About the Technology Partnerships Office

Mission

TPO enables technology transfer to promote US competitiveness, both for NIST and across the Federal government for the Department of Commerce.

NIST goals:

• Promoting both formal and informal collaboration opportunities for NIST researchers including Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) and Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs); and coordinating Facility Use Agreements (FUAs);
• Managing NIST intellectual property (inventions, patents, licenses, trademarks);
• Managing the NIST Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program;
• Supporting NIST Associates and Guest Researchers;
• Strengthening awareness of NIST technology transfer; and
• Analyzing the economic impact of NIST technology transfer activities.

Government-wide goals:

• Coordinating cross-governmental policy through the Interagency Workgroup for Technology Transfer;
• Serving as the Host Agency for the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer;
• Performing government-wide reporting and analysis of technology transfer; and
• Enabling improvements in the transfer of results from lab to market.

Public-wide goals:

• Educating the public on advances in technology and what this means for them;
• Developing a public awareness of what the technology transfer process is;
• Developing a public awareness of what a commercialization process is;
• Establishing government and industry partnerships.