Accelerating technology transfer from federal laboratories to theprivate sector by increasing industrial RD collaborations-a newbusiness model

摘要

Many important products and technologies were developed in federallaboratories and were driven initially by national needs and for federalapplications. For example, the clean room technology that enhanced thegrowth of the semiconductor industry was developed at Sandia (SNL)decades ago. Laboratories advances in micro-electro-mechanical-systems(MEMS)-an important set of process technologies vital for productminiturization-are occurring at SNL. Each of the more than 500 federallaboratories in the US, are sources of R&D that contribute toAmerica's economic vitality, productivity growth and, technologicalinnovation. However, only a fraction of the science and technologyavailable at the federal laboratories is being utilized by industry.Also, federal laboratories have not been applying all the businessdevelopment processes necessary to work effectively with industry intechnology commercialization. This paper addresses important factorsthat federal laboratories, federal agencies, and industry must addressto translate these under-utilized technologies into profitable productsin the industrial sector