That explains why many advocates of increased Federal intervention are focusing on "generic" or "precommercial" technologies.

Since 1998, company has continued to develop the generic technology, with a focus on ultra-miniature catheters for preclinical and clinical research.

The Clinton Administration, the plan says, "will view the support of generic industrial technologies as a priority mission."

Gone are the abstruse references to "generic technologies," and in their place are repeated invocations of the "urgency" of the task at hand.

But President Bush recently suggested that he would offer Federal support for work on "generic technologies" that industries may use in their own way.

The report also recommends that the Government help reduce barriers to the spread of technology and invest significant amounts of money for research in generic technologies like semiconductors.

Bindings use the following generic technologies:

The lab wants to develop generic technologies, among them a technique for the manufacture of superconducting wire, that could be used by industrial partners.

The development of generic technologies useful for many sectors can actually increase the competitive capacity of the whole European Union.

Old, generic technology may not be glamorous, but it has an important advantage: it works.