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 accelerate the process of innovation.

Promising future technologies are the domain of ATP:

• Enabling or platform technologies essential to development of future new products, processes, or services across diverse application areas
• Technologies where challenging technical issues stand in the way of success
• Technologies that involve complex “systems” problems requiring a collaborative effort by multiple organizations
• Technologies that will remain undeveloped, or proceed too slowly to be competitive in global markets, in the absence of ATP support

ATP funds technical research, but does not fund product development; that is the responsibility of the company participants. ATP is industry-driven and is grounded in real-world needs. Company participants conceive, propose, co-fund, and execute all of the projects cost-shared by ATP. Most projects also include participation by universities or other nonprofit organizations.

Each project has specific goals, funding allocations, and completion dates established at the outset. All projects are selected in rigorous competitions that use peer review to identify those that score highest on technical and economic criteria. Single-company projects can have duration up to three years; joint venture projects involving two or more companies can have duration up to five years.

Small and medium firms on single-company projects cover at least all indirect costs associated with the project. Large firms on single-company projects cover at least 60 percent of total project costs. Participants in joint venture projects cover at least half of total project costs. Companies of all sizes participate in ATP-funded projects. To date, nearly two out of three ATP project awards have gone to individual small businesses or to joint ventures led by a small business.

Contact the ATP for more information:

• On the World Wide Web: 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, Stop 4701, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-4701

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Date created: August 2, 2006
Last updated: September 1, 2006

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