The American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) today published a paper on mission-focused shared services co-authored by TCG Vice President David G. Cassidy. The paper, “Technology Transfer: How a Mission-Focused Shared Service Can Contribute to US Economic Growth”, examines the tools and processes that support technology transfer, the process of moving research and its outcomes (i.e., knowledge, techniques, data, tools, and inventions) from federally funded laboratories to private industry, academia, and other non-federal entities.
Tech transfer is a key driver of American innovation, national security, and growth. Between 1996 and 2015, measures demonstrate that tech transfer was responsible for over $1 trillion in economic growth and millions of new jobs. Yet there is currently no common technology solution for managing both the collection and sharing of data on federal R&D or the complexities of licensing intellectual property and technologies to organizations outside the government. The ACT-IAC paper shows that a shared service could help agencies and labs consolidate data collection and sharing and process management, and radically accelerate tech transfer for the benefit of the economy and national security.
“The contributors to this report represent tech transfer labs and agencies in the federal government, as well as the private sector,” said David G. Cassidy, who co-authored the report for ACT-IAC. “They provide perspectives essential for understanding this vital area of the US economy and national security. They know better than anyone else the complexities and challenges of managing tech transfer efforts in the federal government, and that leveraging the shared service model is one path toward meeting those challenges. It’s a great example of the public/private collaboration that ACT-IAC fosters.”
Information for the report was primarily gathered through interviews with eight tech transfer professionals from around the government and private industry, and secondary research from policy, government reports, economic impact studies, and academic research. The paper is part of Project Bullseye, an ACT-IAC Shared Services Working Group initiative to identify Federal government mission and functional areas not historically part of shared services models that may benefit from the model. Tech transfer is one of three topics the working group determined could benefit from additional research.
“A lot of people don’t realize the important role that federal R&D plays in our economy and national security ecosystem,” Cassidy said. “While it took Apple’s brilliant engineering capabilities to create the iPhone, federal R&D was integral in developing the touchscreen, GPS, and lithium batteries that made the iPhone and mobile computing possible.”
About ACT-IAC
The American Council for Technology (ACT) is a non-profit educational organization established to create a more effective and innovative government. ACT-IAC provides a unique, objective, and trusted forum where government and industry executives are working together to improve public services and agency operations through the use of technology. ACT-IAC contributes to better communication between government and industry, collaborative and innovative problem solving, and a more professional and qualified workforce.
About TCG
TCG (https://stage.tcg.com) aims to improve the world around us, in big and little ways, every day, for our staff, clients, and community. TCG provides the federal government with positively distinct IT and management advisory services in Agile development, federal shared services, budget formulation and execution, and health science analytics that help government programs and America succeed.
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