STATUS REPORT
NUMBER 1

NIST SPECIAL PUBLICATION 950-1

Economic Assessment Office
Advanced Technology Program
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899

William F. Long
Business Performance Research Associates, Inc.
Bethesda, Maryland 20814

March 1999

Characteristics of the Projects

Single Applicants and Joint Ventures

Size of Companies

Among the thirty-three companies in single-applicant projects, 27 were small companies, where "small" is defined as having fewer than 500 employees. One was a medium-sized company, and the other five were large companies, as defined as Fortune 500 or equivalent firms. Small companies also participated in joint venture projects, but these are not separately identified here.

Public and Private Companies

Of the 27 single applicants that were small companies, 21 were privately held companies at the time their projects started. A number of these have since gone public, as discussed later in this chapter.

A Variety of Technologies

The 38 completed projects fall into seven different technology areas, as shown in Figure 1, where percentages of the 38 completed projects within the areas are shown in the lower of the two bars. The highest concentration, with 15 projects, is in Electronics, followed by Information, Computers and Communication, with six. The lowest is in Chemicals and Chemical Processing, with only one project. For comparison purposes, Figure 1, also shows, in the upper of the two bars, the distribution across the same seven technology areas for all 431 projects awarded through 1998. The Electronics area is much more strongly represented in the set of 38 completed projects reviewed in this study than in the portfolio of all ATP projects.

Figure 1. Distribution of Projects by Technology Area

Duration of Projects

The 38 projects also varied in duration. The median length was three years, the maximum allowable length for single-applicant projects. Half of the projects lasted 33 to 36 months. Another group clustered around the two-year mark. The two projects that lasted longer than 36 months were joint venture projects, which can last a maximum of five years.

Differences in Costs of the Projects

The 38 projects varied significantly in terms of cost, as shown in Tables 1 and 2. Both the ATP share and the total cost (ATP share plus industry share) are tabulated. Joint venture projects, for which project costs are not capped, typically cost more than single-applicant projects, but even within the two groups, marked differences occur.

Table 1. Single-Applicant Project Cost

Table 2. Joint Venture Project Cost

Rules concerning the share of project costs the ATP will contribute differ between single applicants and joint ventures. Single-applicant companies are required to cover all their indirect costs, and the ATP may cover up to 100 percent of direct project costs. ⁽³⁾ Since projects from small companies typically have smaller indirect costs relative to direct costs, it is likely that the ATP will contribute a larger percentage of total project costs for these projects than for others. The large percentage of single-applicants that are small companies (27 out of 34) accounts for the fact that ATP paid more than half the costs for many of these projects.

The cost-share rules affect the cost data presented in the 38 individual project reports (displayed project by project in Chapters 2-8). Tables 1 and 2 are based on those data. For the 34 single applicants, the industry contribution to their indirect costs is the amount given in the original ATP proposal, unless the company supplied a different amount for this study. None of these amounts was audited. For the remaining four projects, the industry contribution shown is the amount actually spent by project participants, as audited.

Among the 34 single-applicant projects, two had total costs (ATP + industry) of a million dollars or less. At the other end of the cost range, three projects had total costs between $5 million and $6 million. Altogether, approximately $98.4 million was spent for the 34 single-applicant projects, with an average total cost of about $2.9 million per project.

Cost data for the four joint ventures are summarized in Table 2. The smallest project, included in the first row, had a total cost (ATP + industry) of less than $2 million. The largest, included in the third row, had a total cost of almost $14 million. Altogether, approximately $31.9 million was spent on the four projects. The average total cost per joint venture project was about $7.9 million.

The ATP contributed $64.6 million to the 38 projects, providing slightly less than half the total funds. It contributed more than 50 percent of the total cost for 19 projects and less than 50 percent for 19. In the case of the joint ventures, the ATP's contribution was always less than half of total costs.

Go to other sections of Chapter 1: Overview of Completed Projects

	Characterstics of the Projects
	Timeline of Expected ATP Project Activities and Impacts
	Gains in Technical Knowledge
	Dissemination of New Knowledge
	Commercialization of the New Technology
	Broad-Based Economic Benefits