INTERMEDIARIES' ROLE IN TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND
COMMERCIALIZATION OF FEDERAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

A variety of “intermediary” organizations play important roles in getting new technologies out of the lab and into the marketplace.  Some of these organizations are private companies; some are government-sponsored companies; and some are different arms of government, such as an agency of a state or city.  These organizations serve as “middlemen” between the generators of intellectual property and the companies in the private sector that create products and services.  They identify potential users, and they translate information about the new technologies to the potential users.  In addition, they work with both the developers and the users so the knowledge is transferred in a usable way.  Moreover, they become expert in a variety of mechanisms so the appropriate agreement tools are tailored for the specific circumstances.

One general type of intermediary is the “marketing intermediary.”  The marketing intermediary is an agent of the seller or buyer, or both.  These organizations obtain nonexclusive marketing rights from one or more federal labs to market their intellectual property.  They may even obtain contracts with the labs for the marketing efforts. Examples of “marketing intermediaries” that represent the labs include:

• Navy Techmatch, www.navytechmatch.com
• EPA Techmatch, www.epatechmatch.com
• Firstlink for first responder technologies, www.dodfirstlink.com
• Techlink, www.techlinkcenter.org
• National Technology Transfer Center, www.nttc.edu
• The Technology Commercialization Center, Inc., operator of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Technology Transfer Center, www.teccenter.org
• TRSG, Inc., www.teamtrsg.com

A commercial example of a “marketing intermediary” that represents the user is the MEMS Exchange, www.mems-exchange.org, which helps users find MEMS equipment and facilities available for use.

Other intermediaries can be called “contractual intermediaries” because they are authorized by the labs to enter into formal agreements with companies under defined guidelines set by the labs or agencies.  In these cases, the labs enter into a single, general agreement with the intermediary, which in turn can enter into multiple “sub” agreements with any number of private companies, universities or state/local governments.  In other words, a “contractual” intermediary participates directly in the deal between government and user.