Final ATP Awards

The Advanced Technology Program, a Commerce Department grant program administered by the National Institute of Standards & Technology, has created 56 new awards for industrial research. These will be the final awards under ATP as the program was abolished by the 2007 America Competes Act, signed into law on Aug. 9. Only ongoing ATP projects and the 2007 competition will continue to be funded under the law. If all of the new projects are carried to completion, the new awards total $138.7 million in ATP funds and an additional $104 million in matching funds from industry. The funds will go to 69 companies and a nonprofit organization; 48 projects will be led by small businesses. ATP has provided cost-shared research support for high-risk industrial projects since 1990, but it has been heavily criticized by members of Congress over the years as providing wealthy businesses and corporations with unneeded federal funding. More information and brief descriptions of the new ATP projects can be found at www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/atp_2007_awards.html.