Tech Transfer at the NIH Research Festival

Tech Transfer at the NIH Research Festival

December 2, 2025

Original Story (Source): Tech Transfer at the NIH Research Festival (FY24 NIH Annual Report, pg. 3, by Richelle Holnick, OTT)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Festival is always a busy time for the NIH Technology Transfer Community! The Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) had a booth at the Resource Fair on the first day of the festival to talk with the community and make sure that researchers know how to access support from their tech transfer office, as well as share any trainings or fellowships available within the community.

“Are you an inventor?” is Steve Ferguson’s opening line, and while he is usually met with a “no,” he is quick to follow up with “you could be and not even know it.” This is always a great way to chat with researchers and make sure they are aware that when a company or university reaches out to acquire research materials, they should work with their tech transfer office to draft an agreement and receive royalties! Fun fake money is given out with a QR code that goes to the Resources for Inventors page.

The Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) graciously sent inventor notebooks, pens, and luggage tags as giveaways. This certainly helped increase traffic to the booth! Ferguson and Richelle Holnick ran out of giveaways halfway through the event.

The poster sessions are another great tool to reach people during the Research Festival. This year, OTT had two posters, one on “NIH and the FLC” and one on “Careers in Technology Transfer and Business Development.” The Office of Science Policy had one on the “NIH Intramural Research Program Access Planning Policy.”

Ferguson also helped plan and facilitate the Patent Law, Industry, and Tech Transfer Scientific Interest Group’s workshop, “From Postdoc to Paycheck.”

Lastly, you may be looking for information on The Philip S. Chen Jr., PhD, Distinguished Lecture on Innovation and Technology Transfer, as it is usually held during the Research Festival; however, it was paused for this year. We look forward to its return next year!