This year’s Regional Collaboration Award winners brought a team together to create a free, multi-part online course to catalyze engagement between the Department of Defense and small businesses.
Federal laboratories like the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, develop innovative technology daily that can be leveraged by small businesses for commercial sales or government contracting. Yet, according to a recent report from the TechLink Center, only 9% of businesses look to government laboratories as a source for innovation.
This year, NSWC Crane’s Tech Transfer Office (T2) and Ivy Tech Bloomington’s Gayle and Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship worked together on a unique solution to catalyze engagement between the Department of Defense and small businesses. For their innovative work, in developing the Federal Lab Technology Transfer Course for Beginners they were recognized with the Regional Collaboration Award at ROI’s Annual Report to the Region on Feb. 18 in French Lick.
The Indiana Uplands Regional Collaboration Award recognizes two or more organizations that have worked collaboratively to advance prosperity for residents of the region through education, economic, or quality of place efforts.
“This year’s recipients represent organizations that can aptly be characterized as cornerstones of the region’s success,” said ROI President and CEO Tina Peterson. “Initiatives like this one exemplify the region’s commitment to advancing defense technology and building bridges that further innovation.”
This free, online course is designed to show users how to work with federal laboratories and their tech transfer offices to grow their businesses and startups by utilizing tech transfer. Those taking the course learn about licensing federally developed patented technology as well as the process for collaborating with a federal lab’s scientists and engineers.
Since its introduction last year, more than 40 businesses have taken advantage of the opportunity it affords.
“This course will catalyze change by educating our region’s small businesses to use federal laboratory technology to fuel not only local innovation but also drive economic and community prosperity in the Uplands,” Peterson said.
The award was accepted by representatives from NSWC Crane, the Cook Center, Ivy Tech Bloomington, and the Defense Innovation Networking Group (DING).