AGENDA
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Leveraging State Resources and University/Industry Collaborations

State governments offer many resources to companies for the development and commercialization of advanced technologies. These include matching grants, business planning advice, and analysis of business plans. Universities, in turn, are prime sources for new, advanced technologies which have significant commercial potential.

The purpose of this workshop is twofold. First, it will provide an overview of the opportunities presented by state governments and universities for helping companies develop Advanced Technology Program proposals. Second, this workshop will address how universities can participate in ATP, what benefits universities may receive by participating in an ATP project, ways in which universities can maximize the chances that an ATP project will be successful, and how universities can meet their IP needs through an ATP award.

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ATP Technology Showcase

Companies which have achieved technical success with their ATP-funded research will demonstrate these new technologies. Exhibitors will be available to discuss technical and business results derived from the ATP, and will also make presentations detailing their ATP-funded research programs. These exhibitors will provide a varied background of ATP experiences and will offer unique insights into the program.

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ATP Results: What We are Learning from Evaluation

ATP's evaluation effort seeks not only to measure the impacts of the technology development projects it funds, but also to increase the understanding of underlying relationships among research, technological change, and economic impact. Results of evaluations also provide feedback to the program to increase its broad-based benefits. Evaluation strategies encompass developing improved models, conducting surveys, constructing databases, conducting micro- and macro-economic case studies, performing statistical and econometric analyses, and developing and compiling performance metrics.

This workshop will acquaint federal, state and local officials, ATP participating organizations, and other interested parties with ATP's approach to evaluation, its evaluation strategies, studies completed and underway, and results to date.

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Condition-Based Maintenance

Condition-based maintenance (CBM) - "just-in-time" maintenance of facilities and equipment based on sensing the current condition of the equipment and predicting the likelihood of future failure - offers significant potential economic benefits, greatly reducing the costs now associated with preventive maintenance of critical systems and facilities. Wide-spread, reliable use of CBM, however, faces a critical technical hurdle: development of reliable prognostic capabilities.

Technical requirements can be grouped into areas including capabilities to predict and continuously refine the prediction of remaining useful life of equipment; new sensor technologies that are smaller, inexpensive and are able to be built into equipment for continuous monitoring; and expert systems for maintenance-related knowledge and advice. This workshop will provide industry and academic research leaders in these fields with a forum to discuss and refine the key technical challenges and opportunities facing condition-based maintenance, and to identify synergy between industry needs and ATP funding opportunities.

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Intelligent Control: Technology Needs and Industry Roadmaps

For many industries, profitability is centered on product or process improvements that increase quality and yields while reducing scrap and defects. Thus there is a need for new control systems that are quickly, easily, and affordably adaptable to current and future production requirements. These new control systems will be based on the use of intelligent, closed-loop systems to implement advanced, nontraditional controls that will gather, analyze and present multiple data streams from multiple sources. Recent advances in sensors, actuators, algorithms, control theory, process and product models, and computer hardware and software developments provide a foundation for the development of such new control systems.

Workshop participants will identify the technical barriers barring the development of the next generation of integrated, intelligent control systems and promising ideas for removing those barriers. Particular emphasis will be given to identification of synergy between industry needs and ATP funding opportunities, including the pathways through which these technical developments will lead to commercialization and U.S. economic benefits.

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Microelectronics Manufacturing Infrastructure

The 1998 Microelectronics Manufacturing Infrastructure (MMI) workshop has the goal of evaluating the technological and industry-wide developments that have occurred since early 1997 when industry helped to formulate the ATP MMI focused program. The workshop will provide the electronics and supporting infrastructure sectors an opportunity to comment critically on the current MMI program and identify synergy between future industry needs and ATP funding opportunities.

Workshop participants will explore the technical barriers and potential pathways confronting microelectronics manufacturing, opportunities for ATP to make a unique and significant difference, and enhanced methods for broadly engaging industry in the ATP process, with the goal of contributing to a revised and updated program plan for the ATP MMI program.

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Proposers' Conference

Successful proposals begin with an understanding of the Advanced Technology Program and the requirements outlined in the ATP Proposal Preparation Kit. Senior ATP and NIST managers will provide a broad overview of the ATP and discuss proposal preparation from making the business decision to seek ATP funding to the details of proposal preparation. They will also answer questions about technologies, business planning, economic analysis, administrative details, cooperative agreement administration, and changes in the solicitation requirements introduced in Fiscal Year 1999.

These sessions also will give R&D managers, researchers, and business planners from companies the opportunity to ask their questions and get the information they need to make decisions about proposal submission. In addition, representatives of universities, national laboratories, and non-profit enterprises can explore ways that they can collaborate with companies participating in the ATP.

One proposers' conference will be held each day. The content of each will be the same.

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ATP Technology Showcase (continued)

The Electronic Workshop on Genetic Manipulation in Animals: Advanced Transgenesis and Cloning

The ATP is conducting an electronic workshop on the topic of Genetic Manipulation in Animals: Advanced Transgenesis and Cloning. There are four major reasons for holding this meeting in cyberspace: 1) to allow maximum participation of the companies comprising this nascent industry; 2) to bring all players to the table to explore whether or not there is a role for ATP support to accelerate commercialization of the dramatic discoveries in livestock genetics; 3) to explore synergy between industry needs and ATP funding opportunities; and 4) to encourage public input to the discussion about the societal context of targeted funding in a controversial area with great potential for economic and medical benefit.

At this workshop, a summary of the "e-workshop" results will be presented. In addition, the process of conducting an electronic workshop will be examined, with specific emphasis on comparison to an in-person meeting, in the following areas: 1) succinctness and quality of the discussion; 2) ability to broadly interact with the target audience; and 3) mechanics/management of the process.

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Condition-Based Maintenance (continued)

Microelectronics Manufacturing Infrastructure (continued)

Proposers' Conference

ATP Technology Showcase (continued)

Technologies for the Integration of Manufacturing Applications

The goal of the ATP focused program in Technologies for the Integration of Manufacturing Applications (TIMA) is to develop and demonstrate the underlying technologies needed to create affordable manufacturing software applications that can be rapidly integrated into existing plants and easily reconfigured. In the long run, TIMA technologies anticipate intelligent manufacturing systems that can automatically adjust their performance in response to changing conditions and requirements. The TIMA focused program has funded 11 active or completed projects.

This program review workshop will present a forum for representatives from current projects to present their work, and will include a roundtable discussion among current and potential future participants concerning future directions for the TIMA program.

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Organic Electronics Technologies
NIST ATP Seeks Input from U.S. industry and academia

Competitive microelectronics manufacturing depends upon the availability of innovative and cost-effective materials manufacturing technologies which can be integrated with the diverse electronics subsystems that constitute tomorrow's electronics products. Whether it is for memory and logic devices, information displays, light sources, detectors, interconnections, subsystem packaging or optical patterning, organic electronic materials technology is a key enabling technology for current and future products.

This workshop will bring together R&D managers, business specialists, and university experts from across the microelectronics manufacturing material's supplier and user industries to initiate a public dialog on the current state of organic electronics technologies, considering both the expanding business potentials across a broad range of electrical and optical products and the technological factors which inhibit the widespread use of these technologies within future commercial products.

This workshop will provide industry with a crosscut view of business opportunities and technical barriers for organic electronic materials technologies and will help identify synergy between industry needs and ATP funding opportunities.

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Innovative Forming Techniques

In the past, many components with complex shapes have been "carved" from blocks of material with extensive, expensive machining operations. Net-shape and near-net shape forming of metals, ceramics and their composites makes components in their final shape initially, so that minimal machining is required. The technical challenges for these innovative forming techniques are much greater, but the potential cost savings are tremendous.

This workshop will bring together R&D Managers and Marketing / Business Specialists in the development of ceramics, metals, and their composites to discuss the most critical research investment needs in Innovative Forming. These include remaining technical barriers to implementation of rapid prototyping/solid freeform fabrication, the aspects of metal forming which represent a major leap forward rather than an incremental step, and next generation technologies for ceramic forming. On all of these topics, participants will consider difficulties and innovations, new applications that will be enabled, and the potential economic benefits that could come from this research. This will help ATP determine its future role in the field of innovative forming techniques, and possible synergy between industry needs and ATP funding opportunites.

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Combinatorial Discovery of Chemicals and Materials

The basic idea of a combinatorial chemistry is to make large numbers - thousands - of slightly different chemicals or materials at the same time using automation and computers. These techniques enable chemists and material scientists to screen whole libraries of materials in parallel, greatly accelerating the search for new and useful materials. Existing technologies for combinatorial chemistry, developed by the pharmaceutical industry for drug discovery, aren't sufficient for the many new materials and processes that industry must develop to meet the ever-increasing demands of global competition and "faster/lower-cost/better" chemicals and materials. Significant advances in several technology areas, including sensors, computers, robotics and informatics, will be needed to realize the full potential of combinatorial chemistry.

This workshop will bring together university and industry experts in fields impacting combinatorial chemistry and materials science to discuss the latest technological and market advances in the area, and to identify promising future applications and the key technological challenges to be met. The goal of the workshop is to stimulate future ATP proposals in combinatorial chemistry technologies.

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Export Workshop

This workshop will provide an overview of trade support and information programs in the Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration and at NIST. ITA programs assist firms in identifying the best markets for their products; developing an effective market entry strategy aided by information from Commerce's overseas offices; facilitating the implementation of these plans by advising clients on distribution channels, market entry strategies and exporting operational procedures. Specialists at ITA Export Assistance Centers can also assist with trade finance programs available through federal, state and local entities. NIST Gaithersburg staff help identify foreign regulatory and other technical requirements that apply to specific products. NIST standards experts in key markets, such as Mexico, Brazil, the European Union, Saudi Arabia and India, provide on the ground assistance and information to U.S. firms.

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Business Planning Strategies for Moving ATP-funded Technologies into the Marketplace

This workshop will present business planning strategies designed to assist high-tech, small-and medium-sized firms with attracting the additional capital needed to move their technologies developed with the support of ATP funding for research out of the laboratory and into the marketplace. Participants will gain a greater appreciation for and be exposed to the need to undertake detailed business planning in parallel to carrying out their ATP-funded research effort; the resources required to bring advanced technologies to market in different industries; different types of funding sources; and guidelines on what a small- or medium-sized firm should look for from a funding source. The workshop is targeted to three audiences: (1) small- and medium-sized companies that received awarded an ATP award; (2) small- and medium-sized companies that are applying for an ATP award; and (3) state service providers which may serve as contacts for such companies.

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ATP Technology Showcase (continued)

Technologies for the Integration of Manufacturing Applications (continued)

Organic Electronics Technologies (continued)

Innovative Forming Techiques (continued)

Combinatorial Discovery of Chemicals and Materials(continued)

Supporting Technologies for Semiconductor Lithography

The relentless international drive for ever denser, more complex, and more powerful integrated circuits is pushing the industry towards integrated circuits with feature sizes of 100 nanometers and below, a microscopic regime with a unique set of technological hurdles to be overcome.

This workshop will bring together representatives from the lithography community, including semiconductor manufacturers, lithography tool manufacturers, trade associations, universities, government laboratories and research institutions, to explore the role that ATP can play, working with U.S. industry, to achieve industrial leadership in lithography technologies for the next generations of semiconductor devices.

Workshop participants will identify technical barriers, promising ideas for removing those barriers, and potential technical pathways for success. They will also identify the pathways through which these technical developments will lead to commercialization and U.S. economic benefits.

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