Success of Federal Labs Depends on Variety of Factors, Study Shows

Federal laboratories' ability to contribute to local economic development efforts may depend most on the quality of technical and business assistance they can offer, suggests a new report issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Technology Policy (OTP). The report, Partners on a Mission: Federal Laboratory Practices Contributing to Economic Development, documents nine programs that go beyond immediate laboratory missions to provide communities with greater access to lab technologies and facilities.

The report was developed with information from interviews with labs interested in highlighting their local economic development efforts. The nine cases included in the report were selected as representative of other U.S. laboratories and programs conducting similar activities. Numerous issues affecting the labs' ability to actively support economic development and related activities surfaced among the nine that were visited:

• Representatives in some federal labs would like policymakers to clarify their intent, regarding federal lab participation in technical and business assistance and support for economic development. Such assistance, now a peripheral activity for most federal labs, can be beneficial to the federal labs’ technology transfer mission.
• Similarly, federal lab representatives are often confused about allowable work with Small Business Innovation Research firms and are looking for clarification about the restrictions and the waiver process.
• While a number of labs have developed research parks and business incubators, proximity alone appears insufficient to ensure effective linkages between enterprises in parks or incubators and labs.
• Information dissemination activities of labs – once limited to publicizing scientific and technological research – now cover broad areas of interest to technology firms. Internet-based dissemination can be used to provide online tutorials, facilitate third-party evaluations and promote technology transfer. And,
• Education programs were popular among lab managers, employees and communities included in the study. The programs were said to contribute to a future talent pool available to labs while promoting the labs as “good neighbors."

Other key findings also emerged from the report. Entrepreneurial leave programs, for example, are potentially valuable mechanisms for promoting commercial use of laboratory technologies and know-how. Additionally, by sponsoring or participating in entrepreneurial, seed and venture capital, and business networking events, some federal laboratories are contributing valuable technical expertise and credibility to these events.

In the future, federal labs may have difficulty in filling technical and scientific positions, the report cautions. Policymakers are urged to take actions that strengthen the business communities in which the labs are located. Building stronger, higher quality enterprises provides better suppliers for the labs, the report states. Sandia National Laboratory’s Mentor Protégé Program, which encourages small business partnering, is one example of a program that is helping to strengthen its suppliers, benefiting both communities and labs.

Working in more effective and flexible ways with business and industry, the study adds, helps ensure that federal laboratory-inspired technologies and knowledge will be transferred and commercialized. The report concludes that "fostering maturation and commercialization of federal lab technologies through business and technical assistance and entrepreneurial programs adds value to lab technologies, sometimes contributing back to the lab higher quality technologies than the original, and raising the scientific and engineering bar higher for all."

For purposes of the report, economic development practices were viewed broadly; covering a wide range of activities initiated by federal laboratories and intermediary organizations working directly with federal laboratories, and included a variety of activities that actively contributed to local economic growth. While “pure” technology transfer activities such as Cooperative Research and Development Agreements were recognized as directly contributing to economic development, they were not covered in the report since they have been covered in numerous other studies.

Partners on a Mission: Federal Laboratory Practices Contributing to Economic Development is available at http://www.technology.gov/.