Congratulations to Dr. J. Scott Deiter, Director of Technology Transfer for the Indian Head Division (IHDIV) of the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC). for receiving the 2006 DOD George F. Linsteadt Technology Transfer Achievement Award.
This award recognizes the extraordinary efforts of individuals who facilitate the transfer of technology from the DOD to the private sector.
Cynthia Gonsalves, Acting Director of the Office of Technology Transition and Associate Director of Technology Transfer and Transition, presented Dr. Deiter with the official Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Advanced Systems and Concepts coin and a certificate of recognition during the DOD Technology Transfer Integrated Process Team (TTIPT) Workshop this past November.
At IHDIV, Dr. Deiter is responsible for all aspects of technology transfer, including CRADAs, partnership intermediary agreements (PIAs), and patent licensing.
After eight years as Regional and Deputy Regional Coordinator of the FLC's Mid-Atlantic Region, Dr. Deiter was elected in May of this year as an at-large member to the Executive Board of the national FLC.
Dr. Deiter was selected to receive the George F. Linsteadt Award by fellow DOD technology transfer peers recognizing his achievements in technology transfer and, in particular, his efforts to license and commercialize a highly durable, cost-effective, and safe container technology called Joint Modular Inter-Modal Container (JMIC).
These containers, which were invented by IHDIV, open easily for inspection and will greatly reduce any negative impact on the environment.
After banging on doors seeking a shipping company ready to recognize the value of the JMIC technology, Dr. Deiter looked for other avenues for licensing this valuable intellectual property.
Working with Johns Hopkins University, he found a team of highly motivated students who were willing and able to take a risk.
Five upper-level students in the WP Carey Program in Entrepreneurship and Management at Johns Hopkins performed the commercial assessment of the JMIC, developed a business plan, incorporated in May, and licensed the technology from the Navy.
The company's name is Baltimore Shipping Technologies (BST), and the commercial name for the JMIC is now the OmniPak™.
BST received its first commercial sale in June 2006. The DOD will replace 120-plus pallets with the OmniPak™ container technology.
Large royalties from the licensing and commercialization of this technology are expected to return to IHDIV. A new CRADA that Dr. Deiter negotiated with the former students allows them to continue working with the Navy inventor, who is adapting the OmniPak™ for commercial markets based on commercial requirements and customer demands.
The savings in shipping costs to the DOD is expected to exceed many millions of dollars annually.
However, the value of the OmmiPak™ container technology to commercial shipping is expected to be in the billions of dollars annually within the next few years.
Under Dr. Deiter's leadership, IHDIV issued 39 patents in FY03, 42 in FY04, and 44 in FY05. The increase is attributed to his training and networking efforts with scientists and engineers. Dr. Deiter is writing in excess of 14 CRADAs annually, generating an income approaching $3 million a year for IHDIV.
