Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
11/20/2015
Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) this week introduced revised legislation on technology transfers from Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories to the private industry for commercialization after incorporating input from New Mexico businesses with experience in the transfers.
The Accelerating Technology Transfer to Advance Innovation for the Nation Act is intended to “cut bureaucracy and better facilitate public-private partnerships at the federal, state and regional level” while supporting high-tech industries and job creation in New Mexico, according to a statement from Udall’s office. The bill would measure DOE’s progress in technology transfer initiatives, expand public-private partnerships to include foundations and nonprofits, increase funding to underserved “regions with untapped potential,” and enhance research partnerships by enabling “small- and medium-sized businesses to compete with larger firms to develop products from research at DOE labs,” the statement says. The bill was originally introduced in March 2014.
Udall last month held a roundtable with officials from the Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories and local businesses that have commercialized DOE lab technologies. He added their suggestions, as well as those of the DOE’s Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories, as updates to the bill. The updates, according to the statement, include calling on the DOE “to draw on universities’ experience with tech transfer to benefit commercialization at the labs” and creating a grant program for post-doctoral students to market their products. Roundtable participants also urged “provisions increasing access to research partnerships for small- and medium-sized businesses, local and state governments, public universities and economic development organizations,” the statement says.
“Supporting tech transfer will encourage entrepreneurship, creating more high-tech jobs here in New Mexico and growing our economy,” Udall said in the release. He added that "Sandia alone has seen a 38 percent increase in commercial licenses in just the past year – that’s a 130 percent jump from 2012,” but that there is “still room to grow." The statement notes that institutions including the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University support the bill. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will now consider the legislation.
