Harris & Harris Group Inc.

NEWS RELEASE

HARRIS & HARRIS GROUP, INC.	DECEMBER 19, 2002
ONE ROCKEFELLER PLAZA
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10020
NASDAQ/NMS SYMBOL: TINY
CONTACT: CHARLES E. HARRIS
TEL. NO. (212) 332-3606

OPTIVA ANNOUNCES MATERIAL OF THE YEAR AWARD

Optiva, Inc. announced that "it won the 2002 SID/Information Display Magazine Display Material or Component of the Year, Gold Award, for its Optiva Thin Crystal Film (TCF�) Polarizer. The Society of Information Display (SID), the largest international professional organization for the display industry, announced the award in the December issue of Information Display Magazine."

Harris & Harris Group invested $500,000 in privately owned Optiva in June, 2002.

Harris & Harris Group is a publicly traded venture capital company. The Company now makes initial investments exclusively in tiny-technology enabled companies, and its last eight private equity investments have been in such companies.

Harris & Harris Group, Inc. is regulated as a Business Development Company and has 11,498,845 common shares outstanding.

Detailed information about Harris & Harris Group, Inc. and its holdings can be found on its website at http://www.TinyTechVC.com.

This press release may contain statements of a forward-looking nature relating to future events. Statements contained in this press release that are forward looking statements are intended to be made pursuant to the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. These statements reflect the Company's current beliefs, and a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in this press release. Please see the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and recent Prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's business, including but not limited to the risks and uncertainties associated with venture capital investing and other significant factors that could affect the Company's actual results. Except as otherwise required by Federal securities laws, Harris & Harris Group, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward looking statements to reflect new events or uncertainties.