EAGER: Management and Organizational Issues in Technology Transfer at Federal Laboratories: Data Collection and Analysis to Advance Commercialization of Federally-funded Research

众所周知，与来自大学的技术转让相比，从联邦实验室向私营部门转让的技术较少。这很不幸，因为联邦实验室比大学获得更多的政府研究资金(例如，加州联邦实验室的研发支出一直超过加州大学所有10个校区的研发支出)。联邦实验室也有一个技术转让部分，可以说，这一部分目前还没有实现其潜力。因此，这个项目的总体目的是从联邦实验室的科学家和管理人员那里收集数据，以确定我们如何推动联邦资助的研究的商业化。我们的项目对那些在联邦实验室管理和管理技术转让的人具有重要的政策和管理意义。考虑到大学和联邦实验室之间的技术转让差距已经引起了相当大的关注，这也是相当及时的。此外，能源部管理着17个主要的国家实验室(例如，桑迪亚、利弗莫尔、布鲁克海文、伯克利、洛斯阿拉莫斯)，目前正在审查其联邦实验室的技术转移政策和程序。我们收集的数据将用于研究促进联邦实验室研究商业化的三种潜在机制：(1)评估个别科学家、实验室和组织的“创业取向”；(2)探索外国出生的科学家身份在创业身份、角色冲突和从事技术转移倾向方面的作用；以及(3)管理和组织问题，如激励的作用、组织公正(工作场所公平和公平)、拥护、领导力、工作与生活的平衡、组织文化在技术转让和战略制定中的作用。具体地说，我们收集的关于个别科学家和管理这些科学家的人的数据，以及更普遍的联邦实验室的技术转让流程，将有助于识别有助于加强商业化和设计更有效的创业计划和倡议的管理实践。我们的发现还将提高我们对联邦实验室科学家希望将其研究商业化存在的潜在障碍的理解。该项目不仅将引起科学与创新政策和技术转让学者的极大兴趣，也将引起更广泛的管理和组织心理学领域的“微观”或组织行为学学者的兴趣。此外，这项研究将为联邦实验室的管理者以及立法者带来明确的政策含义。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

It is well known that there is less technology transfer from federal labs to the private sector, as compared to technology transfer from universities. That is unfortunate since federal labs receive more government funding for research than universities (e.g., the R&D expenditures of the federal labs in California consistently exceed those for all 10 University of California campuses). The federal labs also have a technology transfer component, which arguably is not currently being realized to its potential. Accordingly, the overall purpose of this project is to collect data from scientists and managers at federal labs in order to determine how we can advance commercialization of federally-funded research. Our project has important policy and managerial implications for those who govern and manage technology transfer at federal labs. It is also quite timely, given that the technology transfer gap between universities and federal labs has attracted considerable attention. Also, the Department of Energy, which runs 17 major national labs (e.g., Sandia, Livermore, Brookhaven, Berkeley, Los Alamos) is presently reviewing technology transfer policies and procedures at its federal labs.The data we collect will be used to study three potential mechanisms for advancing the commercialization of research at federal labs: (1) assessing the “entrepreneurial orientation” of individual scientists, labs, and organizations; (2) exploring the role of foreign-born status of scientists on entrepreneurial identity, role conflict, and the propensity to engage in technology transfer; and (3) managerial and organizational issues, such as the role of incentives, organizational justice (workplace fairness and equity), championing, leadership, work-life balance, and organizational culture in technology transfer, and strategy formulation. Specifically, the data that we collect on individual scientists and those who manage these scientists, as well as the technology transfer process more generally at the federal labs, will help identify managerial practices that enhance commercialization and the design of more effective entrepreneurial programs and initiatives. Our findings will also improve our understanding of the potential roadblocks that exist for scientists at federal labs who wish to pursue commercialization of their research. The project will be of great interest not only to scholars of science and innovation policy and technology transfer, but also to the broader community of “micro,” or organizational behavior scholars in the fields of management and organizational psychology. Moreover, this research will yield clear policy implications for managers of federal labs, as well as legislators.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.