Starlight, an information visualization technology developed at PNNL.
Making a Match
April / May 2008
Volume 6 Number 2
The challenge is matchmaking. A great technology doesn't just appear in the marketplace; it's often a product of years of research, ingenuity and passion, and a progressive collaboration among many people. One of our jobs at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is to find innovative ways to connect promising technologies with the resources that will make them a commercial reality.
At PNNL, we've been successful in matchmaking. The key is objectively understanding the capabilities and potential of a technology, and then pursuing wise discretionary investments to further its development. As we get closer to market applications, outside investors such as venture capitalists can also begin to see the potential for long-term success. That's when the match is made.
Since the laboratory's inception in 1965, hundreds of technologies have moved from the research laboratory to industry. Over the past two years alone, we've increased our licensing revenues by more than 10 percent; we have also dramatically increased the number of joint-development projects where—€”due in part to intellectual property—€”we've attracted third party involvement. These results have pushed us toward the front of the pack among the Department of Energy's national laboratories.
Our commercialization office uses a three-step approach for moving technology from the laboratory to industry. First we focus on the researchers and their inventions; second, we invest carefully in the most promising ideas; and last, we identify market-minded partners and investors to turn the technology into a mainstream solution.
To get things headed in the right direction we take the time to get to know the researchers and their innovations. The more we know about a technology, the better. Both the researcher and the commercialization manager will likely have ideas about where the technology can be applied. And more often than not, a grand idea that was born as a result of a basic inquiry or problem grows into a technology that has capabilities and applications beyond its original intent. By pairing technical expertise and industry knowledge, we increase our chances of finding the right commercial match for the technology.
One way PNNL's technology commercialization office achieves this meeting of the minds is through a formalized staff engagement program. The multi-faceted program is designed to provide information about commercialization tools and strategies for staff scientists and engineers. But the communication is hardly one way. Each quarter, dozens of new and veteran researchers are invited to a one-hour luncheon to meet the commercialization staff and learn about resources available to further their technologies. These meetings provide a comfortable format for researchers to talk about their work with the people who are best equipped to help them transition it to a successful commercial outcome.
Now we prepare the technology for the next step. It's refined and tweaked with the help of three discretionary investment resources we tap at PNNL—€”Independent Research and Development (IR&D) funding, Battelle Technology Maturation funds and Use at Facility Funds (UAFF). These resources are targeted at technology that has jumped a significant hurdle (testing a theory or idea) to become something with commercial potential—€¦with one caveat: it still needs a little more development work to make it attractive to outside investors.
One PNNL technology that benefited greatly from refinement was our millimeter wave imaging system.
Originally developed for personnel security screening applications, researchers saw additional potential for millimeter wave technology. With only $100,000 in IR&D money, researchers added new software and algorithms to the system so that it could capture accurate human body measurements. Battelle, which operates PNNL for DOE, licensed the system to Intellifit in 2003; the system is being used in several malls and department stores throughout the country, helping people find the perfect-fitting pair of jeans, among other garments.
"IR&D money gave us the extra leg up we needed to make minor—€”but important—€”changes and additions to the technology so that it could be used for custom-fit apparel," said Doug McMakin, a PNNL researcher and principal developer of the millimeter wave system. "Without IR&D, we probably wouldn't have made the changes when we did, thus losing out on a ripe opportunity to penetrate a second market with the same technology."
The IR&D program is designed to enhance privately contracted research and development and related commercialization outcomes. Each year, PNNL researchers submit proposals for IR&D for projects that need an extra boost to make them commercially viable. Commercialization is one of the key purposes of a national laboratory, as transferring technology to the private sector not only strengthens U.S. competitiveness, but benefits society.
In the past decade, IR&D has been a key driver in cultivating ties to industrial clients searching for research know-how they might not have otherwise been able to afford. By marrying the external investment with IR&D funding, dozens of companies have tapped into national laboratory capabilities and advanced their own products and market presence.
McMakin and his team are taking their technology to the next level. With two successful transfers to industry behind them, the team is actively developing applications in healthcare and fitness while kicking around applications in other areas such as grape harvest estimating, gaming and construction (structural integrity) industries.
One of the other discretionary investment resources, Battelle Technology Maturation funds, is used to mature technologies at the DOE national laboratories operated or co-operated by Battelle. Unlike IR&D dollars, researchers from all of the six labs vie for technology maturation funds through a competitive process.
The system works because of the strict criteria used to evaluate proposals. Among other things, Battelle's commercialization council looks for co-investment potential; experienced project personnel who have worked with industry in the past; a basis of proprietary technology; strong market potential; and a strong projection for returns.
Use at Facility Funds—€”the third and final funding option—€”are generated and distributed internally at PNNL. Net revenues from existing licensing agreements are dispersed annually throughout the laboratory's four research divisions, to the laboratory director's office, and to the technology commercialization office. Each group awards the funds, at their discretion, to projects with strong commercial potential.
UAFF funds of $50,000 helped a team build a much needed bench-top system for screening hazardous liquids after their only prototype was loaned to a client. The additional system allowed the team to continue research and development, and led to a patent and establishment of a fund to help the team engage potential commercial partners.
The final step in the matchmaking game is a well-structured meeting with prospective investors.
When a technology is ready for deployment to the private or public sector, PNNL's commercialization managers invite prospective partners and investors—€”including venture capitalists—€”to the Laboratory to meet with the appropriate researchers, see the technology, and discuss its market potential. Sometimes it works the other way around; a VC hears about an emerging research area and makes the first move to contact PNNL.
The comprehensive homework we do during steps one and two of the commercialization process ensures that we're using an investor's time wisely, only pairing them with research and technology specifically applicable to their fields of interest. Another part of the match-making formula we use is to task laboratory commercialization staff with accountability as the lead point of contact for a VC relationship; they ensure that his/her assigned VC's interests and needs are met in these interactions.
The approach seems simple, but the extensive behind-the-scenes work that precedes each visit greatly contributes to successful commercial deployment of our R&D. In fact, in January, a Boston-based VC visited the laboratory to see what we had to offer in terms of renewable energy, catalysis, battery encapsulation, and thermal electric materials innovations. Because we took the time to drill down into their specific interests, their investment focus, their existing portfolio companies—€”and matched that knowledge with specific solutions—€”we identified several exciting opportunities for further collaboration and development.
As part of this approach, we also look at ways to enhance interactions with the venture capitalists and other investors through entrepreneurial programs, win-win agreement structures, and engagement directly with the researchers who are developing the technologies. In this way we are maximizing their time investment while increasing the potential for a second meeting.
On the surface, our "matchmaking" approach to technology transfer may seem rudimentary, even obvious. But what's behind our process is an array of programs that ensure we're working on the right things with the right people. By keeping a singular focus on the market needs in the context of the technology that is emerging from our laboratories, we are helping customers improve their products and grow their businesses. And that's a formula that is hard to match.
Cheryl Cejka, director of technology commercialization, leads PNNL's intellectual property management, portfolio development and investment and technology commercialization activities.
***
Two New Supersomputers for Pacific Northwest Lab
Two new supercomputers will increase the ability of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to provide resources specifically tailored to meet the needs of critical scientific endeavors in energy, environment and national security. HP will deliver a new supercomputer that will advance molecular science in areas such as aerosol formation, bioremediation, catalysis, climate change, hydrogen storage and subsurface science.
"High-performance computing is critical to advancing the frontiers of science and fulfilling our mission to the American people," Jerry Elwood, acting associate director for the Office of Biological and Environmental Research within DOE's Office of Science, said. "We are proud to provide government, academia and industry the capabilities that are needed to solve some of the most challenging environmental molecular science questions of our day."
The system will be a key capability in the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a DOE national scientific user facility located at PNNL. The new computer will be available as a resource to scientists from around the world. The Office of Biological and Environmental Research funded the supercomputer's purchase. Scientists will be granted access to the new computer based on a competitive, externally peer-reviewed proposal process.
The system is being delivered and tested in two phases and is expected to be fully operational in October 2008.
Yet some scientific challenges require a very different kind of computing power, particularly those that require access to terabytes of data arranged in an unpredictable manner, such as data discovery, bioinformatics and power grid analysis.
To address that need, PNNL has taken delivery of the first Cray XMT supercomputer. The Cray XMT system has a unique "massively multithreaded" architecture and large global memory that is configured for applications that typically do not run well on conventional computer systems, where performance is determined mainly by the speed at which the memory can deliver information to the microprocessor. The computer is an early release system installed as part of a collaboration between Cray and PNNL to explore a variety of new application areas. It is scheduled to be upgraded to a production-level system in 2008.
Copyright © 2012 | Innovation America