State-Federal Lab Partnerships to be Highlighted May 5-8 in Portland

Many state and regional TBED organizations see federal laboratories as an integral partner in their efforts to promote technology development and commercialization. At least 22 of the leading state TBED organizations across the country have established partnerships with at least one federal laboratory to address a broad range of goals, according to a recent SSTI survey. Advancing collaborative research, strengthening industry clusters, transferring technology to/from federal labs and companies, and assisting in education and outreach were the most commonly cited reasons for pursuing closer relationships with the nation's network of 700 federal labs and research centers.

The survey also found state TBED-federal lab collaboration crosses state boundaries more easily than some may expect: SSTI discovered one-third of all relationships state TBED organizations have with federal laboratories take place at laboratories outside of their state. In addition, more state and local TBED organizations are looking to form new partnerships or expanding existing arrangements based on the successes seen from their initial efforts.

Understanding the opportunity and establishing that first relationship may seem daunting for the uninitiated at both the labs and state/local levels. To help facilitate the process, examples of successful partnerships will be discussed during a presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC). The balance of the annual FLC conference explores the best practices and policies that enable the technologies created within the labs to advance into the marketplace. Training sessions are used to enhance learning about the commercialization process. The meeting is open to TBED, federal and other tech transfer professionals alike and provides a unique opportunity to gain a solid understanding of the federal tech transfer process, to network with approximately 300 lab officials and tech transfer experts, and to forge new opportunities to collaborate with the labs to advance your TBED goals.

Information for the FLC conference, including the detailed agenda and registration materials, is available at: http://www.federallabs.org/meeting/

SSTI and the FLC are now in the second year of working together to make the primary audiences of both organizations more familiar with the "how tos" of forming effective lab-TBED partnerships. The upcoming session at the FLC conference in Portland is just one example of these efforts. Another is Federal Laboratories and State and Local Governments: Partners for Technology Transfer Success, a collection of successful tech transfer collaborations recently published by the FLC. The booklet is available at: http://www.federallabs.org/store/sandlg2/