Technology transfer gets new emphasis at DOE

The Department of Energy recently established a new office to coordinate and increase the commercialization of technologies that are spawned from its $10 billion R&D portfolio. The Office of Technology Transitions also will administer a technology commercialization fund of around $20 million per year.

The new office will seek to broaden the ways in which DOE can move to the commercial world the technologies developed by the 17 national labs, weapons production facilities, and DOE-sponsored university research. Jetta Wong, OTT’s acting director, told a panel discussion on technology transfer that the office will try to develop “an integrated, coordinated approach with the private sector” and a “strategic vision” for DOE to meet its commercialization mission. OTT, which is still hiring staff, also will be responsible for delivering to Congress a technology transfer execution plan and an annual report on the department’s technology transfer and partnership activities.

“The Office of Technology Transitions will give the Department the opportunity to increase the American people’s return on investment in federally-funded science and energy research,” said energy secretary Ernest Moniz in a statement.

The “energy technology commercialization fund” was first mandated by the 2005 Energy Policy Act and financed by a 0.9% levy on DOE’s applied energy programs—energy efficiency and renewable energy, fossil energy, nuclear energy, and electricity delivery and energy reliability. A provision in the Omnibus Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2015 clarified that the set-aside monies are meant to support future commercialization agreements. In previous years, funds that the applied energy programs spent during the year on cooperative agreements with industry were counted against the statutory requirement. All funding must be matched by the industry partners.