SURVEY OF
ATP APPLICANTS 2000
2. Funding Sources for Innovative R&D
Companies
typically focus their own Research and Development (R&D) dollars
on product development efforts where outcomes are more certain, and often
depend on external sources of support in order to pursue high-risk research.
Through its cost-shared funding, the Advanced Technology Program (ATP)
helps companies pursue early-stage high-risk R&D with the potential
for broad-based economic benefit.
Evidence from
the Survey of ATP Applicants 2000 indicates that applicants obtain
funding for innovative R&D from a number of external sources. Federal
government programs, such as the ATP, are an important source of funding
for high-risk R&D and play an important role relative to other sources
of funding.†
Survey respondents
were asked to indicate whether their company had received
funding (for research in the area represented by the
proposed ATP project) from the following external sources:
a)
federal government programs (other than ATP)
b) state or local government programs
c) other companies
d) venture capital or other private investment
Respondents
were asked to report their funding sources for the
three years leading up to their proposal submission,
and also to indicate how critical each reported source
was for their company's research effort. |
Half of
all ATP applicants report receiving prior funding from external sources
for the general research area of their proposed project
- 51 percent of applicants
report receiving funding for their research area from at least one
external source in the three years prior to the ATP proposal. (See
Figure 1.)
- 28 percent of applicants
report receiving funding from federal government programs, and 9
percent report receiving funding from state or local government programs.
- 22 percent report
receiving funds from other companies, and 23 percent from venture
capital or other private investment.
FIGURE
1. Funding Sources Reported by ATP Applicants:
Three Years
Prior to ATP Proposal
[Descriptive link for Figure 1]
Many ATP
applicants report that prior funding from an external source was "very
critical" to their research in the area of their proposed project
- 40 percent of applicants
report that funding from an external source in the three years prior
to the ATP proposal was "very critical" to their research
effort.
- 19 percent of applicants
received "very critical" funding from federal government
programs; only 3 percent received such funding from state or local
government programs.
- 12 percent of applicants
received "very critical" funding from other companies,
and 18 percent from venture capital or other private investment.
 Small
companies are more likely than large companies to have received prior
funding from external sources for the research area of their proposed
project
- In the three years
leading up to the ATP proposal, 58 percent of small company applicants
received funding from an external source for the research area of
their proposed project, compared to 21 percent for larger companies.
(See Figure 2.)
- Small companies are
twice as likely as larger companies to have received prior funding
from federal government programs, and almost four times as likely
to have received prior funding from other companies.
- State and local government,
and venture capital or other private investment represent significant
sources of external funding for small companies, but not for larger
companies.
FIGURE
2. Sources of Funding Prior to ATP Proposal: Small Companies versus
Large/Medium
Companies
[Descriptive link for Figure 2]
____________________
† See Branscomb, L. and Auerswald, P. (2002). Between
Invention and Innovation: An Analysis of Funding for Early Stage Technology
Development, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards
and Technology. NIST GCR 02-841.
Return to Table
of Contents or go to Factsheet 3.
Date created:
June 24, 2003
Last updated:
August 2, 2005
|
