to compete internationally. One way to achieve this goal is to build effective supplier-customer alliances and to pursue technology opportunities that help blur the boundaries between digital computer applications, where U.S. firms have been most successful against foreign competition, and consumer applications where U.S. firms have been less successful. It is expected that this business strategy will help meet the escalating needs of the U.S. consumer and industrial marketplaces for digital data storage capacity and performance and expand world market share for U.S. digital data storage products.

Goals of the Workshop

• Provide potential applicants with information on ATP and the application process
• Inform the technical community about ATP projects in data storage technologies
• Provide an opportunity for networking among companies and other organizations in these technology areas
• Investigate methods to accelerate commercialization of technologies emerging from this research
• Develop ideas for future competition concepts

Preliminary Agenda

• Welcome Remarks and Introduction to the ATP
• Preparing Your ATP Business Plan
• Preparing Your ATP R&D Plan
• Administrative Highlights
• Questions and Answers
• Overview of Existing ATP-funded Data Storage Projects
• Additional Information

Additional details may be obtained by contacting the ATP Office: (800) ATP-FUND or (800) 287-3863; E-mail: atp@nist.gov; Fax: (301) 926-9524; or the ATP Web-site at http://www.atp.nist.gov.

Location

The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, 100 Academy Drive, Irvine, California. Located midway between Los Angeles and San Diego, the Center is situated adjacent to the University of California at Irvine.

Registration

The registration fee is $110 and includes workshop materials, coffee breaks, and lunch. All mailed or faxed registration forms must be received by Monday, February 24, 1997.

Requests for cancellation and refund must be submitted to Tammie Grice in writing prior this date. For additional registration information, contact Tammie Grice, NIST, (301) 975-3883, Fax: (301) 948-2067, E-mail: tammie.grice@nist.gov.

Accommodations

A block of rooms has been reserved for workshop participants at the Hyatt Newporter Hotel, (714) 729-1234. The rate is $97, single or double, including tax. To register for a room, please call the hotel directly no later than February 16, 1997. After that date the rooms will be released for general sale at the prevailing rate of the hotel. Check-in time is 4 p.m., check-out is 12 noon.

Transportation

The Beckman Center is served by both the John Wayne/Orange County Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. John Wayne/Orange County Airport is located two miles from the Center, and Los Angeles International Airport is located approximately 50 miles from the Center. Shuttle service from Los Angeles International is available by calling (310) 417-8988, reservations must be made in advance.

Driving Instructions

To the Beckman Center: From the John Wayne/Orange County Airport: Exit to the right on MacArthur Boulevard. Turn left at the next signal, Campus Drive. Continue on Campus Drive to University Drive. Turn right on University Drive to the next signal, California Avenue. Turn left on California Avenue. Turn right at the first street, Academy Drive.

From Los Angeles International: Follow Interstate 405 south. Exit at State Highway 73 (Corona Del Mar Freeway) and go south toward Corona Del Mar. Continue on 73 to the end of the freeway, which turns into MacArthur Boulevard. Turn right at the traffic light at University Drive. Continue one block to California Avenue and turn right. Turn right on Academy Drive.

Registration Card

Registration Fee: $110

Form of Payment

Check enclosed made payable to NIST/Digital Data Storage.
(Checks from outside USA should be written on a US bank.)

Master Card ___________________________________________Exp. _______

Visa Card _____________________________________________ Exp. _____
Authorized Signature ______________________________________________

Purchase Order Enclosed.

Please place registration in an envelope and mail to:

Office of the Comptroller
Bldg. 101, Rm. A807 National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001

Or Fax by February 24 to: Tammie Grice (301) 948-2067