THE PROBLEM: Successful technology commercialization programs depend upon close collaborations with researchers to identify, mature, market and deploy laboratory-developed technologies. However, in 2019, ORNL realized that several recent trends were hurting connectivity between its technology transfer office (TTO) and researchers; these challenges were common across the Department of Energy (DOE) labs. Like many research and development (R&D) organizations, ORNL had a high ratio of researchers to TTO staff, making it difficult for TTO staff to regularly engage with researchers. This challenge was further exacerbated by high turnover rates or dramatic expansions in the number of scientists and engineers at labs, which created a gap in institutional knowledge regarding technology transfer. Furthermore, an analysis of invention disclosures revealed that only about one-third of ORNL’s research staff were routinely filing invention disclosures. ORNL also wanted to see greater participation of researchers in several funding initiatives from DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions (OTT), such as the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) and Energy I-Corps, which provide commercialization and entrepreneurship education opportunities. 

THE SOLUTION: To increase TTO-researcher engagement, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) led a team of other U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) labs in launching the Technology Transfer Researcher Liaison (TTRL) program. Established as a pilot project funded by DOE’s Practices to Accelerate the Commercialization of Technologies (PACT) Laboratory Call, this innovative program’s focus was to increase TTO engagement with the organization’s research community, thus increasing researchers’ technology transfer participation. The program recruited six or seven researchers at each participating lab and trained them to be Liaisons – embedded technology scouts, local subject matter experts, ambassadors to their TTOs and an advisory council for their laboratories. Liaisons assisted fellow researchers in identifying new inventions and disclosing them to the TTO, coached their peers on how to interact with prospective licensees and provided general assistance with the technology transfer process. Liaisons from all 11 participating labs also participated in a community of practice, in which they exchanged encouragement, experiences and lessons learned.  

THE IMPACT: The goals of the TTRL program were to increase invention disclosures and participation in technology transfer programs. Despite the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began during the program’s infancy, labs that participated in the TTRL program saw two-year average increases in invention disclosures (8%), first-time inventors reporting inventions (12%) and participants in most technology transfer programs (45%–78%).  

After completing the PACT-supported pilot project in 2022, ORNL continued its TTRL program with support from its royalty fund, continuing to reap the substantial impacts of this innovative program. Since the program’s inception, the results have shown that Technology Transfer Researcher Liaisons are an effective approach to building a valuable bridge between the lab and the TTO, increasing the TTO’s engagement with researchers and thereby increasing researcher participation in the technology transfer process. This success is evidenced not only by the numbers above but also by the favorable feedback from the participating labs’ TTOs, Liaisons and researchers.