To improve private sector partnerships and increase commercialization efforts, the national labs should consider establishing external nonprofit entities to manage their commercialization efforts, according to a new report from Innovation Associates Inc.

The U.S. Department of Energy recently released the State of the Department of Energy National Laboratories Report, which reads like a user manual for the National Labs. For readers with questions about what the labs are, what they are trying to achieve, and how they work with other institutions, the report is an excellent resource. As depicted in the visual accompanying this article, DOE’s labs cover a variety of purposes, enabling the report to provide more generalizable information on the labs than might be possible from another agency. Sections detail DOE’s strategic plan for the labs, scientific objectives, partnership structures and tech transfer initiatives, among others. Each section includes case studies or anecdotes of lab activities and numerous appendices provide additional background.

The Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) held its national meeting this week, and the emphasis of many conversations around the conference site in San Antonio was how labs can implement new partnerships to yield greater tech transfer successes.

Observing that legacy policies have hampered the contribution of the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories to the modern innovation economy, Brookings Institution authors Scott Andes, Mark Muro and Matthew Stepp outline a plan to engage DOE labs with regional technology clusters. The authors recommend tasking the labs with an explicit regional economic development mission, as well as opening regionally oriented microlabs that would provide a front door for smaller businesses to access lab resources.

The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will administer two new initiatives to bring clean energy technologies to market. Lab-Corps, a $2.3 million pilot program, will build on the National Science Foundation’s iCorps model to accelerate the development of cleantech discoveries and train lab researchers.

The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is looking for stories about successful technology partnerships between federal labs and state or local governments. FLC will select examples from all six FLC regions to be featured on its website and at SSTI's 2015 Annual Conference. In 2013, winners were featured in a publication on state and local partnerships. Read submission requirements...

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it is accepting applications for the first round of its Small Business Vouchers Pilot (SBV) program. Under the SBV program, the DOE will commit up to $20 million in technical and research assistance awards to help small businesses bring next-generation clean energy technologies. Companies may apply for and receive up to $300,000 in assistance from U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories nationwide.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the launch of the National Incubator Initiative for Clean Energy (NIICE).  NIICE will serve a national support network for the nation’s clean energy startup community and the incubators that support them. The network will provide technical assistance and training services to help clean energy startups move their products closer to market readiness.

Last week, the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) announced the launch of FLCBusiness, an all-inclusive search database that shares information about funding, equipment, know-how, and resources available from the federal lab network for private and public utilization.

New National Science Foundation data indicates that the federal government’s support for national laboratories and research centers has continued to decline in constant dollars after peaking with the 2011 infusion of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding.  Six federally funded research and development centers (FFRDC’s) comprise about one-half of all FFRDC spending: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and five Department of Energy national labs.

The Department of Defense commissioned a pilot study by TechLink of the economic impact of cooperative R&D agreements (CRADAs) at three Defense labs — U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, and the Air Force Research Laboratory 711^th Human Performance Wing.

Research and development (R&D) expenditures at federally funded R&D centers (FFRDCs) increased for the fourth consecutive year in FY 2017, eclipsing $20 billion, according to new data from the National Science Foundation. FFRDCs are privately operated R&D organizations that are substantially financed by the federal government. The FFRDCs that performed the most R&D in 2017 were DOE’s Sandia National Lab, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and DOE’s Los Alamos National Lab.

As a bedrock of American innovation, universities and federal laboratories research and develop new products that help drive economic growth. A new study from the Economic Growth Institute at the University of Michigan aims to improve national competitiveness in this arena by providing a roadmap for universities that includes best practices on translating research from the lab to the marketplace.

The Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) is accepting federal laboratory T2 partnership story submissions for an online publication of state and local government successes this year. Recognizing that federal lab and state and local government partnerships are critical to the nation’s economy, FLC will showcase the regional value that results from such partnerships. The stories will be published in the FLC Success Stories Gallery and promoted across different media channels. The submission deadline is Oct.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) this week issued a solicitation for Phase II of its Sustainable Technology Partnerships (STEP) initiative. Phase I of STEP was created in 1994 as a pilot project.

STEP I offered states matching funds to gain access to NREL expertise. During phase I, 14 contracts totaling over $3 million were awarded. Projects focused on several technologies, including wind, biofuels, and alternative fuels.

In an effort to move technologies into the commercial sector more quickly, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has introduced a one-stop shopping experience called Express Licensing. Interested innovators and entrepreneurs can visit a website featuring AFRL-developed technologies that are available for license and learn about pre-negotiated terms and pricing, eliminating the need for lengthy contract negotiations.

The U.S. Department of Energy has launched a new Lab Partnering Service (LPS) that provides an online, single access point platform for investors, innovators and institutions to identify, locate and obtain information on the department’s 17 national laboratories. The new tool is intended to provide industry with a more efficient way to harness technical expertise and intellectual property housed at DOE’s labs.

The Central Intelligence Agency is launching CIA Labs, a federal lab and in-house research and development arm intended to drive science and technology breakthroughs surrounding intelligence challenges.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) requests input from stakeholders on place-based innovation activities leveraging research institutions, such as (but not limited to) DOE’s national laboratories and sites. Feedback collected as part of this RFI will inform DOE’s future program planning and development efforts. The RFI is an opportunity to provide input on how DOE can catalyze and sustain place-based ecosystems across the country.