SESSION I: NIST’S Roles in Innovat

VCAT Meeting October 28-29, 2008 Eric Steel 
NIST: 

What are we known for? What is our brand? 
NIST Mission
 

•To promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advanci

measurement science measurement science,standards standards, and

technology technology
 

in ways that enhance in ways that enhance economic security e a

improve our improve our quality of li quality of li

conomic security a

fe
SESSION I: NIST’S Roles in Innovat

The purpose of this session is to solicit advice on NIS

strategy to promote U.S. innovation and industrial 

competitiveness. The presentation will focus on how N

views its role in innovation, how it deploys its toolset to a

this role, and the strengths and weaknesses of its cur

toolset. 

Key questions for the VCAT: 

• Does NIST have a role in U.S. innovation & competitive

• What are NIST’s roles in innovation? 

• Is the role just measurement science and standards or 

include technology development? 
Definition of innovation 

“The design, invention, development and/or implementation of new or altered products, services, processes, systems, organizational structures, or business models for the purpose of creating new value for customers and financial returns for the firm.” 

from Innovation Measurement, 2008 an Advisory Committee Report to the Secretary of Com
Why worry about Innovation and NIST’s 

•	 Assumption/Assertions from the last VCAT mee

–	 Innovation is critical to the US economy and productiv

–	 Technology is a if not THE major path to innovation an

GDP growth 

–	 R&D is critical to technology 

• Basic research often takes decades to impact commerc

technology 

•	 Conclusion 

–	 Speeding innovation is important 

–	 Providing a national technical infrastructure for innova

important for efficient innovation 

This is what NIST is trying to do 
The VCAT can help us find strengths, 

weaknesses, and gaps in our approaches to providing the infrastructure for innovation. “The Committee shall review and make recommendations regarding general policy for NIST, its organization, its budget and the programs, within the framework of the applicable national policies as set forth by the President and the Congress” 
What Part Of Innovation T

Focus On?
 

• The Gathering Storm and Falling Off The 

Earth and many other reports focus on a areas of concern for the U.S.: 

– Education
 – Investment in R&D 

The “ability of U.S. technology corporations to sustain fundinresearch not linked to core corporate activities has been erodAuerswald and Branscomb, “Reflections on Mansfield, TechnologicComplexity and the ‘Golden Age’ of US Corporate R&D,” 2005 
NIST’s Role in Innovation 

Technology infrastructure impacts every stage of innova

NIST Infrastructure for Science and Technolo

Development and Value Creati

Methods & Tools 

Standards 

Development 

Pre-commercial 

Technology 

Development 

Technology 

Extension 

Measurement 

Quality 

Mature Technology / 

Cost Reduction 

Period 

VALUE CREATION: 

Productivity / Trade / Quality of Life 

S&T DEVELOPMENT OVER TIME 

Technology 

Discovery Invention Improvement 

Period 

New 

Period 

Scientific 

Basic 

Science 
Basic 

Applied 

Development 

Engineering
 

&
 

Deployment
 

Prizes, Procurement 

& Demonstration Product 

& Tax 

Measurement Science and Standards

Research and Development

Federal Research

Infrastructure – National Facilities 

Federally Performed

Research

Federally Funded

Research 

Directe

Res

Proof o

R&E T

Federal Science and Technology Policy O

National Priorities 

Government Mission Needs Commercial Ind

Science
 
Product 

&Tax 

Federally Funded 

Research

Directe

Measurement Science and Standards 

Res

Research and Development

Federal Research

Infrastructure – National Facilities

Basic 

Applied 

Development 

Engineering 

&
 Deployment
 

Prizes, Procurement 

& Demonstration 

Federally Performed

Research Proof o

R&D T

M

TIP 

NIST Labs 

Baldrige NQP 

$440M 

$65M 

$

$

X A

Meeting NIST mission: Issues
 

National Priorities 

Government Mission Needs Commercial Ind

Science
 
RIC 

TIP 

MEP 

NIST Labs 

Baldrige NQP 

• NEXT slides: Brief reminders of eac

program 
Labs 

NIST Labs Role in Innov

• Measurement Science 

– Sets the basis for all measurements of quality and qua

• Electrical, physical, chemical... • Enables valid comparisons among innovative and 

existing technologies (is the mouse trap really better?) 

• Enables innovative technologies to understand new app

• Standards 

– Sets the bar 

• Performance based standards allow existing and new pr

processes to tell how “good” they are 

• Enables innovators to know that they are innovating 

– Did we meet or exceed the standard? 

• Enables innovations to interact with existing systems 

• Technology 

– Develops, maintains the infrastructure that enables tec

• Develops technology for government/dual use; industry? 
NIST Role in Innovation NIST Role in Innovation

—Setting t

Setting t

Example 2005 NIST Machine Translation Ch

Example 2005 NIST Machine Translation Ch

Google

“comes out of nowhere comes out of nowhere

”,

employing massive data employing massive data

-

intensive computing to win intensive computing to win

Confirms the scalability of a Confirms the scalability of a

range of algorithms range of algorithms

Innovating Measures & Standards for 2008 

•BLEU-4 (MTeval-v11b: official metric) 

•IBM BLEU (IBM's BLEU with original brevity penalty) •NIST (NIST's refinement of BLEU, commonly referred to as NIST) •TER •METEOR 
Economic Impact Assessment Studies Economic Impact Assessment Studies

1997: Radiopharmaceutical standards 1997: Radiopharmaceutical standards 97:1 benefit 97:1 benefit

-to

-cost ratio cost ratio

1998:Alternative refrigerants Alternative refrigerants

4:1 benefit 4:1 benefit

-to

-cost ratio cost ratio

2000: Sulfur in fossil fuels 2000: Sulfur in fossil fuels113:1 benefit 113:1 benefit

-to

-cost ratio cost ratio

© Shutterstock 

Average benefit Average benefit Average benefit-to-cost over 19 impact studies: 44:1 -to

-cost over 19 impact studies: 44:1 cost over 19 impact studies: 44:1 
MEP 

What MEP Does
 

•	 Focus on meeting manufacturer’s short term ne

but in context of overall company strategy 

•	 MEP Center areas of common strength 

• Engineering Services for products and processes • Growth Services – new or expanded market opportunities • Lean Manufacturing • Quality Systems • Environmental Services • Workforce Development 

•	 Over 27,000 manufacturing client interactions 

(projects, workshops, etc.) annually* 

*Based on FY2007 MEP Center reported performance data
Why Deploy Technology

• MEP 20/20+ Vision for Manufacturers 

- Efficiency: Take 20% off bottom line expenses 

through Lean, Quality, other programs targeting plant efficiencies
 

- Growth: Add 20% to top line sales through Eureka! 

Winning Ways and other growth services
 

• Focus for Top Line Sales Increase:

1. New Sales 2. New Markets 3. New Products 

TECHNOLOGY is cr TECHNOLOGY is critical to r itical to realizing these go

ealizing these go

.... critical to 

ACCELERATING MANUFACTURER GROWTH ACCELERATING MANUFACTURER GROWTH
Client Impacts Resulting fro

MEP Services
 

• New Sales $3.11 B• Retained Sales $3.65 B• Capital Investment $1.65 B• Cost Savings $1.115 • Jobs Created 16,740 • Jobs Retained 35,845 

FY 2006 economic impact results are based on a survey of 4,959 MEP clients out of 5,384 

attempted. 
BNQP 

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Pr

• Six eligibility categories 

– Manufacturing – Service – Small Business – Education – Health Care – Nonprofits, including government agencie
What Is Performance Excellen

An integrated approach to organizational perfo

management that results in 

z delivery of ever-improving value to customers and 

stakeholders, contributing to organizational sustain

z improvement of overall organizational effectiveness 

capabilities 

z organizational and personal learning 

Hard (impossible?) to accomplish without significant inn

Fundamental changes in product, process, or organizational (busine
Baldrige NQP

Magnitude of Impact 

“. . . the conservative estimate of the present value (in c2000 dollars) of social benefits associated with the BalNational Quality Program is $24.65 billion.. . .from an evperspective for the economy as a whole, the benefit-to-ratio characterizing the Baldrige National Quality Progrconservatively 207-to-1.” 

Economic Evaluation of the BNQP, 9/2001 Albert N. Link, UNC and John T. Scott, Dartm
TIP Key Features of TIP
 

•	 Novel Purpose: address societal challenges not being a

areas of Critical National Need (CNN) with benefits that esignificantly beyond proposers 

•	 Rich Teaming: businesses, academia, national labs, non

research institutions and other organizations 

•	 Scientific & Technical Merit: high-risk, high-reward rese

•	 Transformational Results: strong potential for advancin

the-art and contributing to U.S. science and technology b

•	 Societal Challenges: demand government attention •	 Clear Government Need: no other funding sources are 

available 

TIP awards based on “high-risk, high-reward” innovation

need for public funding, and potential to meet unaddressed societal 
Potential CNN Topic Area

• Civil Infrastructure • Energy • Manufacturing • Water • Communications • Complex Networks • Personalized Medicine 

These seven areas potential broad topiTIP has identified to However, this list is exhaustive; TIP madifferent or more spNational Need. 
Civil Infrastructure...
 

Poor road conditio

motorists $54 billiorepairs and operat

More than 33% of 

600,000 bridges arstructurally deficienobsolete. 

Failure to reverse a trend of increasing highway infrastructure de

will lead to reductions in national and economic security

lower worker productivity, and a overall reduction in the quality 
Rapid Innovation & 

Competitiveness initia

RIC 

• A business model that atte

put the whole technology ptogether 

– From basic research, use ins– To commercialization 
Product 

&Tax 

Federally Funded 

Research

Directe

Measurement Science and Standards 

Res

Research and Development

Federal Research

Infrastructure – National Facilities

Meeting NIST mission: Issues
 

National Priorities 

Government Mission Needs Commercial Ind

Science
 

Basic 

Applied 

Development 

Engineering 

&
 Deployment
 

Prizes, Procurement 

& Demonstration 

Federally Performed

Research Proof o

R&D T

M

TIP 

NIST Labs 

Baldrige NQP 

$440M 

$65M 

$

$
Key questions for the VCAT: 

•	 Does NIST have a role in U.S. innovation & 

competitiveness? 

•	 What are NIST’s roles in innovation? 

•	 Is the role just measurement science and stand

does it include technology development? 

NIST: What are we known for/ what is our brand? - What should we be known for?