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NIST
Tutorial
NIST Background
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is a non-regulatory
federal agency that works to develop measurement, standards and technology
that will facilitate trade and improve quality of life. It lies within
the US Commerce Department's Technology Administration.
ATP differs from other government R&D programs because it focuses
on the technology needs of American industry, not of the government.
More than half of the ATP awards have gone to individual small businesses
or joint ventures led by small businesses. ATP also funds larger companies,
but they must pay at least half of the project costs.
The organization has four primary programs:
NIST Laboratories - provide technical support for components of
the nation's infrastructure.
Outreach - program associated with the Baldrige National Quality
Program that recognizes business excellence in US manufacturers,
health care providers and educational organizations.
Manufacturing Extension Program - network of local centers offering
technical and business assistance to small manufacturers nationwide.
Advanced Technology Program - R&D partnership with the private
sector. For-profit companies and industry-led joint ventures are
eligible for ATP funding.
Advanced
Technology Program (ATP)
ATP, the division that is working with Semiconductor Equipment and
Materials International (SEMI), reviews high-risk, high-payoff proposals
from various technology areas including aircraft manufacturing, computer
hardware, energy conversion, optics and photonics, polymers synthesis
& polymer fabrication (among others). ATP's work is grouped into
four main categories:
Chemistry and life sciences
Electronics and photonics technology
Information technology and applications
Economic Assessment Office
ATP has awarded funding to 468 projects since its inception. Several
examples include:
3M - helped 3M develop components for a healthcare information infrastructure
that takes patient data, integrates it with decision support and knowledge
base, and presents it to the appropriate users. The system will initially
focus on the healthcare industry but could also be used for applications
such as records management, electronics and images/video. 3M is commercializing
the system.
Honeywell and AMD (with SEMATECH) - co-funded the design of advanced
process control (APC) technology for the semiconductor industry. The
software detects and classifies faults. In addition it adapts processing
as needed from one run to the next (using fault information) to help
increase process consistency and yield. The result ing product is
a universal toolset that can be developed across process areas and
factories with minimal custom integration.
Sarnoff Corporation - collaboration that has produced components
to accelerate the adoption of HDTV by US broadcasters. Components
include software tools for broadcast signal processing, solutions
for interoperability among various networks and a system to reduce
HDTV image sizes.
Other programs involve companies including Utah Health Informatics,
Vitria Technology, Texas Instruments, SAGE Electrochromics, National
Center for Manufacturing Sciences and MicroFab Technologies (among
others).
Additional
sources of information*
www.nist.gov
*The WAVE Report is
not responsible for content on additional sites 10/18/01 |
