COUNCIL PUBLICATIONS Capital Choices: Changing the Way America Invests in Industry (Published June 1992) German Technology Policy: Incentive for Industrial Innovation (Published April 1992) Looking for Leadership: Competitiveness and Campaign '92 (Published November 1991) Gaining New Ground: Technology Priorities for America's Future (Published March 1991) Competitive Profiles of U.S. Industry: (1) Aerospace; (2) Chemical and Allied Products; (3) Computer and Software; (4) Construction (5) Drugs and Pharmaceuticals; (6) Electronic Components and Equipment; (7) Machine Tools; (8) Motor Vehicles; (9) Telecommunications (Published March 1991) Japanese Technology Policy: What's the Secret? (Published February 1991) Technology and Competitiveness: New Frontiers for the United States and Japan (Published February 1990) Governing America: A Competitiveness Policy Agenda for the New Administration (Published January 1989) Picking up the Pace: The Commercial Challenge to American Innovation (Published September 1988) Reclaiming the American Dream: Fiscal Policies for a Competitive Nation (Published November 1988) Competitiveness Index (Published Annually) A Competitiveness Assessment of the President's Budget (Published Annually) Challenges (Published Monthly) Legislative and Policy Update (Published Bi-weekly) NIST UNITED STATES. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE STATEMENT OF SAMUEL KRAMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY SUBCOMMITTEE ON REGULATION, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, AND ENERGY U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES December 4, 1992 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee. I am Samuel Kramer, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Standards and. Technology (NIST). Thank you for inviting me here today to talk about NIST's experience in working with industry, especially small business, and our technology transfer programs. As concern with national competitiveness has grown, increasing emphasis has been placed on how the Federal government, and particularly the Federal laboratories, can work with industry to exploit the many technological opportunities that exist. NIST's primary mission always has been to serve industry. Now, after years of focusing on their agencies' specialized missions, other national laboratories are examining how their knowledge and facilities also can help industry. We welcome their efforts and hope they can benefit from our experience. NIST is the only large, multipurpose Federal laboratory with the explicit and primary mission to support civilian industry. I will describe some of our collaborative efforts and shall focus my comments on how to apply what we at NIST have learned from our over 90 years of experience working hand-in-hand with industry on a wide variety of technological problems. NIST supports U.S. industry efforts to improve process control and quality assurance, raise productivity, foster industrial innovation, and enhance industry's ability to rapidly Commercialize new technologies. We do this through a wide variety of programs: our intramural laboratory research programs in manufacturing engineering, chemical science and technology, physics, computing, applied mathematics and computing systems, electrical and electronic engineering, materials science and engineering, and building and fire technology; and our extramural programs -- the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), Manufacturing Technology Centers (MTCs); the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA); the State Technology Extension Program; measurement data, and standards information; voluntary laboratory accreditation; and scientific personnel exchange. NIST laboratories are unique among Federal labs in that we focus on generic civilian applied R&D of long-term benefit to industry. Industry seeks out NIST because of our 90 years of experience in collaborating directly with industry researchers, tailoring our programs to meet industry needs, working internationally to advanced U.S. industry's interests in standards setting, and anticipating the needs of the technology "infrastructure" by conducting the basic research and developing the measurement methods needed for the next generation of commercial technologies. NIST programs and services reach most leading large U.S. firms. and we are increasingly involved with the 350,000 small- and medium-sized manufacturing firms which form the backbone of our economy. Virtually every one of the Nation's leading R&D performers uses NIST measurement, calibration, and data services. Much of our research for these services and in the development of new technologies is accomplished cooperatively with industry. We have utilized cooperative research programs with industry as far back as the early 1900's. In 1925, when NIST was a very small standards laboratory, industry found it profitable to send 65 people at their own expense to work side-by-side with NIST scientists. That one-on-one interaction with industry continues today. We annually host over 1,000 guest researchers from industry, academia and other federal agencies, combined, at our Gaithersburg, Maryland and Boulder, Colorado sites. At NIST working with industry is an integral part of our daily activities. It is part of our culture. Each NIST scientist and engineer knows that it is his or her responsibility to be aware of industry's technical needs, its activities, its achievements and its problems within his/her area of expertise. We have learned that whatever we do has to be underpinned with solid, laboratory-based competence. NIST's laboratory programs span the full range of technologies -- from phase diagrams for characterizing new materials to generic methods for scaling up to commercial production in biotechnology, from high accuracy length and mass standards to building construction, and from developing standards for computerizing manufacturing to techniques for improving the accuracy of machine tools and countless other areas too numerous to mention here. - NIST has a highly productive intramural laboratory research program and technical staff working at the forefront of a diverse set of critical technologies such as optoelectronics, advanced materials, biotechnology, and robotics. Industry repeatedly turns to NIST because of our laboratory based research programs-the lifeblood of our organization. Industry's evaluation of this research is demonstrated, in part, by an extensive array of collaborative research projects with hundreds of companies from multinationals to start-up firms -- in nearly every state. NIST's laboratory programs focus on providing the infratechnologies -- the technological "roads and bridges" U.S. manufacturers need to level the economic playing field. Through our research in generic technologies, measurement methods, standards, and processing improvements, NIST researchers have "hands on" experience in leveraging quality and productivity improvements across whole industrial sectors. And of prime concern to industry, NIST has the track record of delivering these technologies, services, and measurement methods and research with a minimum of bureaucratic hassles. NIST scientists and engineers work not just on developing the fundamental science underlying advances in the their technological field but also on applying those advances. These same scientists and engineers are our technology transfer agents. So when industry comes to NIST with a problem to be solved, they may not ever deal with an office of "technology transfer." More likely, they will work hand-in-hand with the scientist or engineer who may be one of the world's leading experts in that particular research area. Because of this depth of knowledge, and the broad scope of our laboratory activities, NIST can work with industry to develop new and appropriate solutions rather than trying to force-fit technology that has been developed for some other mission purpose. We have learned that good programs start with a thorough knowledge of industry's needs. Like any laboratory, NIST has formal criteria for deciding which programs to fund. But as important as those formal criteria are, even more important is the process that NIST employs in developing the scope and direction of new programs or fine-tuning existing ones. Because our mission is to serve industry broadly, we start exploring industry needs. Our constant interaction with industry often is what triggers the idea for starting a new program or project. But before a project is evaluated, NIST will hold a workshop or other type of consultation with industry leaders and client groups to further define the problem. And as a result of this early interaction, we know that as the project progresses, industry will be waiting for usable results rather than picking through the offerings of add-on technology transfer programs. We have an extensive evaluation system--unparalleled in the federal laboratory system--that provides for regular, detailed oversight of both NIST's laboratory and extramural programs by senior industry and academic experts. We have nearly 240 advisors on review committees--one outside advisor for every 7 NIST scientists and engineers. We have also learned that not all firms can use new technology from the laboratory. Our Manufacturing Technology Centers' clients have provided NIST with a unique source of information and feedback on the needs of America's small- and medium-sized manufacturing firms. We have learned that the majority of these firms do not have the capacity to incorporate manufacturing technologies straight from the laboratory into their operations. Most require significant consultation and training even to be able to utilize available off-the-shelf advanced manufacturing technologies. Industry most often states that what they need is not just the development of an elegant theoretical response to a challenge but the measurement techniques and other practical developments needed to implement the solution. We've got to enable industry to obtain what they need -- which often is a package of items, not just a single, discrete technology. And it is only when the "package" is developed as an integrated solution that technology transfer occurs naturally. We have also learned that technology adoption by industry often requires much more than the technology. The support that smalland medium-sized firms need to adopt commercially supported offthe-shelf technology is not limited to technical support: they need management development; they need education and training programs for their workers; they need financial consultations. If NIST wants to facilitate the adoption of new technologies by these firms, we have to understand the comprehensive set of problems faced by small manufacturers and target the key "bottle necks" where the private sector is failing to provide the right stimulus or support--something our MTCs are addressing. And we must forge links with other organizations which can provide services outside of our particular range of capabilities. must be done as a partnership with other companies and organizations. This Although the Institute's laboratories will always be the lifeblood of NIST, we must continue to go beyond a pure technology approach to meet industry's needs. To implement the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, for example, we have had to work with industry to define the criteria for a high quality management process, not just focus on science and technology. For the Advanced Technology Program, we've had to bring in |