Deciding Whether Project Outcomes Will Have Transferability

As soon as you have decided what the likely outcomes of the project will be (allowing for the unexpected, of course), you should make a determination as to whether they have transfer potential or not. Keep in mind that there are valid reasons why a project may not lead to outcomes that are transferable outside the Center. For example, some research projects may be exploratory in nature or perhaps are designed as tests of an idea, where the findings (including negative findings) are primarily used by Center staff in subsequent R & D work and may or may not be publishable.

We have mentioned three types of transferable outcomes. Each is described below.

Research findings reported in journals or other scholarly publications

Research findings add to the fund of scientific information in the rehabilitation research and development community and are likely to have an effect n research and development community and are likely to have an effect on other researchers or clinicians.

Some examples:

• a computer-based analysis and simulation of human ambulatory motion
  
  
• a published analysis of how stress forces impact on bone-cement bonding
  
  
• an article on optimal design parameters of a mobile robot based on computer simulation work.

To meet the criterion of transferability, the nature of the article or report should be such that others outside the Center are able to adopt and act upon the information supplied. If there is evidence that this has occurred, it constitutes an instance of technology transfer. Under this distinction, the standard status reports of projects in the annual VA R & D Progress Reports do not necessarily qualify unless the findings are of a substantive, scientific nature such that others are likely to act upon them. These reports, however, may serve to alert outside researchers or manufacturers to transfer opportunities.

Investigator

Transfer Officer

Center Director