Agency Responses to Presidential Memorandum

Agency Responses to Presidential Memorandum on Technology Transfer

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On October 28, 2011 the President issued the Presidential Memorandum: Accelerating Technology Transfer and Commercialization of Federal Research in Support of High-Growth Businesses . This PM recognized the importance of Federal laboratory technology transfer and instructed agencies to increase the successful outcomes of these activities significantly over the next 5 years, while simultaneously achieving excellence in our basic and mission focused research activities.

The President required agencies with Federal research laboratories to develop and implement their own mission-specific plans to improve the rate of technology transfer and thereby improve the economic impact of Federal research. These plans include agency-defined goals and metrics to measure progress and evaluate the success of new efforts to encourage technology transfer activities. Copies or links to these plans are available below:

• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Defense
• Department of Energy
• Department of Health and Human Services (please refer to agency plans below)
• • Centers for Disease Control
  • Food and Drug Administration
  • National Institutes of Health
    
• Department of Homeland Security
• Department of Interior
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Veterans Affairs
• Environmental Protection Agency
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Pursuant to the PM, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (as delegated by the Secretary of Commerce in DOO 30-2A), in conjunction with the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget, has worked with Federal agencies through the Interagency Workgroup for Technology Transfer (IAWGTT) to develop and review individual agency reports, as well as complete interagency tasks directed by the President:

The culmination of this effort has led to the following reports that contain the recommendations required by the PM:

• Executive Summary of Agency Reports: This report summarizes the individual responses to the PM by thirteen Federal agencies.
  
• Opportunities to Substantially Increase Technology Transfer: This report identifies opportunities and consolidates recommendations from the IAWGTT for innovative approaches to technology transfer proposed by agencies in their individual agency plans.
  
• Revised Technology Transfer Metrics: This report outlines proposed changes to the set of technology transfer metrics that are reported annually by the Department of Commerce, in conjunction with the IAWGTT, in the Federal Laboratory Technology Transfer Summary Report to the President and the Congress. These expanded metrics will help inform future policy decisions with a broader, inter-agency perspective on the inventory of technology transfer products, interactions with small businesses, and collaborative efforts that have the potential to spur discovery and innovation.