Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer

Federal research facilities can be a bit intimidating for a small- or medium-sized technology firm. But if a business is looking for solutions to technical problems, new technologies to commercialize or adopt, a research partner, or funding to perfect some technology, the vast resources of the nation’s 700+ federal research laboratories could hold the key to commercial success.

Fortunately, since 1974, the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) provides an affordable, easy-to-access gateway to a nationwide network of federal laboratories. The FLC is the nation’s leading source for maximizing collaborative research for transferring technologies and facilitating technical cooperation between the federal laboratories, industry, academia, state and local governments, and federal agencies. FLC services include:

* FLC Technology Locator — This serves as a point of entry to federal laboratory expertise and technology. Potential partners are put in contact with a federal laboratory with expertise in a specific field.

* Find-a-lab online locator — This locator allows potential partners to find national laboratories in a specific geographic region.

* Listings of available federally-owned patents, CRADAs and licenses available for exploitation — The FLC houses an exhaustive database of information in relation to patents, licenses and other opportunities that may be useful to potential partners. This information is available via the FLC website.

* Links to grant and SBIR funding opportunities — The FLC website contains numerous links to potential grants, SBIR funding opportunities and other sources of funding.

* Commercialization Assistance Mentoring Program — This program provides mentoring and assistance to federal laboratories and federally funded research programs. The goal is to facilitate the transfer of federal technologies to industry, state and local governments.

A gold sponsor of SSTI’s sixth annual conference, Building Tech-based Economies: From Policy to Practice, October 2-3, 2002, FLC will have an exhibit and breakout session to provide additional information on the wealth of resources available through the Consortium. More information on FLC is available at http://www.federallabs.org/. Requests to subscribe to FLC Insider should be sent to [email protected]

Copyright State Science & Technology Institute 2002. Information in this issue of SSTI Weekly Digest was prepared under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration. Redistribution to all others interested in tech-based economic development is strongly encouraged — please cite the State Science & Technology Institute whenever portions are reproduced or redirected. Any opinions expressed in the Digest do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Commerce.