A quality management tool that a small business credits with helping it increase sales by 35 percent in 1994.

These examples of real benefits from the programs of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) represent the kinds of initial returns that federal taxpayers will earn on the dollars they are investing in the agency this year. Allocating funds among its four industry-driven programs, NIST aims to deliver the biggest economic bang for the buck out of the entire $70 billion of the federal R&D budget. Ultimately, returns will be realized in new jobs and companies, productivity growth, increases in sales, new markets, gains in market share, and other economic benefits that, together, are the reasons for NIST's existence. These are the kinds of impacts expected from an agency that has the straightforward and unique mission of promoting economic growth by providing part of the basic technical infrastructure needed by U.S. industry. To satisfy taxpayers' expectations of economic benefits, NIST first must deliver useful results to its primary customers: U.S. companies. After all, U.S. industry, not government, drives economic growth by transforming technology into the products and services that generate jobs and profitsreturns that improve the nation's standard of living. In tackling with industry key tasks that companies cannot accomplish on their own, NIST provides timely, indispensable support that com

panies themselves fashion into competitive advantages-new or more reliable processes, innovative products and services, new R&D capabilities. shorter product-development cycles, and improvements in quality.

NIST and its parent organization, the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, know that by being a strong partner to U.S. industry, we can leverage the taxpayers' investment and make the most of NIST's one percent share of federal R&D expenditures. To be sure, many factors determine a nation's industrial competitiveness, from the business climate and international trade practices to the skill levels of the workforce. But of all these factors, technology is the most dynamicand volatile. Each new technology creates an opportunity to change the terms of competition. By helping industry surmount technical risks and obstacles as it pioneers, develops, and implements new technologies, NIST improves the prospects that our nation will be both the source and beneficiary of technological opportunities.

This report describes how NIST delivers results that translate into competitive advantages for individual companies and entire industrial sectorsand, ultimately, into benefits for the U.S. economy. It relates representative examples of realized and anticipated returns on activities in each NIST program. For our newer and longer-term efforts, early-stage indicators of progress toward economic benefits are presented. This document follows our earlier report that described how U.S. industry's priorities drive the content of NIST's programs and how the agency evaluates its efforts. We welcome your ideas on how we can deliver even greater value to our customers and even better returns to our investors.

Arati Prabhakar

Arati Prabhakar Director, NIST

Mary L Gord

Mary Good

Under Secretary for Technology, DOC

No more essential aid could be given to manufacturing, commerce, the makers of scientific apparatus, the scientific work of Government, of schools, colleges, and universities than by the establishment of the institution proposed in this bill. H.R. 1452, 56th Congress, 1st Session, May 14, 1900

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Nearly a century after its founding, the National Institute of Standards and Technology continues to fulfill the terms of its creation: Providing science and technical support fundamental

to the success of U.S. industry and of the entire technical community. Over the last several years, however, changing, ever more competitive global economic conditions and the ceaseless advance of technology have added significantly to the importance of the agency's activities, and NIST's programs have evolved in response.

The agency's unique core mission-promoting U.S. economic growth by working with industry to develop technology, measurements, and standards-marks a clear path for all of its programs. NIST focuses on jobs vital to the technology infrastructure. With partners in industry, government, and academia, it concentrates on developing the tools and bedrock capabilities essential to the nation's scientific and technological competitiveness—a cornerstone of the country's economic future. These are technology jobs that neither government nor industry can accomplish separately. Companies do not undertake these tasks on their own because they cannot capture the broad-based benefits that will accrue to the larger economy or because the time frame is too long and the risks are too great. While industry's priorities guide NIST's work, the agency makes certain that its efforts will yield results that constitute necessary—and otherwise unattainable— contributions to the nation's technology infrastructure. These efforts enable, extend, or com

plement private-sector efforts. They do not replace or substitute for work best done by industry.

This report is an update on how NIST is carrying out its mission. Examples are illustrative, intended to allow readers to assess the roles, objectives, and progress of the agency's four major programs. Striving to achieve the maximum return on taxpayer dollars, NIST recognizes that there is always room-and opportunity-for improvement and welcomes suggestions.

Advanced Technology Program

competitive, cost-shared program, the Advanced Technology Program provides a

technological reach and pushing the envelope of what can be accomplished in today's fiercely competitive global marketplace. For U.S. citizens, the real payoff-and the young program's primary objective--is the economic growth fueled by the introduction of future products and industrial processes based on ATP-sponsored research.

The ATP invests only in pre-product technology development, requiring companies to invest additional resources and effort in refining and commercializing the technology. Because the program is only a few years old, full economic impacts will not be realized for several years. Already, however, there is encouraging evidence that the ATP is fostering research efforts with the potential to deliver a sizable return on the federal investment. For example, the ATP is:

■ Fostering important technology developments. Examples include new processes leading to higher-quality, lower-cost optoelectronic devices; a 50-percent reduction in the size of nonvolatile memory chips; and a prototype technology with the potential to protect the nation's supply of blood and blood products from viruses.

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