Technology transfer goes to the heart of NETL's mission. Innovations emerging from NETL do little good unless the private sector is made aware of them and deploys them in actual operations.

NETL facilitates the use of federally funded knowledge, facilities, and capabilities through technology transfer partnerships with private industry, academia, and state and local governments. Partnerships are conducted in ways that ensure fairness of opportunity, protect national security, promote U.S. economic interests, and prevent inappropriate competition with the private sector.

Technology transfer has been an aim of government policy since the passage of Bayh-Dole and Stevenson-Wydler legislation in 1980. In 1989, the National Competitiveness Technology Transfer Act established technology transfer activities as a mission of DOE national laboratories. The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) was formally chartered by Congress to facilitate technology transfer in the United States. Technology transfer differs from providing services or products (acquisition) and financial assistance (e.g. grants), which take place under procurement regulations. DOE provides a variety of mechanisms to respond to private-sector concerns and questions about its technology partnering activities.

Mechanisms used by NETL to facilitate technology transfer are:

• Cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) – NETL actively seeks opportunities to partner with the private sector and academia to develop and commercialize new energy and environmental technologies.
• Patents and licenses – NETL makes some inventions available to the private sector for licensing.

Publications are another important avenue of NETL technology transfer. The Laboratory maintains an online library of technical publications and software tools related to NETL-supported projects and studies. The library includes project reports, topical reports, technology roadmaps, newsletters, brochures, manuals, fact sheets, software, data sets, and other print and electronic publications. In addition, NETL research reports are available through DOE's Office of Scientific and Technical Information.

NETL also regularly works with industry groups and other partners to sponsor technical conferences, meetings, and workshops (see Events menu.)

Targeted technology transfer activities are conducted in the following areas:

• Coal and power systems. Technology transfer is a fundamental driver of the Clean Coal Technology Program and Clean Coal Power Initiative. These joint government and industry programs provide cost-shared demonstrations to accelerate commercial deployment of advanced, more efficient coal-based technologies for power generation. Projects are carried out in sufficiently large scale to prove commercial worthiness of full-scale applications.
• Oil and natural gas supply. Innovations emerging from NETL’s oil and gas programs do little good unless the Nation’s natural gas and petroleum producers are made aware of them and deploy them in actual exploration and production operations. To this end, NETL's Oil and Natural Gas technology program supports targeted technology transfer efforts and maintains an extensive, online Reference Shelf of all pertinent publications, resources, and project related information for public consumption.
• Natural gas storage. In September 2003, NETL helped create a Gas Storage Technology Consortium (GSTC - external site) to provide a vehicle for R&D designed to enhance operational flexibility and deliverability of the Nation's natural gas storage system. The project consolidates earlier DOE research conducted in concert with the Gas Technology Institute and Pipeline Research Council International. GSTC supports these research efforts and, through roadmap sessions and other industry input, will further define research to be funded through it. The consortium focuses on research needs as defined by the natural gas storage industry.

An additional technology transfer effort is NETL's Russian technology program, which was implemented in support of the Administration's goals for diversity of hydrocarbon supply. The objective of this program is to investigate promising Russian technologies that may be more advanced than those commercially available in the United States. The program addresses technologies in two areas: oil pipeline spill detection and upstream oil production. DOE's Russian Cooperative Research Program was initiated via a kickoff meeting in Moscow in June 2004. The projects announced to date focus on identification of arctic resources and improved oil recovery via enhanced fracturing techniques and optimized carbon dioxide flooding.