National Labs and Industry Assist FSU Institutes

In the April 2003 issue of Physics Today (page 32 ), Jim Dawson reports on US research grants to former Soviet Union (FSU) weapons scientists. I’d like to provide an addendum on what has been happening with the Initiative for Proliferation Prevention. Since its inception in 1994, the IPP program has, at $20–25 million per year, engaged more than 200 FSU institutes and more than 13 000 weaponsscientists and engineers.

However, what is most pertinent to Dawson’s article is that, unlike programs of the International Science and Technology Center in Moscow and the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine, IPP directly engages industrial partners in the US as third parties. The method used is a contract—called a CRADA (cooperative research and development agreement)—between a US industrial partner and a US national defense laboratory, whereby the industrial partner matches funds that the US Department of Energy provides for one or more of the FSU institutes and its US national laboratory partner. The match from the industrial partner may be in cash or, more often, through in-kind contributions. Incidentally, as of 1999, grants made by DOE have been split between FSU institutes and national labs at the ratio of 70/30, not the 50/50 split that used to be. Thus more grant money goes to FSU institutes.

What is exciting about this process is that, as a result of the direct involvement of the industrial partner, a number of IPP projects eventually lead to commercial applications. The industrial partner may choose to manufacture the product in the FSU country or in the US, but royalties are sent to the FSU institute. As of October 2002, 13 IPP products have entered the world market and have generated annual sales of more than $27 million.