As I was reading about the amazing technologies coming out of the 17 national labs, I was perplexed about how and when these discoveries are deemed to be safe enough for commercialization. After all, pushing our intellectual capital out there into the public domain makes us vulnerable to some extent and with other scientists like von Braun out there, the possibilities for misuse are ever-present.

As it has already been pointed out the US federal government is the largest funder of scientific research providing an estimated $143 billion in funding for new scientific discoveries in the US in 2008. Though slow to recognize the importance of maximizing the value of these discoveries beyond their initial uses for the DOD or other federal interests, I think the obvious benefit of commercializing these technologies for further economic growth is now apparent.

The question though is who weighs the risk and feasibility for the use of these new technologies in the public domain? One of the enabling enterprises that I came across in my quest to find answers to this question was the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) for Technology Transfer. This was an initiative put into play by the government in the early 70’s to organize, facilitate and coordinate the transfer of technology among the various levels of government and to the private sector. Where it doesn’t transfer the technology itself, it brings the various labs together with private industry & other federal, state and local governments. Here’s some background on what they do: www.federallabs.org/home/about/

I found many other enabling enterprises “outside” the government itself involved in this transfer of technology from government labs to the commercial marketplace as well. Two of the most notable I found are the Center for Commercialization of Advanced Technology (CCAT) & the Ben Franklin Technology Partners which both focuses on “fast tracking” these innovative technologies.
www.ccatsandiego.org/index.shtml
benfranklin.org/what-is-bftp

One technology that went through this “spin-off” and commercialization process that I can personally identify with is thermal imaging. As a volunteer firefighter back in my hometown, I remember the day we were finally able to purchase our first thermal imager. This is a perfect example of how this DOD technology was commercialized and had significant impacts on search & rescue efforts at the local levels of government. I also ran into a great page on the FLC website that outlines current initiatives for technology transfer within the firefighting profession: www.federallabs.org/home/about/fftf/

Finally, I found a great document that just came out last fall on the Dept of State’s website that gives a great history on some of the issues surrounding tech transfer and the government’s take on the “iron triangle”:
fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/133881.pdf