Introduction

This document has been prepared in an effort to assist and inform those who are about to take on responsibility for the transfer of technology from the laboratory to a manufacturer while operating within a government owned, government operated (GOGO) Federal Laboratory, particularly within the Department of Veterans Affairs. It is based partly on my past experience as a research engineer in the private sector, during which I found myself to be an inventor/employee as a result of my research on the measurement of blood pressure. That experience, turned out to involve negotiations, first with my employer and then with subsequent licensees, patent applications both here and abroad, and consulting for each of those licensees during testing and product development. It is also based on my subsequent experience within the VA, first as a research engineer, then as consultant to the VA Rehabilitation R&D Center here in Palo Alto, and finally as Section Chief of Technology Transfer at the Rehab R&D Center.

As a result of those experiences, I have become aware of a number of the problems and situations that relate to technology transfer in general, and also of those that seem peculiar to the VA in particular. It must be understood at the outset that technology transfer (TT) involves many disciplines and many fields of expertise. It is therefore a team sport, although it is also referred to as a "contact" sport, since so much of it revolves around personal contacts and personal interactions. The fact is that no one person can make technology transfer occur, but personal contacts and communications are essential, and each transfer situation is usually different from any other. It is perhaps for that reason, as well as the importance of prompt action, that accomplishing TT from within a large and impersonal organization becomes so complicated.

Since an important part of the mission of our Rehabilitation R&D Center is to design and develop techniques and devices that will improve the quality of life for disabled veterans, and since the government by law cannot compete with private industry, technology transfer becomes essential to the accomplishment of our mission. To this date, we have at this Medical Center succeeded in commercializing eleven products, which are listed in Table 1. It is my hope that this document, along with your own private thoughts, notes, and experiences, will help you to accomplish a similar or better record of commercialization.

I have included a number of Appendices with information that we have found useful in our TT activities, and I am sure that you will find others to add for your particular situation. Hence the loose-leaf binding. I hope that you will find TT as challenging and educational as I have, in more ways than I could possibly explain. Finally, I realize that I have been somewhat blunt in some of the statements, opinions, and suggestions made in this document (in order to be honest and helpful). Such statements are clearly my own, arising from my own personal experience and observations, and do not in any way represent any official position of DVA. However, Section XVIII on Center Policy has been reviewed and approved by the R&D Center Directors.

Alvin H. Sacks, Ph.D.
June, 1995
(revised November, 1996)