Office of Technology Transitions (2020 Presidential transition)

Book 3 - Organization Overview
Entire 2020 DOE Transition book As of October 2020

OTT fulfills several Departmental and Interagency Strategic Goals.

Interagency

OTT is the interagency co-chair of the Working Group supporting the Cross Agency Priority Goal to Improve Transfer of Federally-Funded Technologies from Lab-to-Market, which highlights efforts to “improve the transition of federally funded innovations from the laboratory to the marketplace by reducing the administrative and regulatory burdens for technology transfer and increasing private sector investment in later-stage research and development (R&D); develop and implement more effective partnering models and technology transfer mechanisms for Federal agencies; and enhance the effectiveness of technology transfer by improving the methods for evaluating the ROI and economic and national security impacts of federally funded R&D, and using that information to focus efforts on approaches proven to work.” This Working Group’s efforts are guided by a Green Paper released in FY 2019 on maximizing U.S. innovation from government-funded research.

Departmental

OTT leads one of the Department’s six Agency Priority Goals on Commercial Adoption of Energy Technologies, on which {{W| DOE} publicly reports on a quarterly basis through FY 2021.

In addition, OTT leads the Department’s efforts to increase the return on DOE R&D investment through the transition of national laboratory/production facility-developed technologies to other government entities and the private sector, and to increase the commercial and public impact of Template:W orp investments through expanded utilization of national laboratory facilities and expertise. Core to these efforts is a suite of OTT-maintained tools to facilitate access, programs to enhance impact, and policy reform efforts to streamline partnership development with external entities.

Mission Statement

OTT’s mission is to expand the public impact of the Department’s research and development (R&D) portfolio to advance the economic, energy and national security interests of the nation.

Budget

Fiscal Year	Budget
FY 2019 enacted	$8,505,000
FY 2020 enacted	$14,080,000
FY 2021 requested	$12,639,000

Human Resources

FY 2020 authorized full-time equivalents (FTEs): 22

History

Feb 11, 2015: OTT launched by Secretary Moniz and inaugural Director is dual-hatted as the Department’s statutory Technology Transfer Coordinator.
FY 2016: OTT announces first cycle of statutory Technology Commercialization Fund.
FY 2017: OTT receives first appropriated budget from Congress.
FY 2018: Functional transfer to OTT of EERE Tech-to-Market (T2M) portfolio of activities and associated FTEs is completed.
FY 2019: Director of OTT designated the Department’s Chief Commercialization Officer.
FY 2020: OTT celebrates 5 years and receives first financial assistance funding from Congress ($5 million for regional innovation ecosystems).

Prior to FY 2018

As a new organization with limited resources and broad mandate, OTT narrowed its initial focus to effectively deliver on statutory requirements, many of which were overdue and/or lacked effective implementation infrastructure within DOE.

FY 2018 to Present

With the functional transfer of EERE’s T2M program to OTT in FY 2018, the office assumed a greater role as a Departmental node for support and direct funding of the multi-faceted technology transitions mission. Over the past three years, major mission areas have emerged around policy reforms to streamline access, market analysis, promotion of model success stories, and direct industry outreach and partnership development.

Functions

The Director of OTT or Chief Commercialization Officer, known in statute as the Technology Transfer Coordinator, serves, by law, as the “principal advisor to the Secretary on all matters relating to technology transfer and commercialization.”

As outlined in Sec. 1001 of EPACT 2005, the Technology Transfer Coordinator has four broad statutory oversight responsibilities as the Secretary’s principal advisor in the areas of technology transfer and commercialization. The Director, specifically, “shall oversee”:

the activities of the Technology Transfer Working Group (TTWG);
the expenditure of funds allocated for technology transfer within the Department;
the activities of each technology partnership ombudsman; and
4 efforts to engage private sector entities, including venture capital companies.

The TTWG comprises DOE and Lab representatives and is charged in statute to, among other things, “coordinate technology transfer activities occurring at National Laboratories” and “exchange information about technology transfer practices.”

In addition to TTWG oversight, the Tech Transfer Coordinator oversees DOE’s technology transfer expenditures and its private sector engagement efforts, items 2 and 4 above. OTT has, in practice, exercised its statutory oversight responsibilities through requests for information and other fact- finding tools which engage Labs and other facilities across the DOE complex.

In addition, OTT is charged with managing the statutory Template:W orp, “using 0.9 percent of the amount made available to the Department for applied energy research, development, demonstration, and commercial application for each fiscal year, to be used to provide matching funds with private partners to promote promising energy technologies for commercial purposes.” This amounts to approximately $30 million in cost-matched awards to the National Laboratories each year for technologies spanning the DOE applied R&D portfolio. Importantly, the disbursed funding is not OTT funding, but rather appropriated funding from the contributing offices: CESER, EERE, FE, NE, and OE. Based on current DOE policy, ARPA-E, EM, NNSA, and SC do not contribute to the TCF, though they are generally understood to also perform “applied” R&D at varying levels.

OTT is also charged with producing a technology transfer execution plan and reporting annual updates to it. The latest public version covers 2016- 2018, and a completed update is under review.

OTT produces an annual report to Congress on the utilization of federal technology across the DOE National Laboratories and Production Facilities and associated technology transfer success stories (latest published report on FY 2016-2017 data available here). OTT also submits required technology transfer data annually to the National Institute of Standards for its interagency report (latest published report for FY 2016 available here)

In addition to its efforts to ensure Departmental compliance with statutory requirements, OTT supports a broad portfolio of activities, tools and programs to enhance technology transfer-related outcomes and the nation’s innovation ecosystem:

Energy I-Corps (EIC)

Fosters an entrepreneurial workforce and creates a cohort of DOE National Laboratory market-oriented researchers that have been immersed in an intense program of commercialization training centered on customer outreach.

Lab Partnering Service (LPS)

Provides a “front door” to the DOE for stakeholders to connect with leading DOE National Laboratory expertise, facilities, and technology through a searchable, online platform.

InnovationXLab Series (XLabs)

National Lab-hosted summits that seed public- private partnerships and a two-way exchange of information and ideas between industry, universities, manufacturers, investors, and end-use customers with innovators and experts from across the National Labs. Energy Program for Innovative Clusters (EPIC Funding to support development of regional energy technology innovation clusters.

Market Analysis

OTT conducts market analysis to proactively identify commercialization opportunities and inform marketing and engagement for DOE-developed technologies. OTT facilitates the development and use of market analysis content, methodologies, and data services across DOE offices, and conducts targeted analysis for crosscutting or important gap topics.

Recent Organization Accomplishments

OTT mobilized quickly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The OTT COVID 19 Technical Assistance Program (CTAP) provides
lab funding for short-term assistance to outside entities with tough scientific or technical challenges related to combating COVID 19.
We established a COVID-19 portal on the Lab Partnering Service, featuring a curated selection of experts, facilities, technologies, and IP that could be useful in the fight against the virus.
Developed 2 all-virtual InnovationXLab Summits in October 2020 on Quantum Information Science & Technology and Carbon Utilization, engaging over 1,000 stakeholders in these strategic technology areas.
Including these 2 Summits, OTT participated in and contributed substantial content to about 40 in-person and virtual events during FY 2020, reaching thousands of stakeholders in diverse technology sectors.
Through its FY20 Technology Commercialization Fund round, OTT awarded 82 projects $33 million in funding more than matched by $36 million in private cost share.
With the graduation of Energy I-Corps Cohort 10 in November 2019, OTT has successfully supported 111 teams from 12 National Labs through this program. The program has enabled Lab researcher participants to secure over $40M in follow-on funding and launched 9 new companies.
As of October 2020, the Lab Partnering Service enables public access to over 1,400 technology summaries, over 330 experts, over 290 success stories, over 200 facilities, and all 21 National Labs and Production Facilities. The website has received over 40,000 website visits since formal launch in Summer 2018.
Beginning FY21, OTT implemented a robust project management system to improve efficiency, transparency, and oversight of all funding and project management activities.
Since FY 2019, OTT participation in the National Lab appraisal process has been formalized for the 10 Labs stewarded by the Office of Science through a dedicated performance element (4.3). OTT also provides input to the Idaho National Lab and National Renewable Energy Lab appraisals.
Between July and October, 2020, OTT launched its first ever Prize and Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) combining for $5 million in funding to support regional innovation clusters.
While OTT is domestically-focused, our commercialization mission is necessarily global in scope and has resulted in several successful international engagements as well:
Director of OTT served as U.S. Head of Delegation at the 5th Mission Innovation Ministerial in September, 2020.
Facilitated a formal collaboration between the DOE and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy on research and demonstration of hydrogen technology.

Leadership Challenges

Pending Legislation

There are a number of OTT-relevant bills under consideration by Congress with the potential to significantly impact OTT’s structure and mission. These are outside the Department’s control but noteworthy for the disruptive potential.

Defining Success

Transitions of technology from the federal research sphere to end user consumption/deployment can take years and even decades and rarely follow linear paths. As such, it is often very difficult to define success metrics for technology transition activities. However, many stakeholders, including OMB and Congress, have asked how OTT measures success and pushed for quantitative metrics, which have the potential to distort behavior in suboptimal ways if not carefully defined.

Virtual Engagement

Partnership development is a contact sport and OTT’s outreach activities have been significantly disrupted due to the constraints imposed by COVID-19. The silver lining has been that OTT has successfully transitioned to virtual events with an even wider, though less personalized, reach.

Critical Events and Action Items

Feb/Mar – Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Selections. OTT will award ~$4 million in financial assistance to incubators/ accelerators supporting regional energy innovation ecosystems
Apr – Technology Commercialization Fund Selections. Stewarded by OTT, the TCF program will award ~$30 million in matching funds to the National Laboratories for applied RD&D with high potential for commercialization