Industry Collaborations

Moving technology from laboratories to the marketplace is the challenge following discovery. The federal government has many resources to foster such technology transfer.

The Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center is a full-service technology-management center that helps organizations identify commercially promising discoveries, market them to American industry, and build partnerships turning inventions into products. Congress established the NTTC in 1989.Guided by a mission to aid economic development through matching federally funded research with U.S. private industry, the NTTC offers a complete line of products and services enabling American businesses to find technologies, facilities and world-class researchers within the federal labs and universities needed to remain on the cutting edge of innovation.

The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is the nationwide network of federal laboratories that provides the forum to develop strategies and opportunities for linking the laboratory mission technologies and expertise with the marketplace. The FLC was organized in 1974 and formally chartered by the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 to promote and to strengthen technology transfer nationwide. Today, more than 700 major federal laboratories and centers and their parent departments and agencies are FLC members. Recent technology transfer successes are highlighted in the 2007 issue of Tech for Today.

See also Mechanisms for Accessing Federal Resources.

Agriculture Research Service (ARS) continually looks for opportunities to partner with private sector businesses, other federal agencies, state and local governments, universities, and its customers. These partnerships are designed to augment research programs, expedite research results to the private sector, exchange information and knowledge, stimulate new business and economic development, enhance U.S. trade, preserve the environment, and improve the quality of life for all Americans.

User facilities assist important interactions among industry, academic, and government researchers. These facilities are an important mechanism by which nanotechnology can find its way into commercial applications.

Tech Transfer Resources

Intellectual property resources are available at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Patent searches in nanotechnology are facilitated by a new nanotechnology classification.

Some federal reports on technology transfer

Annual Report on Technology Transfer: Approach and Plans
FY 2002 Activities and Achievements, Dept. of Commerce

Summary Report on Federal Laboratory Technology Transfer: FY 2003 Activity Metrics and Outcomes, 2004 Report to the President and the Congress under the Technology Transfer and Commercialization Act

Federal Legislation Affecting Technology Transfer