ATP Grants Given

NIST has granted 40 awards through its Advanced Technology Program (ATP) that could total up to $101.6 million in funding to private companies over several years. The ATP awards are intended to help high-risk industrial R&D projects that have the potential to significantly help the US economy, but are too risky to receive full industry funding.

For the entire $101.6 million to be granted, the companies involved would have to contribute $92 million in shared costs. The awards are made on the basis of “rigorous competitive peer review considering scientific and technical merit,” according to NIST The 40 awards are the first of what is expected to be three sets of grants funded with fiscal year 2002 money.

Republican members of Congress have tried for several years to kill the program; they contend that the federal government shouldn’t selectively choose and support some private companies over others in a competitive marketplace. Supporters of the program assert that it stimulates the development of critical leading-edge technology that otherwise might not be developed. The current awards cover research in biometrics, biotechnology, medical therapeutics, materials processing, and nano-technology.