The transfer of technologies from federal research and development to industry is steadily increasing, despite federal agencies’ initiatives to implement commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products. The influx of COTS products does not mean that technology transfer is dead, but rather evolved—it has gone bidirectional.
Federal laboratories were mandated to push emerging technologies into industry not only to boost U.S. markets, but also to increase the federal laboratories’ return on their research and development investments. Today, however, industry plays a key role in supporting military and other federal agencies, and technology transfer is becoming increasingly necessary to support the mission. After more than a decade of technology transfer initiatives to industry, industry is returning the favor back to federal agencies.
During 2003, the Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC), Wheeling, West Virginia, analyzed approximately 140 NASA technologies for applicability to the needs of emergency responders. Of these 140, the NTTC is concentrating on five technologies that have the greatest potential to provide solutions to top-priority requirements of first responders. The NTTC also is leveraging its relationship with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to identify synergies between NASA technologies and core competencies and emergency responder needs.
Congress established the NTTC in 1989 to strengthen the competitiveness of U.S. industry by collecting and disseminating federally funded research and development information. Today, the NTTC also identifies, evaluates, manages, markets, trains and facilitates the transfer of technologies from agencies such as NASA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The NTTC also recognizes the potential technologies that can have government and military applications.
"Technology transfer traditionally has been about technology push, that is, out of the federal laboratory and into the private sector. The federal labs are required by law, with the money spent on research, to expend effort in getting it into industry and the economy," says Paula Webster, who heads the NTTC's NASA initiative. "NASA has always done collaborative research and development (R&D) [with industry], but, with its new mission to the moon and to Mars, NASA is taking a good, hard look at the capabilities within industry and other federal laboratories and universities. Why reinvent the wheel if industry can do something better, cheaper, faster?"
Now the technology transfer concept seems to have come full circle: from military to industry, and then back to military. One example is a chemical agent detector that has been used by the military for many years. Known as M8 paper, it contains compounds that produce a color change on light tan paper when the paper is dipped or wiped on a contaminated surface. Soldiers would tape the paper to their uniforms to detect nerve and blister agents under combat conditions in the field.
Mike Reimer, a full-time firefighter and hazardous materials technician in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, watched his colleagues tape pieces of pH paper and the military M8 to their uniforms. He noted that there must be a better detection system for first responders, one that is both more accurate and inexpensive. The NTTC assisted his start-up company, Safety Solutions, from concept stage through commercialization to develop a strip of vinyl and paper, called the HazMat Smart-Strip, that changes colors when exposed to nerve gas, cyanide and other chemicals in liquid or aerosol form. The Smart-Strip, at an approximate cost of $20, is now being used by police departments and port authorities in major cities.
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The HazMat Smart-Strip Card (l), designed by Safety Solutions Incorporated, is based on a military chemical agent detector paper called M8. The nerve agent detector card was further adapted for military use, and the technology was transferred back to the military as the Smart M8 Nerve Agent Badge (r).
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Safety Solutions then modernized the older style M8 to make it more operationally usable for military personnel in the field. The new device, called the Smart M8 Nerve Agent Badge, features a clip to fasten it to a uniform; peel-and-stick backing that allows users to affix the product to objects; and a built-in color comparison matrix so a user can quickly identify the source. Interested in the technology are hospitals, fire rescue agencies and military agencies, including the U.S. Department of State, which ordered 3,000 units in October.
The direction of technology transfer is not the only change. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, technologies primarily used by defense and military organizations filled a common need with state and local first responder communities as well as many businesses. Technology transfer no longer is about supporting the U.S. economy alone.
