Technology Policy

Dr Robin Gaster

Dr. Robin Gaster
rgaster@incumetrics.com
240-462-4409

IEI has more than 20 years experience in assessing government programs to support technology  and innovation. 

Dr.Gaster is the lead researcher on the current National Research Council (NRC) assessment of the SBIR/STTR programs through which the Federal government disburses $2bn annually.  His responsibilities include

  • Drafting and improving the methodologies adopted for the assessment of program outcomes
  • Quantitiative research, include managing a series of SBIR/STTR recipient surveys as well as assessment and analysis of agency-provided data
  • Qualitative research, which now includes more than 50 company case studies as well as extensive interviews of agency staff and other stakeholders
  • Providing drafts of completed reports covering the SBIR program as a whole, as well as individual volumes for DOD, NIH, NSF, NASA, and DoE. The SBIR reports are available for free download in pdf form at the National Academies Press.

Dr. Gaster was the lead researcher on the 2103 NRC review of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, “21st Century Manufacturing: The Role of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program” which provided a comprehensive review of the program. The full report is available online.

In the early 1990s, his work focused on the ambitious technology support programs of the incoming Clinton Administration. Analyses included two reports on the National Information Infrastructure for the European Commission and a consortium of major European IT firms. He also edited a book on TransAtrlantic telecommunications, Bit By Bit .

In the late 1980s, working at the U.S.Congress Office of Technology Assessment, Dr.Gaster developed a pioneering analysis of European technology programs from a competitiveness perspective.