Proposals for Projects to Develop New Technologies Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 15:57:45 -0400 To: "USGS Employees" From: Rosemarie Graves Subject: Proposals for Projects to Develop New Technologies Memorandum To: All USGS Employees From: The Technology Enterprise Office Subject: Proposals for Projects to Develop New Technologies The DOI is in its last fiscal year of receiving income from royalties generated by industrial licenses on the FT-30 patent. These license agreements were completed in late 1994 after almost 18 months of negotiations. The U.S. patent expired in mid 1999 and the foreign patents expire in 2000. This is in all probability the final year of funding this grant program. Uses of royalty funds are defined in USC 63, Title 15, Section 3710c(B). It is the intent of the Technology Transfer Committee to disburse a significant portion of these funds to the Bureaus to support activities, within the scope of this law, that have potential for technology transfer and income generation through patents and licenses. Our prime objective is to use these funds as seed money for projects that have an excellent probability of generating new technology that has high utility for the private sector and will eventually generate additional royalty revenue to replace the present source as it diminishes over the next several years. By law, the majority of royalty funds returning to a Federal agency must be transferred to the laboratory (bureau) where the invention occurred. The majority share of new royalty income generated through this program will go to the bureau or bureaus where the inventions and/or licenses originated. The remaining funds will be put back into this "New Technologies" program to continue its sponsorship of technology development projects. This memorandum is a call for proposals for such projects. Proposals for the coming year of existing grants also are necessary as well proposals for new projects. Proposals for new grants must be for projects that: develop technologies and/or intellectual property that has a high probability of transfer to the private sector. The technologies and/or intellectual property should reach maturity and be ready for transfer to the private sector, or ready to patent, in no more than 1 year. These funds also may augment existing projects that meet the aforementioned criteria, as long as the funds are used specifically to expedite the technology or product that is transferable to the private sector. New projects cannot be more than one year in length. The key factor is that there will be a product ready for transfer to the private sector in 12 months or less. Proposals for projects having the following characteristics will have the highest chance of success. These characteristics are listed in order of decreasing priority. 1. Projects with high visibility, high positive impact on the DOI, and a high probability of generating royalty income for the Department.. 2 A clearly defined end product - there must be a technology and/or product developed by the project that is transferable to the private sector in a manner that may generate royalty income to the Department (patent or license). 3. Multi-bureau projects - personnel from at least two bureaus are involved in the work. Involvement of personnel from more than two bureaus is encouraged. 4. Projects which involve, or have the immediate opportunity to involve, a private sector partner in the project. This involvement can be through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) or other means of partnership. Both ongoing (but not funded by this program) and new projects will be considered for new grants under this program. A detailed proposal for a project using these funds must be submitted to your bureau's Technology Transfer Committee Member by Nov. 26, 1999. Consider March 1, 2000, as the start date for your project. All proposals must be approved and signed at the bureau level before submittal to your Technology Transfer Committee Member. Bureau approval certifies that the resources (people, infrastructure, etc.) called for in the proposal will indeed be dedicated to the project if awarded. Proposals will be reviewed and recommended for award by an evaluation panel of Federal scientists outside of the DOI. As previously stated, proposals are expected for continuing projects as well as proposals for new projects. HOW TO APPLY FOR A NEW GRANT Prepare a brief proposal (no more than 10 pages) and submit it to your bureau's Technology Transfer Committee Member. The name and address of each bureau's member who will receive your proposal is listed at the end of this announcement. Each proposal must contain the following information in order to be considered for funding: * Name, DOI affiliation, address, phone number, FAX number, and E-Mail address of principal investigator and all other participants. * A brief history and more detailed description of the technology and/or product under consideration for the funds. * A discussion of the potential utility of the technology or product to the private sector. This discussion should include evidence and justification of the potential value of the technology to the private sector, what the use would be, what private sector segment or industry would be targeted for transfer of the technology/product, and who the end users would be. A detailed explanation of the basis of all assumptions is required. In other words, what good is it and have you really done your homework? * A detailed plan of the project and how the subject technology or product is to be developed. This plan must state the objective of the project, how that objective will be accomplished, and what the state of the technology or product will be at the completion of the project. Also discuss the length of the proposed project. How long will it take for the proposed product to be ready for transfer? When ready for transfer, what will the product be and what will it look like, i.e. is it a patent, license, software, or some other device? Specific tasks should be described to reach the objective. For each task, also discuss who will perform that task, and the time involved. * A detailed schedule for the entire project delineating the planned tasks and definitive milestones. The objective is to have the technology ready for transfer, or for seeking a patent, within one year. Projects with a product ready to transfer under license within the one year time frame will take precedence. * A detailed budget for the entire project. If these funds are to be used to augment an existing project, detail how the requested funds are to be spent and how they relate to other monies used for the project. Funds can be used for all legitimate expenses including, but not limited to, salaries, travel, fabrication, testing, demonstration, and promotion costs. The budget should include all appropriate Bureau assessments. * A brief resume or statement of qualifications for each of the major participants in the project. All participants must be employees of the Department of the Interior. HOW TO APPLY FOR CONTINUINED FUNDING ON AN EXISTING GRANT Prepare a brief proposal (no more than 10 pages) and submit it to your bureau's Technology Transfer Committee Member. The name and address of each bureau's member who will receive your proposal is listed at the end of this announcement. Each proposal must contain the following information in order to be considered for continued funding: * Title of the existing grant, name, DOI affiliation, address, phone number, FAX number, and E-Mail address of principal investigator and all other participants. * A summary of progress over the grant to date and how this relates to the results projected for this year (1999) in the original proposal submitted last year. Special emphasis should be give to any changes in direction made or anticipated to be made since the inception of this funding year in March 1999. * Discussion of any significant new information, since the original proposal, concerning the utility of the end product. Has anything new developed that changes your original estimation of the value of your product? * A detailed plan for the continuation of the project in this final year and how the subject technology or product is being developed. This plan should be a continuation of the plan stated in last year's proposal. How have your results to date affected the original plan? Is the project still on schedule and in budget as originally proposed? If not, why not? What modifications to the original plan do you propose and why? When is your proposed completion date (no later than Feb. 28, 2001) and is this the same as originally proposed? When ready for transfer, what will the product be and what will it look like, i.e. is it a patent, license, software, or some other device? Are the specific tasks described in the original proposal being modified? If so describe in detail the changes and their justification. * A detailed schedule for the remaining project delineating the planned tasks and definitive milestones. Explain any differences between this schedule and the one presented in last year's proposal. The objective remains to have the technology ready for transfer as a patented invention, or ready for licensing, in one more year (end of 2000). * A detailed budget for the coming final year. Include a table of expenditures for the this year (1999) versus allocated budget. Will there be any carry over funds from this year? If so, how will these monies be used to offset the projected next year (2000) expenses? Remember that your budgets need to include all appropriate Bureau assessments. * A brief resume or statement of qualifications for any new major participant in the project. Remember, all participants must be employees of the Department of the Interior. For more information contact your bureau's TTC Member. They are: Bureau Name Phone No. FAX BIA Leroy Clifford 703-235-3044 703-235-5565 BOR Donald Ralston 202-208-5671 202-208-6252 BLM Dwight Hempel 202-452-7778 202-452-7708 FWS Linda Andreason 703-358-2458 703-358-2210 MMS Charles Smith 703-787-1559 703-787-1555 NPS Lindsay McClelland 202-208-4958 202-208-4620 OSM Doug Growitz 202-208-2634 202-219-3100 USGS Tony Inderbitzen 703-648-4450 703-648-4408