Strategic Objective 2.1

Develop tools and capabilities that improve the productivity, quality, dissemination, and efficiency of research

The Department works with U.S. industry and other stakeholders to maximize technology’s contribution to U.S. economic growth. The Department fulfills its broad responsibilities and works to foster science and technological leadership by promoting new models of technology transfer and research and development (R&D) collaboration, identifying problems and barriers to innovation, enhancing technical standards, advancing measurement science, and making scientific and technical information available to other agencies and the public.

Among its activities, TA accomplished the following in FY 2005:

• Issued Standard for Employee and Contractor Identity Verification. In February 2005, Secretary Gutierrez approved a new standard for a smartcard-based form of identification for all federal government departments and agencies to issue to their employees and contractors requiring access to federal facilities and systems. The new standard will enable federal agencies to issue more secure and reliable forms of identification to better protect federal assets against threats such as terrorist attacks. It also will help safeguard against other risks such as identity theft. The Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) worked closely with other federal agencies, including the Office of Management and Budget (OMB); the Office of Science and Technology Policy; and the Departments of Defense, State, Justice, and Homeland Security; as well as private industry to develop the standard called for by President Bush in Homeland Security Presidential Directive #12. Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS 201), “Personal Identity Verification of Federal Employees and Contractors,” also reflects comments received from more than 80 organizations and individuals.
• Advanced Research Toward More Powerful Computers. Researchers at NIST made several advances that could help make powerful quantum computers a reality. They developed a practical method for automatically correcting data-handling errors in quantum computers, took an important step toward the possible use of “artificial atoms” made with superconducting materials for storing and processing data, and proposed a quantum computing architecture that could produce reliable results even if its components performed no better than today’s best first-generation prototypes. With much more processing power than a conventional computer for some problems, quantum computers might be used to break today’s best encryption codes, optimize complex systems such as airline schedules, accelerate database searching, develop novel products such as fraud-proof digital signatures, or simulate complex biological systems for use in drug design.
• Developed Atom-Based Standards for Measuring Chip Features Under 50 Nanometers (nm). A team of physicists, engineers, and statisticians at NIST, SEMATECH, and other collaborators developed new test structures to measure reliably device features on computer chips as small as 40 nm wide—less than one-thousandth the width of a human hair. The new test structures provide standard “rulers” for measuring the narrowest linear features that can be controllably etched into a chip. The test structures are replicated on reference materials that will allow better calibration of tools that monitor the manufacturing of microprocessors and similar integrated circuits.

SUMMARY OF STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2.1 PERFORMANCE GOALS

PERFORMANCE GOAL	STATUS*
Promote innovation, facilitate trade, ensure public safety and security, and help create jobs by strengthening the nation’s measurements and standards infrastructure (TA/NIST)
Accelerate private investment in and development of high-risk, broad-impact technologies (TA/NIST)
Raise the productivity and competitiveness of small manufacturers (TA/NIST)
Enhance public access to worldwide scientific and technical information through improved acquisition and dissemination activities (TA/NTIS)
* = Met (100%) = Significantly Met (75% - 99%) = Not Met (<75%) (back)

Performance Goal: Promote innovation, facilitate trade, ensure public safety and security, and help create jobs by strengthening the nation’s measurements and standards infrastructure (TA/NIST)

The nation’s ability to innovate, grow, and create high value jobs relies on a robust scientific and technical infrastructure, including research, measurement tools, standards, data, and models. The NIST Laboratories develop and disseminate measurement techniques, reference data and materials, test methods, standards, and other infrastructural technologies and services required by U.S industry to compete in the 21st century.

Progress on this goal is evaluated using an appropriate mix of specific output tracking, peer review, and economic impact analyses. Together, these evaluation tools, combined with continual feedback from customers provide a detailed and broad view of performance toward this long-term goal. Additional information on these evaluation methods is available at:
http://www.nist.gov/director/planning/strategicplanning.htm

Specific achievements of this performance goal are described below:

• Technical publications represent one of the major mechanisms NIST uses to transfer the results of its research to support the technical infrastructure and provide measurements and standards—vital components of leading-edge research and innovation—to those in industry, academia, and other government agencies. Each year NIST technical staff author a total of 2,000-2,200 publications with most appearing in prestigious scientific peer-reviewed journals. In FY 2005, NIST staff authored 1,148 publications in peer-reviewed journals. One recent publication highlighted an improved method for depositing nanoporous conducting polymer films on miniaturized device features. The method may be useful as a general technique for reproducibly fabricating microdevices such as sensors for detecting toxic chemicals.
• Standard Reference Materials (SRM) are the definitive source of measurement traceability in the United States; all measurements using SRMs can be traced to a common and recognized set of basic standards that provides the basis for compatibility of measurements among different laboratories. SRMs certified by the NIST Laboratories are used by customers to achieve measurement quality and conformance to process requirements that address both national and international needs for commerce, trade, public safety, and health. In FY 2005, NIST sold 32,163 SRMs and developed several new ones. One recently issued SRM will help clinical genetic labs improve the accuracy of their diagnostic tests for Fragile X Syndrome, the most common cause of hereditary mental retardation. NIST’s SRM 2399, Fragile X Human DNA Triplet Repeat Standard, can be used as a check on test procedures and for quality control when testing for the genetic mutation that affects approximately one in 3,600 males and one in 4,000-6,000 females.
• Online data represent another method NIST uses to deliver measurement and standards tools, data, and information. NIST provides online access to more than 80 scientific and technical databases covering a broad range of substances and properties from a variety of scientific disciplines. These technical databases are heavily used by industry, academia, other government agencies, and the general public with more than 70,000,000 estimated downloads in FY 2005. The NIST HIV Structural Reference Database (HIVSDB) launched in the summer of 2004 has become one of the Institute’s most popular data services. An information resource for the HIV research community, the HIVSDB collects, annotates, archives, and distributes structural data for proteins involved in making HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, as well as molecules that inhibit the virus. The database is useful in developing new AIDS inhibitors by facilitating the online comparison of the existing hundreds of AIDS inhibitors on the basis of their ability to attack specific locations in the active site of the AIDS enzyme (HIV protease).
• Today’s global marketplace demands rapidly conducted, highly accurate, and efficiently delivered measurements. NIST measurement services, including calibration services, are critical for ensuring product performance and quality, improving production processes, making marketplace transactions fair and efficient, and leveling the playing field for international trade. NIST calibration services provide the customer with direct traceability to national and international primary standards. NIST offers more than 500 different types of physical calibrations in areas as diverse as radiance temperature, surface finish characterization, and impedance; in FY 2005, NIST calibrated 3,145 items.

Accomplishments and applicable quantitative data used to evaluate progress on this long-term performance goal are reviewed quarterly. Quantitative data are collected and reported by NIST’s Technology Services Division.

The research and measurement standards work of the NIST Laboratory Programs is evaluated annually by the National Research Council (NRC). The external and independent evaluation combined with several quantitative evaluation metrics focused on dissemination of NIST’s measurements and standards work demonstrate the laboratories’ contribution to the nation’s measurement and standards infrastructure.

In FY 2005, the NRC Board on Assessment (BOA) conducted a series of laboratory reviews focused on:

• The technical quality and merit of the laboratory programs relative to the state-of-the-art worldwide.
• The effectiveness with which the laboratory programs are carried out and the results disseminated to customers.
• The relevance of the laboratory programs to the needs of customers.
• The ability of the laboratories’ facilities, equipment, and human resources to enable the laboratories to fulfill their mission and meet customers’ needs.

The NRC BOA conducts on-site annual reviews and produces a biennial report that includes findings over the two-year evaluation period. The biennial reporting process allows additional focus on the technical exchange between NIST staff and the reviewers as well as increased interactions among external reviewers. The 2004-2005 assessment report will be available online at http://www7.nationalacademies.org/nist/ in the fall of 2005.

In addition to the peer-review process, the programmatic goals, strategic direction, and management policies of NIST as a whole, including each of its major programs, are reviewed regularly by the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT). The VCAT is a legislatively mandated panel of external advisors that meets quarterly to review NIST’s general policy, organization, budget, and programs. See http://www.nist.gov/director/vcat/index.htm for additional information on the VCAT, including its most recent annual report.

Performance Goal: Accelerate private investment in and development of high-risk, broad-impact technologies (TA/NIST)

Technological innovation in U.S. industry is critical to sustaining U.S. economic growth and competitiveness, and this growth depends upon investment in long-term, high-risk research. Through the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), the federal government provides the initial investments necessary to promote the development of risky, early-stage technologies that are critical to technological innovation and widespread economic benefit.

From the beginning, evaluation has been a central part of ATP. The Program uses a variety of methods, including internal assessments, external program, and economic impact studies reviews to assess and evaluate the program. Additional information on ATP’s evaluation methods is available at: http://www.atp.nist.gov/eao/eao_main.htm.

Specific achievements of this performance goal are described below:

• Publications and patents represent major channels for the diffusion of technical knowledge that results from ATP investment in the development of new technologies. With more than 1,400 cumulative publications and more than 1,200 cumulative patents (through FY 2004), ATP-funded research continues to generate technical knowledge and disseminate research results that contribute to the nation’s technical knowledge base.
• The number of ATP-funded projects with technologies under commercializaton is an indication of the extent to which ATP-funded research has either leveraged or catalyzed new products and services, which in turn improve the prospects for technology-led economic growth. Commercialization is broadly defined as any group of activities undertaken to bring products, services, and processes into commercial applications, including development of commercial prototypes, adoption of processes for in-house production, development of spin-off products and processes, and the sale and licensing of products and services derived from the technology base created by the ATP-funded project. Almost 300 ATP projects have technologies under commercialization (through FY 2004).

These data, along with other programmatic accomplishments, are used to evaluate progress on this long-term performance goal. Data are gathered from the portfolio of ATP project participants through ATP’s Business Reporting System (BRS). BRS reports are reviewed by ATP’s Economic Assessment Office and the individual project managers overseeing the ATP project.

The programmatic objectives and management of ATP are reviewed regularly by the VCAT and by the ATP Advisory Committee. The ATP Advisory Committee is charged with: (1) providing advice on ATP programs, plans, and policies; (2) reviewing ATP’s efforts to assess the economic impact of the program; (3) reporting on the general health of the program and its effectiveness in achieving its legislatively mandated mission; and (4) functioning solely as an advisory body, in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). Additional information on the ATP Advisory Committee, including recent annual reports, is available at http://www.atp.nist.gov/adv_com/ac_menu.htm.

Performance Goal: Raise the productivity and competitiveness of small manufacturers (TA/NIST)

The most significant challenge facing U.S. manufacturers continues to be coping with accelerating technological change and global competition. The firms that succeed will be those best able to manage the complexity and rapid change affecting all aspects of the manufacturing enterprise. Through the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program’s nationwide network of manufacturing centers, which are linked to state, university, community college, and private sources of technology and expertise, the nation’s small and medium-sized manufacturers are supplied with high-quality, unbiased information, advice, and business assistance.

MEP clients receive training, technical, and business assistance through interactions ranging from informational seminars and training classes to in-depth technical assistance in areas such as lean implementation, ISO 9000, quality improvement practices, human resources and organizational development, and industrial marketing.

Specific achievements of this performance goal are described below:

• MEP’s nationwide network of manufacturing assistance centers work at the grassroots level with each center providing their local manufacturers with expertise and services tailored to their most critical needs. In FY 2004, MEP centers provided services to 16,090 clients.
• Through an annual survey of clients, the Program receives quantifiable impacts of MEP services on its clients’ bottom line. MEP demonstrates the impact of its services on three key quantitative business indicators that, as a set, suggest the presence of business changes that are positively associated with productivity, revenue growth, and improved competitiveness: (1) increased sales attributed to MEP assistance; (2) increased capital investment attributed to MEP assistance; and (3) cost savings attributed to MEP assistance. The most recent survey results from services provided in FY 2004 show increased sales of $2,025 million, increased capital investment of $1,023 million, and cost savings of $754 million all attributed to the services received from MEP centers.

MEP’s data collection process is designed to obtain actual client impacts and, as a result, client survey data lag by approximately one year. The survey process, coupled with the time line for producing the Performance and Accountability Report (PAR), precludes the reporting of actual FY 2004 data. The data reported in the PAR represent a combination of three-quarters of actual client reported impacts and one-quarter of estimated client impacts. The estimate is based on the final quarter of FY 2003 survey data and has been adjusted to reflect the number of clients anticipated in the final FY 2004 survey quarter. Final FY 2004 data will be available in December 2005.

These data, along with other programmatic accomplishments, are used to evaluate progress on this long-term performance goal. MEP’s Client Impact Survey is administered by a private firm. Each quarter, data are reviewed by NIST MEP staff and Center staff. Based on defined criteria, impacts are selected by NIST MEP for confirmation and verification by Center staff.

As with other NIST programs, the programmatic objectives and management of MEP are reviewed regularly by the VCAT and MEP’s National Advisory Board, which was established by the Secretary of Commerce in October 1996. The Board meets three times a year to: (1) provide advice on MEP programs, plans, and policies; (2) assess the soundness of MEP plans and strategies; (3) assess current performance against MEP program plans; and (4) function solely in an advisory capacity, and in accordance with the provisions of FACA. Additional information on MEP’s National Advisory Board, including its most recent annual report, is available at http://www.mep.nist.gov/about-mep/advisory-board.html#annualreport.

Performance Goal: Enhance public access to worldwide scientific and technical information through improved acquisition and dissemination activities (TA/NTIS)

Bringing scientific and technical information to U.S. business and industry.

NTIS, a component of TA, seeks to promote innovation and economic growth for U.S. business by: (1) collecting, classifying, coordinating, integrating, recording, and cataloging scientific and technical information from whatever sources, foreign and domestic; (2) disseminating this information to the public; and (3) providing information management services to other federal agencies that help them interact with and better serve the information needs of their own constituents, and to accomplish this without appropriated funds.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) contracted with KPMG LLP to audit NTIS’s FY 2004 Financial Statements, to release a report (FSD-16698-5-0001) on November 8, 2004 indicating that NTIS established an internal control structure that facilitated the preparation of reliable financial and performance information. OIG issued an unqualified opinion.

STRATEGIES AND FUTURE PLANS

NIST uses a variety of methods, including hosting conferences and workshops, participating on standards committees, and ongoing interactions with trade organizations to interact with and assess the needs of its diverse customers. NIST hosted a number of conferences and workshops in FY 2005 ranging from telecommunications to biometrics to quantum communications. Through these types of engagements, NIST, working with its customers, assesses next-generation infrastructural needs. In addition, NIST is leading a comprehensive assessment of the U.S. measurement system. Through this private-public partnership, priority measurement needs from across industry and the economy will be identified, along with potential solutions and viable solutions providers.

Broader stakeholder input is critical to the development of a strategic plan for the next generation MEP that clearly integrates the impact of globalization and the roles that both innovation and technology deployment play in the competitiveness of the nation’s small manufacturers. MEP’s planning process is increasingly based on input from a stakeholder list that includes small manufacturers; state representatives; economic development partners; manufacturing related associations; interested universities, community colleges, center managers and professional staff; as well as national stakeholders in the Departments of Commerce, Labor, and Defense, legislators and members of the Administration. This broader input will provide a more complete understanding of manufacturing needs, the manufacturing infrastructure in which the MEP centers operate, and the priorities of the broader community.

In FY 2005, there was no funding appropriated for a new competition for ATP awards. The President’s FY 2006 budget proposal includes no funding for ATP due to higher priority needs. However, ATP will continue to assess and respond to the needs of its existing award recipients through surveys, outreach efforts, and workshops throughout the life of ATP-funded projects.

Based on current results, NTIS is developing a new strategic plan in an effort to meet most efficiently the challenge of permanent preservation of and ready access to the taxpayers’ investment in R&D through the acquisition, organization, and preservation of the titles added annually to the permanent collection. Initiatives to use technologically advanced global e-commerce channels for dissemination have been a major success, thus providing the U.S. public with increased access to government information. Because NTIS offers the NTIS bibliographic database (from 1990 to the present) via the Internet free of charge, users can now download any item in the NTIS collection that is in electronic format for a low fee. This is one accomplishment supporting this initiative.

Consistent with its statutory mandate to develop new methods for disseminating information and to focus on electronic means, NTIS will continue to look for opportunities to develop electronic subscription products and harness the Internet as a means of providing information dissemination services to other agencies, such as providing a platform to meet e-learning needs.

The U.S. technology sector operates in a dynamic global environment that has changed radically since the end of the Cold War. The emergence and the strength of new economies in countries such as China and India, as well as the dramatic increase in the pace of innovation around the world, have resulted in a transformation of the technological and competitive landscape for the U.S. technology sector. The results are newer, larger global market opportunities, and more and stronger global competitors. Because the United States cannot generally compete in the area of low-cost manufacturing and labor, technological innovation will remain a key differentiator for the United States. OTP will continue to work to identify barriers to and foster the U.S. technological innovation process for rapid development, deployment, and commercialization of new and emerging technologies with broad economic and social potential.

To address these priorities and fulfill its mission, OTP engages and works with industry, Commerce bureaus and federal agencies, and other stakeholders in the innovation community to help maximize the contribution of technological innovation to the growth of the U.S. economy. Through its analytical policy focus, OTP helps frame and explore key issues related to emerging technologies, the innovation infrastructure, technology transfer, general business climate, economic security, and market opportunities that affect our nation’s innovative capacity, competitiveness, and economic growth. OTP identifies problems and barriers to technological innovation, promotes new models of technology transfer and research and development collaborations, offers policy recommendations to address challenges posed by technological change, and examines other concerns related to technological innovation. By engaging key stakeholders in dialogue and through rigorous analysis of collected data and information, OTP provides new knowledge and intelligence about the innovative capacity of U.S. firms and workers that inform the actions of the Secretary of Commerce, policymakers, and stakeholders.

Analytical findings are delivered and disseminated through a variety of media and products, including congressional testimony, briefings, reports, and the OTP Web site; advocacy in the federal interagency policy process and appropriate international fora; workshops and conferences; and other channels. Through the dissemination of OTP’s analysis, U.S. policymakers, leaders, and decisionmakers are provided with increased knowledge and a deeper understanding of trends and policy implications brought about by rapid advancement of new and emerging technologies and the globalization of technological innovation. OTP’s portfolio of policy work adapts and evolves in alignment with the dynamic, fast-paced, and increasingly more technology-driven, knowledge-based global economy.

CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE

The role of technological change in generating economic growth, wealth, and jobs has taken center stage in the 21st century global and increasingly knowledge-based economy. Globalization and the integration of the world’s national economies have accelerated through advancements in communications and transportation and the liberalization of commercial policy and free trade agreements. Rising competitors including China, India, Russia, and Central and Eastern European countries have large and rapidly growing pools of skilled and educated workers. These and other countries have come to recognize the strong relationship between technology, knowledge, and economic growth, and they are pursuing policies and strategies to exploit this relationship by increasing R&D investments; establishing the necessary infrastructure to support technological innovation and modern business enterprise; training millions of workers in science, engineering, and technical skills; fostering a climate that promotes and rewards talent and creativity; and attracting global investment in technology-related industries. In addition to establishing a science and technology base, many of these nations will develop the management capabilities to exploit new technologies for their own benefit. This growing globalization and increasingly competitive playing field have significant implications for U.S. technological leadership and the economic growth and jobs it generates; the location of R&D and high-tech manufacturing; competition for high-skilled workers; and the climate for attracting global investment.

Added to this complexity is the appearance of new and emerging technologies (e.g., biotechnology, radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, nanoscale technologies, advanced computing and telecommunication technologies, alternative energy and power generation technologies, and advanced electronics and control systems) and the convergence of these technologies, which promise to radically alter products and services, manufacturing processes, business models, productivity, and our daily lives. These technologies have implications for a range of government policies and action. Countries that are prepared to quickly capitalize on the advances that flow from these emerging, inter-connected technologies can be expected to enjoy substantial opportunities for growth, formation of new industries, job creation, and increased wealth. The United States must adapt to this new environment and effectively harness the economic potential of new and emerging technologies for the nation’s benefit.

Given these two major unfolding forces of change, and technology’s fundamental role in economic growth and job creation of knowledge-based economies, federal policies must reflect and respond to this dynamic landscape, and create a supportive environment for entrepreneurship, technological innovation, and technology investment in the United States. OTP can help the Department and other federal agencies to respond to and capitalize on the changes that are taking place in the competitive international landscape by adding value to the national debate and discussion on how best to promote innovation, entrepreneurship, competitiveness, and stewardship of our science, technology, and innovation assets in order to sustain U.S. leadership in the global marketplace and raise the standard of living and quality of life for all Americans.