EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE:             G 94-96
Oct. 24, 1994, 1:30 p.m. EDT
(Updated)

Contact:  Michael Baum             COMMERCE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES
          (301) 975-2763           41 AWARDS FOR ADVANCED R&D
                                   IN FOUR KEY TECHNOLOGIES



     Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown today announced some $170
million in awards for ground-breaking research and development under
the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), the Clinton Administration's
principal civilian technology initiative to stimulate economic growth
and job creation through the development of new industries.

     The 41 awards announced by Secretary Brown cover four major
areas:  information technologies for healthcare, advanced
diagnostic tools for DNA technologies, new technologies to help
automate development of large software systems and computer-
integrated manufacturing technologies for the electronics
industry.


     "The ATP is an example of the public-private partnership that is
the hallmark of the Clinton Administration," Brown said.

     "We are working with business to make our economy more competitive
and create jobs for the American people.  Our civilian technology policy
has been -- and will continue to be -- a key part of this Administration's
economic approach," Brown added.

     The four ATP program areas sponsoring today's awards
include:

>    Information Infrastructure for Healthcare --  a five-year,
     $185 million program to develop critical information
     infrastructure technologies to enable enhanced, more fully
     integrated medical information systems across the healthcare
     industry, greatly reducing costs and errors in handling
     medical information.  Sixteen awards were announced in this
     program for more than $72 million in ATP funding over five
     years, matched by over $73 million in private-sector funds.

>    Tools for DNA Diagnostics -- a five-year, $145 million
     program to develop compact, low-cost, automated DNA analysis
     technologies and equipment to enable fast, inexpensive
     detection and diagnosis of human, animal and plant diseases
     and for manufacturing of chemicals.  Thirteen awards were
     announced in this program for more than $56 million in ATP
     funding over five years, matched by over $54 million in
     private-sector funds.

>    Component-Based Software -- a five-year, $150 million
     program to develop the technologies necessary to enable
     systematically reusable software components -- small,
     carefully engineered software elements suitable for
     automated assembly in a broad array of applications.
     Eleven awards were announced in this program for more than
     $40 million in ATP funding over five years, matched by over
     $41 million in private-sector funds.

>    Computer-Integrated Manufacturing for Electronics -- a five-
     year, $105 million program to develop a flexible, software-
     based framework needed to promote greater manufacturability,
     productivity and product variety in the electronics
     industry -- allowing U.S. firms to more easily scale up and
     reconfigure their manufacturing operations.  One award was
     announced in this program for more than $1.5 million in ATP
     funding over five years, matched by over $1 million in
     private-sector funds.  ATP managers will re-evaluate the
     scope and approach of this program in discussions with
     industry.

     The ATP provides cost-sharing support to industry to promote
promising, but high-risk, enabling technologies that can form the
basis for new and improved products, manufacturing processes and
services.  These awards are the first to be made under a new ATP
approach of establishing multiyear R&D programs focused on
particular technology and business goals that the private sector
feels offer the best opportunities for major economic returns.

     Many of the awards announced today go to joint research
ventures.  More than 100 companies, universities and research
institutions, including many small businesses, will participate
in the research.

     ATP awards are made by Commerce's National Institute of
Standards and Technology on the basis of a rigorous competitive
review considering scientific and technical merit of each
application and its potential benefits to the U.S. industry.
Applicants must include a business plan for bringing the new
technology to market once technical milestones have been achieved
under ATP support.

     Today's awards are contingent on completion of negotiations
and the signing of cooperative research agreements between NIST
and the applicants.

     A list of the awards and fact sheets on the four program
areas are available.
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