The Advanced Technology Program Assessing Outcomes (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Summary of Symposium Proceedings
Summary of Symposium Proceedings
Pages 63-82
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From page 63... ...
Long providing a comprehensive, qualitative review of the outcomes of ATP investments, documenting research accomplishments, subsequent work by companies to commercialize the results, and near-term outlooks for the successful companies. This rich summary is exceptional in that it also documents ATP projects that were terminated in the same period, with brief explanations.
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From page 64... ...
Because enabling technologies have the potential to bring enormous benefits to society as a whole. Yet private investors will not Technology: Proposal Review Process and Treatment of Foreign-Owned Businesses, RCED-94-81, Washington, D.C.: U.S.
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From page 65... ...
But, he continued, venture capitalists must be accountable to their investors, who demand a positive and fairly predictable internal rate of return, within a limited period (usually five years or less)
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From page 66... ...
In the discussion that followed these presentations, David Morgenthaler pointed out that venture capitalists tend to specialize in particular areas of technology because they must compete to recruit the best young companies. A record of achievement in the appropriate field can make the difference.
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From page 67... ...
An overview of the ATP's evaluation program can be found in the report summarizing the STEP Board's earlier meeting on the ATP.~29 Measuring Impacts: Direct and Indirect Paths The economic impacts of ATP projects can be measured in several ways, such as productivity gains, new businesses created, employment benefits, increases in gross domestic product (GDP) and improvements in the quality of life.
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From page 68... ...
Integrating "State-of-the-Art" Assessments Economists' "irrational passion for dispassionate rationality," said Irwin Feller, of Pennsylvania State University, leads them to scrutinize dispassionately the impact of dispassionate rationality on public policy making which has often been characterized by passionate irrationality. In reviewing the ATP evaluation process, Dr.
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From page 69... ...
. The ATP has gone beyond the efforts of other programs that have sought to measure direct benefits, by trying to measure indirect or "spillover" benefits.
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Jim Turner, Charlie Trimble, and David Goldston discussed the failure rate of the ATP projects. They agreed that too low a failure rate would suggest that the program was not tackling risky enough projects.
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Not all participants in these joint ventures are necessarily located in one state—many other joint venture participants in a particular state may participate in joint ventures led by organizations in other states. Source: NIST.
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From page 72... ...
Micro and Macro Impacts Mark Ehlen, of the Office of Applied Economics in the NIST Laboratory for Building and Fire Research, presented an ATP-commissioned economic analysis i32 See the paper by Maryann Feldman and Maryellen Kelley, "Leveraging Research and Development: The Impact of the Advanced Technology Program," in this volume.
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From page 73... ...
Advancing Manufacturing Technologies Larry Rhoades, President of Extrude Hone Corporation, the company whose technology was assessed, reviewed his experience of two separate ATP projects, one on Flow Control Machining and another on 3D Printing. Ordinarily the company makes a gradual transition in introducing a new technology, from the complex geometries and difficult materials of the aerospace industry to the highvolume production of the automobile industry, over a period of 10 to 20 years.
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From page 74... ...
His company is a subsidiary of the British firm that made news with Dolly, the cloned sheep. The technology it is developing in the ATP project proved too risky for private investors, and the subsidiary company was on the verge of being closed by the parent company when it discovered and applied successfully to the ATP.
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From page 75... ...
H gingham, A Framework for Estimating the National Economic Benefits of ATP Funding of Medical Technologies: Preliminary Applications to Tissue Engineering Projects Funded from 1990 to 1996, prepared by the Research Triangle Institute for the Advanced Technology Program, NIST GCR 97-737, April 1998.
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From page 76... ...
He urged the audience to consult his recent report "Managing Technical Risk."~37 Rosalie Ruegg replied that the ATP's purpose goes beyond compensating for the "funding gap," insofar as the program is designed to support projects with larger than average spillovers. Todd Watkins picked up that point, suggesting that the ATP should try to identify the common factors of projects that have high spillovers so they can be used in the selection process.~38 Assessing the ATP Assessment Program: Challenges and Policy Issues rl~he study director, Dr.
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ATP William B Bonvillian, Legislative Director and Chief Counsel to Senator Joseph Lieberman, drew the group's attention to the divergent political paths taken by the ATP and MEP.
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Sustaining a "Creation Myth" David Goldston expressed doubt, observing that a basic problem for the program is that it has no sustaining "creation myth" to give it the aura of a national objective. Lewis Branscomb expressed his regret over the loss of the ATP focused programs.
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From page 79... ...
The fact is that the ATP assessments, often conducted by independent economists, many under i42 D Mowery, Using Cooperative Research and Development Agreements as S&T Indicators: What do We Have and What Would We Like?
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From page 80... ...
The program is achieving its technology development goals in the fields of information technology and biotechnology. For example, the assessment program has recorded advances in new processes and procedures for printed wiring boards, the use of gallium arsenide to achieve improvements in integrated circuits, testing and aligning extremely precise coated mirrors, and enhancing data storage capabilities.
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From page 81... ...
Perhaps most instructive was the presentation by David Morgenthaler, who described the inherently different objectives and functions of venture capitalists and the ATP and affirmed the need for more government investments in support of promising technologies of the type undertaken by this program. i45 Recently approved for clinical use by the Food and Drug Administration, the new system represents a significant technological advance in breast cancer detection.
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From page 82... ...
Indeed, as Professor Feller notes, the extensive ATP assessment program has itself led to significant progress in understanding important aspects of the U.S. innovation system and supported the development of methodologies for its analysis.
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