National Labs Collaborate to Promote Technology Commercialization

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced 12 projects had been selected as part of its Practices to Accelerate the Commercialization of Technologies (PACT) Laboratory Call. The projects will receive about $2.5 million in awards, combined with more than $1 million in cost share “to develop new ways to increase technology commercialization by reducing barriers to accessing Labs’ capabilities, lowering transaction costs, and improving the complex’s ability to serve the private sector effectively,” DOE said in an Oct. 22-issued press release.

“Secretary Perry has charged DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions [OTT] with maximizing the impact of research and technologies developed across our sprawling lab complex to boost American economic competitiveness and national security,” said DOE Chief Commercialization Officer and OTT Director Conner Prochaska.

The PACT lab call was designed to promote the transition of research developed at DOE’s national laboratories toward the marketplace to promote U.S. competitiveness and national security. All 17 national labs, one National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) facility, and six external partners will be engaged in the projects. Ten projects have at least one partner, and seven have at least three, which DOE said showcases the readiness of the labs to use team-focused problem-solving approaches to help streamline the commercialization process.

Prochaska said the labs have designed “creative ways to streamline the lab-to-market process by leveraging their individual strengths and promoting cooperation across the Department.”

The following projects were selected to receive PACT lab call funding:

• Integrated technical and non-technical opportunity framing for Critical Materials Institute developed technologies – $292,000. Ames National Laboratory (Ames), and partners Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Decision Frameworks L.P.
• Innovate Together – Labs in Chicago – $149,978. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and partner Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
• Entrepreneurial Thinking: Historical and Observational Study (ETHOS) – $187,000. INL, and partners ANL, Brookhaven National Laboratory, LLNL, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and Enterprise Development Group.
• Trailhead East @ Idaho National Lab – $175,000. INL and partner Trailhead Boise.
• Cybersecurity Technology Concentration and Commercialization – $200,000. INL, and partners ORNL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), SNL, and Cyber CP.
• Open Source Software: Seeds of Commercialization – $250,000. LNNL.
• Growing Entrepreneurship at PPPL – $40,000. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).
• Technology Safari Program – $72,000. ORNL and partner Tremonti LLC.
• Technology Transfer Researcher Liaison Program – $580,000. ORNL, and partners Brookhaven National Laboratory, INL, LLNL, LANL, National Energy Technology Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, PNNL, and PPPL.
• Accelerating Commercialization by Connecting LAboratory Inventions to Maturation (ACCLAIM) – $75,000. SNL, and partners Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, INL, LLNL, Kansas City National Security Campus, PNNL, Savannah River National Laboratory, and Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.
• Diversity and Inclusion in InVentorship and EntrepReneurship Strategies and Engagement (DIVERSE) – $150,000. SNL, and partners Ames, ANL, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, INL, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, LLNL, ORNL, PPPL, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.
• Bay Area LINC (Lab Innovation Networking Center) – $300,000. SNL, and partners Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, LLNL, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and Stanford Technology Ventures Program.

—Aaron Larson is POWER’s executive editor (@AaronL_Power, @POWERmagazine).