The Advanced Technology Program Assessing Outcomes (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Taking a Step Back: An Early Results Overview of Fifty ATP Awards
Taking a Step Back: An Early Results Overview of Fifty ATP Awards
Pages 259-278
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From page 259... ...
Half of them received awards for their technical accomplishments from outside parties, and more than half of the single-company leaders received outside recognition for their business accomplishments. All of the top performers had collaborative relationships, and attracted private capital for their follow-on commercialization efforts.
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From page 260... ...
In some cases, these projects were strong technically but had not demonstrated robust commercial progress, and, in a few cases, they had produced a technology with commercial strength but had little else to show in the way of sharing knowledge with others a public-interest goal of the program. Portfolio Perspective From a portfolio perspective, the results look strong for the ATP: the estimated net benefits attributed to the program from the top performers of the first 50 completed projects exceed the cost of the entire program to date, suggesting that the program is on track to produce a high return for the nation.
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From page 261... ...
Most of these were funded in ATP' s General Competitions, whereas Focused Program Competitions gave rise to the majority of projects in the larger ATP portfolio. Cost Sharing As Table 2 shows, the ATP funded slightly more than half the $121.5 million of single-applicant total project research costs.4 Joint ventures, though a minority of projects, received about 40 percent of total ATP funding.
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From page 262... ...
· Knowledge creation and dissemination, which is assessed using the following data: recognition by other organizations of a project's technical TABLE 2 ATP Funding, Industry Cost Share and Total Costs of 50 Completed Projects Total ATP Industry ATP Industry Project Share Share of Funding Cost Share Costs of Costs Costs Type of Project ($million) ($millions)
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From page 263... ...
. · Commercialization progress, which is tracked in terms of attraction of additional capital for continued pursuit of project goals, including resources provided by collaborative partners; entering the market with products and services; employment changes at the small-companies leading projects, and other indicators of growth; awards by other organizations for business accomplishments of project leaders; and the analyst's assessment of the future outlook for the technology based on all the information collected.5 Overall project effectiveness.
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From page 264... ...
Future studies may add mini-cases for additional completed projects to this group of 50, also performed several years after completion; and future studies may also update these studies by reviewing the projects' progress over time. PROJECT PERFORMANCE: KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND DISSEMINATION Each of the 50 completed ATP projects targeted a number of specific technical-knowledge discovery goals designed to achieve a new or better way of doing things.9 The knowledge created by each project is the source of its future economic benefit, both for the innovator and for others who acquire the knowledge.
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From page 265... ...
Smithsonian Award, for the use of information technology in the field of , .
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From page 266... ...
Even those projects that were not fully successful in achieving all of their research goals, or those that have not been followed by strong progress in commercialization, have achieved knowledge gains that may eventually prove to be of great value. Here the approach taken to suggest significance is to rely on outside recognition by other organizations that see value in the knowledge, to examine the use of the knowledge by others as signaled by patent citations, and to look downstream to its unfolding value in use.
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From page 267... ...
By following the trail of patent citations in subsequent patents back to the patents granted to the ATP-funded projects, it is possible to construct what looks much like an inverted genealogy tree. The patent trees were constructed under the direction of the project leader, Darin Boville of ATP's Economic Assessment Office.
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From page 268... ...
These workshops facilitate information flows in several directions among ATP award recipients and from them to other companies, ATP project managers, other government program managers, the press, potential investors, and universities. The ATP also makes project information available on its internet web site (http://www.atp.nist)
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From page 269... ...
Real Commercial Products Whether or not widespread diffusion of a technology ultimately results from commercial activities of award recipients remains to be seen in most cases, but it is highly significant that products and processes are actually on the market. This is an extremely important step for the eventual generation of broad-based economic benefits from the new technical capabilities.
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From page 270... ...
, a consulting firm in North Carolina.~5 RTI economists provided early estimates of the value of a new biopolymer to repair fractures, developed by Integra LifeSciences, a system for replicating stem cells, developed by Aastrom Biosciences, Inc., and a new prosthesis material animal-derived extra-cellular matrix, or ADMAT, developed by my- TO · · T ssue ~nglneenng, 1nc. 13 Employment changes in joint ventures, larger companies, and non-profit organizations are less closely tied to the success of individual research projects, and, their employment was not tracked.
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From page 271... ...
Pending FDA approval, patients are positioned to benefit in terms of complications and further surgeries avoided, as well as from lower surgical costs. Stem Cell Expansion Because of the difficulty of estimating the value of patient pain reduction and improved health outcomes, the RTI study also based the benefits estimates for Aastrom's stem cell expansion technology only on the reduction in procedure cost, although these former effects are the main expected feature of this technology.
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From page 272... ...
Printed Wiring Board Another of the top performing projects is a joint venture led by the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) to develop a suite of advanced technologies for producing printed wiring boards (PWBs)
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From page 273... ...
High-Temperature Superconducting Wire American Superconductor Corporation, who led another of the top performing projects, is producing high-temperature superconducting wire for use by electric utilities and as a component in motors, transformers, and specialty magnets to reduce their energy consumption. With an estimated sales volume of $15 million in 2000, and a rapid sales growth rate, this small company is commercializing its technology.
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From page 274... ...
A study by the CONSAD Research Corporation attributed economywide benefits of about $3 billion in the year 2000 to the project.23 wand Better Enzymes Another example is provided by a project led by Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, which is credited with accelerating development of an enzyme important to the speed of the human genome project where timing is of enormous significance. To these examples, we can also add a number of other promising technologies technologies that may improve productivity, facilitate better weather forecasts, improve communications, enable new drug discovery, reduce energy costs, and lower loss of limb and life globally by improving detection of old land mines and toxins.
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24 The tests of success are taken from a presentation by Rosalie T Ruegg before the National Grants Management Association's Annual Conference, Federal Bar Association Panel, 4 April 2000.
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From page 276... ...
1997. Advanced Technology Program Case Study: The Development of Advanced Technologies and Systems for Controlling Dimensional Variation in Automobile Body Manufacturing.
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From page 277... ...
2000. Presentation before the National Grants Management Association's Annual Conference, Federal Bar Association Panel.
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