On July 22, 2008, a Laboratory Directors Network Forum—sponsored by the FLC and hosted by the Department of Energy (DOE)—was held in Washington, D.C. The Forum was organized to allow federal laboratory executives to exchange ideas and experiences, as well as to increase mutual awareness of other agencies' capabilities and areas of special expertise. Invitation letters had been sent to laboratory directors explaining that the goal of the meeting was to encourage networking and collaboration and to stimulate innovation by operating across agency lines.
With approximately 100,000 scientists and engineers working on a variety of cutting-edge technologies and an annual federal R&D budget of over $140 billion, federal laboratories have the capability to enhance the U.S. economy in an increasingly competitive global environment, while addressing key national issues. This network of laboratory directors, if fully utilized, would be a national asset not found in any other country—which could help to address pertinent issues in a rapid and effective manner.
Ric Trotta, current chair of the FLC National Advisory Council, developed the topics for the forum based on the following issues relevant to federal laboratories:
- Increasing global competition
- Growing demand for resources
- Aging infrastructure
- Acceptance of open innovation
- Increased collaboration with federal labs
- "Not invented here" has changed to "proudly found elsewhere"
- Multi-organization collaboration.
"When Sputnik was launched, there was a sense of urgency and national commitment to ensure that the nation expanded our space program and revised technical and engineering education. We did it—put men on the moon, and changed the science and engineering curriculum throughout the country in record time," said Trotta. "Today, with everaccelerating globalization and the demand for scarce resources, our economy is more in need of tackling issues with a sense of urgency."
Following Trotta, Dr. Raymond Orbach, DOE's first Under Secretary for Science, took the podium.
Orbach outlined how a network of federal laboratory directors could work together to meet the nation's challenges and the role the FLC could play in working with and between agencies and laboratories to enhance that communication.
Dr. Orbach stressed the need to address science, technology, engineering and mathmatics (STEM) education and create new engineers and scientists, both of which are crucial to maintaining our competitiveness. Dr. Orbach asserted that since the state and quality of American science education is currently poor compared to the rest of the top 30 industrialized countries, students need something to galvanize their interest in science and math. To this end, it is important to use all of the resources at our disposal to combat this, including the talent pool in federal laboratories.
Following Dr. Orbach was a presentation by Dr. Starnes Walker, Director of Research for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) S&T Directorate.
Dr. Walker discussed interagency collaboration from a homeland security perspective, commenting that part of the DHS S&T role is to help the next generation of scientists and engineers.
"DHS has an $18M/year scholars and fellows program, which they hope to expand with the help of Congress," said Walker. "About 20% of the DHS S&T budget goes into basic research and about 10% ($80M) goes into innovation technologies," which he referred to as "leap ahead or game changers."
He encouraged DHS lab directors to meet with DOE lab directors annually and to hold working group meetings between the DHS and DOE quarterly. He added that "national security is energy security."
Jim Zarzycki, former director of the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) at Aberdeen Proving Ground spoke next.
Zarzycki presented his perspective on collaboration between federal laboratories and presented three major lessons he learned from these endeavors. First, collaboration served important national needs through the rapid transmission of information. Second, the taxpayer "got a great deal" because the physical and intellectual infrastructure had already been paid for, resulting in less time involved and lower startup costs. Third, the laboratory and its scientists benefited from the partnerships; ECBC received payment for its work, and several of its scientists' careers were enhanced.
The final presenter was Dick Paul, past chairman of the Industrial Research Institute (IRI). IRI membership consists of approximately 200 R&D-intensive companies, and the Institute promotes members networking and formulating new techniques for innovation.
Paul discussed possible methods of fostering collaboration between government and industry. He noted that several organizations, including IRI, already have the framework in place to foster these partnerships.
Paul noted that he would like to see the U.S. move more aggressively from a "not invented here" model to a "proudly found elsewhere" model, emphasizing open innovation and working together to find necessary solutions to problems.
He also addressed the associated human resources issues within R&D, including the problem of recruiting, advancing, and rewarding new engineers and researchers, the "retirement bubble" that is causing a loss of critical skills, and STEM; and he indicated that IRI had a Human Resources network that could provide a good venue for exchange of ideas and best practices between government and industry. Paul added that "an overarching theme of open innovation is recognizing that good ideas are found everywhere and staying competitive requires actively seeking and maintaining awareness of all of them."
He believes that although models of R&D differ between government and industry, and collaboration can be daunting, both sectors face many common challenges and issues, particularly at the director level. The potential benefits of collaboration are likely to outweigh the risks. The main areas in which collaboration would prove helpful are technological development, R&D management, and innovation. If government and industry can find a forum for open dialogue in a noncompetitive atmosphere, there is a good chance to develop these possibilities.
Following the presentations, the forum was open to audience comments and questions. Discussion topics focused on how laboratory directors and the FLC could be influential in meeting the challenges of STEM initiatives, barriers to innovation and collaboration, and speeding up innovation through government/industry/university partnerships.
Dr. Raymond Orbach, DOE's first Under Secretary of Science, presented during the FLC's recent Laboratory Directors Network Forum at DOE headquarters in Washington, July 22, 2008. Dr. Orbach stressed the need to address science education in America and to use federal laboratories in this effort. (Click image to enlarge)
