R&D PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
"Great discoveries and achievements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds"-Anonymous
Reclamation employees are the principal investigators eligible to submit R&D proposals and receive proposal awards. Effective partnerships are a primary R&D proposal award consideration. We emphasize efficiency and effectiveness through collaborative R&D with stakeholders, universities, non-profit organizations, the private sector, and other local, state, and federal agencies with water and water-related roles and capabilities. Collaboratively developed solutions meet the greatest number of needs at the least cost to all partnership members, and in the least amount of time than any partner can do on their own. Collaborative R&D projects achieve cost-share from R&D project partners through in-kind services and/or direct funding contributions
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Unparalleled R&D Opportunity
Looking for opportunities to work directly with the end-user of your R&D? Want to make sure that your R&D is valued and put to work making a difference for water in the West? Want access to Reclamation's unique, extensive “living laboratories?”
Reclamation's extensive water storage, water delivery, and hydropower facilities offer unsurpassed living laboratories for field tests, evaluations, and demonstrations. R&D partnerships also have access to Reclamation’s hydraulic, material testing, and other laboratories.
The end users of our R&D are Reclamation water and facility managers and the stakeholders they serve. We work with our end-users throughout the R&D process to ensure the tools and solutions we develop are needed, practical, and valued. Their on-the-ground understanding of Western water challenges coupled with our technical expertise, our “living laboratories,” and Reclamation's solution-oriented approach to confronting Western water challenges provides an unparalleled forum for water and water-related R&D.
Partnership Tools
Department of the Interior Partnership Guidance - Federal R&D Partnership Legislation - The Department of the Interior believes that developing partnerships is a very important way to effectively accomplish its various missions of managing, conserving, and protecting America's natural, cultural, and historic resources. As such, working with partnerships is central to the Secretary's 4 C's….“Conservation through Cooperation, Communication, and Consultation.” The Department of the Interior has issued a Partnership Legal
Primer to help guide the development of effective and appropriate partnerships. Learn more about partnerships with the Department of the Interior at http://www.doi.gov/partnerships. Learn more about the Department's Partnership Legal Primer at http://www.doi.gov/partnerships/partnership_legal_framework.html
Federal R&D Partnership Legislation
Federal Technology Transfer legislation enables federal agencies to make their R&D facilities and expertise available to the private sector through cooperative research. Technology advancements achieved are transferred to private industry for commercialization. Federal Technology Transfer legislation enables federal agencies, the private sector, and other non-federal entities to join forces so that:
- U.S. industries have easy access to federal R&D expertise and facilities.
- Federal agencies have access to private sector expertise and resources that complement their agency mission-driven R&D.
- U.S. industries remain more competitive in the global marketplace through technology innovation which helps create jobs, strengthen our national economy, and reduce the nation's foreign trade deficit.
- Industry can license Reclamation intellectual property, or intellectual property that is jointly developed through collaborative R&D. This helps to mature federal innovations for deployment, so that they can be manufactured and broadly available to benefit the public.
- Learn more about federal R&D partnerships allowed under federal technology transfer legislation at http://www.federallabs.org/ .
Partnership Agreements
- Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) are authorized under Federal Technology Transfer legislation. CRADA's define the R&D partnership between the federal government and non-federal entity. Non-federal cooperating entities are authorized to provide an array of resources for developing and commercializing a new product, service, or solution. Non-federal cost-share can include personnel, equipment, materials, or funds to cover any additional cost of Reclamation expertise and facility use. Federal cost share can only include personnel, facilities, equipment, and materials. No federal funds can be transferred to a cooperating entity through a CRADA. Reclamation will enter into a CRADA only when the partnership offers complementary capabilities and interest, but the R&D results need to be relevant and useful to supporting Reclamation's mission of water and power deliveries.