Strategic Goal 2

Foster science and technological leadership by protecting intellectual property (IP), enhancing technical standards, and advancing measurement science

STRATEGIC GOAL 2 TOTAL RESOURCES
(Dollars in Millions)

	FY 2000	FY 2001	FY 2002	FY 2003	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006	FY 2007
Fiscal Dollars	$1,912.6	$1,945.0	$2,109.2	$2,241.3	$2,147.5	$2,456.8	$2,719.2	$3,803.5
FTE – Full-Time Equivalent	9,578	9,575	10,068	10,074	10,005	10,022	10,590	11,457

STRATEGIC GOAL 2 PERFORMANCE RESULTS

Rating	Number of Reported Results
	FY 2000	FY 2001	FY 2002	FY 2003	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006	FY 2007
Exceeded Target	1	2	1	9	11	8	9	12
Met Target	12	11	19	20	24	24	28	27
Slightly Below Target	5	2	0	1	2	0	2	1
Did Not Meet Target	5	8	10	11	7	4	0	1
See Appendix A: Performance and Resource Tables for individual reported results.

Working with U.S. industry to develop and apply technology, measurements, and standards, the Department is focused on providing the infrastructure necessary to develop innovative breakthroughs and new technologies vital to the Nation’s long-term economic growth.

The Department’s laboratories provide the measurement science and standards capabilities needed by industry to continually develop new and improved products and services and enhance quality of life. Over 400 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) staff members participate in more than 105 standards development organizations each year, and NIST sells more than 30,000 Standard Reference Materials (SRM) and 5,000 Standard Reference Databases annually. The Department’s measurement and standards work addresses a significant portion of the Nation’s modern technology-based economy, from the automotive to the biotechnology sector, from basic materials and manufacturing to information technology (IT), and from companies with a handful of employees to the largest firms along with universities and other government agencies.

Intellectual property (IP) is a potent force in, and a fundamental component of, the global economy. The Department strives to preserve the Nation’s competitive edge by protecting IP and encouraging technological innovation. In market-driven economic systems, innovation provides a catalyst for economic prosperity through the accumulation of scientific knowledge; introduction of new products and services; and improvements in the productivity levels of land, labor, and capital resources.

Some of the FY 2007 accomplishments include:

• Radiation monitoring. NIST established a new voluntary accreditation program for the laboratories that test radiation detection equipment used by first responders. The new program will help ensure that laboratories testing a wide variety of new radiation detection instruments produce comparable results, allowing homeland security personnel to better assess the best products for each application. From personal radiation detectors the size of pagers to units large enough to scan trucks and trains, emergency responders can choose from a wide variety of radiation detection equipment for homeland security applications. To make informed decisions when buying equipment, they must have confidence that instrument test results from different laboratories are comparable. The new NIST program, developed with support from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), offers laboratories the opportunity to be accredited for their ability to test radiation detection equipment in conformance with recognized industry standards. The new service is part of NIST’s National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP).
• Supporting innovation in industry. The NIST Advanced Technology Program (ATP) was created to encourage industry investment in longer-term, high-risk research with broad economic and social payoffs for the Nation. Through cost-sharing awards, ATP accelerates the development of early-stage, innovative technologies, helping industry raise its competitive potential while providing Americans with a higher standard of living. Under the FY 2007 Continuing Appropriations Resolution, Congress provided ATP with $79 million to fund a competition for new research and development (R&D) projects. ATP announced the competition on April 4, 2007, and made 56 awards in FY 2007.
• Secure communication.  NIST researchers have built a prototype high-speed quantum key distribution (QKD) system, based on a new detector system that achieves dramatically lower noise levels than similar systems. The new system, they say, can perform a theoretically unbreakable “one-time pad” encryption, transmission, and decryption of a video signal in real-time over a distance of at least 10 kilometers. Key distribution—the problem of ensuring that both the sender and receiver of an encrypted message (and no one else) share the same long string of random digits (the so-called “key”) used to encode and decode the message—has always been one of the most important challenges in cryptography. Since the 1980’s it’s been recognized that the unique properties of quantum mechanics—the fact that certain measurements cannot be made without altering the thing measured—offered the possibility of a system that could transmit as long a key as desired between two parties with no chance that it could be copied undetectably by a third party. The NIST QKD system won an R&D 100 award from Research and Development Magazine.

The Department has demonstrated successful progress under this strategic goal. Bureaus with programs supporting this strategic goal include NIST, the National Technical Information Service (NTIS); the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

SUMMARY OF STRATEGIC GOAL 2 PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

PERFORMANCE OUTCOME	TARGETS MET OR EXCEEDED
Promote innovation, facilitate trade, and ensure public safety and security by strengthening the Nation’s measurements and standards infrastructure (NIST)	6 of 6
Accelerate private investment in and development of high-risk, broad-impact technologies (NIST)	2 of 3
Raise the productivity and competitiveness of small manufacturers (NIST)	4 of 4
Enhance public access to worldwide scientific and technical information through improved acquisition and dissemination activities (NTIS)	3 of 3
Optimize patent quality and timeliness (USPTO)	6 of 7
Optimize trademark quality and timeliness (USPTO)	8 of 8
Improve intellectual property protection and enforcement domestically and abroad (USPTO)	3 of 3
Ensure that the allocation of radio spectrum provides the greatest benefit to all people (NTIA)	5 of 5
Promote the availability, and support new sources, of advanced telecommunications and information services (NTIA)	2 of 2