NIST GCR 03-859
Economic Impact of the Advanced Technology Program's HDTV Joint Venture

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. The 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 where the development often involves complex “systems” problems requiring a collaborative effort by multiple organizations; and
• Technologies that would go undeveloped and/or proceed too slowly to be competitive in global markets without ATP.

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

Smaller companies 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 firm 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, and joint venture projects can last as long as five years. Companies of all sizes participate in ATP-funded projects. To date, more than half of the 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 that use peer review to identify those that score highest against technical and economic criteria. Contact ATP for more information:

• On the Internet: 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, Stop 4701, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-4701

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

William White is an economist at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in the Technology Economics and Policy Program. His research and analytical work focuses on the economics of technological change. While at RTI, he has worked on evaluating several NIST initiatives, including a prospective study of supply chain integration, an analysis of the NIST-Traceable Reference Materials Program, and a study of ATP’s investment in Component-Based Software Development. His previous experience includes fourteen years in manufacturing and R&D roles with Procter & Gamble, General Electric, and Corning Glass Works, and teaching positions at the Ohio State University, Northwestern University, and North Carolina State University.

Alan O’Connor is an economist at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in the Technology Economics and Policy Program and an MBA candidate at the Fisher Graduate School of International Business at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Mr. O’Connor has prepared several prospective and retrospective benefit-cost analyses to support evaluations of NIST initiatives, including those for evaluating the Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP), role-based access control (RBAC), and NIST reference materials programs.

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Date created: July 12, 2004
Last updated: August 3, 2005

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