Fermilab Technology Assessment Reaches Milestone
The transfer of technology from federal installations, such as Fermilab, to the private sector has, in recent years, taken on heightened importance. New laws have been enacted which allow employees of national laboratories to share in the fruits of their ingenuity, while private industry is looking to federally-sponsored research and development for innovative and marketable technology.
A deceptively low-key gathering, on the Wilson Hall 2nd-floor crossover on January 18, marked a milestone in Fermilab's technology-transfer activities. Assembled to celebrate the awarding of the 500th Fermilab technology assessment were Fermilab engineers and physicists; Dick Lundy, Fermilab Associate Director for Technology; Dick Carrigan, John Venard, and Pat Oleck of the Fermilab Office of Research and Technology Applications (ORTA); and technology-transfer and patent professionals from the Department of Energy (DOE). The second, but no less important, reason for the gathering was to present $50 honorariums and specially-designed certificates to Fermilab staffers who had filed a Record of Invention in the past year.
A technology assessment is the first link in what may prove to be a golden chain connecting an inventor to a royalty-producing patent and license. A Fermilab inventor submits a Record of Invention (basically a description of his or her creation) to the ORTA. ORTA assigns a case number and begins the protracted process of patent searches, leading to eventual licensing to industry for manufacture. If an invention reaches the market, the Fermilab inventor and URA share in any ensuing royalties.
The honors for being the 500th assessment went to FIRUS-88, a "distributed fire, utility, security, and power-consumption monitoring system" devised by Charlie Briegel, Kevin Cahill, Allen Franck, and Rich Mahler, all of the Accelerator Division Controls Group. FIRUS-88 is an updated version of the FIRUS alarm system which has been successfully monitoring Fermilab buildings for years.
Dick Lundy opened the ceremonies by noting, "We have been urged by DOE to encourage our people to be inventive and to transmit the results of that invention to the outer world. We do that for a number of reasons. For one thing, it's absolutely a good thing to do because new technology benefits society, it's fun, and new technology can pay off handsomely. Last, but not least, it's good for Fermilab's public posture."
Dick Carrigan, Head of ORTA, observed that Fermilab had a tremendous technology-transfer track record long before the inception of ORT A. "The magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) industry in the United States really benefited from the work of the Accelerator Division and Technical Support Services in developing the TEVATRON. That industry, which is now a billion-dollar-a-year market, may have been speeded-up by two years thanks to Fermilab's work.
"Recently, Fermilab brought the Loma Linda Medical Accelerator into first operation. That is an example of a tripartite arrangement between Fermilab, Loma Linda Medical Center, and Science Applications International Corporation, one of our Industrial Affiliates.
"FIRUS-88, our 500th technology assessment candidate, is, in its newest form, software. DOE has offered us the opportunity to start copyrighting software under certain circumstances. The Lab is preparing to accept that opportunity so that Fermilab technology can do even more."