Annex 6 Summary of Meeting on Technology Transfer from Research to Commercial Application

Summary ofFNCA Meeting on Technology Transfer from Research to Commercial Application:
Sharing of Experiences in Commercialization of Beneficial Nuclear Technology
November 12th, 2010
Manila City, the Philippines
1. The Meeting was organized following the conclusion of the FNCA 10th Ministerial
Level meeting in December 2009.
2. The Meeting was participated by 45 experts from FNCA countries andscientists/engineers from the Philippines.
3. The Meeting noted some challenges the nuclear research institutions face intransferring research results from the laboratory to the market place e.g., public
acceptance of nuclear technology, lack of experience of researchers who aretrained for research and not for commercialization activities, facilities in nuclear
institutions are not geared for commercial purposes, nuclear institutions cannot
engage in business undertakings, and government support.
4. The Meeting noted the importance of disseminating information on nuclear
technologies and the use of shared facilities to end-users through press releases,
participation in technology fairs, conduct of executive management seminars andbusiness forum, interaction with academic and professional societies, technicalpublications and brochures/newsletters for the public.
5. The Meeting noted that Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines have effective
government frameworks to encourage and support the transfer of researchachievements of national research institutes to private industry.
6. The Meeting noted that the FNCA projects have achieved research outcomes
which can be developed to new commercial technologies and products. Those
outcomes are the following: plant growth promoter, bio-fertilizer, hydrogel, insectresistant orchid, and disease-resistant banana. These could be better transferred
to commercial industry with the support of government. Indonesia, Japan, Korea,and Malaysia reported success stories of transfer of research outcomes tocommercial applications.

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Governments should be ready to invest in future innovative research including
the establishment of facilities in order to ensure that the future needs of industry
will be appropriately and promptly satisfied.
8. The Meeting agreed that :a. The transfer of research results to industrial applications should beenhanced in order to optimize/maximize the use of research resources andto contribute to socio-economic development of the region;b. The national system to support the development of new technologies isneeded to encourage the private industry to develop new technologies fromresearch results of national research institutes. Governments should
provide the enabling environment in terms of policy, legislation, andfinancial support to enhance technology transfer and commercialization
activities by the nuclear research institutions. Financial support is needed
to fund activities between the laboratory stage and commercialization
stage, e.g., patent applications, construction of the necessary pilot plant tostudy the technical and economic feasibility for the final decision ofcommercialization.
c. It is of great importance to select the appropriate project in national
research institutes which fully meets the need of industry. The potential
end-user should be involved as early as the formulation stage and should
participate in the joint research with the nuclear institute. Linkage withprofessional associations provides the current trends in a particularindustry, thus ensuring that research would be demand-driven.
d. Competitiveness of the product in the market should be one of the criteria
in commercializing nuclear technologies. These should offer uniqueadvantages and lower cost over the conventional technologies.
e. Relevant FNCA projects in the fields of industry and agriculture should beimplemented with the aim of attaining commercial application of thedeveloped technologies. FNCA member countries can cooperate in sharing
experimental results, experience and information on the conduct of technoeconomic feasibility study and commercialization strategies.

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