The Technology Administration (TA) was an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that worked with United States industries to promote economic competitiveness. The TA used the web domain technology.gov. The TA was most recently led by former Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology Robert Cresanti.
The TA oversaw three agencies:
The Technology Administration was created by the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980, 15 U.S.C. 3704. [1]
The TA was abolished by the America COMPETES Act of 2007. [2] NIST and NTIS continue on as agencies. It appears that the Office of Technology Policy was abolished.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a physical sciences laboratory and a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission is to promote innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into laboratory programs that include nanoscale science and technology, engineering, information technology, neutron research, material measurement, and physical measurement. From 1901–1988, the agency was named the National Bureau of Standards.
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is a cabinet-level department of the United States Government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material. Its responsibilities include the nation's nuclear weapons program, nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy, energy conservation, energy-related research, radioactive waste disposal, and domestic energy production. It also directs research in genomics; the Human Genome Project originated in a DOE initiative. DOE sponsors more research in the physical sciences than any other U.S. federal agency, the majority of which is conducted through its system of National Laboratories. The agency is led by the United States Secretary of Energy, and its headquarters are located in Southwest Washington, D.C., on Independence Avenue in the James V. Forrestal Building, named for James Forrestal, as well as in Germantown, Maryland.
The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with promoting economic growth. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for business and government decision making, and helping to set industrial standards. This organization's main purpose is to create jobs, promote economic growth, encourage sustainable development and block harmful trade practices of other nations. The Department of Commerce is headquartered in the Herbert C. Hoover Building in Washington, DC.
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the only formal recognition of the performance excellence of both public and private U.S. organizations given by the President of the United States. It is administered by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, which is based at and managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides grants and technical assistance to economically distressed communities in order to generate new employment, help retain existing jobs and stimulate industrial and commercial growth through a variety of investment programs.
The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. The primary mission of NTIS is to collect and organize scientific, technical, engineering, and business information generated by U.S. Government-sponsored research and development, for private industry, government, academia, and the public. The systems, equipment, financial structure, and specialized staff skills that NTIS maintains to undertake its primary mission allow it to provide assistance to other agencies requiring such specialized resources.
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development of new and important technology. The award may be granted to a specific person, to a group of people or to an entire organization or corporation. It is the highest honor the United States can confer to a US citizen for achievements related to technological progress.
The Small Business Innovation Research program is a United States Government program, coordinated by the Small Business Administration, intended to help certain small businesses conduct research and development (R&D). Funding takes the form of contracts or grants. The recipient projects must have the potential for commercialization and must meet specific U.S. government R&D needs.
The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) is a council in the Executive Branch of the United States. It is designed to coordinate science and technology policy across the branches of federal government.
In the United States, a cooperative research and development agreement is an agreement between a government agency and a private company or university to work together on research and development.
The NIST Advanced Technology Program is a United States government program designed to stimulate early-stage advanced technology development that would otherwise not be funded.
The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is a U.S.-based nationwide network of federal laboratories that provides a forum to develop strategies and opportunities to help transfer laboratory mission technologies into commercial products for the global marketplace.
The America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act of 2007 or America COMPETES Act was authored by Bart Gordon and signed by President George W. Bush; it became law on 9 August 2007. This was an Act, "To invest in innovation through research and development, and to improve the competitiveness of the United States."
Robert David Atkinson is a Canadian-American economist. He is president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C., that promotes policies based on innovation economics. He was previously Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute.
The Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology, or USC(ST), is a high-ranking official in the United States Department of Commerce and the principal advisor to the United States Secretary of Commerce on the technological development. The Under Secretary is dual hatted as the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology within the Commerce Department.
The Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 was the first major U.S. technology transfer law. It required federal laboratories to actively participate in and budget for technology transfer activities.
Patrick David Gallagher is an American physicist and the eighteenth chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. He was formerly the 14th director of the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and had served as the Acting United States Deputy Secretary of Commerce. On February 8, 2014, he was named the Chancellor-elect of the University of Pittsburgh and assumed the position of Chancellor on August 1, 2014.
The Office of Research and Technology Applications (ORTA) is an organizational structure established in United States federal laboratories through the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980, specified in 15 USC § 3710. The acronym "ORTA" has evolved to refer to those who perform the functions of the ORTA organization. By law, the ORTA must be staffed by at least one full-time person in any laboratory with 200 or more scientific, engineering, or related technical positions, in order to coordinate and promote technology transfer.
Executive Order 12999 is a United States Presidential Executive Order signed on April 17, 1996, by President Bill Clinton which permits U.S. federal agencies to transfer excess computers and related peripherals to educational and nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations.
The National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), also known as Manufacturing USA, is a network of research institutes in the United States that focuses on developing manufacturing technologies through public-private partnerships among U.S. industry, universities, and federal government agencies. Modeled similar to Germany's Fraunhofer Institutes, the network currently consists of 14 institutes. The institutes work independently and together in a number of advanced technologies.
(Sec. 3002) Amends the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 to repeal provisions regarding the establishment of the Technology Administration within the Department of Commerce.
