NISTIR 7280 - Identifying Technology Flows and Spillovers Through NAICS Coding of ATP Project Participants

Abstract

This report describes a methodology used to refine industry classification data used by the Advanced Technology Program's (ATP's) online Business Reporting System (BRS) project database. The primary method for classifying industries is the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) developed by an Office of Manage­ment and Budget interagency working group. The authors assigned six-digit NAICS codes to each ATP project participant's own-industry and the use-industry of any com­mercial applications reported by project participants, for all projects funded between January 1999 and July 2003. This report documents the authors' methodology used for coding and provides an evaluation to show that ATP projects demonstrate certain factors that suggest high spillover potential; these include multi-use innovation, infra-structural technology, and licensing of technology outside of their own-industry. In addition, a majority of ATP participants' own-industries are characterized as primary technology generators while approximately a third of the use-industries are characterized as either primary or secondary technology generators. This finding suggests that ATP project selection enables technology to be developed in the more sophisticated technology sectors, which may then flow into less sophisticated technology sectors.

This methodology provides ATP a new approach to monitor its technology port­folio. In particular, these data enable one to view the industries that may be affected by commercialization. Eventually, this methodology may lead to a broader effort by the Federal government to track its overall R&D technology portfolio on a more systematic basis. For example, a 2002 report, Assessing the U.S. R&D Investment, issued by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, recommends that "OSTP, in cooperation with the appropriate federal agencies, should assess and analyze the adequacy of Federal R&D investments in light of national interests, international competition and human resource needs."

Key words: NAICS, SIC, spillovers, technology flows, technology portfolio, inter­industry diffusion, own-industry, use-industry, R&D, Advanced Technology Program

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Date created: May 25, 2006
Last updated: June 1, 2006

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