The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a 'green paper' on its "Return on Investment' strategy to improve the effectiveness of federally funded research in the United States. NIST Director Walter Copan spoke about this initiative at the AURP International Conference 2018 at the University of Maryland Discovery District in October. Additionally, earlier the AURP Government Relations Committee submitted comments emphasizing the critical role of university research parks in technology commercialization. The AURP comments echoed many of the recommendations contained in AURP's
Power of Place
and
Power of Place 2.0: Power of Innovation
available at
www.aurp.net.
NIST cited the role of university research parks in its paper and included a number of AURP's suggestions, including the need for flexibility in research grants, reformed procedures for research performed in facilities financed with tax-exempt bonds, better policies to handle conflict of interest issues, and the need for more Congressionally chartered foundations to give federal labs more authority to emulate university-based technology transfer approaches. It is expected that regulatory and statutory reforms will be implemented in the near future to achieve the goals outlined in the green paper.
Comments on the green paper are open until January 9, 2019.
AURP members are free to submit comments directly to NIST. AURP members can also send your comments to
AURP
. The Government Relations Committee
will include your comments in an update to NIST to be submitted before the January 9, 2019 deadline.
We are pleased that NIST recognized the critical role that communities of innovation play in advancing the country's entrepreneurial ecosystem and will keep the AURP community apprised of further developments.
