It is well known that the US Federal Government spends enormous amounts of money annually (over $110B) to support their various missions such as defense and homeland security. This is nearly one third of all research and development spent in the entire US economy. Not so well known is that since 1986 there has been a formally chartered group, the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC), which was created to promote and facilitate the rapid movement of federal laboratory research results and technologies into the mainstream of the U.S. economy. More than 250 federal laboratories, centers and federal departments are FLC members. 

The FLC has helped create and formalize several processes which make these federal facilities, researchers and intellectual property available to help both large and small companies and, in doing so,  strengthen the nation’s economic competitiveness. There are many processes available to companies. The most common are:

·         Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs). These agreements allow industry and government researchers to work together, bringing ideas from both parties. The ownership of the resulting ideas is negotiated prior to the research. These can be as simple as using government facilities and expertise to test a product for a company to a full on joint development of new technology.

·         Work for Others-- is work funded by a company but uses facilities and expertise the company would otherwise not have access to. In this case the intellectual property rights remain with the company.

·         Patent License Agreements- The FLC members like to see their patents used in industry, as this is the way the R& D gets translated to products the federal departments can actually use.

There are many other programs available such as educational partnerships, use of facilities agreements and personnel exchange. In short, the access to federal staff, facilities and ideas is limited only by the imagination of the company requesting help. FLC members have staff available to work with companies in defining these agreements.

As an example, consider Oceanit, which was started in Hawaii over 20 years ago with little more than $100. Today it has 90 employees and $50,010,000 of sales and investment. Part of this growth came from Oceanit’s breakthrough work of very accurate space observations obtained using a low-cost telescope system. Oceanit is currently commercializing their technology through the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) project entitled High Accuracy Networked orbit Determination System (HANDS). This $50 million contract will deliver a network of optical ground stations. As part of the project, Oceanit will exploit the Air Force’s award-winning “Raven” small telescope technology. Without the Air Force technology this system would not have been possible.

More information about the FLC can be found at http://www.federallabs.org . This site includes a “Technology Locator” which will lead to information on appropriate FLC assets and will put you in touch with lab personnel who can help you take the next step. Alternatively, the Colorado Springs Technology Incubator (CSTI) can facilitate this process.  We participate actively in FLC activities and have access to the technology transfer professionals across the federal laboratories. We stay on top of advanced technology applications and are familiar with federal processes, so we can help you determine what technologies might take your company to the next level as well as help you gain access to those technologies. You can access these technologies whether you are in the same city or across the country.

Companies which need “just a few” missing pieces to be successful should take a careful look at using resources they have already “bought” as taxpayers. At CSTI we’re ready to help you take your company to the next level. Just drop me a line at rneeland@cstionline.org for more information or to schedule a free consultation.

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Dr. Roger Neeland is CSTI Chief Technology Officer. He is active in both the Federal Laboratory Consortium and the Association of University Technology Managers. He led the pursuit of emerging technologies for General Electric Space Systems Division and on behalf of the National Technology Transfer Center has trained Small Business Development Center staff how to identify ways technology may improve internal processes and products for their small business clients.