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On the Web: Tips & Tactics for Successful R&D Alliance
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Alliance
On the Web: Tips & Tactics for Successful R&D Alliance
Joint R&D ventures are potentially a powerful tool for attacking difficult research tasks, bringing to bear the resources of more than a single company--and perhaps universities or federal laboratories as well. Through an alliance, companies can share the costs and risks associated with long-term, high-risk R&D or with entering new markets, and so reduce the burden to each individual firm. However, meshing different company cultures and R&D practices for a successful joint venture presents notable difficulties of its own.
The NIST Advanced Technology Program has launched a new Internet web site, the ATP Alliance Network, to ease the process, providing visitors with a sense of the business, managerial, administrative and legal resources required for a successful R&D joint venture. The Alliance Network is a particularly valuable resource for potential research partners who are considering applying for an ATP award. The ATP has co-funded more than 100 joint ventures to date and now has seven open competitions offering matching funds for high-risk R&D projects promising significant benefits to the nation's economy.
The ATP Alliance Network web site includes:
- the pros and cons of doing high-risk R&D in an alliance;
- proven "best practices" for ATP joint ventures;
- data on the benefits of doing collaborative R&D under the ATP from recent economic studies;
- a roadmap of the ATP administrative process, including links to the most important documents required for the creation and management of an ATP cooperative agreement; and
- links to other resources for R&D alliance managers.
You can visit the ATP Alliance Network at http://www.atp.nist.gov/alliance.
General information on the NIST Advanced Technology Program, including policy, procedures and projects funded to date, can be found on the ATP web site at http://www.atp.nist.gov.
Media Contact:
Michael Baum (301) 975-2763
Electronic Commerce
ATP Conference: Technology Challenges in Electronic Commerce
That and a cybercredit will get you a cup of coffee..." What are the critical barriers to Internet-based electronic commerce, and what are the technologies that can remove them? The NIST Advanced Technology Program is sponsoring a workshop for information technology experts, financial and electronic payment experts and supply-chain specialists from industry, technical consortia and trade associations, academia and the government who are interested in the technology challenges and business issues involved in broad-based electronic commerce over the Net. The results of the workshop may form the basis for a future ATP focused program in electronic commerce. The workshop will be held March 9-10, 1998, at the NIST facility in Gaithersburg, Md. For registration information contact Lori Phillips, (301) 975-2067, email: lori.phillips@nist.gov.
The web site for the workshop "Defining the Advanced Technology Challenges of the Electronic Commerce Marketplace" may be found at http://www.atp.nist.gov/atp/conf/03-98ecc.htm.
Media Contact:
Michael Baum (301) 975-2763
Precision Measurement
Two Measurement Proposals Win Grants
Jens H. Gundlach, an assistant physics professor at the University of Washington, is receiving a 1998 NIST Precision Measurement Grant to make the most precise measurement ever of the gravitational constant. First described by Sir Isaac Newton, the gravitational constant is one of the most important yet poorly known constants of nature. The aim of Gundlach's project, "Measurement of Newton's Constant G Using a New Method," is to determine the constant of gravitation with a relative standard uncertainty of less than 0.001 percent. Such a result would represent the most accurate value of the gravitational constant ever achieved and would illuminate the cause of discrepancies among current values.
In addition, David Shiner, assistant professor of physics at the University of North Texas, has been selected to receive a 1998 Precision Measurement Grant to make very accurate experimental measurements of a fundamental constant of nature known as the fine structure constant, or alpha. The fine structure constant dictates the strength of electromagnetic forces. Shiner plans to measure the fine structure constant with an unprecedented relative standard uncertainty of 0.000001 percent. His project, "Laser Spectroscopy of the Helium Atom for a Determination of the Fine Structure Constant," will use an electro-optic laser modulation technique to reduce significant sources of error. The improved fine-structure constant value will permit more stringent tests of quantum electrodynamic theory.
NIST awards Precision Measurement Grants to promote fundamental research in measurement science in U.S. colleges and universities. Each $50,000 grant is awarded for one year and may be renewed at $50,000 per year for up to two additional years at the discretion of NIST.
For more information on NIST Precision Measurement Grants, contact Barry N. Taylor, Chair, NIST Precision Measurement Grants Committee, B161 Technology Building, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-4220.
Media Contact:
Linda Joy (301) 975-4403
Manufacturing
Information Technology in Process
NIST researchers are applying a bit of literary logic to manufacturing. If, as Shakespeare wrote, "a rose by any other name is still a rose," then might it be possible to unambiguously describe and communicate a step in a machining operation or in any other processing activity? Prospects for such a universal "process specification language"--one common to all manufacturing operations--will be among the topics explored at "Process Information Technology: From Research to Industry," to be held March 12-13 at the Gaithersburg Holiday Inn in Maryland. At the NIST-sponsored workshop, information technology suppliers; representatives of manufacturing firms; and industrial, government and university researchers will examine how information technology can improve the design, integration and control of manufacturing and business processes.
Research to enhance and extend uses of information technology in process planning, scheduling, simulation, modeling, reengineering and management is increasing. NIST researchers, for example, are developing a prototype process specification language, a process counterpart to the international Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP), which enables computer-to-computer exchanges of product-related data. Workshop discussions on the major challenges and needs facing suppliers and manufacturing users of information technology will help to guide research at NIST and other organizations.
For technical information on the workshop, contact Craig Schlenoff, (301) 975-6536. For registration information, contact Tammie Grice, (301) 975-3883. Additional information also is available at the workshop's WWW site at http://www.mel.nist.gov/msidevent/workshop/pit98.
Information on NIST's Process Specification Language Project is available at http://www.nist.gov/psl.
Media Contact:
Mark Bello (301) 975-3776
Automotive
Array of Advances Achieved in Motor Vehicle Manufacturing
A portable system for diagnosing faults in the machining process, compact yet powerful new spindle designs for machine tools and a collaborative decision-support system to enhance plant management during "abnormal situations" are among the recent results of research co-funded by NIST's Advanced Technology Program. These advances and many others are described in the proceedings of a recent workshop, Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Technology Public Workshop.
The ATP's focused program on motor vehicle manufacturing technology, initiated with 15 awards in 1995 and continued with 10 awards in 1997, seeks to strengthen the entire automotive production chain by investing in important process technology that otherwise would not be developed in a competitive time frame. The workshop proceedings, part of the ATP's effort to transfer the knowledge and technologies generated in the program to potential users, outlines the progress to date and introduces recently selected projects.
The MVMT program is expected to improve the global competitiveness of the domestic motor vehicle industry, which reports annual sales of approximately $260 billion (3.6 percent of the nation's gross domestic product) and employs more than 7 percent of the U.S. work force. In addition, technologies developed in the program have the potential for broad diffusion throughout U.S. manufacturing, including the aerospace, appliance, metalworking, machinery and precision instrument industries.
For more information, consult the ATP web site at http://www.atp.nist.gov, or contact Jack Boudreaux at (301) 975-3560.
Media Contact:
Michael Baum (301) 975-2763
Welding
NIST Engineer Helps Navy Save Millions of Dollars
Thomas A. Siewert, a group leader in NIST's Materials Reliability Division in Boulder, Colo., is co-recipient of the $10,000 Best of Program Award for 1997 from the James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation. The foundation was established in 1936 by the Lincoln Electric Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, to recognize excellence in arc welded design and engineering. Siewert and Jeffrey A. Bradel of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Bethesda, Md., were cited for the welding procedure they developed to repair worn joints in a railroad-type track at NSWC's Model Towing Basin. Their repair cost only $240,000, avoiding replacement of the one-mile-long track for a cost estimated between $5 million and $20 million.
The smooth, precision-made track is used to carry instrumented carriages weighing 57 tons, which measure the hydrodynamic characteristics of ship models. The track was first laid more than 50 years ago and expansion joints had begun to wear, causing unacceptable shock and vibration in the carriage. Siewert and Bradel's solution was to rebuild the rail to the original dimensions with weld metal of the same hardness. Because of the tremendous demand on the towing basin, they had to do the welding repair on weekends. They developed procedures for grinding and welding that permitted restoration of the original rail dimensions while matching the original surface hardness. As a result, vibration in the carriage was reduced by more than 75 percent, eliminating the effects of the worn joints.
For more information on this procedure, contact Sarabeth Harris, MC 104, NIST, Boulder, Colo. 80303-3328, (303) 497-3237. Ask for paper no. 46-97.
Media Contact:
Fred McGehan (Boulder) (303) 497-3246
U.S.
Department of Commerce
Technology Administration
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Editor: Michael Newman
HTML conversion: Crissy Wines
Last Updated: February 18, 1998
