Views & Estimates :: March 5, 1999

Additional Democratic Views and Estimates by Rep. Lynn Rivers

While I join the Majority, and commend them for supporting the President's funding levels for R&D in fiscal year 2000, I specifically wish to address the Majority's lack of support for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP). ATP represents the importance, and success, of research partnerships between the Federal Government and industry.

With economic growth as its goal, ATP spurs technological development in areas that may be too risky for industry to tackle alone. These are the projects that traditional venture capitalists tend to shy away from, but there is a view that this could have a big payoff for us as a Nation. These technologies create opportunities for new world-class products, services and industrial processes, benefiting not just the ATP participants but other companies and industries, and ultimately taxpayers as well. By reducing the early stage R&D risks for individual companies, the ATP enables industry to pursue promising technologies which otherwise would be ignored or develop too slowly to compete in a rapidly changing world market.

A survey of ATP participants highlighted their belief that these technologies would not have been developed with the same speed were it not for the ATP program. Personally, I have spoken to many entrepreneurs who believe ATP to be invaluable. The reality is that for far too many corporations in this country R&D is now heavily D and very little R, and that is where the ATP program steps in. The importance of this program for technological development and our movement to the millennium are immeasurable.