An Initial Look at Federal Offices of Research and Technology Applications

Published

November 19, 2020

Author(s)

Nicole K. Gingrich, Michael J. Hall, Isaac Patterson

Abstract

In Science—the Endless Frontier, Vannevar Bush wrote that reaping the potential benefits of science conducted at federal laboratories requires the discoveries made in the labs be transferred to society. In federal laboratories, Offices of Research and Technology Applications (ORTAs) are tasked with transferring lab-developed technologies to the market, facilitating society's reaping of the benefits provided by scientific investments. In fiscal year 2016, the Technology Partnerships Office of the National Institute of Standards and Technology conducted a first-of-its-kind survey of the ORTAs of more than fifty federal laboratories to obtain information on their organization and operation. We present descriptive analyses of the responses to this survey in two topical areas: organizational characteristics and technology transfer characteristics. We disaggregate the data across the dimension of budget size find similarities and differences across the budget categories. Among the relationships we observe, we find that ORTAs with larger technology transfer budgets report higher frequencies of conducting internal technology transfer activities, such as patent prosecution and market analysis. Additionally, we provide context to the data by overviewing the relevant research on ORTAs at universities and present potential inferences that may be drawn from that body of research and applied to the data on ORTAs at federal laboratories.

Citation

Journal of Research (NIST JRES) -

Volume

125

NIST Pub Series

Journal of Research (NIST JRES)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/jres.125.033

Local Download

Keywords

federal laboratory, office of research and technology applications, technology transfer, technology transfer office

Citation

Gingrich, N. , Hall, M. and Patterson, I. (2020), An Initial Look at Federal Offices of Research and Technology Applications, Journal of Research (NIST JRES), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/jres.125.033 (Accessed October 7, 2025)