ATP Speeds Technology Development, Study Shows

The Commerce Dept.'s Advanced Technology Program (ATP), which has survived efforts in the last two Congresses to make deep budget cuts, is having a significant impact in speeding technology development, indicates a new study of early ATP award winners. Conducted by an outside consultant commissioned by the department, the study covered 28 project teams funded by ATP in 1991. Twenty-seven of the teams (96%) estimated that their participation in ATP has helped their companies reduce their technology-development cycle time from 30% to 66%, with more than half estimating a 50% reduction. Estimates of the savings ranged from $1 million to several billion dollars for a single year of time saved. Managed by Commerce's National Institute of Standards & Technology, ATP provides funding on a cost-shared basis to industry to carry out high-risk R&D projects of potentially high-payoff technology.