U.S. Government laboratories can be a good source of preliminarily developed technology. Most often the desired technology has been explored at an early scientific or engineering level. It’s rare that the technology has been fully developed for commercial application.

Of the United States national laboratories the most-active have been traditionally Argonne, Sandia, and Lawrence Livermore. Weaker have been Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, Brookhaven, and Los Alamos. Computer modeling and processes engineering have in the areas of historic focus of technology transfer offices. NASA is also engaged in active licensing of technology. The national technology transfer center is their agent.

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) are utilized when development work in addition to unsupported technology licenses are desired. CRADAs have become much more user-friendly over the years and the modular CRADAs allow for selection of optional contract language that has already been approved by government agencies. This said, the process still takes too long in the eyes of most users. As such, work done with government laboratories is best when it is part of a company’s longer-term research needs.

To find specific art, government licensing professionals can be found in both AUTM and LES professional society meetings. Additionally the government technology databases are searchable.

The following are sample of international government technology transfer centers:

National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC) http://www.nttc.edu
The Technology Exchange http://www.uktech.net
The Japan Technomart Foundation http://www.jtm.or.jp
Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) http://www.surfip.gov.sg
Asian Pacific Center for Transfer of Technology http://www.apctt.org