Rochelle S. Blaustein

The DOE Can Innovate, Too.

August / September 2010 By: Rochelle S. Blaustein Volume 8 Number 4

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Technology transfer from universities and federal laboratories has evolved and matured over the last 30 years. Today, it is widely accepted that technology transfer must be able to encompass partnerships that go beyond licensing technologies flowing serendipitously out of federally funded scientific research. Across the academic and federal sectors, sponsored research and collaborative endeavors with industry have become expected. The Department of Energy’s national laboratories have long embraced this effort, working with small and large, and national and international companies and consortia to develop and move technologies closer to and into the marketplace.

A wonderful aspect of humanity is that we have the capability to choose to evolve, mature and improve our circumstances. And so, as we move into and beyond Web 2.0, Government 2.0 and other next-generation concepts, deeper into the 21st century, so too are we seeing a next generation of federal technology transfer begin to blossom. We are coming to understand and implement “innovation ecosystems” and “open innovation” models that recognize the importance of integrating disciplines and of bringing people together to exchange ideas—creating synergies and a more mature innovation pathway better able to address the larger problems of this new millennium.

The challenges we face in the 21st century bear little resemblance to those of the last century. On the surface, they have a familiar ring: energy, environment, security, health. But it is the context of the world surrounding these issues that is so different today: the rate and scale of change is unprecedented. Solving these challenges requires what has now become a familiar refrain: we must innovate—we must take our ideas and see them implemented —amplifying and accelerating the discovery to deployment process.

DOE has established a number of pathways for accelerating innovation through such initiatives as ARPA-E) the Energy Frontier Research Centers and the Energy Innovation Hubs. The importance of an innovation ecosystem applies equally well to the DOE national laboratories that have provided leading-edge science and many successful technologies for several decades. Such an innovation ecosystem is far better suited to address the increasingly complex challenges of our society.
A forward-thinking pilot program at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory [See articles on pages 28 and 29], has begun to tackle the concepts and implementation of establishing such an innovation ecosystem at a federal laboratory.

This innovation ecosystem at PNNL is based on three primary elements: 1) the research enterprise of our nation, which includes all federal laboratories, universities, and industry, 2) the technology transfer function that helps translate or convey research results to those who can create useful products or services, and 3) commercial firms, which are the source of new startup enterprises, the growth of existing ones, and the creators of new industries. Taken together, these parts represent the very definition of innovation: the idea generators, the idea transmitters and the idea implementers. Viewed separately, these parts are impressive, world-leading and true national treasures. But because of their sheer scale and diversity, coupled with the complexity of the grand challenges we seek to overcome, being able to leverage these investments in people, facilities, equipment and intellectual property for the greater national good has its own set of challenges. But there are three actions that the pilot program is taking to make these parts work far better together as a system:
• Linking the research agenda with the technology transfer agenda. This is mutually beneficial because it includes intellectual property capture and deployment as a strategic element of the research agenda, while simultaneously providing guidance on how to optimize the use of research dollars.
• Adopting a “seamless” approach to collaboration among federal labs, universities and industry. This is mutually beneficial because it speeds transaction time and reduces cost, while diminishing conflicts arising from the interactions of people, facilities, equipment and intellectual property—accelerating the discovery to deployment process.
• Collaborating with the broader technology-based economic development community. This is mutually beneficial because it aligns the research and commercialization agenda with those whose capabilities serve to create societal and economic benefit, thus maximizing return on the national investment in innovation.

The interaction of laboratories with local and regional economic development efforts is not new, and it is readily accepted that there is a great need to streamline the process and the requirements for industry to form collaborations with both federal and university laboratories. Without doubt, both of these efforts deserve continued focus on improvement. By linking a research agenda— where appropriate, of course—to the technology transfer agenda and expertise at the laboratory, problems can be solved and synergies created or identified at an early stage. This early nurturing by a multi-disciplinary team bringing different and overlapping skills and knowledge to bear on the R&D can contribute to accelerating the development of the innovation and to making a technology more cost effective to bring to market.

The need for the nation to accelerate the innovation pathway from concept to marketplace is indisputable. The urgency has never been greater. We must make every reasonable effort to contribute to this acceleration and bring all our strengths as a nation to bear on tackling the grand challenges of the 21st century. The national laboratories are a great resource in many ways beyond their vital role in tackling the great scientific challenges. They are a resource for ideas, expertise, facilities, technologies and collaborations. The DOE laboratories across the country are taking up the challenge, such as with the pilot program at PNNL. Technology transfer continues to evolve and because of this evolution we will continue to find new and innovative ways to optimize the federal investment in science and technology.

Rochelle S. Blaustein is senior advisor for technology transfer at the Department of Energy.