Conference Sponsor Profile: The Advanced Technology Program

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) bridges the gap between the research lab and the marketplace, stimulating prosperity through innovation. Through partnerships with the private sector, ATP's early stage investment is accelerating the development of innovative technologies that promise significant commercial payoffs. ATP exhibits four primary strengths:



Early Financial Support. ATP provides cost-share funding in the critical early stages of R&D, including a maximum of $2 million for up to three years in direct costs for a single company and up to half of the total project costs for a maximum of five years for joint ventures.

Research Support. ATP encourages R&D partnerships and consortia and provides guidance in putting together a joint research venture.

Recognition. ATP’s rigorous peer-review system provides an independent, objective, and confidential evaluation of the strength of your R&D and business plans. Many firms have reported that ATP support was an important factor in securing additional funding.

Independence. Companies control and retain the intellectual property rights to the results of their research.



Being administered by the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), ATP provides a mechanism for industry to extend its technological reach and explore possibilities. Several features, however, distinguish ATP from other government R&D programs:

• ATP projects focus on the technology needs of American industry, not those of government. Research priorities for the ATP are set by industry, based on their understanding of the marketplace and research opportunities. For-profit companies conceive, propose, co-fund, and execute ATP projects and programs in partnerships with academia, independent research organizations and federal labs.
• ATP has strict cost-sharing rules. Joint Ventures (two or more companies working together) must pay at least half of the project costs. Large, Fortune-500 companies participating as a single firm must pay at least 60 percent of total project costs. Small and medium-sized companies working on single firm ATP projects must pay a minimum of all indirect costs associated with the project.
• ATP does not fund product development. Private industry bears the costs of product development, production, marketing, sales and distribution.
• ATP awards are made strictly on the basis of rigorous peer-reviewed competitions. Selection is based on the innovation, the technical risk, potential economic benefits to the nation and the strength of the commercialization plan of the project.
• ATP’s support does not become a perpetual subsidy or entitlement — each project has goals, specific funding allocations, and completion dates established at the outset. Projects are monitored and can be terminated for cause before completion.

ATP Headlines...

As part of its 2001 competition, ATP recently announced six new awards totaling more than $11 million, bringing this year's count to 16 new ATP awards.



To date, more than half of the more than 460 projects selected by the ATP since its inception have gone to individual small businesses or to joint ventures led by a small business. However, well over half of these projects include one or more universities as either subcontractors or joint-venture members; more than 140 individual universities participate in ATP projects. Funding for these projects is possible due to the ATP's partnership with industry, universities and non-profits to help advance research and development projects with the potential of having important, broad-based economic or social benefits. ATP will continue to accept proposals for the 2001 competition until September 30, 2001.



ATP is a gold sponsor of SSTI's annual conference, Creating Opportunity: Tools for Building Tech-Based Economies, on September 20-21, 2001. To learn more about ATP, visit its exhibit and attend its session at the conference or check out its website http://www.atp.nist.gov/