FLC Midwest & Southeast Regions Set to Honor the Best of Federal Laboratory Innovation

Released: September 22, 2021

(WASHINGTON, DC - September 22, 2021) The Federal Laboratory Consortium’s (FLC) Midwest and Southeast regions will honor outstanding federal innovation at their annual award ceremony on September 23rd at 2:55 p.m. EDT.

FLC awards showcase the partnerships that are the core element of successful technology transfer—the process of moving federal innovation out of the lab and into the marketplace.

The five regional awards—two from the Midwest region and three from the Southeast region—represent technological advances in machine learning, entrepreneurial pitch competitions for intellectual property, agriculture, environmental clean-up and all-weather pavement repair.

These regional labs are part of a nationwide network of 300+ federal labs, agencies and research centers engaging in this collaborative technology transfer process, which benefits society and national security.

The FLC Awards recognize laboratories and their employees who have excelled.

“Federal labs are economic drivers for their regions, promoting regional relationships that contribute to a robust economy. These awards highlight the innovation that makes technology transfer so vital for creating new products and services that create new jobs," said Paul Zielinski, Executive Director of the FLC.

Midwest Award winners:

Excellence in Technology Transfer

  • Argonne National Laboratory, for employing machine learning to accelerate the industrial design optimization process.

State and Local Economic Development Award

  • Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division for an Indiana pitch competition that showcases NSWC Crane’s regional role as well as its intellectual property.

Southeast Award winners:

Excellence in Technology Transfer

  • U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory, for enlisting detector dogs to combat a disease threatening the $3.35 billion citrus industry.
  • U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Environmental Laboratory, for a wastewater treatment system that slashes the costs of removing ‘forever chemicals’ from the environment.

InteragencyPartnership Award

  • U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center and U.S. Air Force, Air Force Civil Engineer Center, for the longtime USACE-USAF partnership that is using rapid heating to revolutionize pavement repair technology.

For more information on the award winners and their technologies, visit the 2021 Midwest & Southeast Awards Program. Attendance for the Awards Ceremony is free, but registration for the meeting is required. To register, click here.

About the FLC The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is a formally chartered, nationwide network of more than 300 federal laboratories, agencies, and research centers that foster commercialization best practice strategies and opportunities for accelerating federal technologies from out of the labs and into the marketplace. To learn more, visit www.federallabs.org.

Media contact: Carolina Olivieri, Marketing Director, [email protected]