History of Technology Transfer Partnerships and Future Plans

1
History of Technology Transfer Partnerships and
Future Plans
USDA, ARS and Economic Development

• Richard J. Brenner, Ph.D.
• Assistant Administrator of ARS
• Office of Technology Transfer

2
The Challenges of Today
a competitive world

• American leadership is anything but assured in
  todays global economy in fact, its very much
  at stake. We face more significant challenges to
  our innovative capacity and long-term
  competitiveness than ever before. To succeed in
  the face of growing challenges were going to
  need extraordinary efforts from industry,
  educators, and policy makers.

Bruce P. Mehlman Former Assistant Secretary of
Commerce for Technology Policy Partners on a
Mission Federal Laboratory Practices
Contributing to Economic Development, Nov. 2003

• And were going to need our federal labs to
  continue in their long tradition of rising to
  meet our toughest challenges.

3
Commercialization A Complex (and Expensive)
Process

• Basic discoveries require further RD for
  commercial feasibility ()
• Regulatory aspects require further validation and
  documentation ()
• Marketing strategies likely have international
  implications requiring intellectual property (IP)
  protection outside the U.S. ()
• Private sector investors will look to recover
  costs by acquiring some exclusivity / marketing
  advantage (protected IP, service exclusivity,
  trade secret know how)

4
Office of Technology Transfer

• Manages intellectual property issues for the
  Secretary of Agriculture
• Has sole authority for licensing any inventions
  developed within any of the USDA agencies
  (including Forest Service, Food Safety Inspection
  Service (FSIS), Animal Plant Health Inspection
  Service (APHIS))
• Has authority to develop and sign Cooperative
  Research And Development Agreements (CRADAs) for
  ARS
• Coordinates all Tech Transfer activities in ARS

5
Office of Technology Transfer
Centralized in policy and approvals, licensing,
marketing decentralized in negotiation and
implementation of CRADAs
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Key Points for Discussion

• Federal RD agencies are not positioned -- nor do
  they have the responsibility --- to provide the
  full assistance necessary for the private sector
  to succeed in producing products / services from
  federal inventions.
• Local / regional economic development entities
  can provide complementary assets critical to
  private sector companies.
• Agencies have some tools to facilitate these
  partnerships, but authority varies by agency.

7
Annual Report to Congress on Technology Transfer
--- FY 2006 Metrics

• Licenses
• Active 332
• Licenses with products on market 100
• CRADAs 211 active
• Approx. 45 of licenses and CRADAs are with
  small businesses
• Often lack business expertise, or fiscal
  resources necessary we cant help.

8
History of TEDCO partnership

• MOU Established May 2000
• 4 Technology Showcase events at Beltsville
  Agricultural Research Center
• 8 partnerships with small / start-up companies
• 7 projects three different TEDCO funding
  programs
• 3 other CRADAs in negotiation that may apply for
  TEDCO Maryland Technology Transfer Funds

9
Future of TEDCO partnership

• Where do we go from here?
• ARS in process of establishing first Partnership
  Intermediary Agreement (PIA) to foster long-term
  relationship with TEDCO
• ARS / USDA proposing to request Enhanced Use
  Lease authority from Congress
• Facilitates longer-term partnerships with private
  sector
• Allows private sector to renovate / build
  infrastructure on federal property in exchange
  for long-term lease of space.
• Encourages joint investment / risk sharing for
  more difficult research goals (e.g., nutrition /
  disease prevention biofuels)
• ARS would use PIA partner to manage relationships

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Solutions From Concept to Commercialization
Biomass to Ethanol / Energy Research
Advanced processes for freeing fibers sugars
Better crops for ethanol
Product recovery
Newly discovered fungi for better enzymes
Scale up fermentation bioprocesses
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Pilot plants and other ARS Infrastructure
Enhanced Use Lease to facilitate Public / Private
Partnerships
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Office of Technology Transfer 5601 Sunnyside
Ave Beltsville, MD 20705 (301)
504-6905 http//www.ars.usda.gov/Business/Business
.htm Richard J. Brenner, Ph.D. Assistant
Administrator