New ATP Study Demonstrates Program's Significant Impact On Industrial R&D

A new study by the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology reveals important new details on the Advanced Technology Program’s role in promoting innovative industrial R&D, including evidence that the program has stimulated and accelerated the pace of technology development, that the research is enabling significant technological breakthroughs rather than simple incremental advances, and that industry is actively pursuing commercialization of ATP-sponsored technologies.

While previous studies of the ATP have reported similar results, the new analysis is the most comprehensive review of ongoing ATP projects to date, covering 210 projects and 480 organizations selected in competitions from 1993 through 1995. The study draws on data collected by the ATP’s computer-assisted Business Reporting System, which gathers quarterly and annual data from individual companies participating in ATP projects, and reflects work through Dec. 31, 1996.

Significant findings in the study include:

• There is strong evidence that the technologies funded by the ATP are broadly enabling. The companies surveyed already have identified more than 1000 potential applications of the ATP-supported technologies and have developed commercialization plans for nearly 800 of those. (The ATP does not support the commercialization phase of technology development.)
• There is strong evidence that the technologies funded by the ATP are broadly enabling. The companies surveyed already have identified more than 1000 potential applications of the ATP-supported technologies and have developed commercialization plans for nearly 800 of those. (The ATP does not support the commercialization phase of technology development.)
• There is evidence that ATP technologies represent significant innovations rather than incremental improvements. For example, 29 percent of the planned applications for the surveyed projects are expected to have performance improvements of 100 to 500 percent or more.
• As previous studies have found, the ATP enables and accelerates technology development beyond what would occur without the program. Eighty-six percent of ATP-funded organizations indicate they already are ahead in their R&D cycle as a result of ATP funding—and many of the projects had only completed one year. Of those, 39 percent believed they would not have started the project at all without ATP support. Speed-to-market is considered "critical" or "important" for 98 percent of the commercial applications identified, and although these projects are still in the R&D stage, about 15 percent have exploited spin-off opportunities that have generated early revenues. Acceleration in time-to-market by two years or more is anticipated for 62 percent of planned commercial applications.
• The ATP plays a significant role in catalyzing cooperative R&D. For projects that had completed at least one year of work, 78 percent of the organizations surveyed reported that R&D collaborations were helping to achieve project goals, and 85 percent of those said the ATP was responsible for the collaborative effort to a "moderate" or "great" extent.
• The ATP is spurring increased private industry investment in R&D. Study figures indicate that in addition to the ATP funding, the companies surveyed increased their R&D investment in the ATP-funded technology areas by an estimated $200 million over and above what they would have invested without the ATP, approximately a 59 percent increase in industry R&D funding in those areas.

The results are documented in Development, Commercialization, and Diffusion of Enabling Technologies, Progress Report for Projects Funded 1993-1995 (NISTIR 6098), one of a series of evaluation and analysis studies conducted by the ATP. Copies of the report may be obtained from the ATP Economic Assessment Office, (301) 975-2064, or by email to atp [at] nist.gov (atp[at]nist[dot]gov).

As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards.