Exactly where would you spend taxpayer money if you were ordered by Congress to invest in R&D critical to the nation’s future but you had only $8 million?
That’s the situation that faces Marc Stanley, who directs the Technology Innovation Program, a new cost-shared grants office housed in NIST. TIP replaces the 18-year-old Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and, like its predecessor, is meant to assist in the commercialization of high-payoff technologies that are considered too risky to attract private capital. Created by last year’s America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Act, TIP has been given the added mission of steering its investments into “areas of critical national need.” NIST has since identified seven such areas: water, energy, manufacturing, civil infrastructure, personalized medicine, communications, and complex networks.
It’s a tall order for a few million bucks. But dozens of ATP reviews and case studies...
