Guidance for Preparing Annual Agency Technology Transfer Reports

Under the Technology Transfer Commercialization Act

Prepared by

The Technology Partnerships Office

National Institute of Standards and Technology

U.S. Department of Commerce

in conjunction with

The Interagency Working Group on Technology Transfer

May 2013
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Introduction

Under the Technology Transfer Commercialization Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-404), each Federal 

agency must submit to the Office of Management and Budget, as part of its annual budget 

submission, an annual performance report addressing the technology transfer activities of its 

Federal laboratories (15 U.S.C. Sec. 3710 (f)(1)).

This report is to be provided by January 31 to the agency’s OMB program examiner and a copy 

submitted to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). These agency reports 

will in addition provide the data for the Secretary of Commerce’s Annual Summary Report to the 

President, the Congress, and U.S. Trade Representative on the status of Federal laboratory 

technology transfer (15 U.S.C. Sec. 3710 (g)(2)).

In general, each Federal agency that operates or directs one or more Federal laboratories or that

conducts activities under sections 207 and 209 of title 35, United States Code, shall report 

annually to the Office of Management and Budget, as part of the agency’s annual budget 

submission, on the activities performed by that agency and its Federal laboratories under the 

provisions of this section and of sections 207 and 209 of title 35, United States Code.

The two main categories of information that are requested include 1) a description of the current

technology transfer programs and plans of the agency’s Federal laboratories, and 2) statistics and 

other relevant data that describe the Federal laboratories’ activities and achievements in 

technology transfer over the most recently closed fiscal year and the 4 years prior.

Annual reports should also include the current status of, and any progress on, the 

agency’s plan for enhancing its technology transfer activities prepared in response to the 

Presidential Memorandum -- Accelerating Technology Transfer and Commercialization 

of Federal Research in Support of High-Growth Businesses1(PM) issued on October 28, 

2011. Reports should also include selected abstracts of economic impact studies that 

have been completed during the fiscal year (if any). 

The following tables have been designed to facilitate the reporting of the requested statistics. 

Agencies may transfer copies of these tables to a text file for use in preparing their annual report. 

Expansions or format modifications of the tables may be done to meet an agency's specific 

needs. Agencies may exclude any table or metric if the corresponding mechanism(s) are not used 

by the agency over the time periods covered. 

Invention Disclosure and Patenting 

The number of invention disclosures, patent applications filed and patents received are the most 

often cited metrics of active management of intellectual assets and technical know-how. 

 

1

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/10/28/presidential-memorandum-accelerating-technologytransfer-and-commerciali/
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Line 1: Enter the number of inventions that were disclosed during the fiscal year.

Line 2: Enter the number patent applications filed during the fiscal year. This includes 

non-provisional U.S. and foreign applications in which the agency has a patent 

ownership position. This does not include provisional and continuation 

applications or duplicative foreign and Patent Cooperation Treaty applications.

Line 3: Enter the total number of patents received during the fiscal year for laboratory 

inventions.

 

Table 1: Invention Disclosures and Patents

FY-4 FY-3 FY-2 FY-1 FY

Invention Disclosures 

1 Number of new inventions disclosed 

Patents 

2 Number of patent applications filed 

3 Number of patents received 

Enter “0” to report that the agency did not use this mechanism in the reported year. Enter "N/A" to report that data 

is not available at time of report. Add rows and interpretive notes as needed.

Income Bearing Licenses

Successful development and commercialization of agency technologies benefit the nation’s

economy by contributing to competitiveness and economic growth. Without the ability to grant 

licenses to develop and commercialize government-owned technologies and inventions, many 

innovations would languish within laboratories and would not be further developed into products 

or services. Licensing is the primary mechanism used to transfer research and or 

commercialization rights of patented technologies. 

Under 15 USC 3710(f)(2)(B)(iii) agencies should report the number of active licenses that 

produce income for the agency and separate these licenses according to type, i.e. Exclusive,

partially exclusive, or nonexclusive. Agencies should revise the table as necessary to provide a 

comprehensive report of their individual licensing activities. 

In addition, 15 USC 3710(f)(2)(B)(iii) also requires agencies to report the average, minimum, 

and maximum amount of time that elapsed from the date on which each license was requested by 

the licensee in writing to the date on which each license was executed.

Line 4: Enter the number of income bearing licenses.

Line 5: Enter the number of exclusive income bearing licenses.

Line 6: Enter the number of partially exclusive income bearing licenses. 

Line 7: Enter the number of non-exclusive income bearing licenses.
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Line 8: Enter the average number of months taken to grant licenses. 

Line 9: Enter the minimum number of months taken to grant a license.

Line 10: Enter the maximum number of months taken to grant a license.

The Presidential Memorandum of October 28, 2011, requires agencies to streamline review 

procedures and practices with the goal of reducing the time required for licenses, patents, 

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), Small Business Innovative 

Research (SBIR) grants, etc. Agencies may consider reporting streamlining metrics related to 

licensing in this section. For example, a new streamlining metric might be added to include the 

percent change in the average number of months taken to grant a license relative to the prior 

fiscal year. 

Table 2: Income Bearing Licenses

FY-4 FY-3 FY-2 FY-1 FY

Income Bearing Licenses

4 Number of income bearing licenses 

5 Exclusive licenses

6 Partially exclusive licenses

7 Non-exclusive licenses

Elapsed Amount Time to Grant Licenses

8 Average (months)

9 Minimum (months)

10 Maximum (months)

Enter “0” to report that the agency did not use this mechanism in the reported year. Enter "N/A" to report that 

data is not available at time of report. Add rows and interpretive notes as needed.

Disposition of Licensing Income

In general, licensing income includes income received for earned royalties from partners, license 

issue fees, minimum annual royalties, paid-up license fees, and reimbursement for full-cost 

recovery of goods and services provided by the lab to the licensee including patent costs. For 

this report, all license income from a license will be considered “earned royalty income” as it is 

“earned” by the agency (rather than breaking out the earned royalties from each partner). 

Under 15 USC 3710(f)(2)(B)(iv), agencies must report the disposition of total earned royalty 

income including the breakdown of total earned royalty income for the top 1 percent, 5 percent, 

and 20 percent of the licenses, and the range of royalty income. However, the statute is clear that 

these distributional statistics may be suspended if such information would inappropriately reveal 
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the amount of income associated with an individual license or licensee. In this case include the 

table below and enter “N/R” in the appropriate cells.

Reporting requirements under 15 USC 3710(f)(2)(B)(v) include the disposition of the income in 

clause (iv). Reporting requirements under 15 USC 3710(f)(2)(B)(vi) include the number of 

licenses terminated for cause.

Instructions for the fiscal year reported:

Line 11: Enter the amount of earned royalty income received from the top 1% of 

licenses.

Line 12: Enter the amount of earned royalty income received from the top 5% of 

licenses. 

Line 13: Enter the amount of earned royalty income received from the top 20% of 

licenses.

Line 14: Enter the minimum value of earned royalty income received per license.

Line 15: Enter the maximum value of earned royalty income received per license. 

Line 16: Enter the median value of earned royalty income received per license.

Line 17: Enter the total amount of earned royalty income received.

Line 18: Enter the percent of earned royalty income distributed to inventors. To 

calculate the percentage divide the total amount of licensing income distributed 

to inventors by the total amount of licensing income received and then multiply

the results by 100.

Line 19: Enter the percent of earned royalty income distributed to the agency. To 

calculate the percentage divide the total amount of licensing income distributed 

to the agency or laboratory by the total amount of income received and then 

multiply the results by 100.

Line 20: Enter the number of licenses that were terminated for cause during the fiscal 

year.
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Table 3: Licensing Income

FY-4 FY-3 FY-2 FY-1 FY

Earned Royalty Income 

11 Earned Royalty Income from top 1% of licenses

12 Earned Royalty Income from top 5% of licenses

13 Earned Royalty Income from top 20% of licenses

14 Minimum Earned Royalty Income

15 Maximum Earned Royalty Income

16 Median Earned Royalty Income

Disposition of Earned Royalty Income

17 Total amount of Earned Royalty Income received 

18

Percent of Earned Royalty Income distributed to 

inventors 

19

Percent of Earned Royalty Income distributed to the 

agency or laboratory 

20 Licenses terminated for cause

Enter “0” to report that the agency did not use this mechanism in the reported year. Enter "N/A" to report that 

data is not available at time of report. Enter "N/R" to report that data is not reported due to its proprietary nature. 

Add rows and interpretive notes as needed.

Collaborative Relationships for Research and Development

Of the many different mechanisms used to facilitate collaborative R&D activities between a 

Federal agency and other non-Federal entities, the Cooperative Research and Development 

Agreement (CRADA) is the most common. In general, a traditional or formal CRADA is an 

agreement executed under authority of 15 USC 3710a. Specifically, this includes agreements

between one or more Federal laboratories and one or more non-Federal parties under which the 

Government, through its laboratories, provides personnel, services, facilities, equipment, 

intellectual property, or other resources with or without reimbursement (but not funds to nonFederal parties) and the non-Federal parties provide funds, personnel, services, facilities, 

equipment, intellectual property, or other resources toward the conduct of specified research or 

development efforts which are consistent with the missions of the laboratory; except that such 

term does not include a procurement contract or cooperative agreement as those terms are used 

in sections 6303, 6304, and 6305 of title 31.

In general, non-traditional or informal CRADAs are agreements that are also executed under the 

authority of 15 USC 3710a but are used for special purposes such as a material transfer or

technical assistance that may result in protected information. Each agency that reports non-
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traditional CRADAs should provide a brief description of the purposes for CRADAs included in 

this category in a footnote to Table 4.

Agencies may have other authorities under which they are involved in collaborative research and 

development activities for the purpose of technology transfer. When applicable, agencies should 

provide a citation for the authority and alter the table below in order to provide metrics for these 

agreements in a manner that parallels the metrics provided for CRADAs. 

Instructions for the fiscal year reported:

Line 21: Enter the number of CRADAs that were legally in force at any point during the 

fiscal year. 

Line 22: Enter the total number of newly executed CRADAs.

Line 23: Enter the total number of CRADAs under the SBIR and STTR programs legally 

in force at any point during the fiscal year. For a definition of small business 

see section 2 of Public law 85-536 (15 USC 632) and implementing regulations 

of the Administrator of the Small Business Administration.2

Line 24: Enter the total number of small businesses that were involved in CRADAs

under the SBIR and STTR programs that were legally in force at any point 

during the fiscal year.

Line 25: Enter the total number of traditional CRADAs that were active during the fiscal 

year. 

Line 26: Enter the number of traditional CRADAs that were newly executed during the 

fiscal year.

Line 27: Enter the total number of non-traditional CRADAs that were active during the 

fiscal year.

Line 28: Enter the number of non-traditional CRADAs that were newly executed during 

the fiscal year.

With regard to the Presidential Memorandum, agencies may consider reporting streamlining

metrics related to CRADAs in this section. For example, a new streamlining metric might 

include the percent change in the average number of months taken to establish a CRADA 

relative to the prior fiscal year. 

 

2

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title15/pdf/USCODE-2011-title15-chap14A-sec632.pdf
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Table 4: CRADAs

FY-4 FY-3 FY-2 FY-1 FY

CRADAs 

21 Number of active CRADAs 

22 Number of newly executed CRADAs 

23 Active CRADAs with small businesses involvement

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Number of small businesses involved in active 

CRADAs

Traditional CRADAs

25 Active traditional CRADAs 

26 Newly executed traditional CRADAs

Non-traditional CRADAs

27 Active non-traditional CRADAs

28 Newly executed non-traditional CRADAs

Enter “0” to report that the agency did not use this mechanism in the reported year... Enter "N/A" to report that 

data is not available at time of report. Add rows and interpretive notes as needed.

Other Performance Measures Deemed Important by the Agency

Metrics reported under this heading will depend on what other measures agencies elect to 

provide. Agencies may consider presenting this information in a separate table (as shown below)

or add this information at appropriate points in one or more of the tables presented above. 

Table 5: Other Performance Measures Deemed Important by the Agency

FY-4 FY-3 FY-2 FY-1 FY

(Add agency specific metrics)
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Downstream Outcomes from Technology Transfer Activities

In this section each agency is asked to provide anecdotal evidence in the form of success stories 

that demonstrate the broad range of positive impacts and downstream outcomes achieved by 

their technology transfer activities. This should include three to five stories (approximately one 

page each) on different technology transfer developments that have taken place during the fiscal 

year and that have notable impacts, for example life-saving treatments, increased security or 

awareness about dangers and hazards, new business start-ups, products, etc. Supporting pictures 

are encouraged provided they include citations for their legal use.
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Appendix

Statistics and other relevant data from each agency’s technology transfer report will be 

consolidated and summarized in the Secretary of Commerce’s Annual Summary Report to the 

President, the Congress, and U.S. Trade Representative on the status of Federal laboratory 

technology transfer (15 U.S.C. Sec. 3710 (g)(2)). Pursuant to the October 21, 2011 Presidential 

Memorandum (PM) – Accelerating Technology Transfer and Commercialization of Federal 

Research in Support of High-Growth Businesses, this status report will also include metrics that 

NIST in consultation with other agencies, including the National Center for Science and 

Engineering Statistics, will develop and gather to expand and improve existing measures of 

technology transfer activities.

Examples of additional metrics that NIST will gather and report include:

 The number of invention disclosures by selected technology area

 The number of patents issued by selected technology area

 The number of licenses by selected technology area

 U.S. Scientific and Engineering (S&E) Articles by Selected Technology Areas and 

Agencies

 Citation of U.S. articles in U.S. Patents, by Selected S&E Field and Article