DC Dispatch
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August 21, 2015
DOC & FLC Supporting Minority-Owned Businesses
The U.S. Department of Commerce has established: a “new partnership between the
Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), and the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) to
support minority business development through our nation’s investment in research and
development at more than 300 federal laboratories.” From the press release, “[T]he
Minority Business Enterprise Technology Transfer Innovation Consortium will support
American innovation and global competitiveness by promoting high-technology
opportunities to groups that have had historically low participation in this process. It was
one of a number of initiatives to promote entrepreneurship announced as part of the first
White House Demo Day, held August 4, 2015. By fostering ‘lab-to-market’ initiatives,
the partnership aims to increase the number of minority businesses that engage in
advanced technology transfer by creating strategic regional ecosystems that link the
national science and technology enterprise with the MBDA centers that support minority
businesses. … NIST and NOAA are contributing funding to support these efforts and
will participate in a series of events that will give minority business owners the
opportunity to visit federal laboratories to learn more about their research and tech
transfer efforts.” See related blog post here. (Original Sources: DOC/NIST & MBDA
web sites, White House web site)
ITIF Tech Policy Toolbox
As the Presidential election cycle ramps up: there will be no shortage of advice to hopeful
candidates on a long list of policy issues. ITIF (a self-defined ‘non-partisan’ think tank)
has provided a “menu of actionable ideas that policymakers can trust to foster innovation,
growth, and progress.” Their Tech Policy Toolbox “lays out a selection of new ideas for
Congress and the administration to consider. It is organized by topic area—from
innovation and competitiveness to trade and globalization—with short summaries of each
idea and citations for additional details.” Note that they include a section titled Tech
Transfer (page 7) with suggestions such as: 1) Congress should direct NSF to establish
stronger university entrepreneurship metrics and use them to provide stronger incentives
for commercializing research; 2) Congress should fund a pilot program supporting
experimental approaches to technology transfer and commercialization; 3) Congress
should create an ‘Innovation Voucher’ program operated by NIST; and 4) Congress
should create a Spurring Commercialization of Our Nation’s Research program. See the
link for more details for each recommendation. (Original Sources: ITIF web site)
Contact:
Gary K. Jones, FLC DC Representative, gkjones.ctr@federallabs.org
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New ‘IP Bank’ Launched
Earlier this summer the Dominion Harbor Group launched: an ‘IP Bank’ with “the
purpose of working to seed promising young companies with high-quality, curated IP that
buttresses their products and services, strengthens their market position, expedites
venture funding, and increases the likelihood of an IPO or other strategic market
success.” From an IP-Watchdog post on the subject, “[M]any large corporations are
sitting on stockpiles of patents, which are not core to the corporations business but
nevertheless represent an asset that could be useful if placed in the right hands. There are
also startup companies that find themselves in need of patent rights to take next steps in
business development, such as for the purpose of raising capital from investors. Into this
fray enters a new institution called the Monument Bank of Intellectual Property. Rather
than a startup going to the IP Bank for a loan, they can go to the IP Bank to acquire
patents that can be used to build a portfolio or to supplement their already growing
organic patent portfolio. The IP Bank is looking to strengthen startups and, in the
process, enhance innovation and job creation. … Already the IP Bank has … given more
[than] a dozen startups access to more than 1,000 patent assets from roughly 20 bank
depositors. By year-end, it expects to have between 5,000-10,000 patents from 50 major
depositors. Patents in the bank cover a range of technology areas, including energy,
health care, finance, automotive, materials, green chemistry, and general technology.”
(Original Sources: IP-Watchdog blog, Monument IP Bank web site)
Fun Facts: Patent Grant Rates by Tech Area
The blog Patently-O has prepared: a chart showing patent grant rates – by technology
area – from 2005 to present. From the post “there are several overall trends that are easy
to discern. In particular, the general trend reported last week – a drop in grant rate
followed by a rise once Director Kappos took charge – is present in each of the major
technology areas. In general, you will also see less variance between the technology
areas in later years. It is unclear at this point if that coming-together is due more to
USPTO practices or to applicant practices or some other unknown factor. The
major outlier in the group is electronic commerce patent applications. Those applications
continue to be granted at a rate of < 10%.” (Original Sources: Patently-O blog)
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Note: The DC Dispatch is a periodic update of selected items of interest to the FLC and
technology transfer community -- i.e., current legislation, trends, reports, policy and other
developments potentially affecting technology transfer or related activities -- designed to
keep the community informed of relevant issues on a timely basis. Information is
gleaned directly from a variety of sources (newsletters, email alerts, web sites, direct
participation at events from the FLC DC Representative’s office, etc.) -- with original
sources, contacts and links provided.
Contact:
Gary K. Jones, FLC DC Representative, gkjones.ctr@federallabs.org
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