A Department of Commerce report has found an increase in technology transfer efforts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences over the past five years.
NIST said Tuesday DOC researchers took part in 534 collaborative research and development agreements in fiscal 2018, reflecting an increase of 120 over the previous fiscal year.
The department’s three research laboratories filed 56 patent applications, introduced 77 new inventions and secured 28 patents. DOC researchers also published more than 3.2K technical and scientific publications, according to the 2018 annual report.
“Technology transfer is an essential part of the mission of each federal science and technology agency,” said Walter Copan, undersecretary of Commerce for standards and technology and NIST Director. “This report shows important progress is being made to deliver impacts from our national investment in research and development for the benefit of Americans and the U.S. economy.”
Tech transfer efforts at NIST, NOAA and ITS include production of software and reference materials, participation in standards committees, training of guest and postdoctoral researchers and availability of user facilities.
