National Renewable Energy Laboratory - Commercialization and Technology Transfer

Commercialization and Technology Transfer

NREL works closely with a number of private partners to transfer technological developments in renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies to the marketplace and social arena. NREL's innovative technologies have been recognized with 39 R&D 100 Awards. The engineering and science behind these technology transfer successes and awards demonstrates NREL's commitment to a sustainable energy future. The idea of technology transfer was added to the mission of NREL as a means of enhancing commercial impact and societal benefit, ultimately justifying the use of tax dollars to in part fund the projects in the lab. As many of these technologies are young and often just emerging, NREL aims to reduce the risk of private sector investment and adoption of their developments. Three key pieces of federal legislature laid the policy framework to enact technology transfer: The Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980, The Bayh-Dole Act or The University and Small Business Patent Procedures Act of 1980, and The Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986.

Ultimately, many of the deployed technologies help mitigate the oil dependence of the United States, reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuel use, and maintain U.S. industry competitiveness. Deployment of technologies is accomplished by developing technology partnerships with private industry. NREL serves as a reduced-risk platform for research, and through partnerships those advances can effectively be translated into serving the interest of both the private sector and the public sector. The energy goals set by the DOE are at the forefront of the research done in the laboratory, and the research reflects the energy goals, which are designed with the interest of "U.S. industry competitiveness" in mind. The challenge to achieving these goals is investment security.

Part of the technology transfer process is to form partnerships that not only focus on financial security, but also to consider partners who have demonstrated core values that reflect the integrity to manage the introduction and assimilation of the technological developments. NREL focuses on the core values of the partnering entity, the willingness to set and meet timely goals, dedication to transparency, and a reciprocating intent to further development. Under these partnership agreements, NREL does not fund projects conducted by their private partners. NREL does provide funding opportunities through their competitively placed contracts. In order to form a Technology Partnership Agreement with NREL, there are essentially 11 steps:

1. Discuss the project project proposal with the appropriate NREL technical contact
2. Determine if the project meets qualifications (separate checklist of criteria)
3. Determine agreement type
   1. Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs)
   2. Work for others
4. Develop statement of work
5. Provide draft agreement
6. Review and/or negotiate
7. Sign agreement
8. Review and approve
9. Send funds
10. Start work
11. Manage commitment

The process is estimated to require 45 business days subject to negotiations. Technology Partnership Agreements provide only the technical services of NREL.

Moving further than Technology Partnership Agreements are Licensing Agreements and Nondisclosure Agreements. Licensing Agreements provide industry to market and commercialize technology developed by NREL. This type of agreement is available to any organization, regardless of size. A Nondisclosure Agreement is an agreement to implement confidentiality of information for a mutually beneficial collaboration in research and development.

Prior successes include the NREL and SkyFuel partnership in the next generation of solar parabolic troughs, and also the partnership between NREL scientists, Ampulse Corporation, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to create a less expensive alternative to wafer crystalline silicon solar cells.