68 



-l^ / SUPPLEME.VT I 



Boxn.i 



Government-Untvehsity-Industry Cooperative R&D Pouoes 



Government suppon of cooperative R&D involving firms, universities, and federal labora- 

 tories has roots in programs begun in the early 1960s — such as the Advanced Research Projects 

 Agency's Materials Research Laboratories and the State Technical Services program in the De- 

 partment of Commerce — and in the National Science Foundation's Industry-University Coop*- 

 erative Research Centers program begun in the late 1970s. Such efforts expanded substantially 

 in size and visibility with passage of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act in 1980. 

 The act also made technology transfer to industr>' and states a mission of all federal laborato- 

 ries. The Federal Technology- Transfer Act of 1986 later authorized government-operated fed- 

 eral laboratories to enter into cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) 

 with companies and consortia of companies to pursue projects of mutual interest. In the early 

 days of CRADAs, no money was exchanged between the laboratory' and the participating firms, 

 and the agencies and their laboratories did not have specific budgets to support their work 

 with firms. More recently, as the contractor-operated federal laboratories were authorized by 

 the National Competitiveness Technology Transfer Act of 1989 to enter into CRADAs, the De- 

 partment of Energy, which owns most of these laboratories, has set aside funds in its defense 

 programs and energy research budgets to fund, on a competitive basis, laboratory' R&D that 

 contributes to specific CRADAs. 



The Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982 required all federal agencies that 

 spend a significant amount on R&D to set aside a small proportion of those funds to support 

 R&D projects of interest to them at small businesses on a competitive basis. These Small 

 Business Innovation Research grants are intended to assist small firms in deveropihg new prod- 

 ucts' to serve a federal requirement and/or a commercial market. In 1985, NSF was given a 

 budget to fund engineering research centers at universities, with the proviso that the award of 

 government fimds was contingent on industrial support for those centers. This program was 

 later expanded to support science and technology centers as well on a similar basis. 



The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 authorized the National Institute of 

 Standards and Technology (NIST) to establish an Advanced Technology Program of competitive 

 awards to firms and consortia of firms on a matching basis to support early-stage, generic 

 technolog)' development projects. The same act authorized what has become the Manufactur- 

 ing Extension Partnerships program in NIST, which provides grants to nonprofit consortia and 

 state and local governments for transfer of technology and technical assistance to manufactur- 

 ing firms, with an emphasis on small- and medium-sized firms. 



An amendment to the Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993 established the au- 

 thorin,' for the Department of Defense, in cooperation with other federal agencies, to fund a 

 varierv' of technology development, technology deployment, and technical education and train- 

 ing activities at firms, consortia of firms, and nonprofit organizations. This authorir\' was used 

 to create the Technology Reinvestment Program in 1993. Led by the Advanced Research Projects 

 Agency, the Technology Reinvestment Program involves the Departments of Commerce, De- 

 fense, Energv', and Transportation, as well as the National Science Foundation and the National 

 Aeronautics and Space Administration. 



A number of these programs are under considerable scrutiny by the 104th Congress, and 

 some of them face elimination or sharp budget reductions. 



During the 1980s and early 1990s, several programs were initiated to provide 

 financial and other incentives for industrial R&D and for industrially related R&D 

 conducted at universities or federal laboratories (see Box II. 1). Tlie.se included the 

 Small Business Innovation Research program, the NSF Engineering Research Cen- 



