Understanding Private-Sector Decision Making for Early-Stage Technology Development
A “Between Invention and Innovation Project” Report

ABOUT THE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) is a partnership between government and private industry to conduct high-risk research to develop enabling technologies that promise significant commercial payoffs and widespread benefits for the economy. ATP provides a mechanism for industry to extend its technological reach and push the envelope beyond what it otherwise would attempt. Promising future technologies are the domain of ATP:

• Enabling technologies that are essential to the development of future new and substantially improved projects, processes, and services across diverse application areas;
• Technologies for which there are challenging technical issues standing in the way of success;
• Technologies whose development often involves complex “systems” problems requiring a collaborative effort by multiple organizations;
• Technologies which will go undeveloped and/or proceed too slowly to be competitive in global markets without ATP.

ATP funds technical research, but it does not fund product development—that is the domain of the company partners. ATP is industry driven, and that keeps it grounded in real-world needs. For-profit companies conceive, propose, co-fund, and execute all of the projects cost-shared by ATP.

Smaller firms working on single-company projects pay a minimum of all the indirect costs associated with the project. Large, “Fortune 500” companies participating as a single company pay at least 60% of total project costs. Joint ventures pay at least half of total project costs. Single-company projects can last up to three years; joint ventures can last as long as five years. Companies of all sizes participate in ATP-funded projects. To date, more than half of ATP awards have gone to individual small businesses or to joint ventures led by a small business.

Each project has specific goals, funding allocations, and completion dates established at the outset. Projects are monitored and can be terminated for cause before completion. All projects are selected in rigorous competitions which use peer review to identify those that score highest against technical and economic criteria.

CONTACT ATP FOR MORE INFORMATION:

• On the Internet: http://www.atp.nist.gov
• By e-mail: atp@nist.gov
• By phone: 1-800-ATP-FUND (1-800-287-3863)
• By writing: Advanced Technology Program, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 4701, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-4701

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Date created: October 7, 2005
Last updated: October 12, 2005

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