Case Studies of Successful Technology Transfer from Federal Laboratories

Gretchen B. Jordan, Christopher S. Hayter, Michael Hogan, Manuel A. Gonzalez and O’Connor, Alan C.

Annals of Science and Technology Policy, 2021, vol. 5, issue 3-4, 247-429

Abstract: In the United States, the Federal Government spends around $150 billion annually on Research and Development (R&D) at federal labs, universities, and research organizations. This investment in early-stage R&D together with the technology transfer process strengthened by the Stevenson-Wydler Act makes federal labs an important source of innovation that leads to products and processes with a private and social benefit. In this monograph, we present a structured case study approach to illustrate the benefits of the transferred research and technology as well as the circumstances that influenced the success of that transfer. Technology transfer from federal has widespread public benefits in areas that would not typically be addressed by the private sector and are difficult to quantify. The nine case studies presented span a mix of federal agencies, technology types, and transfer mechanisms. They illustrate a novel approach to matched case study research in this field, and explore the benefits, success factors, and lessons learned for federal managers. Each case presented a unique agency, transfer mechanism, and technology but illustrated some common success factors: deep research expertise, a clear demand environment, existing relationships, and legal mechanisms including licensing and CRADAs increased the likelihood of success. Research from federal labs requires a long-term commitment, but our case studies demonstrate how it can have widespread economic, environmental and public health benefits in addition to commercial benefits to the transfer recipient.

Keywords: New Product Diffusion; Product Development; Product Innovation; Performance measurement; Strategic Management: Strategic management of technology and innovation; Strategic Management: Non-market strategy; High technology: Technology-based new firms; Nascent and start-up entrepreneurs; Strategic alliances and networks; Knowledge; innovation; and technology; Research methodology in strategic management; New Product and Service Design; Entrepreneurship; Microeconomics; Political Science (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/110.00000019 (application/xml)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:now:jlastp:110.00000019

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Annals of Science and Technology Policy from now publishers
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Lucy Wiseman ().