by Lauren Pafumi, FLC Midwest Region Support Office The University of Southern Indiana Center for Applied Research (USI CAR) is the recipient of the Midwest Region's 2009 Partnership Award. The award is presented to an American-owned company, nonfederal government entity, or college or university in the Midwest Region that has made outstanding efforts to promote either the actual transfer of federal technology or the federal technology transfer program during the 12 months preceding the nomination. Dr. Susan J. Ellspermann, director of USI CAR, and Gene Recker, USI Manager of Education and Entrepreneurial Support at Innovation Pointe developed an innovation discovery process (IDP) that is so effective it has exponentially increased disclosures and partnership development at Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane Division.
USI CAR worked with staff at NSWC Crane to conceptualize a panel of experts that would identify potential intellectual property from projects completed by NSWC Crane scientists and engineers. Using their expertise, Dr. Ellspermann and Recker put together a pilot program and a panel of experts to train inventors at NSWC Crane how to "tell the story" of their projects, and to identify commercial opportunities and potential disclosures. Together with John Dement of NSWC Crane, USI CAR tailored these programs to NSWC Crane's organizational culture and needs. Dr. Ellspermann's team developed a template for inventors to share the problem they addressed, how they approached the solution, and what challenges and breakthroughs resulted. During the sessions, inventors presented this information to panel of technology transfer professionals, academics with a technological background, and entrepreneurs skilled in commercialization. "We were trying to provide a structured process that would allow the inventor to interact with people outside of Crane who had a non-military perspective," said Recker. After the inventors walked through their processes and results, the group brainstormed potential applications and commercial opportunities. Then the group reached consensus on the few potential opportunities that appeared patentable. Participants signed nondisclosure forms so that inventors could show examples of their work (one inventor brought a modified Humvee to the session). One key benefit was helping NSWC Crane's inventors see increased possibilities in their work. Interacting with the panels enabled them to see their work in a different light—and with broader applications. "We're hoping to build a culture of innovation awareness," said Dr. Ellspermann. According to Dr. Ellspermann, in telling the story of the work they did to problem-solve, "The Crane inventors typically understated the novelty of what they'd accomplished. You could watch the eyes of the experts around the table light up. Then you could watch the inventor's "aha" as he heard the potential disclosures they generated. The inventors typically left feeling quite good about their potential IP contributions." "Harnessing the power of technology for the warfighter is what NSWC Crane does every day. Through this partnership with USI CAR, NSWC Crane is further harnessing the power of technology by identifying the innovation in the solutions such that it can be transferred for other practical uses in the marketplace," said John Dement, a Technology Engagement Officer at NSWC Crane who first approached the USI CAR team in the hopes of increasing disclosures from Crane. The process revealed opportunities that Crane had previously missed and identified more potential inventions in a single session than had been disclosed the previous year. Each session averaged two to three disclosures. While this process helped Crane on each specific disclosure, there were additional benefits. Inventors began to realize what to look for in future projects and discovered that it is easy to use Crane's technology transfer resources. "What they were lacking is the front-end process to help expose the intellectual property that exists within the organization," said Dr. Ellspermann. Over summer 2009, Dr. Ellspermann and Recker trained NSWC Crane technology transfer staff to facilitate the process independently. The USI CAR team hopes to see the increased disclosures contribute to southern Indiana's economic development over the next few years. "Crane innovations are very important in helping our region grow," said Dr. Ellspermann. This process also has the potential to benefit the wider field of federal technology transfer, and preparations are already underway to expand the process to other federal laboratories. Four other laboratories will observe the next session. To expand the IDP model to other labs, USI CAR would use their experiences at NSWC Crane as a base but, after consultation, would adjust the process to accommodate the cultures at different labs.
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