National Meeting Session Descriptions for Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Start time: 10:45 a.m. ET
The National Security Agency (NSA) established a minority serving institution (MSI) working group CRADA, tailored to facilitate collaboration with MSIs on NSA mission problems and develop commercial solutions that can be leveraged by industry. Those in the working group can cross collaborate and jointly conduct research. NSA researchers worked with the MSIs and industry partners to jointly develop solutions related to the Internet of Things, national cyber-security posture and cyber analysis, and secure composition and system science. The first CRADA was executed in 2018, and since then seven more MSIs have joined. During this session, our panel will discuss the MSI working group framework as well as highlight teams' solutions.
Start time: 10:45 a.m. ET
Partnership Intermediary Agreements (PIA) have been dramatically evolving over the past five years in the Department of Defense. They provide a means to help labs engage the innovation ecosystem, and other stakeholders. In this session, we’ll look at best practices and lessons learned for federal labs. You’ll leave with a sense of why labs might consider PIAs to help achieve their goals.
Start time: 1 p.m. ET
Congressionally authorized foundations to support agencies' missions are nearly as old as federal technology transfer, and the 2019 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Green Paper recommended an expansion of foundation authorities to all federal R&D agencies. This panel will examine several existing agency foundations currently supporting the Department of Defense (DoD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). We’ll explore how their role in accelerating technology transfer and innovation has changed over time and provide thoughts on where they see their work evolving in the future. And we’ll discuss the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recent Chips and Science Bill authorization to establish an agency foundation and this new opportunity to support their mission.
Start time: 1 p.m. ET
In this session, panelists will discuss approaches for dramatically increasing outreach to startups and small businesses via university T2 directors, venture and angel investor communities, Manufacturing Extension Program centers and co-located conferences with Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II tech fairs. Collectively, these outreach targets constitute access to literally hundreds of startups, most of which are unaware of the FLC and federal labs’ T2 missions. This session will highlight a strategic opportunity for the FLC and will expose attendees to some of the Consortium’s most knowledgeable volunteers.
Start time: 3:45 p.m. ET
This session will focus on the State Small Business Credit Initiative and how the program is preparing MBEs for venture capital investments, federal technology transfer, innovation-focused federal and state programs. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 prioritizes small businesses with a $10 Billion investment to stimulate our economy. Diversity and inclusion are mandated and MBDA is tasked with making that happen and is seeking work with federal laboratories to help move your technologies to market.
Start time: 3:45 p.m. ET
Moderator: Whitney Hastings, National Cancer Institute
Speakers: 2023 FLC National Award Winners
This thematic panel discussion will feature some of this year’s National Award Winners, who will discuss their technology transfer efforts that helped turn federal innovations into commercialized products.