The transfer of federally funded technology: A study of small, entrepreneurial, and ambidextrous firms

Link and Oliver (2020) have traced the origins of technology transfer in the USA to the colonial period in American history.

In October 1980, U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed Public Law 96–480, formally known as the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980. The ability of federal laboratories to transfer their technologies was enhanced by several amendments to the 1980 act. The amendments are the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986, the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995, and the Technology Transfer Commercialization Act of 2000.

In December 1980, U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed Public Law 96–517, formally known as the University and Small Business Patent Protection Act of 1980. See Leyden and Link (2015) and Link and Van Hasselt (2019) for a broader interpretation of the economic importance of the Bayh-Dole Act.

A CRADA “is a multifaceted mechanism that can be used to address several kinds of partnership needs. For example, ‘traditional CRADAs’ refers to formal collaborative R&D agreements between a federal laboratory and nonfederal partners.” See NIST (2021, p. 9).

See also National Science Board (2020).

Also see Feller (2022).

See https://​www.​nist.​gov/​tpo/​lab-market. The IAWGTT is comprised of representative from various government agencies. The group’s purpose is to “[identify] and disseminates creative approaches to technology transfer from Federal laboratories through an inter-agency task force.”.

See https://​www.​nist.​gov/​tpo. The director of the TPO coordinates the activities of the IAWGTT.

See https://​www.​nist.​gov/​tpo/​reports-and-publications.

One effort to begin to fill this void is in Link and Van Hasselt (forthcoming).

We have written about the SBIR program a number of times so some duplication of text is inevitable. See, for example, Cunningham and Link (2021) and Link and Van Hasselt (2023).

SBIR documents refer to these entities by the term businesses rather than by the economics-based term of firms. We will continue to discuss the economics of the SBIR program using the term firms.

See https://​www.​sbir.​gov/​about.

Phase I research is often referred to as proof of concept research [emphasis added]. However, researchers and policy makers are likely accustomed to thinking about funded research in terms of the of the character of use of R&D as defined NSF. See https://​www.​nsf.​gov/​statistics/​randdef/​. “Basic research is experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view. Applied research is original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge. It is directed primarily towards a specific, practical aim or objective. Development (Experimental development) is systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience and producing additional knowledge, which is directed to producing new products or processes or to improving existing products or processes.” None of these definitions matches the scope of research that falls under the rubric of a Phase I project. We thank John Jankowski, Director of the R&D Statistics Program at NSF, for sharing with us his professional view that proof of concept research probably “falls in the end of the applied research spectrum.” For reference, the OECD’s Frascati Manual does not define proof of concept research. See https://​www.​oecd-ilibrary.​org/​science-and-technology/​frascati-manual-2015_​9789264239012-en.

See https://​www.​sbir.​gov/​about. “As of November 2021, agencies may issue a Phase I award (including modifications) up to $275,766 and a Phase II award (including modifications) up to $1,838,436 without seeking SBA approval. Any award above those levels will require a waiver.”.

However, there are also agency exceptions when the number of employees can be greater than 500.

See https://​www.​sbir.​gov/​about.

See https://​www.​sbir.​gov/​about.

See, https://​seedfund.​nsf.​gov/​fastlane/​definitions/​. “A member of any of the following groups: Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian-Pacific Americans, Subcontinent Asian Americans, other groups designated from time to time by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to be socially disadvantaged, and any other individual found to be socially and economically disadvantaged by SBA pursuant to Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C.; 637(a).”.

“Each Federal agency … shall report annually to the Office of Management and Budget … on the activities performed by that agency and its Federal laboratories … The report shall include … an explanation of the agency’s technology transfer program for the preceding fiscal year and the agency’s plans for conducting its technology transfer function … [I]nformation on technology transfer activities for the preceding fiscal year [shall include] (i) the number of patent applications filed; (ii) the number of patents received; (iii) the number of fully-executed licenses which received royalty income in the preceding fiscal year … (iv) the total earned royalty income … [and] (vii) any other parameters or discussion that the agency deems relevant or unique to its practice of technology transfer.”.

See Link and Van Hasselt (2020, 2022). See also Amoroso and Link (2021).

See also Bednar et al. (2021).

Commercialized technologies sold to state and local governments are captured in the intercept term.

Note that some of the funded firms only have 1 employee. That individual is both the project manager and the principal investigator. Because of the smallness of SBIR-funded firms, such firms are often thought of as being entrepreneurial in their research focus.

In no instance was the Variable Inflation Factor (VIF) greater than 1.2, thus suggestion that multicollinearity is not an issue within the models’ specification. The same is true for the specifications considered below.

We offer this empirical result as descriptive information, although we do not have a theoretical explanation for the finding.

See Institute of Medicine (2011).

See Link (2021) on post-docs in Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs).