Annual Report on Technology Transfer:

Approach and Plans, Fiscal Year 2018 Activities and Achievements

U.S. Department of Commerce

Report prepared by:

National Institute of Standards and Technology

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Institute for Telecommunication Sciences

Pursuant to the

Technology Transfer Commercialization Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-404)

October 2019
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FOREWORD

This report summarizes technology transfer activities and achievements of the Department of 

Commerce’s (DOC) federal laboratories for fiscal year (FY) 2018. At DOC, technology transfer 

is a significant part of the mission and programmatic activities of the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

(NOAA), and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) 

Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS). Accordingly, this report focuses on the 

activities of these agencies.

This report has been prepared as required by 15 U.S.C. § 3710(f). All federal agencies that 

operate or direct one or more federal laboratories or conduct other activities under 35 U.S.C. §§

207 and 209 are subject to the requirements of this statute. 

 

DOC’s overall and laboratory-specific approaches and its plans for technology transfer are 

summarized in this report. The report focuses on current year activities and accomplishments,

and provides statistical information from FY 2014 through FY 2018. 

NIST, NOAA, and NTIA’s ITS technology transfer offices have contributed to the organization 

and preparation of the material reported. An electronic version of this report and versions from 

previous fiscal years are available online at: http://www.nist.gov/tpo/publications/index.cfm.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1.................................................................................................................................. 1

Department of Commerce Overview .......................................................................................... 1

Summary of Technology Transfer Activities FY 2014 – FY 2018........................................ 2

CHAPTER 2................................................................................................................................ 11

National Institute of Standards and Technology ..................................................................... 11

Approach and Plans for Technology Transfer..................................................................... 11

NIST Work Products and Collaborative Activities............................................................. 12

Downstream Outcomes from NIST Technology Transfer Activities................................. 36

CHAPTER 3................................................................................................................................ 44

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ............................................................... 44

Approach and Plans for Technology Transfer..................................................................... 44

NOAA Work Products and Collaborative Activities........................................................... 48

Downstream Success Stories from NOAA Technology Transfer Activities...................... 54

CHAPTER 4................................................................................................................................ 64

National Telecommunications and Information Administration: Institute for 

Telecommunication Sciences...................................................................................................... 64

Approach and Plans for Technology Transfer..................................................................... 64

ITS Work Products and Collaborative Activities................................................................ 64

Downstream Outcomes from ITS Technology Transfer Activities.................................... 68

SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................. 71

Appendix A.................................................................................................................................. 72

Appendix B.................................................................................................................................. 74
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CHAPTER 1

Department of Commerce Overview

Technology transfer plays an important role in DOC’s mission to promote job creation, 

economic growth, sustainable development, and improved standards of living for all Americans. 

DOC works in partnership with businesses, universities, state, tribal and local governments, and 

communities to promote innovation and improve the nation’s overall competitiveness in the 

global economy. DOC pursues these objectives through policies and programs directed at 

strengthening the nation’s economic infrastructure, facilitating the development of cutting-edge 

science and technology, providing critical scientific information and data, and managing national 

resources. 

DOC conducts research and development (R&D) in areas of science and technology at the 

laboratory facilities of NIST, NOAA, and NTIA’s ITS. Technology transfer, which is a key part 

of the programmatic activities in these laboratories, connects technological advances of DOC’s 

science and engineering programs to the American economy.

DOC is also responsible for organizing technology transfer activities across federal agencies. 

DOC coordinates the Interagency Work Group for Technology Transfer (IAWGTT) through 

NIST interagency discussion on policy, new approaches to technology transfer, and lessons 

learned from agency transfer programs.

1 NIST also serves as the host agency for the Federal 

Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC), which provides a forum for federal labs 

to develop strategies and opportunities for linking technologies and expertise with the 

marketplace, as well as serving as the Executive Secretariat for the National Science and 

Technology Council’s Lab-to-Market subcommittee. 

More information about DOC technology transfer is available on the following websites:

NIST: http://www.nist.gov/tpo/index.cfm

NOAA: http://techpartnerships.noaa.gov/

ITS: http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov.

 1 Agencies participating in the IAWGTT, established pursuant to Executive Order 12591 of April 10, 1987, include 

the Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, 

Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Interior, 

Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency, and National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration.
2

Summary of Technology Transfer Activities FY 2014 – FY 2018

This annual report provides comprehensive statistics on technology transfer activities of DOC

laboratories, including information regarding invention disclosures, intellectual property (patents

and licenses), collaborative research and development agreements (CRADAs), and other 

technology transfer mechanisms. Examples of successful downstream results, such as 

commercially significant technologies from technology transfer activities, are also highlighted.

Section 10 of the Technology Transfer Commercialization Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-404, codified at

15 U.S.C. § 3710(f)) requires each federal agency, which operates or directs one or more federal 

laboratories, or conducts activities under 35 U.S.C. §§ 207 and 209, to report annually to the 

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on the agency’s technology transfer activities. The

OMB’s Circular A-11 also requires this information. The tables in the following sections present 

the required data.

2

 2 Technology transfer data is typically adjusted over time to account for new information resulting from changes in 

reporting procedures, patent decisions, programmatic changes, etc. Throughout this report, data prior to FY 2018

has been adjusted, where necessary, to reflect the most accurate estimates for each year reported. 
3

Invention Disclosures and Patenting

In FY 2018, DOC researchers disclosed 77 new inventions. Of these, 71 invention disclosures 

were from NIST researchers and six were from NOAA researchers. There were 56 patent 

applications filed (54 for NIST and two for NOAA) and 28 patents issued by NIST alone.3

Table 1 – DOC Invention Disclosure and Patenting

 3 Note that the time required for a patent to be granted may be two years or more. Patents issued in FY 2018 were 

filed in prior years. 

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Invention Disclosures

NIST 41 46 46 40 71

NOAA 6 15 18 3 6

ITS 0 0 0 0 0

Department Total 47 61 64 43 77

Patent Applications Filed

NIST 21 26 21 43 54

NOAA 4 6 4 3 2

ITS 0 0 0 0 0

Department Total 25 32 25 46 56

Patents Issued

NIST 19 19 15 31 28

NOAA 0 1 1 3 0

ITS 0 0 0 0 0

Department Total 19 20 16 34 28
4

In FY 2017 (the most recent year data is available), the top three technical areas covered by DOC

patents were measurement (38%), semiconductors (12%), and surface technology, coating (9%).4

Figure 1 – Percent of USPTO Patents Granted to DOC, by Technology Area – FY 20175

Licensing

In FY 2018, DOC reported 67 active patent licenses (60 for NIST and seven for NOAA). 

Table 2 – Profile of DOC Active Licenses

(a) “Active” means an agreement in effect at any time during the fiscal year. 

 4 Technology areas are identified in Appendix A.

5 Patents are credited on a whole-count basis (i.e., each participating federal agency is credited one count). 

However, fractioning is used at the level of IPC codes to ensure that the sum of patents across technology areas 

(WIPO technology classification) is equal to the total number of patents as each patent can be assigned to more than 

one technology area. Prepared by Science-Metrix using USPTO data indexed in PatentsView accessed in October 

2018. Used with permission.

38%

9% 12%

6%

6%

5%

5%

5%

2%

12% Measurement 38%

Semiconductors 12%

Surface Technology, Coating 9%

Biotechnology 6%

Electrical Machinery, Apparatus, Energy 6%

Telecommunications 5%

Micro-Structural and Nano-Technology 5%

Optics 5%

Computer Technology 2%

Other 12%

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Active Patent Licenses(a)

NIST 33 40 50 61 60

NOAA 5 6 7 7 7

ITS 0 0 0 0 0

Department Total 38 46 57 68 67
5

Data revealed that 37 of those active patent licenses were income-bearing, which is the largest 

number in the last five fiscal years. The income-bearing licenses comprised 22 exclusive 

licenses, 13 non-exclusive licenses, one assignment, and one custody transfer agreement.

Table 3 – Characteristics of DOC Income-Bearing Licenses

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Total Income-Bearing Licenses 

NIST 21 25 26 28 30

NOAA 5 4 5 7 7

ITS 0 0 0 0 0

Department Total 26 29 31 35 37

Patent Licenses 

NIST 21 25 26 28 30

NOAA 5 4 7 7 7

ITS 0 0 0 0 0

Department Total 26 29 33 35 37

License Types

Exclusive

NIST 14 15 16 15 18

NOAA 0 1 4 4 4

ITS 0 0 0 0 0

Department Total 14 16 20 19 22

Partially Exclusive

Department Total 0 0 0 0 0

Non-Exclusive

NIST 5 8 8 11 10

NOAA 5 3 3 3 3

ITS 0 0 0 0 0

Department Total 10 11 11 14 13

Assignment

NIST 1 1 1 1 1

Custody Transfer

NIST 1 1 1 1 1
6

In FY 2018, DOC’s income-bearing licenses provided $147,414 in income. Of this amount, 

$111,743 came from NIST licenses and $35,671 came from NOAA licenses.

Table 4 – Income from DOC Licensing

Collaborative Relationships for Research and Development (CRADAs)

In FY 2018, there were 3,363 CRADAs involving DOC researchers. There were 534 traditional

CRADAs6 and 2,829 non-traditional CRADAs active during the year.7 Of the 534 traditional 

CRADAs, NIST was involved in 476, NOAA was involved in 43, and ITS was involved in 68. 

In addition, there were 53 joint agreements between NIST and ITS that dealt with Public Safety 

700 MHz Broadband Demonstrations and involved both NIST and ITS. 

Table 5 – DOC Collaborative Relationships for Research and Development

 (a) The total number of traditional CRADAs for the Department has been adjusted to avoid double counting where 

NIST and ITS are involved together in Joint CRADA Agreements. 

 6 Traditional CRADAs involve collaborative research and development projects by a federal laboratory and nonfederal partners. 7 Non-traditional CRADAs involve laboratory accreditations, material transfer agreements, and calibration services.

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Total Licensing Income

NIST $150,995 $124,823 $137,662 $75,061 $111,743

NOAA $69,151 $39,633 $11,000 $65,810 $35,671

ITS $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Department Total $220,146 $164,456 $148,662 $140,871 $147,414

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

CRADAs

Department Total 2,280 2,670 2,940 2,933 3,363

Traditional CRADAs

NIST 206 329 294 370 476

NOAA 19 28 33 36 43

ITS 60 54 62 60 68

Department Total(a) 206 283 335 414 534

Joint CRADA Agreements (NIST and ITS) 79 128 54 52 53

Non-Traditional CRADAs

NIST 2,074 2,387 2,605 2,519 2,827

NOAA 0 0 0 0 2

ITS 0 0 0 0 0

Department Total 2,074 2,387 2,605 2,519 2,829
7

Trends in DOC Technology Transfer Activities

One of the reasons for reporting technology transfer metrics is to monitor trends over time. 

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to identify and compare trends by simply looking at 

changes in values from one year to the next. Technology transfer activities are not spontaneous 

events. Inventions typically require years, if not decades of research before they are disclosed. 

A review of a patent application may take roughly three to five years before the patent is 

awarded. It may take several years to license a patent or form the collaborative commitments

behind a CRADA. 

To assess the trends in key technology transfer metrics, we first convert annual metric values into 

index values and then plot trend lines using these index values. Index values are calculated by 

dividing the value of a metric in a given year (year “t”) by its value in a base year (year “i”), and 

then multiplying by 100. 

IIIIIIIIII VVVVVVVV tt = VVVVVVVV tt

BB BB VVVVVVVV ii

100

The fixed base year chosen for this report is FY 2014. The index value for each metric in the 

base year is equal to 100. In the years that follow, index values change as the value of the metric 

in year “t” changes while the value in the base year “i” remains the same. 

To calculate the index value for patents issued in FY 2015, we divide the number of patents 

issued in FY 2015 by the number of patents issued in the base year (FY 2014) and then multiply 

by 100. Using data from the table on Page 3 of this report, the index value for patents issued in 

FY 2015 is 105 (rounded).

IIIIIIIIII VVVVVVVV FFFF2015 = 20

19

× 100 = 105

Because the index value of 105 is greater than 100, we can interpret this as a 5% increase in the 

number of patents issued between FY 2014 and FY 2015. In FY 2016, the index value for 

patents issued is 84, which we can interpret as a 16% decrease between FY 2014 and FY 2016. 

We calculated index values for key metrics (e.g., invention disclosures, patents issued, invention 

licenses, and CRADAs) and plotted the values in the chart below. To show the trend for a given 

metric, a straight line is plotted in the middle of the plotted values for that metric.8 In the chart 

below, index values for patents issued are plotted in purple and the trend line for patents issued is 

plotted in the middle of the purple points. It is important to note that each trend line is drawn 

independent of other measures. They do not suggest causal relationships, nor do they forecast 

future trends. A trend line is a simple tool that illustrates the general tendency of a measure over 

a given period of time. 

Trend lines are plotted for invention disclosures (blue), patents issued (purple), invention 

licenses (green), and traditional CRADAs (red). From this chart, we can see that since FY 2014, 

there has been a dramatic increase in DOC’s basic technology transfer activities with invention 

 8 Trend lines in this report are plotted using Microsoft Excel.
8

disclosures increasing 64%, patent issued increasing 47%, active patent licenses increasing 76%, 

and CRADAs increasing 185%. 

Figure 2 – Trends in DOC’s Technology Transfer Activities (FY 2014 – FY 2018)

Scientific and Technical Publications

Technology transfer mechanisms include more than just counting CRADAs, patents, and 

licenses.

9 Scientific and technical publications can also lead to technology transfer. In FY 2018, 

NIST, NOAA, and ITS researchers published 3,220 scientific and technical papers in peerreviewed journals.

Table 6 – DOC Scientific and Technical Publications

 9 http://www.nist.gov/tpo/publications/upload/DOC-Tech-Transfer-Plan.pdf

50

100

150

200

250

300

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Technical Publications

NIST 1,359 1,323 1,355 1,433 1,415

NOAA 1,759 1,860 1,697 1,678 1,794

ITS 18 22 4 10 11

Department Total 3,136 3,205 3,056 3,121 3,220
9

In calendar year (CY) 2017 (the most recent year for which data is available), the most frequent

technology areas covered by DOC publications are Geosciences (41%), followed by Physics 

(16%), Biological Sciences (15%), Chemistry (11%), and Engineering (10%).10

Figure 3 – Percent of Articles by Science and Engineering Fields 

Authored by DOC Staff in CY 201711

 10 Science and engineering fields are identified in Appendix B. 11 Data are presented by calendar year as month of publication is not always available in the Web of Science. 

Article counts are from the set of journals covered by the Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Sciences Citation 

Index (SSCI) classified under Caspar (Computer-Aided Science Policy Analysis and Research) fields using the CHI 

(Computer Human Interaction) classification. Articles are classified by the year they entered the database, rather 

than the year of publication, and are assigned to a federal agency on the basis of the institutional address(es) listed in 

the article. Articles are credited on a whole-count basis (i.e., each participating federal agency receives one count). 

Source: Prepared by Science-Metrix using the Web of Science database (Thomson Reuters). Used with permission. 

41%

16%

15%

11%

10%

2% 1% 1% 3% Geosciences 41%

Physics 16%

Biological Sciences 15%

Chemistry 11%

Engineering 10%

Social Sciences 2%

Medical Sciences 1%

Astronomy 1%

Other 3%
10

Data are also available on the number of times U.S. patents cite U.S. science and engineering 

articles authored by DOC staff. U.S. patents issued in FY 2017 cite 1,170 publications authored 

by DOC researchers. As shown in Figure 4, the largest technology areas citing DOC 

publications include Physics (28%), followed by Chemistry (25%), Biological Science (19%), 

Engineering (15%), and Geosciences (5%).12

Figure 4 – Percent of Articles by Science and Engineering Fields

Authored by DOC Staff and Cited in U.S. Patents in FY 201713

The following chapters provide details on other agency-specific technology transfer activities,

such as technical support for development of industrial standards and reference materials, public 

dissemination activities (meetings and workshops), collaborations with guest researchers, etc. 

 12 Science and engineering fields are identified in Appendix B. 13 Cited articles are from the set of journals covered by the Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Sciences 

Citation Index (SSCI) classified under Caspar fields using the CHI classification. Cited articles are classified by the 

year of publication and are assigned to a federal agency on the basis of the institutional address(es) listed in the 

article. Citations are classified on a whole count basis (i.e., each participating federal agency on a cited article 

receives one count). Citation counts are based on an 11-year window with a 5-year lag (e.g., citations for 2012 are 

references in USPTO patents issued in FY2012 to articles published in 1997–2007). Prepared by Science-Metrix 

using the Web of Science (Thomson Reuters) accessed in October 2018 and PatentsView accessed in October 2018. 

Used with permission.

28%

25%

19%

15%

5%

4% 3% 1%

Physics 28%

Chemistry 25%

Biological Sciences 19%

Engineering 15%

Geosciences 5%

Computer Sciences 4%

Medical Sciences 3%

Other 1%
11

CHAPTER 2

National Institute of Standards and Technology

NIST has a broad mission: to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by 

advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic 

security and improve our quality of life. 

Rapidly evolving sectors like nanotechnology, biotechnology, homeland security, information 

technology, and advanced manufacturing need sophisticated technical support systems in order 

to flourish and grow. Therefore, an important part of accomplishing NIST’s mission is to 

anticipate future measurement and standards needs of U.S. industry. NIST laboratories develop 

measurement techniques, test methods, standards, reference materials, reference data, and other 

technologies and services that support U.S. industry, scientific research, and the activities of 

many other federal agencies. In carrying out its mission, NIST works directly with industry 

partners (individual companies and consortia), universities, standards organizations, other 

domestic and foreign associations, and other government agencies.

Approach and Plans for Technology Transfer

NIST designs its technology transfer activities to disseminate the results of fundamental 

research, measurements, and standards research to industry and other interested parties. In order 

to provide leading-edge scientific and technical work, NIST is required to have expertise in 

multiple disciplines, maintain high levels of collaboration with organizations and people with 

diverse capabilities, and have highly specialized facilities and tools. For more than a century, 

laboratories at NIST (and its direct predecessor agency, the National Bureau of Standards) have 

successfully collaborated with others to provide the measurement techniques and technical tools 

needed by America’s innovators.14 

NIST broadly defines technology transfer as:

“... the overall process by which NIST knowledge, facilities, or capabilities in 

measurement science, standards and technology promote U.S. innovation and 

industrial competitiveness in order to enhance economic security and improve quality 

of life.”

NIST’s definition of technology transfer reflects the many ways NIST reaches its external 

partners. The definition includes, inter alia: 1) the act of transferring knowledge from one 

individual to another by means of mentoring, training, documenting, or collaborating; and 2) 

commercialization, which allows the adoption of a technology into the private sector through a 

business or other organization.

NIST has designed its technology transfer program to improve processes and work products

directly through collaborations. The following summarizes different technology transfer 

 14 Additional details on NIST’s technology transfer program are available at 

http://www.nist.gov/tpo/index.cfm.
12

mechanisms NIST uses to promote innovation and to disseminate technologies that result from 

its research. 

NIST Work Products and Collaborative Activities

NIST actively seeks to identify commercially valuable inventions that result from its research. 

NIST will generally seek patent protection when a patent: (1) enhances the potential for an 

invention’s commercialization; (2) has a positive impact on a new field of science or technology 

and/or the visibility and vitality of NIST; (3) furthers the goals of a CRADA or other agreement; 

(4) furthers U.S. manufacturing; or (5) could lead to a commercialization license. 

Chapter 1 of this report presented summary information on patenting and licensing. Additional

details on NIST’s licensing activities are included below.

NIST research led to inventions in the following areas: bioscience and health, building and fire 

research, chemistry, math, physics, electronics and telecommunications, energy, environment

and climate, information technology, manufacturing, materials science, nanotechnology, public 

safety and security, and transportation.
13

In FY 2018, there were 60 active NIST patent licenses of which 11 were issued in FY 2018. Of 

these 60 active licenses, 23 licenses were issued to small companies (i.e., companies with fewer

than 500 employees).

Table 7 – Profile of NIST Active Licenses

(a) “Active” means an agreement in force at any time during the fiscal year. 

(b) Patent licenses include licenses to pending patent applications.

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Total Number of Active Licenses(a) 33 40 50 61 60

 New Licenses Executed 7 11 12 19 11

Total Invention Licenses Active 33 40 50 61 60

 New Invention Licenses Executed 7 11 12 19 11

Total Patent Licenses Active(b) 33 40 50 61 60

 New Patent Licenses Executed 7 11 12 19 11

Total Material Transfer Licenses Active (Inventions) 0 0 0 0 0

 New Material Transfer Licenses (Inventions) 0 0 0 0 0

Total Material Transfer Licenses Active 

(Non-Inventions) 0 0 0 0 0

New Material Transfer Licenses Executed 

(Non-Inventions) 0 0 0 0 0

 

Total “Other Invention Licenses” Active 0 0 0 0 0

 New “Other Invention Licenses” Executed 0 0 0 0 0

Total “Other IP Licenses” Active 0 0 0 0 0

 New “Other IP Licenses” Executed 0 0 0 0 0

Copyright Licenses (Fee-Bearing) Active 0 0 0 0 0

 New Copyright Licenses Executed 0 0 0 0 0

Active NIST Licenses Issued to Small Companies 7 4 14 19 23
14

In FY 2018, the average time to negotiate a patent license was two months. The minimum time 

to negotiate a license was nine days (.3 month), and the maximum time was four months.

Table 8 – NIST Licensing Management

(a) License Negotiation Time is defined as the time between the date of license application and the date of license 

execution. The date of license application is the date the laboratory formally acknowledges the written request 

for a license from a prospective licensee and agrees to enter into negotiations.

(b) Patent licenses include licenses to pending patent applications.

Licensing income comes from a variety of sources: license issue fees, earned royalties,

minimum annual royalties, paid-up license fees, reimbursement for full-cost recovery of goods,

and services provided by the laboratory to the licensee (including patent costs). Of the 60 active 

licenses that existed in FY 2018, 30 were income bearing. This included 18 exclusive licenses, 

10 non-exclusive licenses, one assignment, and one custody transfer. 

Table 9 – Characteristics of NIST Licenses Bearing Income

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

License Negotiation Time (Patent Licenses) (a)(b) 

Average (months) 4.0 7.0 5.0 4.0 2.0

Minimum (months) 0.2 0.2 1.0 2.0 0.3

Maximum (months) 17.3 38.7 14.0 6.0 4.0

Licenses Terminated for Cause

Invention Licenses (Patent Licenses) 0 0 0 0 0

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Total Income Bearing Licenses 21 25 26 28 30

 Exclusive 14 15 16 15 18

 Partially Exclusive 0 0 0 0 0

 Non-Exclusive 5 8 8 11 10

Total Other Income Bearing IP Licenses

Assignment 1 1 1 1 1

Custody Transfer 1 1 1 1 1

Total Income Bearing Invention Licenses 21 25 26 28 30

 Exclusive 14 15 16 15 18

 Partially Exclusive 0 0 0 0 0

 Non-Exclusive 5 8 8 11 10

Total Other Income Bearing IP Licenses 0

Assignment 1 1 1 1 1

Custody Transfer 1 1 1 1 1

Total Royalty Bearing Licenses 21 25 26 28 30

Total Royalty Bearing Invention Licenses 21 25 26 28 30

Royalty Bearing Patent Licenses 21 25 26 28 30

Other Royalty Bearing IP Licenses 0 0 0 0 0
15

In FY 2018, NIST received $111,743 from all active licenses. This is a 49% increase from the 

prior year. The median amount received was $3,892. The minimum amount received was $209

and maximum was $40,000. 

Table 10 – Income from NIST Licenses

n.a. = not available. Data withheld to protect proprietary information.

(a) Total income includes license issue fees, earned royalties, minimum annual royalties, paid-up license fees, 

reimbursement for full-cost recovery of goods and services provided by the laboratory to the licensee including 

patent costs and Standard Reference Data. “Active” means an agreement in force at any time during the fiscal 

year. 

(b) Patent licenses include licenses to pending patent applications.

(c) “Earned Royalty Income” (ERI) is a royalty based on use of a licensed invention (usually, a percentage of sales 

or of units sold). It is not a license issue fee or a minimum royalty.

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Total Income, All Active Licenses(a) $150,995 $124,823 $137,662 $75,061 $111,743 

 Invention Licenses (Patent Licenses)(b) $150,995 $124,823 $137,662 $75,061 $111,743 

 Other IP Licenses, Total Active $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 

Total Earned Royalty Income (ERI)(c) $150,995 $124,823 $137,662 $75,061 $111,743 

 Median ERI $6,250 $1,600 $5,295 $2,679 $3,892 

 Minimum ERI $640 $640 $62 $320 $209 

 Maximum ERI $74,575 $62,833 $40,000 $40,000 $40,000 

 ERI from Top 1% of Licenses n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

 ERI from Top 5% of Licenses n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

 ERI from Top 20% of Licenses n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Invention Licenses (Patent Licenses) $150,995 $124,823 $137,662 $75,061 $111,743 

 Median ERI $6,250 $1,600 $5,296 $2,679 $3,892 

 Minimum ERI $640 $640 $62 $320 $209 

 Maximum ERI $74,575 $62,833 $40,000 $40,000 $40,000 

 ERI from Top 1% of Licenses n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

 ERI from Top 5% of Licenses n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

 ERI from Top 20% of Licenses n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Other IP Licenses, Total Active $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 
16

Of the total licensing income received in FY 2018, 38% ($42,944) was distributed to the NIST 

inventor(s) and the remaining 62% ($68,799) was retained by the NIST inventor’s Operating 

Unit. 

Table 11 – Distribution of NIST Invention License Income

(a) Income includes royalties and other payments received during the fiscal year.

(b) Patent licenses include licenses to pending patent applications.

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs)

Collaborative research and development projects between federal laboratories, academia, and 

outside partners are an effective means of transferring technology. Beyond the improved knowhow and new technologies that result, these joint efforts often help collaborators leverage each 

other’s resources and technical capabilities. They also provide mechanisms for collaborators to 

gain technical competencies and acquire new skills. CRADAs are agreements between a federal

laboratory and one or more partners to collaborate on defined research and development (R&D) 

projects. They are a major mechanism for establishing joint relationships with industry,

academia, and state and local governments to advance promising new technologies toward 

commercialization. These agreements are created under the statutory authority of the StevensonWydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980, as amended by the Federal Technology Transfer 

Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-502).

15

 15 http://www.nist.gov/tpo/collaborations/crada.cfm

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Total Income Received(a) $150,995 $124,823 $137,662 $75,061 $111,743 

Invention Licenses (Patent Licenses)(b)

 Licensing Income to Inventor(s) $54,602 $44,936 $45,148 $34,673 $42,944 

36% 36% 33% 46% 38%

 Licensing Income to NIST $96,393 $79,887 $92,514 $40,388 $68,799 

64% 64% 67% 54% 62%
17

In FY 2018, NIST was involved in a total of 3,303 active CRADAs; 476 were traditional 

CRADAs16 and 2,827 were non-traditional CRADAs.17 There were 2,770 new NIST CRADAs. 

This included 153 traditional and 2,617 non-traditional. 

Table 12 – NIST Collaborative Relationships for Research and Development

 16 Traditional CRADAs involve collaborative research and development projects by a federal laboratory and nonfederal partners.

17 Non-traditional CRADAs are used for special purposes, such as laboratory accreditation, materials transfer or 

calibration services. 

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

NIST CRADAs

Total Active CRADAs 2,281 2,718 2,958 2,889 3,303

New CRADAs Executed 2,093 2,481 2,587 2,420 2,770

Total Active Traditional CRADAs 206 329 294 370 476

New Traditional CRADAs Executed 50 143 89 113 153

Total Active Non-Traditional CRADAs 2,075 2,389 2,664 2,519 2,827

New Non-Traditional CRADAs Executed 2,043 2,338 2,498 2,307 2,617
18

Scientific and Technical Publications

Technical publications are one of the major mechanisms NIST uses to disseminate the results of 

its research to industry, academia, and other agencies.

In FY 2018, NIST staff wrote 1,415 papers in peer-reviewed journals,18 including 367 papers

(26%) published in 110 "top tier" journals, which includes any journal with a Thomson Reuters' 

Journal Impact Factor (IF) that falls within the top 10th percentile in its Web of Science Subject 

Category.19 NIST researchers collaborated and co-authored with researchers from around the 

world, writing papers with 5,277 unique non-NIST authors from 1,283 institutions in 59

countries.20

Table 13 – NIST Scientific and Technical Publications

NIST also publicizes its planned, ongoing, and recently completed work in outlets followed by 

the organizations most likely to have an interest in NIST’s research and services, such as the 

trade and technical press. In addition to news releases, websites, and contacts with the media, 

NIST publishes Tech Beat, a biweekly, plain language newsletter of recent research results.21

In addition to the basic methods of transferring technology such as patents, licenses, and 

CRADAs, NIST researchers routinely transfer technological innovations through the following 

mechanisms. 

Participation in Documentary Standards Committees

Documentary standards are shared sets of rules that specify, for example, a test method or 

measurement methods, a product’s properties, or standard practices. Econometric studies have 

concluded that standards contribute significantly to economic growth, and as one study 

concluded, “development of standards is integral to innovation; documentary standards 

contribute to economic growth at least as much as do patents; and the macroeconomic benefits of 

the development of standards extend beyond the benefits to the companies that use the 

standards.”22 

 18 https://www.nist.gov/nist-research-library

19 For additional information see https://clarivate.com/essays/journal-selection-process/. 20 Unique co-authors and institutions were identified by performing a search for all NIST authored papers in the Web 

of Science (WoS) database. This includes publications in the peer-reviewed literature but excludes most conference 

proceedings papers and all NIST series publications. 21 https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/ 22 Peter Swann, G.M., Report for the UK Department of Business, Innovation, and Skills (BIS), 2010 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economics-of-standardisation-update-to-report.

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Number of NIST Papers 1,359 1,323 1,355 1,433 1,415

Number of NIST Papers in Top-Tier Journals 444 384 329 406 367

Percentage of NIST Papers in Top-Tier Journals 33% 29% 24% 28% 26%

Number of Unique Non-NIST Co-Authors 4,086 4,585 5,116 5,464 5,277

Number of Unique Institutions 965 1,003 1,037 1,334 1,283

Number of Countries 62 63 46 67 59
19

During FY 2018, 423 members of the NIST staff were involved with more than 116 standards 

organizations. Such participation helps NIST respond to the needs of the private sector and 

enables its scientists and engineers to bring NIST technology and know-how directly into 

standards-setting bodies. 

Table 14 – NIST Participation in Documentary Standards

The NIST Standards Coordination Office (SCO) maintains the Standards Committee 

Participation Database for employees to report their participation, including leadership positions 

within standards organizations. The SCO is proactively expanding the database to collect

information regarding staff tenure on a standards committee, standard(s) developed with NIST 

staff participation, and other information relevant to NIST’s contributions in new and existing 

documentary standards. 

Standard Reference Data

NIST’s Standard Reference Data (SRD) Program provides critically evaluated numeric data to 

scientists and engineers for use in technical problem solving, research, and development. Many 

types of reference data are extremely important in engineering structures, optimizing chemical 

processes, and other industrial applications. Standard Reference Data are extracted from 

scientific and technical literature or developed from measurements conducted at NIST 

laboratories that are carefully evaluated for accuracy and reliability. NIST currently maintains 

92 SRD databases that cover many areas of science, including analytical chemistry, atomic and 

molecular physics, biotechnology, and materials sciences.23

 23 http://www.nist.gov/srd/index.cfm

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Number of Participating NIST Staff 464 469 445 440 423

Number of Standard Organizations with NIST 

Participants 121 165 120 119 116
20

In FY 2018, the NIST SRD Program distributed 2,670 e-commerce orders, 8,413 units sold via 

distributor, 157 active distributor agreements, 17 active site licenses, 50 active internet 

subscriptions, 146 units shipped to the user, and 3,910 products downloaded from the NIST 

website (1,099 free downloads, 2,811 paid downloads). 

Table 15 – NIST Standard Reference Data Program

(a) The increase in sales between FY 2014 and FY 2015 for “Units sold via distributor” reflects sales related to the 

release of a new version of the NIST Standard Reference Database 1A, NIST/EPA/NIH Mass Spectral Library 

and sales from Standard Reference Database 23, Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties.

Standard Reference Materials

Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) are a definitive source for various measurements in the 

United States. Measurements made using SRMs can be traced to a common and recognized set 

of basic standards that provide the basis for measurement compatibility among different 

laboratories. The certified property values for SRMs often depend on the development of unique 

measurement capabilities within NIST.

24 In FY 2018, NIST made available 1,140 SRMs and 

from these, sold 31,503 units. 

Table 16 – NIST Standard Reference Materials

User Facilities – Research Participants

NIST operates two unique and valuable laboratory facilities that support U.S. industry, academic 

institutions, and other NIST and government laboratories.

25 These facilities are the Center for 

 24 http://www.nist.gov/srm/index.cfm 25 Beginning October 1, 2018, CNST became part of the Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML). Merging CNST 

with PML enables more effective management of programs and resources that previously spanned both 

organizations. Research staff from the CNST NanoLab and PML have been combined to form two new divisions 

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Standard Reference Data

Products available (databases) 111 111 102 97 92

E-Commerce Orders 3,111 2,596 2,689 2,229 2,670

Units Sold via Distributor(a) 5,142 9,807 10,573 7,995 8,413

Active Distributor Agreements 101 123 124 154 157

Active Site Licenses 58 57 59 36 17

Active Internet Subscriptions 42 38 49 40 50

Units Shipped via UPS 595 418 311 328 146

Products Downloaded from the NIST Website 3,435 5,751 6,208 3,119 3,910

Free Downloads 1,352 3,615 4,083 1,225 1,099

Paid Downloads 2,083 2,136 2,125 1,894 2,811

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Standard Reference Materials

Units Available 1,281 1,240 1,194 1,182 1,140

Units Sold 32,636 33,490 31,938 32,348 31,503
21

Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) and the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) 

and allow NIST customers to tap directly into NIST measurement expertise to solve problems.

The CNST supports the development of nanotechnology from discovery to production. It

operates in a national shared-use nanofabrication and measurement facility (the NanoFab),

complemented by a multidisciplinary research staff creating next-generation tools for advancing 

nanotechnology. The NCNR is a national user facility that provides cold and thermal neutron 

measurement capabilities to researchers from academia, industry, and other government 

agencies.

26

NIST user facility “research participants” are those who directly participate in an NCNR

experiment or CNST project. Research participants include those who use the facility on-site or 

remotely, and their collaborators on the experiment or project. In FY 2018, there were 3,415

research participants at CNST and 2,742 at NCNR. 

Table 17 – NIST Research Participants27

 within PML. The CNST NanoFab user facility will largely remain unchanged and continue to serve both NIST and 

external users. 

26 https://www.nist.gov/labs-major-programs/user-facilities 27 FY 2018 estimates are preliminary estimates.

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

NIST Research Participants

CNST 2,147 2,434 2,917 3,215 3,415

NCNR 2,271 2,436 2,536 2,769 2,742
22

Postdoctoral Researchers

Technology transfer involves not only inventions, innovations, data, patents, and licenses, but

also the people who perform the actual research and development. Postdoctoral researchers, or

“postdocs,” working at NIST also play an important role in transferring NIST technology.

28

NIST uses the NSF’s description of a postdoctoral researcher,

29 which is defined as someone 

who has a temporary position taken within five years after the completion of a doctoral degree to

gain scientific, technical, and professional skills. In FY 2018, there were 153 NIST postdocs. 

Of these, 91 were located on the NIST campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland; 44 were located in 

Boulder, Colorado; and the remainder were located at five other NIST locations. 

Table 18 – NIST Postdoctoral Researchers

(a) Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) was founded in 1962 as a joint institute of CU-Boulder 

and NIST. JILA is located at the base of the Rocky Mountains on the CU-Boulder campus in the Duane 

Physics complex. http://jila.colorado.edu/

(b) The Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) was founded in September 2006 as a collaboration between the 

University of Maryland and NIST, with additional support from the Laboratory for Physical Sciences, a 

government facility in College Park. http://jqi.umd.edu/

(c) The Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML) is a world-class research facility in Charleston, South Carolina. 

HML’s mission is to provide science and biotechnology applications to sustain, protect, and restore coastal 

ecosystems, with emphasis on links between environmental condition and the health of marine organisms 

and humans. http://www.nist.gov/mml/hml/index.cfm

(d) The Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) is a joint research enterprise created to 

enhance collaboration among the University of Maryland College Park, the University of Maryland 

Baltimore and NIST. https://www.ibbr.umd.edu//

(e) The Brookhaven National Laboratory’s National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) facility is located at 

and co-led by DOE and NIST’s Material Measurement Laboratory (MML). MML's Synchrotron Science 

Group develops and disseminates synchrotron measurement science and technology needed by U.S.

industry to measure nanoscale electronic, chemical, and spatial structure of advanced materials. 

https://www.nist.gov/mml/materials-measurement-science-division/synchrotron-science-group

(f) The Joint Initiative for Metrology in Biology (JIMB) is co-led by Stanford University and NIST and is 

designed to enable significant improvements in the accuracy and comparability of vital data used to make 

important research, regulatory, clinical, and manufacturing quality control decisions. 

http://jimb.stanford.edu/

 28 http://www.nist.gov/iaao/postdoc.cfm

29 http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

NIST Postdocs, Total (NCR) 172 179 167 159 153

Gaithersburg campus 115 113 104 87 91

Boulder campus 35 49 43 47 44

Joint Institute for Laboratory 

Astrophysics (a) 9 5 9 12 10

Joint Quantum Institute (b) 3 2 2 3 3

Hollings Marine Laboratory (c) 1 2 2 2 1

Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology 

Research (d) 4 3 3 3 3

Brookhaven National Laboratory(e) 0 0 0 2 0

Joint Initiative for Metrology in Biology(f) 5 5 4 3 1
23

The number of postdocs is a measure of technology transfer, because once their tenure at NIST 

ends, they take what they have learned and apply it to projects outside of NIST. NIST begins

tracking postdocs once they depart NIST. NIST surveyed 51 researchers who were postdocs 

with the NIST National Research Council (NRC) program in FY 2018. Of these, 45% continued

research careers with NIST,

30 6% moved to the private sector, 8% moved to academia, none 

moved to other government agencies, and 41% pursued other opportunities such as becoming

independent researchers. 

NIST is currently studying the economic impact of the NIST-NRC postdoctoral program. This 

study will survey former NIST postdocs to gather information on patents held and related 

business pursuits. The data will be analyzed to determine the efficacy of postdocs as a tech 

transfer mechanism and the feasibility of pursuing additional research into the program’s 

contributions.

Figure 5 – Tracking NIST Researchers after Initial Postdoc Tenure at NIST (FY 2018)

Guest Researchers

In addition to postdocs, each year, thousands of researchers visit NIST to participate in 

collaborative projects.31 NIST hosts many term appointment researchers and non-NIST 

employees working as guest researchers, collaborators, and student fellows. Like postdoctoral 

researchers, many guest researchers seek career opportunities in academia, the private sector, or 

federal agencies after their tenure at NIST. While some guest researchers’ work at NIST may 

result in inventions, all guest researchers leave NIST with technical and research skills that place 

them on the cutting edge of their disciplines. Each researcher takes the skills and knowledge,

and aspires to apply them in innovative ways in their careers. Among these skills is the 

 30 Researchers who left their postdoc positions and stayed at NIST (45%) became career conditional / term 

employees (42%) or became non-career conditional or term employees, i.e. contractors or guest researchers (12%). 31 http://www.nist.gov/tpo/collaborations/guestresearchers.cfm

45%

41%

8%

6%

NIST 45%

Other 41%

Academia 8%

Private Sector 6%

Gov't Agency (Non-NIST) 0%
24

knowledge of how to collaborate with federal laboratories and what federal resources are 

available to assist companies in creating and developing new and improved technologies. 

In FY 2018 there were 3,221 guest scientists and engineers working at NIST.

Table 19 – NIST Guest Researchers

Accreditation Services

The NIST National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) is a voluntary and 

fee-supported program to accredit private sector laboratories that are competent to perform tests 

or calibrations.32 In FY 2018, NVLAP accredited 674 laboratories.

Table 20 – NIST Accreditation Services

Calibration Services

The NIST laboratories provide unique physical measurement services for their customers, 

including calibration services, special tests, and measurement assurance programs. NIST designs 

its calibration services to help manufacturers and users of precision instruments achieve the 

highest possible levels of measurement quality and productivity. NIST calibrations often serve 

as the basis for companies that provide commercial calibration services and calibration 

equipment.33 In FY 2018, there were 11,771 calibration tests performed by NIST.

Table 21 – NIST Calibration Services

 32 http://www.nist.gov/nvlap/ 33 http://www.nist.gov/calibrations/index.cfm

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

NIST Guest Researchers

Number of Guest Scientists and Engineers 2,981 3,125 3,273 3,181 3,221

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

NVLAP Accreditations

Number of NVLAP Accreditations 774 726 735 723 674

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Calibrations

Number of Calibration Tests Performed 15,401 13,906 12,971 13,802 11,771
25

Education Outreach Programs and Partnerships

NIST has received recognition as a vital contributor to the efforts to improve science, 

technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in the United States. As part of its 

mission, and to help create a long-term and well-qualified workforce for standards and 

measurement research, NIST has several education outreach programs and partnerships that 

enrich basic research programs such as:

• the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program;

34

• the Summer High School Internship (SHIP) program;

35

• the Pathways Program;36

• the NIST Summer Institute for Middle School Science Teachers;

37 and

• the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP).

38

In FY 2018, there were 212 students enrolled in the SURF program, 64 students enrolled in the 

SHIP program, 85 students enrolled in the Pathways program, and 200 students enrolled in the 

PREP program. The Summer Institute for Middle School Teachers was not held in FY 2018.

Table 22 – NIST STEM Education Participation

Conferences, Seminars, and Workshops

Some of the most important mechanisms for technology dissemination are communication, 

education, and interaction among researchers, developers and users of technology. NIST hosts 

numerous conferences, workshops, and other meetings each year to facilitate the transfer of 

technology. 

In FY 2018, the NIST Conference Program arranged 101 conferences that attracted 8,772

researchers to NIST’s facilities in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Boulder, Colorado. NIST’s 

Office of Weights and Measures, which promotes uniformity in U.S. weights and measures laws, 

 34 NIST’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program provides internships for college students 

majoring in science, mathematics and engineering. http://www.nist.gov/surfgaithersburg/index.cfm 35 NIST’s Summer High School Internship (SHIP) program provides a summer intern program for high school 

students who are interested in scientific research. http://www.nist.gov/ohrm/staffing/ship.cfm 36 The Pathways Programs offers high school, college and trade school students paid opportunities to work in a 

federal agency and explore different career paths while continuing their education. 

 http://www.nist.gov/ohrm/staffing/students.cfm

37 NIST’s Summer Institute for Middle School Science Teachers provides a two-week workshop for middle school 

science teachers featuring hands-on activities, lectures, tours, and visits with NIST scientists and engineers in their 

laboratories. http://www.nist.gov/iaao/teachlearn/index.cfm 38 NIST’s Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) provides undergraduate and graduate students, as well 

as postdoctoral researchers, the opportunity to gain hands-on research experience working with NIST researchers. 

https://www.nist.gov/iaao/nist-professional-research-experience-program-prep

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

SURF 203 206 213 212 212

SHIP 60 48 70 70 64

Pathways Program 78 97 85 111 85

Summer Institute for Middle School Teachers 22 22 20 21 0

PREP 134 164 204 36 200
26

regulations, and standards, trained 1,776 weights and measures administrators, laboratory 

metrologists, and field enforcement officials during FY 2018.

Table 23 – NIST Conferences, Seminars, and Workshops

NIST is expanding its collection of information on metrology training to include training for 

NIST facility users. Further, NIST staff answers email, telephone, and mail inquiries from 

researchers requesting information and details about NIST technical developments and research 

results. 

Streamlining Technology Transfer Processes

NIST has undertaken several efforts to streamline and simplify the technology transfer process. 

NIST revised its standard CRADA to expedite review of these documents and reduce the overall 

size of these documents by approximately one third. NIST also implemented several new 

licensing programs to encourage small businesses to participate. These programs lay out terms 

in advance to ease concerns of small businesses about overall costs. NIST is conducting detailed 

analysis of the flow of documents to understand where significant delays occur within the 

system. In many cases, these delays are with the partner and NIST does not have direct control; 

however, by continued efforts to identify and understand issues experienced by partners, NIST 

expects to identify new ways to simplify and streamline technology transfer practices. The 

average number of days between the receipt date of an invention disclosure and the filing date of 

the first non-provisional patent application was 337 days. The average CRADA approval time 

was 91 days.

Table 24 – NIST Streamlining Efforts

(a) The time between the receipt date of an invention disclosure and the filing date of the first non-provisional 

patent application filed by NIST. 

(b) The time between the receipt of the memo related to the award of a CRADA and the time of approval for the 

memo.

Small Businesses, Startups and Young Entrepreneurial Companies

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

NIST Conference Center

Conferences and Workshops 80 118 102 108 101

Attendance 9,208 11,490 10,370 10,588 8,772

Office of Weights and Measures - Metrology Training 

Total Students 518 750 498 916 888

Seminar Attendance 355 457 342 466 451

Webinar Attendance 133 266 156 414 437

Workshop Attendance 30 27 0 36 0

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Streamlining Efforts

Average Number of Days to Prepare a 

Patent Application(a) 456 410 442 396 337

Average CRADA Approval Time(b) 110 65 104 108 91
27

NIST recognizes the need to provide both funding and technological support for small 

businesses, startups, and young entrepreneurial companies. NIST and its joint institutes nurture 

young companies in high-growth technology areas by several means. 

In addition to financial support provided by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) 

program and technical support through CRADAs, NIST recently implemented several new 

licensing options to aid innovators and lower developmental risk for potential partners who wish 

to obtain and use NIST technology. For example, the Science/Technology Advancement 

Research (STAR) license provides a no-cost, non-exclusive field-of-use research license to 

explore and advance NIST technologies for commercialization. 

In FY 2018, NIST patent licenses were held by 23 small businesses. There were 89 small 

businesses involved in traditional CRADAs and 742 small businesses involved in non-traditional 

CRADAs. NIST’s non-traditional CRADAs involve 34 small businesses involved with material 

transfer agreements, 101 involved in calibration services and 607 receiving NVLAP

accreditations. There were also 12 small businesses that received Phase I SBIR awards and 10

small businesses that received Phase II SBIR awards. 

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)

NIST’s SBIR program funds science and technology based small businesses in the United States. 

The program offers qualified small businesses the opportunity to propose innovative ideas that 

meet specific NIST research and development needs and have the potential for 

commercialization.

39 NIST has taken the following steps to improve its SBIR program:

1. Streamlining practices to reduce the administrative burden on small businesses and time 

needed to process and issue awards.

2. Reducing the number of topics and subtopics to balance the work required to obtain 

proposals while increasing the selection rate for worthwhile proposals. NIST 

Programmatic Investment Priority Areas in the NIST Three Year Programmatic Plan 

serve as topics to align SBIR priorities to NIST’s mission. The goal is to bring the Phase 

I SBIR award rate up to the national average of 17%.

3. Implementing a two-step review process to evaluate technical feasibility and to maximize 

investments, catalyze commercialization, and achieve a strategic focus. The first step is a 

technical evaluation conducted by NIST laboratories. The second step is prioritization of 

proposals considered meritorious in the laboratory review through the use of criteria 

based on the overall NIST strategy and SBIR program goals.

4. Reducing the time from close of solicitation to award issuance by 10%. 

 39 http://www.nist.gov/tpo/sbir/index.cfm
28

Small and Young Businesses Interacting with NIST

Another way of transferring NIST’s technologies is through the creation of companies by former 

NIST staff, NIST collaborators, licensees or others making use of NIST research. NIST 

routinely interacts with and provides special consideration for small businesses (companies with 

fewer than 500 employees) in order to help them become more competitive and productive. 

NIST also nurtures small and young companies by transferring its technology and support 

through its SBIR program.

Table 25 - Number of Small Businesses Interacting with NIST40

NIST also identified 42 startup and young companies (existing for five years or less) that have 

either spun off technologies from NIST or received considerable support in their core area of 

technical development and were involved in research collaborations with NIST during FY 2018.

 40 Total estimates are preliminary. NIST is currently working on efforts to improve the tracking of interactions with 

small and young companies.

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Number of Small Businesses Licensing NIST 

Technologies 1 4 14 19 23

Number of Small Businesses involved in 

Traditional NIST CRADAs 37 68 58 116 89

Number of Small Businesses involved in NonTraditional NIST CRADAs 734 795 823 903 742

Number of Small Businesses involved in 

Phase I SBIR Awards 12 14 12 12 12

Number of Small Businesses involved in 

Phase II SBIR Awards 4 6 7 9 10

Total 788 887 914 1,059 876
29

Economic Assessment

There are two types of metrics used to track technologies transferred from federal agencies: 

activity metrics and impact metrics. The metrics provided in this report are primarily activity 

metrics that track transfer activities within the DOC. They are gathered by internal data calls and 

are presented here to show the activities that have occurred within the agency over the past five 

years. Impact metrics are completely different. They track the impacts that occur outside of the 

DOC resulting from technologies developed within the DOC. Impact metrics are not gathered 

by data calls. They are derived by careful studies of the behavior of transferees (e.g., researchers, 

developers, producers, and end-users) who use the federal technologies to create or embellish

products or services over time.

Unfortunately, there are relatively few economic studies that actually focus on identifying, 

isolating, assessing, and reporting the impact that federally developed technologies have on 

economies outside of the government.41 This is because the process of assessing impacts, which

has long been a goal of policy makers, is costly and complex, requiring detailed studies that

isolate and assess the dispersal of impacts over time. 

Nonetheless, there are many different approaches to measuring the impact of technology transfer 

activities. The most common approach provides a retrospective assessment of survey or publicly 

available data to measure the return on investment in terms of net present value, social rate of 

return, and/or the ratio of benefits to cost for given impact periods. Another retrospective 

approach employs a simulation model to estimate how changes in key variables (such as the 

number of licenses or the amount of license revenues) affect an economy in terms of changes in 

gross output, gross domestic production, employment, income, or other measures of economic 

activity. There are also prospective studies that attempt to forecast future impacts based on an 

assessment of survey data from qualified end-users.42

In an effort to support further development of impact metrics, the following reports were funded 

by NIST in FY 2018. They provide measures of technology transfer impact using the three

different approaches to assessing economic behavior mentioned above.

The Economic Impacts of the Advanced Encryption Standard 1996-201743

Since 1965, NIST has been responsible for establishing uniform federal automatic data 

processing standards, or Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). FIPS are used to 

provide guidance to the federal government for computer security, interoperability, and other 

information technology matters where suitable industry standards do not exist. In 1977, NIST 

adopted the Data Encryption Standard (DES) as a federal standard to be used for securing all 

sensitive, unclassified government data from unauthorized access and for encrypting information 

transferred through communications. 

 41 See Bozeman et al., “The evolving state-of-the-art in technology transfer research: Revisiting the contingent effectiveness 

model.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733314001127 42 For discussions on how technology transfer impacts are measured see “Measuring the Impacts of Federal Investments in 

Research,” National Academies Press: https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2017/04/28/Measuring-the-Impacts-ofFederal-Investments-in-Research-2011.pdf, “Methods for Assessing the Economic Impacts of Government R&D,” Tassey: 

https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2017/05/09/report03-1.pdf, or “The Theory and Practice of Public-Sector 

R&D Economic Impact Analysis,” Link et. al: https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2017/04/28/report11-1.pdf 43 https://www.nist.gov/publications/economic-impacts-advanced-encryption-standard-1996-2017
30

In 1993, NIST launched efforts to identify a new standard encryption algorithm for the federal 

government after recognizing that the DES standard was growing vulnerable in the face of 

advances in cryptanalysis and the exponential growth in computing power. The effort to develop 

a new Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) involved a five-year, open international 

competition which included worldwide collaborations within the cryptography community.

The AES has since been used by the federal government and private industry to encrypt and 

decrypt electronic information. It protects everything from classified data and bank transactions 

to online shopping and social media apps.

In FY 2018, NIST contracted with RM Advisory Services LLC, to assess the impact of NIST’s 

contributions to the development of the AES program and to provide a retrospective economic 

impact assessment of these contributions. The study covers the period from 1996-2017 and 

relies on a detailed survey of key government and private sector leaders who heavily rely on the 

AES to secure their electronic communications. The survey was directed to three specific user 

groups: government and private consumers of encryption systems and private integrators who 

develop and produce encryption hardware or software. The survey was sent to federal and state 

chief information officers and members of organizations with interest in information security, 

such as working groups and associations, with 169 responding.

An assessment of survey results found that without NIST’s leadership, the evolution of a 

sufficiently strong and efficient encryption technology and its implementation as AES would 

have been significantly delayed and the costs of related R&D, production, and commercialization 

would have been higher. The study also found that without U.S. leadership, the competitive 

advantage of U.S. information technology companies would have been significantly impaired 

and U.S. companies would not have dominated global technology business as they do today.

The study also found that the AES program continues to create economic value by transferring 

its know-how in many forms (e.g., the development and promulgation of publications that 

specify, maintain, and revise cryptographic modes of operation) into the network of 

communications and transactions.

In addition to assessing the role that NIST played, the study includes an assessment of the 

retrospective impact that resulted from NIST’s role. In this case, impact was assessed in terms of 

1) the cost avoided by having a central, trusted body to take initiative and 2) the cost of 

developing a stronger, computationally more efficient and flexible replacement of DES.

Survey questions were designed to help quantify several categories of potential avoided costs 

identified in scoping interviews and historical research. These include:

1. The cost of slower processing speeds

2. Interoperability costs 

3. Breach costs 

4. Pre-acquisition costs
31

5. Standards development 

6. Lost sales and profits 

7. Hardware and software module quality degradation 

The economic assessment used a counterfactual scenario to conceptualize economic benefits if 

the AES program had been postponed or had never occurred. A time series of the estimated 

annual sum of cost avoided from 1996 to 2017 was interpreted as the economic stream of 

benefits of the AES program. Those benefits were then compared to the program’s actual cost

over that period.

The study found that for the organizations responding to the survey, NIST’s contribution to the 

AES program had a benefit-to-cost ratio of approximately 29-to-1. Extrapolating the benefits 

economy-wide revealed a benefits-to-cost ratio of 1,976-to-1. Alternatively, the impact of 

NIST’s contribution to the AES program is approximately $250 billion to date.

A Preliminary Application of an Input-Output Economic Impact Model to U.S. Federal 

Laboratory Inventions44

A recent study prepared for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and the 

Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), entitled “The Economic Contribution 

of University / Nonprofit Inventions in the U.S.: 1996-2015”45 used an input-output 

(I-O) model to estimate the economic impact of academic licensing (i.e. hospitals and research 

institutions) over a 20-year period (1996-2015). R&D expenditures by these institutions over 

this period averaged approximately $60 billion per year. The study found that the total

contribution of licensors to industry gross output during this period ranged from $320 billion to 

$1.33 trillion. Gross domestic product for the country ranged from $148 billion to $591 billion,

and employment increased by 1.268 million to more than 4.272 million person-years of 

employment.46

In FY 2018, NIST asked the researchers who prepared this study to adapt the same model to

assess the impact of federal licensing over a shorter, eight-year period (2009-2015).47 R&D 

expenditures for the federal laboratories (i.e. intramural programs and federally funded research 

and development centers) average approximately $45 billion per year, so at first glance, one 

would expect the impact from the two groups of licensors might be similar. 48 However, when 

comparing the two groups, it is important to note the many differences that exist between the 

way academic institutions and individual federal agencies handle technology transfer operations. 

Federal agencies have a wide variety of mission statements, policies that support patenting and 

licensing activities, royalty rates, conflict of interest restrictions that place limits on working with 

 44 https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018/09/20/prelimappioeconimpactmodelfedlabinventions2008-2015.pdf 45 https://www.autm.net/AUTMMain/media/Partner-Events/Documents/Economic-_Contribution_UniversityNonprofit_Inventions_US_1996-2015_BIO_AUTM.pdf 46 Gross output is the measure of total economic activity in the production of new goods and services in a given 

period. Gross domestic product is the value of all final goods and services produced in a given period. All dollar 

amounts are measured in 2009 dollars. Person-years of employment refers to the amount of work done by an 

individual during a working year. It is not a measure of employment but rather economic activity.

47 The years for which federal data is available. 48 The total annual Federal R&D budget which includes funding for extramural projects is approximately $140 

billion over this period. 
32

federal laboratories, and policies regarding the negotiation of licensing rates. Most of these 

restrictions do not exist in the academic world. Consequently, total annual licensing revenues 

differs significantly with annual licensing income for federal laboratories averaging about 8% of 

the annual licensing revenues for academic institutions.

The I-O model requires a substantial number of complex assumptions that have a considerable 

effect on the reported impact estimates, so a great deal of attention has to be given to assigning 

parameters that best reflect the market environment for each group of licensors. To address these 

complexities, the model was run under two assumptions. Under the first assumption, no attempt 

was made to normalize research expenditures, full time technology transfer employees, the 

character of research, the number of active license agreements, or other property interests. All 

production was assumed to occur entirely in the United States; none of the licensee sales were 

final sales and all the intermediate inputs to production are domestic. These were the same 

assumptions used to produce the AUTM/BIO 2017 report.

Under these assumptions, the total contribution of federal laboratory licensors to industry gross 

output between 2008 and 2015 ranged from $23.1 billion to $76.5 billion in 2009 U.S. dollars. 

Total contributions to gross domestic product ranged from $10.6 billion to $34.6 billion in 2009.

The total number of person years of employment supported ranged from 73,000 to 215,000 over 

the eight-year period.

A second set of assumptions was prepared to provide a more realistic scenario for federal 

licensees. Under this set of assumptions, 20% of licensee production occurs outside the United 

States, the shares of sales to final demand are a weighted average, not all intermediate inputs are 

domestic, and publishing, software and computer systems design, and services were added to 

licensee industries. With this set of assumptions, the total contribution of federal laboratory 

licensors to industry gross output ranges from $25 billion to $83.6 billion in 2009 U.S. dollars. 

Total contributions to GDP range from $12.5 billion to $41.3 billion in 2009 U.S. dollars. 

Estimates of the total number of person years of employment supported range from 86,000 to 

265,000 over the eight-year period. 

On an average annual basis, despite receiving only 8% of the licensing income that academics

receive, the contribution of licensing efforts by federal laboratories to economic impact is 

approximately 17% of academic impact (19% of gross output, 18% of gross domestic product, 

and 15% of employment.) These differences are dependent on a wide range of variables,

including royalty rates, the number and type of licenses, terms and conditions, program 

management, etc. 

Economic Analysis of National Needs for Technology Infrastructure to Support the 

Materials Genome Initiative

Established in 2011, the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) is a multi-agency effort to promote a 

globally competitive U.S. manufacturing sector by addressing important gaps in the Materials 

Innovation Infrastructure. Its aim is to enable U.S. companies to more rapidly and efficiently 

develop and deploy advanced materials, with applications in the development of advanced 

consumer goods, renewable energy, energy storage, supercomputing. and national defense. 
33

Given NIST’s expertise in the integration, curation, and provisioning of critically evaluated data 

and models, NIST assumed a leadership role within the MGI. For example, in order to foster 

widespread adoption of the MGI paradigm both across and within materials development 

ecosystems, NIST is establishing essential data exchange protocols and the means to ensure the 

quality of materials data and models. These efforts will yield the new methods, metrologies, and 

capabilities necessary for accelerated materials development. 

NIST is also working with stakeholders in industry, academia, and government to develop the 

standards, tools, and techniques enabling acquisition, representation, and discovery of materials 

data; interoperability of computer simulations of materials phenomena across multiple length and 

time scales; and the quality assessment of materials data, models, and simulations. Internally 

NIST is conducting several path-finder projects to enable integration of key aspects of the 

materials innovation infrastructure to expose challenges in the construction of this infrastructure, 

and to serve as exemplars for the broader MGI effort. This includes pilot projects to develop 

new energy efficient superalloys and advanced composites for transportation applications. 

These activities are coordinated by the NIST Material Measurement Laboratory, in partnership 

with the NIST Information Technology Laboratory, and with broad participation across the 

Institute. In summary, NIST is establishing (1) the essential materials data and model exchange 

protocols and (2) the means to ensure the quality of materials data and models, ultimately (3) 

establishing new methods, metrologies, and capabilities necessary for accelerated materials 

development. Additionally, through its efforts to (4) integrate these activities, NIST is working 

to test and disseminate its developed infrastructure and best practices to its stakeholders.49

In FY 2018, NIST commissioned a prospective study of the potential impact of the MGI, as well 

as the importance of NIST contributions to its success. The study “Economic Analysis of 

National Needs for Technology Infrastructure to Support the Materials Genome Initiative”50 was 

prepared by the Research Triangle Institute and presents an analysis of perspectives and opinions 

of U.S. manufacturers and other industry experts on their needs for new technological 

infrastructure supporting advanced materials innovation and the potential economic impacts of 

meeting those needs.

The report estimates that the potential economic benefit of an improved Materials Innovation 

Infrastructure is between $123 billion and $270 billion per year, based on structured interviews 

with more than 100 industry experts. Roughly a quarter of these estimated benefits come from 

making the R&D process more efficient, saving time and reducing risk. The rest of the potential 

benefits are projected to come from companies targeting more ambitious R&D projects they 

would not otherwise have done, leveraging that R&D to commercialize improved products and 

new product lines, and expanding into new markets. 

Efforts to Promote Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) Program

 49 https://www.nist.gov/mgi 50 https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018/06/26/mgi_econ_analysis.pdf
34

The NIST Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) Program was initiated in 2013 to help the research 

staff and management understand and become connected to the nation’s technologically-based 

entrepreneurship community. This program was developed and is jointly sponsored by NIST 

and Maryland’s Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) through a Partnership 

Intermediary Agreement (PIA). Under the PIA, TEDCO vets and recommends suitable 

candidates for one-year appointments. In FY 2018 there were three NIST-TEDCO EIRs who 

served on a voluntary basis without compensation. 

EIRs offer NIST employees seminars that cover business formation, funding, protection of 

intellectual property, and conflict-of-interest issues. EIRs also counsel NIST postdocs and other 

temporary employees on efforts to identify and explore career opportunities in small and startup 

technology-oriented businesses. NIST provides additional one-on-one sessions to staff members 

interested in starting a company that will spin out a NIST technology. Over the past five years, 

more than 30 staff members have received one-on-one counseling and two are actively engaged 

in efforts to form a business venture to license a NIST technology for commercial purposes. The 

two individuals seeking to form a business venture also received guidance from the Office of the

Chief Counsel for NIST and from the Department of Commerce, Office of the General Counsel

Ethics Law and Programs Division, before undertaking their initiative, which is being pursued on 

their own time.

In FY 2019, EIRs will be involved in a coordinated training program that focuses on recognizing 

innovation and invention opportunities that spawn from mission-oriented research. This training 

will be presented through a series of seminars at various NIST organizational levels and will be 

available to the research and technical staff and to NIST’s postdoctoral community. Also, in 

2019, the EIRs agreed to support and attend technology transfer events of the Federal Laboratory 

Consortium Mid-Atlantic Region as their voluntary time commitments may allow.

N-STEP Program

NIST launched the NIST Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Program (N-STEP)51 in 

November 2015 to provide opportunities for motivated researchers to build upon the experience 

they gained at NIST as they explore entrepreneurial careers that benefit the NIST mission. The 

program is focused on commercialization of research conducted at NIST by postdocs who are 

interested in forming companies to independently pursue further translational research and 

development of technologies specifically related to NIST’s mission. These technologies can 

then be commercialized as products or services to benefit the public.

In FY 2018, five companies completed their N-STEP projects, and three companies are involved 

in ongoing projects. N-STEP is funded by NIST and administered by Maryland TEDCO but is a 

nationwide opportunity.

Challenges

Challenge.gov is a listing of challenge and prize competitions, all of which are run by more than 

102 agencies across the federal government. NIST participates in this competition by offering 

 51 See http://tedco.md/program/n-step/
35

cash prizes to the public for their help in solving perplexing mission-centric problems.

52 In FY 

2018, NIST launched the following challenges:

1. Unlinkable Data Challenge: Advancing Methods in Differential Privacy 

2. Reusable Abstractions of Manufacturing Processes (RAMP) Challenge

3. Agile Robotics for Industrial Automation Competition (ARIAC) 

4. The Unmanned Aerial Systems Flight and Payload Challenge

5. Virtual Reality Heads-Up Display Navigation Challenge 

Awards

NIST staff received the following awards during FY 2018:

ACS PMSE Fellow

• Christopher Stafford

Allen V. Astin Measurement Science Award

• Mary Bedner, Carolyn Burdette, Johanna Camera, Katrice Lippa, Karen Phinney, and 

Lane Sander

American Concrete Institute (ACI) Fellowship 

• Dale Bentz

Arthur S. Flemming Award

• Ralph Jimenez

ASTM International Award of Merit 

• Enrico Lucon

B. Stephen Carpenter Award

• Michael Lombardi

Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education 2018 Government Leadership of the 

Year Award 

• Davina Pruitt-Mentle

Edward Bennett Rosa Award

• Bala Muralikrishnan, Prem Rachakonda, Meghan Shilling, Roger Bostelman, Geraldine 

Cheok, Joseph Falco, Marek Franaszek, Jeremy Marvel, Kamel Saidi, Ya-Shian LiBaboud

Edward Uhler Condon Award

• Pavel Kabos and T. Mitch Wallis

Eugene Casson Crittenden Award

• Wyatt Miller

Federal 100 Award 

• Naomi Lefkovitz, Donna Dodson, and Joshua Franklin

Fire Protection Research Foundation Medal 

• Erica Kuligowski

George A. Uriano Award

• Patricia R. Toth, Allison Barnard Feeney, and Thomas Hedberg, Jr.

George D. Nasser Award from the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute 

 52 For more information see https://www.challenge.gov/about/ 
36

• Hai S. Lew

Henry Marion Howe Medal, ASM International 

• Thien Phan

INCITS Merit Award 

• Wo Chang and Eric Simmon

Isidor Isacc Rabi Award 

• Jun Ye

Jacob Rabinow Applied Research Award

• Michael Donahue and Donald Porter

Judson C. French Award

• Catherine Cooksey, Thomas Germer, Heather J. Patrick, Clarence J. Zarobila, John 

Curry, George Eppeldauer, Jeanne Houston, Vyacheslav Podobedov, Ping-Shine Shaw, 

and Howard Yoon

National Storm Shelter Association (NSSA) Kiesling Award 

• Marc Levitan

Purdue University, Outstanding Industrial Engineer 

• Al Jones

Samuel Wesley Stratton Award

• Savelas Rabb and Robert Vocke

SME 2018 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award

• Tom Hedberg

Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) Educational and Scientific Foundation Jack Bono 

Award

• Dave Butry and Doug Thomas

William P. Slichter Award

• B. Robert Ilic

Downstream Outcomes from NIST Technology Transfer Activities

NIST Updates Forensic Standard Reference Materials

At forensic science labs, analysts literally weigh the evidence. They also measure it in 

other ways. They use microscopes, DNA profiling kits, chemical analyzers, and other 

instruments, all of which must be calibrated to ensure accurate measurements. In 

forensic labs, where those measurements might be used to determine a person’s guilt or 

innocence, accuracy is particularly important.

To help ensure accuracy, NIST manufactures physical standards used to calibrate 

analytical instruments in much the same way that a precisely manufactured kilogram 

mass can be used to calibrate a scale. These standard reference materials, or SRMs, take 

many forms. Recently, NIST updated versions of two forensic SRMs—the standard 

bullet and the human DNA quantitation standard. 

SRM 2460a: The Standard Bullet

The NIST standard bullet isn’t a real bullet, but it looks like a typical 9mm bullet that has 

been fired from a gun. A series of six parallel markings appear on its surface, and if you 
37

turn it under a light, you can see that those markings are made up of fine striations.

These ridges are reproduced precisely on each standard bullet down to the microscopic 

level.

The marks simulate the impressions that a gun leaves, like a ballistic signature, on every 

bullet it fires. For instance, if investigators recover a bullet from a crime scene, they can 

test-fire a suspect’s weapon to produce a second bullet. Then, they compare ballistic 

signatures to see if the two bullets were fired from the same gun.

In many forensic firearms labs, examiners compare bullets visually under a split-screen 

microscope. But at state-of-the-art laboratories, they use scanning optical microscopes 

that measure the 3D features on a bullet’s surface, including the microscopic detail within 

the striations. This provides greater detail and accuracy than a 2D comparison.

A firearms examiner can test whether a 3D surface scanning microscope is properly 

calibrated by measuring the striations on the NIST standard bullet. They then compare 

those measurements with data provided by NIST. If their measurements are off, they 

know that something is amiss.

The prior version of the standard bullet, which was manufactured using a diamondturning process that engraved the striations onto the bullet, cost more than $2,000 each. 

With funding from the National Institute of Justice, NIST developed a new 

manufacturing method that involves casting polyurethane copies in a mold, then plating 

them with nickel and gold. This new method allows NIST to sell the standard bullet for 

$350.

SRM 2372a: The Human DNA Quantitation Standard

This SRM comprises three vials, each containing human DNA suspended in a clear 

solution. The first vial contains DNA from a male, the second from a female, and the 

third contains both female and male DNA in a three-to-one ratio.

Forensic analysts use this SRM when generating a genetic fingerprint, also called a DNA 

profile, of a suspect. If blood or other biological evidence is found at a crime scene, the 

analyst extracts DNA from the evidence, then processes it to generate the profile.

For this to work properly, the analyst needs to know how much DNA is in the extract 

before they process it. “Put in too little, and you might end up with an incomplete DNA 

profile,” said Erica Romsos, the research scientist at NIST who managed production of 

this standard. “Put in too much, and you can blow out the signal, making the results 

difficult to interpret.”

The three vials in this standard contain precisely measured quantities of human DNA, 

which forensic analysts use to calibrate their instruments when measuring how much 

DNA they extracted from the evidence. This helps ensure that they process the right 

amount of DNA when generating the profile.
38

In the new version of this standard, the quantity of DNA in each of the vials was 

measured using an advanced technique called digital PCR. This gives a more precise 

measurement than possible in the prior version and allows for more accurate calibrations 

in the lab. The prior version only listed quantities for the type of DNA that is found in 

the nucleus of the cell. The new version does this, but also lists the quantity of 

mitochondrial DNA found outside the nucleus and can be useful when working with 

evidence that contains damaged or degraded DNA.

Other Forensic SRMs

NIST produces other standards used in ballistics and DNA labs, as well as alcohol 

solutions used to calibrate breathalyzers, ignitable liquids used in arson investigations,

and more. Although the types of forensic SRMs vary, they are all manufactured with the 

same goal in mind: to help ensure the reliability of the scientific evidence used in 

criminal investigations.

New Cell Lines Produce NIST Monoclonal Antibody for Improved Manufacturing of 

Biologic Drugs 

When NIST issued the world’s first standardized monoclonal antibody (mAb) in July 

2016, the exhaustively analyzed protein known as NISTmAb (NIST Reference Material 

8671) was intended as a valuable tool for biopharmaceutical companies. Its purpose: to 

help ensure the quality of measurement techniques used in the development and 

manufacture of biologic drug therapies for a wide range of health conditions, including 

cancers, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases. Although the molecule has been 

precisely characterized, the current proprietary method for its production has not.

In a new paper in the journal mAbs, researchers at the Institute for Bioscience and 

Biotechnology Research (IBBR), a joint institute of NIST and the University of 

Maryland, described how they took the first step to solve this dilemma: engineering three 

mouse cell lines to produce nonproprietary versions of NISTmAb that closely resemble 

the characteristics of the original reference material.

“By creating the means to produce our already well-characterized monoclonal antibody, 

the NISTmAb, we can now make the measurements that will define the production 

process as well as the product,” said NIST research biologist Zvi Kelman, who coauthored the mAbs paper. “From that, we can develop a standardized model for 

monoclonal antibody biomanufacturing that will give researchers and manufacturers a 

second valuable reference tool.”

Monoclonal antibodies are proteins manufactured in the laboratory that can target 

specific disease cells, viruses, and other antigens (agents that trigger an immune 

response) for removal from the body or can be used to deliver therapeutic chemicals or 

radiation to select sites. Since the first commercial mAb was approved in 1986, their 

impact on medicine has been astounding. Today, five of the 10 top-selling drugs are 

mAbs with annual sales currently at $100 billion and expected to rise to $150 billion 

within three years.
39

NIST Reference Material 8366 for Cancer Biomarker EGFR and MET Measurements

NIST Reference Material 8366 for cancer biomarkers EGFR (epidermal growth factor 

receptor) and MET (proto-oncogene, receptor tyrosine kinase) gene copy number 

measurements is available for purchase.

The genes for EGFR and MET are frequently amplified in different types of cancer, and 

DNA measurements of the gene copy number variations are used for cancer detection, 

diagnosis, treatment selection, and prognosis. RM 8366 consists of genomic DNA 

extracted from six human cancer cell lines with different amounts of amplification of the 

target genes. The reference values for the ratio of the EGFR and MET gene copy number 

to the copy numbers of reference genes were determined by digital polymerase chain 

reaction.

The utility of Reference Material 8366 for next-generation sequencing was tested in the 

Molecular Characterization and Clinical Assay Development Laboratory at Frederick 

National Laboratory for Cancer Research and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in 

Australia. Reference Material 8366, in addition to NIST Standard Reference Material 

2373 - Genomic DNA Standards for HER2 Measurements, expands the NIST portfolio of 

precision medicine standards to support measurements for the cancer community.

The National Cancer Institute MATCH (Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice) trial, 

the biggest precision medicine cancer treatment clinical trial, plans to use components of 

the NIST reference materials to evaluate cancer measurements in its laboratories.

Industry Now Has Access to a Rare Resource

NIST’s nSoft consortium helps product developers solve difficult problems by giving 

them access to a powerful tool, unlike anything in an industry R&D lab, for seeing the 

structure of materials.

NIST’s Material Measurement Lab developed a new model for outreach to increase 

industry access to federally funded scientific instruments. These tools are often underutilized by private-sector researchers, because they don’t have the expertise to use them. 

nSoft and the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) train scientists from industry 

members to measure materials nondestructively. Members of nSoft develop expertise in 

neutron science by planning and executing their own experiments at NCNR with 

guidance from NIST scientists.

Beams of neutrons can pass through soft materials—cancer drugs, vaccines, high 

performance plastics and composites, agricultural products, and even batteries—without 

damaging their structure, exposing the molecules from which they are made. Access to 

research reactors similar to NCNR reactor are limited, and there are only a few experts 

who know how to conduct experiments and analyze data from neutron studies. In order 

to alleviate such limitations, NIST launched the nSoft consortium in 2012 to provide 

access to research reactor and experts at the NCNR.
40

nSoft works at the pace of business: once trained, industry members can get timely 

access to the instrument, helping them meet product development milestones. The 

outcomes from experiments are shared publicly so that all U.S. industry sectors may 

benefit. While the results of experiments are often published in scholarly journals, 

helping industry scientists conduct their own experiments is an accelerated form of 

technical transfer from federal research facilities to the people who benefit.

To date, nSoft has helped companies develop therapeutics with a longer shelf-life and 

higher strength materials and provided key insight into how plants can stay hydrated in 

arid and harsh environments.

Facilitating Research, Development, and Commercialization of Large-Scale 3D Imaging 

Systems

Working through ASTM, NIST led the development of a new technical standard, E3125-

2017, Standard Test Method for Evaluating the Point-to-Point Distance Measurement 

Performance of Spherical Coordinate 3D Imaging Systems in the Medium Range, that 

provides instrument manufacturers and users with a common set of tests for specifying 

the performance of large-scale 3D imaging systems. These systems enable the largescale precision manufacturing of aircraft, ships, and construction equipment and the 

renovation and construction of buildings and other outdoor structures. This standard is 

available for reference in procurement documents in support of purchases of scanner 

hardware and scanner measurements. It also furnishes imaging system manufacturers 

with objective and accepted measures to guide product improvement. The standards 

development effort was particularly noteworthy as the immediacy of the need led the 

team to realize the standard in approximately three years, when typically twice that 

amount of time is required.

NIST SURF III Helps Develop Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL) as the Next 

Generation Technology for the Microelectronics Industry to Keep Pace with Moore’s Law 

The demand to continually increase the number and density of transistors on a chip has 

driven the microelectronics industry to jump from using 193 nm ultraviolet light (6.4 eV 

photons) to using 13.5 nm extreme ultraviolet light (92.5 eV photons) to pattern the 

Beams of neutrons can pass through soft materials--cancer drugs, vaccines, high performance 

plastics and composites, agricultural products, and even batteries--without damaging their

structure, yet still “see” the molecules from which they are made. With few research reactors 

like NIST’s around, there are few experts who know how to conduct experiments and analyze 

data from neutron studies. In response, NIST launched the nSoft consortium in 2012.

Credit: Boualem Hammouda
41

circuits. Major hurdles in transitioning to EUVL include concern about the damage to

the optics by the highly energetic EUV photons. Facilitated by CRADAs with industry 

partners, NIST researchers used the EUV radiation produced at the NIST Synchrotron 

Ultraviolet Radiation Facility (SURF III) to characterize precision EUV optics under 

development, quantify any damage to the optics caused by the EUV radiation, develop 

physics-based models to explain the damage, and evaluate efforts to mitigate this 

damage. The NIST effort played a major role in finding solutions to EUV damage to 

optics and eliminating such damage as a major concern.

CRADA Partner Demonstrates Prototype Commercial Photonic Pressure Standard Based 

on NIST Patented Technology

A CRADA partner, facilitated by a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement 

with NIST, demonstrated a compact prototype photonic pressure standard at the vendor 

exhibition at the AVS 65th International Symposium and Exhibition, October 23rd-25th, 

in Long Beach, California. Such a standard could serve a broad range of applications that 

demand highly accurate pressure measurements over a broad range of pressures. A major 

benefit of the technology is that it is mercury-free, whereas conventional technology for 

such accurate pressure measurements requires hundreds of pounds of toxic liquid 

mercury. 

Detailed Examination by NIST of Standard Method to Calibrate Mass Flow Controllers 

Reveals Errors that Impact Semiconductor Manufacturing

Mass Flow Controllers are widely used by the semiconductor industry to accurately meter 

the small amounts of various exotic gases used to precisely fabricate micro-to-nanoscale 

thin films, trenches, holes, and other features required in modern microelectronics and 

MEMS manufacturing. Concerns raised about the accuracy of mass flow controller 

calibration methods by a semiconductor equipment manufacturer led NIST researchers to 

look more closely at the issue. The researchers discovered that the widely applied rate-ofrise (RoR) method used to calibrate mass flow controllers can cause significant errors at 

the low flow rates used by the micro and nanofabrication industries. Such errors have the 

potential to produce poor fabrication results, leading to millions of dollars of wasted 

product per production run. NIST scientists researched, developed, and tested a method 

to quantify and correct the errors made by the RoR calibrations approach and made the 

results from their study available to industry.

3D Laser Scanning Artifact Commercialized by U.S. Manufacturer

To develop the world’s first laser scanner performance test standard, NIST staff 

developed a prototype target to enable the performance testing of large-volume 3D laser 

scanning systems in a manufacturing facility. 3D large-volume laser scanning systems 

are used in shipbuilding, aerospace, and large civil construction industries to ensure the 

mechanical components are produced with sufficiently accurate dimensions and that they 

fit and function as designed. The NIST artifact was designed to reveal errors associated 

with the laser scanning system, while minimizing the errors introduced by the target 

itself. The artifact was designed with low-priced components and uses novel algorithms 

developed by NIST. The initial artifact design was conceived by NIST staff and 

fabricated at NIST. The concept benefited from extensive discussions with staff from the 
42

National Research Council of Canada and feedback from industry partners. The NIST 

concept was commercialized by a U.S. manufacturer, who began marketing the product 

in November 2017.

NIST Calibrations Help Missile Defense Aerospace Manufacturers Meet Contract 

Requirements

NIST provided on-site infrared calibrations of cryogenic space chambers maintained at 

aerospace contractor sites and used in the testing of sensors deployed on ballistic missile 

defense seekers. NIST calibrated the chamber by deploying special infrared radiometers 

to take highly accurate measurements of infrared radiation emitted by the test blackbody 

source mounted inside the chamber at an aerospace contractor site. The NIST effort was 

supported by funding from the Missile Defense Agency and aided by a DoD CRADA 

partner.

NIST Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility (SURF III) Helps Satellite Sensor 

Manufacturer

Space-based sensors that monitor the ultraviolet radiation from the sun in support of 

space-weather forecasting and monitoring require calibration against a light source that 

outputs an accurately known amount of radiation from the ultraviolet to the extreme 

ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. NIST’s SURF III Facility is the only place in the 

United States and only one of two places in the world that can provide such calibrations 

for space weather applications. NIST continues to make the SURF III Facility available 

to the University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), 

the prime builders of satellite solar sensors for NOAA and NASA, for use in the testing 

and calibration of their sensors. The NIST effort, funded by NOAA or NASA, helps 

LASP meet contract requirements. 

Cement SRMs

NIST staff recently developed two new cement SRMs: one that contains slag, a 

byproduct of iron production, and one that contains fly ash, a byproduct of burning coal 

for power generation. Recent research indicates that slag and fly ash can be used to create 

improved cement that requires less water to mix into concrete, sets faster, flows more 

easily through pumps, and creates a stronger and less permeable concrete. The new fly 

ash and slag cement SRMs are examples of how NIST continues to respond to the 

evolving needs of the $1 trillion global cement industry.

Exoskeletons and Exosuits

NIST staff were instrumental in providing key leadership for a new ASTM International 

Committee on exoskeletons and exosuits. In factories and warehouses, workers are using 

exoskeletons to reduce the chances of injury from repetitive and strenuous tasks. The 

military is experimenting with them to prevent injuries and extend the strength and 

endurance of the warfighter, and patients who have suffered from strokes and spinal 

injuries are using them to increase their mobility and independence. NIST development 

of standard methods of evaluating exoskeleton/exosuit safety and performance has 

accelerated the acceptance and use of these technologies.
43

Smart Grid Information Model

NIST researchers were instrumental in the publication of the ISO 17800 Facility Smart 

Grid Information Model and driving its adoption. The Facility Smart Grid Information 

Model is an essential standard for communication between buildings and a smart 

electrical grid, enabling information modeling of building systems and new building 

control technologies for more cost-effective management of electricity production, 

purchase, storage, and consumption. 

Aerial System Test Methods and Performance Metrics

The Aerial Firefighting Center of Excellence, Colorado, adopted 10 aerial system test 

methods and performance metrics developed by NIST. They replicated NIST's test 

methods and performance metrics for Small Unmanned Aircraft System Basic 

Maneuvering, Sensing, and Energy suites of test methods and displayed them at the 

Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) conference and 

exposition. There are also plans to travel around the state using the test methods 

developed by NIST to measure aerial system capabilities and remote pilot proficiency. 

This will help validate the test methods and support the standardization process through 

the ASTM International Standards Committee on Homeland Security Applications

(Response Robots) chaired by NIST staff.

Machine Tool Health Tracking

NIST is collaborating with Indiana Technology and Manufacturing Companies 

(ITAMCO), a gear manufacturer that delivers precision-machined components to 

Original Equipment Manufactures around the world, to further develop NIST’s patentpending portable inertial measurement unit (IMU)-based machine performance 

measurement technology. Under a Cooperative Agreement, a NIST IMU system 

currently on loan to ITAMCO is being used over a one-year period for data collection on 

motion axes of three different machine tools that are used regularly for gear 

manufacturing. Diagnostics will be performed on the ITAMCO IMU datasets to assess 

the viability of tracking the health of linear axes for machine tools in production 

environments. ITAMCO has a research license with NIST to explore commercialization 

of the IMU-based system.
44

CHAPTER 3

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) mission is to understand and 

predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts; to share that knowledge and information 

with others; and to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources. This 

mission will become ever more critical in the 21st century as national issues related to climate 

change, limited freshwater supply, ecosystem management, and homeland security intensify. 

The NOAA technology and innovation enterprise consists of more than 50 laboratories, 

programs, and offices headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, and staffed across the United 

States. NOAA’s service-based Line Offices include: the National Marine Fisheries Service, the 

National Ocean Service, the National Weather Service, and the National Environmental Satellite, 

Data, and Information Service, as well as thematic programs including Climate, Aquaculture, 

Arctic, Ocean Exploration and Research, Weather and Air Quality, and Ocean Acidification. 

While the service-based Line Offices each have an R&D component, the entire enterprise is also 

supported by a dedicated R&D Line Office: The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

(OAR).

Research across NOAA’s laboratories is primarily aimed at improving the ability of the

operational components to accomplish their respective missions. Recent examples 

demonstrating the direction of NOAA’s research are severe storm (hurricane, tornado, derecho 

winds) and drought forecasting, physical forecasts for renewable energy siting, predicting fresh 

water resources, tsunami warnings, air quality measurement, solar emission forecasting, 

monitoring and estimating of fish stocks and species health, coastal habitat monitoring and 

pollution, invasive species monitoring, coral reef health, ocean acidification, coastal/ocean 

disaster response and restoration, charting ocean bottom topography, and a wide variety of 

climate research and the impacts of a changing climate on human health, coastal zone 

management, and oceans. Research results are routinely transitioned to NOAA’s operational 

components to improve prediction, management, and other mission activities.

Approach and Plans for Technology Transfer

The vast majority of NOAA’s outer-agency technology transfer happens through peer-reviewed 

scientific publications and the provision of data and software-based decision-support tools which 

are delivered directly to the public and stakeholders in service to the NOAA mission of 

protecting lives and property. The remainder of NOAA’s technology transfers are the result of 

partnerships, grants, and other formal technology transfer mechanisms such as patent license 

agreements. 

Program and Portfolio Management

The NOAA Technology Partnerships Office (TPO), housed under the NOAA OAR, manages a 

central technology transfer program for all NOAA Labs, Centers, Programs, and external 

partners. 
45

In 2017, the TPO developed a revised five-year strategic plan to ensure the program is 

effectively serving its customers and management. The Plan has been refined in 2018 to more 

closely align with the Department of Commerce Strategic Plan. The TPO established the 

following four goals and related objectives for driving program success.

Goal 1: Increase Innovation within NOAA and the Nation

• Support Lab-to-Market Cross Agency Priority (CAP) Goal Deliverables

• Facilitate integration of NOAA Labs into their local innovation ecosystems

• Conduct T2 and Intellectual Property Training for NOAA staff 

Goal 2: Enhance Job Creation within the U.S. Economy

• Kick off annual NOAA Innovation Fairs to increase the adoption rate for NOAA 

technologies in the U.S. private sector

• Continue SBIR-Technology Transfer (TT) projects to facilitate adoption of 

NOAA technology

• Conduct targeted communications to spur commercialization of NOAA’s patented 

technologies

Goal 3: Enhance Resilience and Security

• Encourage public and private exchange and adoption of cutting-edge technology 

in severe weather forecasting

• Support public and private partnerships in Aquaculture

• Facilitate the private use of NOAA data to develop new commercial products and 

services

Goal 4: Improve Integration, Function and Profile of the NOAA TPO

• Identify and establish Innovation Managers within each Lab/Center and Program

• Revise and issue NOAA T2 Policy Guidance

• Launch NOAA Innovators Educational Series

Data Products and Services

NOAA data supports a wide range of multi-billion-dollar economic sectors in the United States

and the global economy and is possibly the most impactful example of technology transfer we 

provide. Express couriers, rail systems, retailers, and third-party weather forecasts rely on this 

free and publicly available information to determine routes, weather risks, seasonal 

merchandising, and scheduling. Ocean and coastal data give the fishing industry tools to 

determine prime fishing locations through private forecasters who build fishing reports using 

archived data. Numerous resources, such as the Climate Disk, and datasets, including the Global 

Historical Climatology Network–Daily (GHCN-D), provide a foundation for these decisions.

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Launches Success 

Story and Economic Impact Series

American and international businesses from many different sectors use NOAA’s data to 

make professional decisions, making it highly likely that you are an indirect consumer of 

NOAA’s climate and weather data by using products and services in the marketplace. 
46

For example, think about the corn-on-the-cob that you grill on the barbecue in the 

summertime. More than likely, it was grown with the help of a nitrogen fertilizer 

management tool that uses NOAA’s temperature and precipitation data. Another 

example are the safety precautions air travelers are reminded of before every flight. 

Those were informed by aviation analysis using NOAA’s Next Generation Weather 

Radar data (NEXRAD). Insurance policies for your home were designed using various 

NOAA datasets that record the occurrence of severe weather events (i.e., hail, tornadoes, 

and hurricanes). The ways that climate and weather data may enhance your quality of 

life are numerous, even if the connections are not obvious.

NCEI launched Success Stories on user engagement, to explore the value of its free and 

publicly available provision of climate and weather data. Each success story explores a 

different sector including agriculture,

53 transportation,54 natural resource 

management,

55 reinsurance,56 retail and manufacturing,57 drought,58 logistics and 

transportation,

59 and weather service providers.60

The findings of these studies are presented in a detailed report, a short four-to-eightminute video, and a colorful infographic. Each study details how these data are used, and 

the benefits realized from their applications. NCEI’s data help businesses operate more 

efficiently, safely, environmentally, and economically bolstering their bottom lines and 

making the most of their enterprise. This in turn benefits the American public, the 

consumers of these goods and services.61

NOAA Big Data Project (BDP): Successes and Next Steps

NOAA’s Big Data Project (BDP) is currently in its last year under the Cooperative 

Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) with Amazon Web Services (AWS), 

Google Cloud Platform (GCP), IBM, Microsoft Azure, and the Open Commons 

Consortium (OCC). Following on the CRADAs, the BDP is working to determine a 

sustainable operational phase of the project based on lessons learned over the past four 

years. As part of this process, NOAA issued a Request for Information (RFI) about the 

BDP and topics related to NOAA’s cloud initiatives. The RFI was designed to determine 

whether providing and accessing the data via the cloud service providers is beneficial, 

and if so, the details on the benefits. NOAA received 25 responses—the bulk of which 

were very positive and supportive of the project. All five Collaborators responded to the 

RFI as well as an individual Ph.D. candidate, some startup companies, small companies, 

and a few large companies. 

 53 https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/success/adapt-n-agriculture 54 https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/success/aviation 55 https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/success/coral-reef-watch 56 https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/success/reinsurance 57 https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/success/retail-manufacturing 58 https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/success/drought-and-livestock

59 https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/success/Logistics%20%26%20Transportation 60 https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/success/weather-service-providers 61 https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/success
47

As a result of the RFI and other reports, the BDP team started to learn more about ways 

end users are utilizing the data accessed through the project. Of the different use cases 

the team has heard about, the majority are related to users accessing and utilizing 

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) 16 weather satellite data and 

the Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) Level II archive data. NEXRAD was 

the first major success of the BDP when it was transferred through the project and made 

publicly available on the cloud platforms of AWS, GCP, and OCC, mainly in part due to 

its large size (300 TB). 

Providing access to the data on cloud platforms with co-located computing resources 

allowed the average citizen to access and analyze this massive data set without a similarly 

massive computer network. In 2018, Dokter et al.62 noted this benefit in their study 

examining the seasonal abundance and survival rates of migratory birds in North America 

using NEXRAD data accessed via AWS. In particular, the authors noted that previous 

means of access were often prohibitive in terms of the time needed to access and analyze

the data, limiting the ability to produce continent-wide analyses. 

Other analyses also used NEXRAD data to generate a system to forecast bird migration, 

generate a tutorial on how to distinguish between migrating birds and insects within the 

radar data, as well as study associations between tornadoes and factors such as 

seasonality, regionality, etc. Examples such as these highlight the utility and benefits of 

providing alternative means of access to NOAA’s data. 

Decision Support Tools

NOAA’s labs and programs develop a wide variety of dedicated software tools and websites 

which bring data to the public in a user-friendly format to enable effective decision-support. In 

many cases, these sites are developed in conjunction with academia and private sector partners.

Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper Supports Decision Makers and Business

NOAA's Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper is a free online tool that provides maps, data, 

and information to assess risks and vulnerabilities related to coastal flooding and hazards. 

The tool is available for the entire U.S. East Coast and Gulf of Mexico.

 62 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0666-4.epdf?author_access_token=SLwj630lIhZMSyqWAbdVtRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OYwjpgQugHALo6RbogqlWrIyJbZw6I2aHn7mV7VihLh70gEkW93OqsXiIt

ndUpPWnUSzYoptNHeSL6QEPazIioAWvrjrJLTB76LQjzBGygGw%3D%3D
48

With the Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper, you may select a location and a flood scenario 

of your choosing: Federal Emergency Management Agency flood designations, shallow 

coastal flooding associated with high tides, or flooding associated with sea level rise or 

storm surge. Flood maps are then overlaid with any of three exposure maps to show how 

floodwaters might impact area assets.63

NOAA Work Products and Collaborative Activities

Inventions, Patents, and Licensing

NOAA did not receive any new U.S. patents for innovations in 2018. NOAA researchers 

disclosed four software innovations and two new hardware inventions, which are both being 

reviewed for possible patent application filings. In addition, the TPO filed two non-provisional 

patent applications for cases disclosed in 2017.

Table 26 – NOAA Invention Disclosures and Patents

 63 https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/apr15/flood-exposure.html

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Invention Disclosures 

Inventions Disclosed 6 15 18 3 6

Patents 

U.S. Patent Applications Filed 4 6 4 3 2

U.S. Patents Received 0 1 1 3 0

Foreign Patent Applications Filed 1 0 0 0 0

Foreign Patents Received 0 0 1 0 0
49

NOAA now maintains an active patent portfolio of 18 technologies, 10 of which are being 

marketed for licensees or are being actively commercialized. The portfolio consists of seven 

active, income bearing licenses. The TPO also signed two short-term, royalty-free Research and 

Development licenses during FY 2018 under its SBIR-Technology Transfer commercialization 

activities.

Table 27 – NOAA Licenses

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Licenses 

Total Active Licenses 5 6 7 7 7

 Total New Licenses 0 2 3 0 0

Income Bearing Licenses

Total Active Income Bearing Licenses 5 4 5 7 7

 New Income Bearing Licenses 0 3 3 2 0

Total Active Invention Licenses 5 4 7 7 7

 New Invention Licenses 0 0 3 1 0

Exclusive Licenses 0 1 4 4 4

Partially Exclusive Licenses 0 0 0 0 0

Non-Exclusive License 5 3 3 3 3

Elapsed time for Granting Licenses

Average (months) 0 3 9 3 n.a.

Minimum (months) 0 0 5 1 n.a.

Maximum (months) 0 0 14 5 n.a.
50

Table 28 – NOAA License Income

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

License Income

 Total License Income $69,151 $39,633 $11,000 $65,810 $35,671

 Total Invention License Income $69,151 $39,633 $11,000 $65,810 $35,671

Earned Royalty Income (ERI)

ERI top 1% $50,000 $39,633 $7,000 $60,000 $33,321

ERI top 5% $50,000 $39,633 $7,000 $60,000 $33,321

ERI top 20% $50,000 $39,633 $7,000 $60,000 $33,321

Minimum ERI $1,000 $39,633 $1,000 $210 $250

Maximum ERI $50,000 $39,633 $7,000 $60,000 $33,321

Median ERI $13,830 $39,633 $5,000 $2,800 $2,100

Disposition of Earned Royalty Income

Total amount of ERI received $69,151 $39,633 $11,000 $5,600 $35,671

$22,845 $12,588 $4,000 $1,736 $13,643

33% 32% 36% 31% 38%

$46,306 $27,045 $7,000 $3,864 $22,028

67% 68% 64% 69% 62%

Licenses terminated for cause 0 0 0 0 0

Percent of ERI distributed to inventors

Percent of ERI distributed to agency or lab
51

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements

NOAA’s Labs, Centers and Programs executed 11 new Cooperative Research and Development 

Agreements (CRADAs) in 2018. Five of these agreements were with small businesses. 

Factoring in the new and expiring agreements, the total NOAA CRADA portfolio is now 45 

active CRADAs. 

Table 29 – NOAA Cooperative Research and Development Agreements

Table 30 – NOAA Involvement with Small Businesses, Startups, and Young Companies

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

CRADAs 

Active CRADAs 19 28 33 37 45

Newly Executed CRADAs 8 14 9 15 11

Active CRADAs with small businesses 0 0 18 26 22

Small Businesses in Active CRADAs 0 0 18 26 22

Traditional CRADAs

Active Traditional CRADAs 19 28 33 36 43

Newly Executed Traditional CRADAs 8 14 9 14 10

Non-traditional CRADAs

Active Non-traditional CRADAs 0 0 0 0 2

Newly Executed Non-traditional CRADAs 0 0 0 0 1

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Small businesses supported

Total Number of Small Businesses 

Supported 0 0 23 30 22

Total Number of Startup and Young 

Companies Supported 1 1 2 1 0
52

Publications64

In FY 2018, peer-reviewed publications by NOAA federal scientists totaled 1,794. The 

following charts show the breakdown of publications. 

Figure 6 – Number of Publications by Research Unit as a Percentage of All NOAAAuthored Publications in FY2018

 64 NOAA publications data for 2018 were derived on October 5, 2018, using queries through the Web of Science 

database. As a result of variations in titles and nomenclature, these data do not provide a comprehensive measure of 

all NOAA publications. This reporting includes only those publications by NOAA scientists that were captured by 

the search queries. A single publication with authors from one or more-line office is counted as a publication for 

each line office.
53

Figure 7 – Number Of NOAA-Authored Peer-Reviewed Articles Per Subject Category65

 

65 Subject categories are defined, and assigned to articles by Web of Science based on the journal in which each 

article was published. These categories overlap, so a single article can be assigned to multiple subject categories. 

Only the top 10 subject categories by publication counts are shown. 

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Meteorology Atmospheric Sci

Oceanography

Marine Freshwater Biology

Environmental Sciences

Fisheries

Ecology

Geosciences Multidisciplinary

Multidisciplinary Sciences

Remote Sensing

Zoology

number of articles

Top 10 Subject Categories
54

Economic Impact

In 2018, the NOAA TPO contracted for a study to determine the effectiveness and economic 

impact of its Cooperative Research and Development Agreements. While the final results had 

not been tallied in time for this report, preliminary figures for economic impact have been very

promising, as shown in the table below.

Table 31 – Estimated Economic Impact of NOAA’s CRADA Activity

Downstream Success Stories from NOAA Technology Transfer Activities

High Precision Devices Receives Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) 

Award to Commercialize NOAA NOy Cavity Ringdown Instrument

High Precision Devices, a small company located in 

Boulder, Colorado, successfully completed Phase I 

of its commercialization plan under NOAA’s SBIRTechnology Transfer activity and has been granted a 

Phase II award to complete the commercial 

development of NOAA’s patented NOy-Cavity 

Ring-Down Spectrometer. 

The NOy-Cavity Ring-Down Spectrometer, a 

patented technology developed at NOAA’s Earth 

System Research Laboratory, is a sensitive, compact 

detector that measures total reactive nitrogen (NOy), 

as well as NO2, NO and O3 using cavity ring-down 

spectroscopy (CRDS). This product is unique in that 

the optical cage system holds four optical cavities 

(with associated sample cells) and a laser together, 

allowing a measurement of all four trace gases 

simultaneously with a robust calibration in a small 

package. The NOAA CRDS is 

compact and has lower power, size, weight, and 

vacuum requirements than chemiluminescence-based instruments on the market, while 

approaching equivalent sensitivity, precision, and time response. 

The goal for Phase II with High Precision Devices is to develop an even more compact, 

transportable, and powerful instrument that will attract commercial sale. 

Category of Final Demand Amount Total 

Output

ValueAdded Earnings Jobs

Total External Investment (millions) $99.50 $192.40 $94.10 $50.20 782

Actual Sales (millions) $1.30 $2.50 $1.20 $0.70 11

Anticipated Sales (all years; millions) $10.10 $19.50 $9.50 $5.10 80
55

Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS)

The Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS) is a global database and delivery 

system developed by NOAA Research in 2001 and transitioned into NOAA NWS operations in 

2015. MADIS serves the greater meteorological community by supporting the collection, 

integration, quality control, and distribution of NOAA and non-NOAA observations. MADIS 

continues to grow and improve through version releases each year. For 2018, the system 

upgrades improved forecast accuracy by providing higher density and higher quality atmospheric 

observations from public and non-public sources.66

Partnerships to Improve Flooding Forecasts in Urban Areas

When big storms hit California, current technology does not provide forecasters with the detailed 

information needed to inform reservoir operations, flood protection, combined sewer-stormwater 

systems, and emergency preparedness. The Advanced Quantitative Precipitation Information 

(AQPI) system is a collaborative federal, state, and local partnership funded by the state of 

California. AQPI is deploying experimental radars for estimating precipitation (two out of five 

are currently in place), streamflow and soil moisture observations for estimating runoff, and 

producing experimental forecasts of extreme precipitation and coastal inundation in the urban 

regions surrounding San Francisco Bay. As part of AQPI, NOAA is able to evaluate several 

models, including the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) forecast model performance in 

complex terrain, National Water Model sensitivity to experimental radar precipitation estimates, 

and applications of a coastal coupled version of the National Water Model. The system will aid 

water managers in mitigating flood, water supply, and water quality risks across the nine-county 

region surrounding San Francisco Bay. AQPI is anticipated to achieve a significant benefit to 

cost ratio through a combination of avoided flood damage costs from early warnings; forecastinformed operations to maximize reservoir capture for water supply and fisheries flows; 

minimization of water quality impacts from combined sewer overflows; and enhancement of 

public safety for various transportation modes (pedestrian, highways, marine, and airports). 

These benefits are anticipated to become increasingly important as costs associated with extreme 

weather events continue to escalate.67

New Techniques and Tools to Expand Aquaculture

NOAA is developing new techniques and tests to expand aquaculture production. Researchers 

with NOAA Fisheries have been helping aquaculturists, notably, GreenWave Organization’s 

Thimble Island Ocean Farm, develop culturing strategies to grow a new crop: sugar kelp. Sugar 

kelp is developed for a variety of uses, from food, to potential biofuels, as well to diversify the 

portfolio for shellfish growers and others in the seafood sector. Aquatic plant farming, primarily 

seaweed, also represents a significant sector of global aquaculture production (30.1 million 

metric tons, valued at $11.6 billion).68

Seaweed farming is just now emerging in the United States and shows promise to become an 

important contributor to future U.S. marine aquaculture production. Researchers are helping this 

company and its academic partner, the University of Connecticut, develop techniques for 

 66 https://madis.ncep.noaa.gov/madis_rwis.shtml 67 https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/outreach/resources/handouts/aqpi.pdf 68 https://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/press_release/pr2017/features/sugar-kelp/
56

growing the kelp across its entire life cycle—from spore culture to maturity—and harvesting 

strategies. Developing new crops is not the only way to expand aquaculture. When the sewage 

treatment plant on Connecticut’s Mystic River was upgraded in 2015, few residents imagined 

local shellfish farmers might benefit, let alone oyster and clam growers across the country. Now 

this is a possibility, depending on the results of a novel water quality-testing project led by New 

Hampshire Sea Grant in partnership with Connecticut Sea Grant which could open nearly 800 

acres now off limits for commercial shellfishing. While river water quality improved following 

the treatment plant upgrades, researchers have to demonstrate that levels of harmful bacteria and 

viruses in the water meet public health safety standards before currently-closed areas can be 

opened to harvest. Sea Grant’s work in the Mystic River supports Connecticut's shellfish 

industry, which generates more than $30 million in farm-gate sales annually and provides more 

than 300 jobs statewide. Test results thus far show favorable results, and this method could 

ultimately be adopted by shellfish managers working under National Shellfish Sanitation 

Program regulations.69

Scientists and Industry Professionals Join Forces to Develop Best Practices for Finfish 

Aquaculture

Aquaculture has been identified as a priority area for NOAA Fisheries. Fish in the genus Seriola 

are highly desirable fish that enter the food supply through recreational and commercial fishing 

and now through aquaculture. They can be found on seafood restaurant menus, commonly sold 

under the names of yellowtail and amberjack. They are also a mainstay of sushi restaurants 

where the same species have Japanese names such as Hiramasa, Hamachi, or Kampachi. Seriola 

species are important aquaculture species in Japan, Mexico, Chile, Australia, and in the 

European Union. In the United States, Seriola are commercially cultured in Hawaii, and largescale offshore fish farming of these species is anticipated in Southern California and the Gulf of 

Mexico. 

To advance the culture of these species, NOAA scientists and collaborators sequenced the 

Seriola genome and used genomic and physiological approaches to improve aquaculture 

procedures. California Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries hosted the 2nd Seriola Workshop that 

brought together the research and culture community to discuss research progress, identify routes 

of collaboration, and coordinate synergistic projects for breeding, rearing, and feeding of 

yellowtail, amberjacks and related Seriola species in culture. This workshop formed several new 

domestic and international collaborations that will better address these research priorities and 

more rapidly benefit commercial Seriola culture in the United States and globally. 

EcoCast: A Dynamic Tool to Support Economically Viable Fisheries

New computer-generated daily maps will help fishermen locate the most productive fishing spots 

in near real time, while warning them where they face the greatest risk of entangling sea turtles, 

marine mammals, and other protected species. Scientists developed the maps, products of a 

system called EcoCast, to help reduce accidental catches of protected species in fishing nets.

 69 https://seagrant.uconn.edu/2018/03/07/cleaner-mystic-river-could-give-shellfish-farmers-room-to-grow/
57

Traditional ocean management strategies tend to be static with boundaries that are fixed in space 

and time. To capture broad-scale oceanic processes and protect highly migratory species, for 

example, these regions become larger than necessary with opportunity costs for commercial 

fisheries.

EcoCast uses a dynamic management strategy, which better aligns scales of management to the 

scales of variability of the features and resources being managed. By incorporating real-time 

satellite, buoy, modeled, and observed data, EcoCast provides management recommendations 

that reflect current marine state.

EcoCast will help fishermen, managers, scientists, and others understand in near real time where 

fishing vessels have the highest probability of catching targeted species and where there is risk of 

catching protected species. In doing so, EcoCast aims to improve the economic and 

environmental sustainability of fisheries that sometimes inadvertently catch and kill sensitive 

species.

Currently, NOAA Fisheries closes a large area off the West Coast to the swordfish fishery 

seasonally to protect leatherback turtles, which travel widely and can be caught incidentally in 

the nets. With EcoCast, fishery managers could outline small “dynamic closures” that shift 

according to the likely locations of the species they are trying to protect. Since they concentrate 

protection where it is needed most, dynamic closures for leatherback sea turtles could be two-to10 times smaller than the current static closures, while still safeguarding the species that need 

protection.

EcoCast is available now and is being developed by a consortium of scientists, managers, and 

members of the fishing industry. The EcoCast team is made up of scientists from several 

universities (San Diego State University, University of California Santa Cruz, University of 

Maryland, Old Dominion University, Stanford University) and NOAA Fisheries, working in 

direct collaboration with resource managers, fishing industry, and other stakeholders. Fishermen 

have participated throughout the development of EcoCast, which boosts its usefulness to the 

fishing fleet.70

NOAA Data Engages, Educates, and Inspires

NOAA is supporting the efforts of eight Native American tribes in the Missouri River basin to

build capacity in water resources management through tools such as NOAA’s Drought Monitor 

and precipitation and flooding data, and by exchanging knowledge with the tribes to produce the 

first-ever regional climate summary to help them integrate climate knowledge and data into 

decision making. In March 2018, four tribes in northeastern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska 

released their first regional climate summary, which includes temperature and precipitation, river 

and stream data, soil moisture, and other environmental health indicators. The long-term goals 

of this work are: to build the tribes’ capacity for water management, to increase understanding 

of vulnerabilities to extreme events, and to plan response-and-resiliency efforts.71

New Tools for Aquaculture Siting in the Gulf of Mexico

 70 https://swfsc.noaa.gov/news.aspx?ParentMenuId=200&id=23061 71 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/outside-science-ncei-engages-educates-and-inspires
58

NOAA developed the Gulf AquaMapper, a web-based tool for exploration, permitting, and siting 

of offshore aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf AquaMapper is a geodatabase featuring 

aquaculture-relevant GIS data for biological, navigational, military, social, economic, physical,

and chemical parameters. The product provides a user-friendly interface that serves as a single 

resource for private industry and coastal managers focused on identifying suitable areas for 

aquaculture development. Multiple data layers, such as shipping lanes, military operating area 

boundaries, and marine reserves, can be viewed simultaneously for a more comprehensive 

assessment of competing uses, and maps can be printed and shared to inform a more detailed site 

assessment to verify environmental conditions and establish site-specific designs. The mapper 

marks the first spatial planning tool designed specifically for aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico 

and integrates more than 50 types of data. With this tool, NOAA seeks to streamline the 

permitting process by reducing logistical and economic inefficiencies for coastal managers and 

aquaculture investors. This is one of 30-plus tools in NOAA’s Coastal Aquaculture Planning 

Portal with specific applications for planning and siting of aquaculture operations and 

industries.72

NOAA Advances Precision Navigation Services to Enhance U.S. Commerce

Comparable to the way car technology supports drivers, NOAA launched a new program to 

develop the next generation of marine navigation tools that provide mariners with the 

information they need to safely and efficiently transport maritime commerce. This next 

generation of products is referred to as precision navigation. Precision navigation seamlessly 

integrates high-resolution bathymetry with real-time and forecast data—such as water levels, 

currents, salinity, temperature, and precipitation—to produce a stronger decision support tool to 

equip mariners for critical go/no-go decisions. This program involves various types and sources 

of data, requires the coordinated efforts of several NOAA offices, and was first implemented in 

the Port of Long Beach, California. In 2018, NOAA established a team dedicated to assist with 

expanding the program to ports nationwide. Future plans will expand and implement precision 

navigation into the Lower Mississippi River Port Complexes, as well as in the Port of New 

York/New Jersey which supports $184.4 billion in commerce. Researchers are currently 

conducting a socio-economic study to examine the return on investment of the precision 

navigation program.73

Installation of NOAA's Physical Oceanographic Real Time Data (PORTS®) at Port of 

Miami Advances Maritime Commerce

PortMiami partnered with NOAA NOS to install PORTS®, a new Physical Oceanographic Real 

Time System in the Spring 2018 to ensure big ships can safely navigate the port. PortMiami is 

among America's busiest ports and is recognized across the globe as the Cruise Capital of the 

World and Global Gateway. PortMiami contributes more than $41.4 billion annually to MiamiDade County and generates 324,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs. The new system, 

consisting of three new current meter sensors in PortMiami’s channel, will provide critical realtime information to big-ship operators for the safe transit into PortMiami by avoiding collisions 

and groundings.74

 72 https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/news/new-aquamapper-tool-available-permitting-siting-aquaculture-gulf-mexico/ 73 https://noaacoastsurvey.wordpress.com/2018/06/15/new-noaa-precision-navigation-program-increases-safetyefficiency-for-maritime-commerce/ 74 https://www.miamidade.gov/releases/2018-03-27-seaport-ports-navigation-system.asp
59

Other Activities, Performance Measures Deemed Important by the Agency

Science on a Sphere®

Science on a Sphere® (SOS) is a room-sized, global display system (US Patent 6,937,210) that 

uses computers and video projectors to display planetary data onto a six-foot diameter sphere, 

analogous to a giant animated globe. Researchers at NOAA developed Science on a Sphere® as 

an educational tool to help illustrate Earth System science to people of all ages. Animated images 

of atmospheric storms, climate change, and ocean temperature can be shown on the sphere, 

which is used to explain complex environmental processes in a way that is simultaneously 

intuitive and captivating.

New Science on a Sphere installation at the Marine Education Center, Gulf 

Coast Research Laboratory at the University of Southern Mississippi 

(Credit: NOAA)
60

Table 32 – NOAA’s SOS Installations

User Facilities 

While NOAA does not regularly have facilities available for public use, in 2018 it signed two 

CRADAs which allowed for aquaculture research to be conducted by our private sector partners 

in our fisheries facilities in the Northwest and Northeast United States. 

In addition, NOAA regularly collaborates with the private sector and academia to test new 

technologies for its operational environment through its networks of testbeds and proving 

grounds. 

NOAA Testbeds

NOAA's testbeds and proving grounds facilitate the transition of promising research capabilities 

to operational implementation through development testing in testbeds, and pre-deployment 

testing and operational readiness/suitability evaluation in operational proving grounds. NOAA 

maintains 12 individual testbeds related to weather, climate, and severe weather activities. The 

annual Federal Funding Opportunities for these testbeds attract technologies from academia, the 

private sector, and NOAA labs. Testbeds also provide essential funding for bridging the gap 

between R&D and implementation into operational use. 

NOAA Sterling Virginia Field Support Center

The Sterling Field Support Center (SFSC) provides operational support to field personnel and the 

private sector through a combination of sensor testing, analysis and contact center support. The 

staff of the SFSC comprises a diverse mix of meteorologists, electrical technicians, and 

engineers. Collectively, SFSC personnel have many years of practical experience working with 

National Weather Service sensors and related equipment. The SFSC is responsible for the 

research, testing, and development of a variety of meteorological systems. These systems 

include the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS), Radiosonde Replacement System 

(RRS), and Cooperative Observer Program (COOP).

U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System Program (IOOS®)

A national-regional partnership working to provide new tools and forecasts to improve safety, 

enhance the economy, and protect our environment. Integrated ocean information is available in 

near real time, as well as retrospectively.75

 75 https://ioos.noaa.gov/

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

SoS Installations

Total Number in Operation 110 126 135 144 155

 New Domestic 4 6 3 6 3

 New International 5 10 6 3 8

 Total New Installs 9 16 9 9 11
61

Launch of the Ocean Acidification Information Exchange

The Ocean Acidification Information Exchange is a new online portal launched by the 

Interagency Working Group on Ocean Acidification and the Northeast Regional Association of 

Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS), with funding from NOAA and BOEM, in 

response to the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2009. The Ocean 

Acidification Information Exchange is different from most websites. Instead of providing oneway transfers of information to website readers, the Information Exchange encourages 

interaction among its users. The website’s more than 650 members address ocean and coastal 

acidification through collaboration and information sharing, building a well-informed 

community that is the foundation for successful adaptation to this environmental challenge. For 

example, a post about a new observing system in Tampa Bay kick-started a collaboration 

between a chemist and biologist on laboratory experiments on Florida stone crab, one of the 

state’s most important commercial fisheries. Anyone working on ocean or coastal acidification 

is welcome to join the site, including scientists, citizen scientists, aquaculturists, fishing industry, 

technology developers, educators, NGO employees, resource managers, policy makers, 

concerned citizens, and data managers.76

Climate Program Office

The Climate Program Office manages the competitive research program in which NOAA funds 

high-priority climate science to advance understanding of Earth's climate system and its 

atmospheric, oceanic, land, and snow and ice components. This science contributes to 

knowledge about how climate variability and change affect our health, economy, and well-being. 

The Office supports research that is conducted in regions across the United States, at national 

and international scales, and globally.77 

North American Climate Services Partnership: 2017 Accomplishments Report

An innovative trilateral partnership between the United States, 

Mexico, and Canada was established to respond to an 

increasing demand for accessible and timely scientific data and 

information in order to make informed decisions and build 

resilience in our communities. Building from a strong 

foundation of existing continental-scale collaboration, the 

NACSP provides a platform for improving the development of 

products and services through international collaboration. 

Activities in the NACSP include enhancing prediction and 

modeling capabilities, strengthening products tailored for 

specific sectors, and responding to user needs in key regional 

settings.

 76 https://www.oainfoexchange.org/index.html 77 https://climate.noaa.gov/
62

A two-page summary gives an overview of the NACSP and highlights key accomplishments 

during 2017, as well as key goals for collaboration in 2018.78

Awards and Recognition

NOAA received one award in FY 2018 through the Federal Laboratory Consortium’s regional 

network, in addition to the following award for the Earth System Research Lab in Colorado. 

Wind Forecast Improvement Project 2 Wins FLC Far West Outstanding 

Partnership Award

The Wind Forecast Improvement Project-2 (WFIP2) team, led by the National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),

successfully leveraged resources, instruments, and researchers across all NOAA Earth 

System Research Laboratory (ESRL) Divisions, the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory 

Field Research Division, other federal agencies, private companies, and universities to 

achieve up to 15-25% improvement in wind forecasts produced by weather models, 

depending on weather conditions. The public and private partnership forged by WFIP2 

resulted in foundational improvements to NOAA weather models used by the energy 

industry to cost-effectively and reliably integrate higher levels of renewable energy.

Scientists with the WFIP2 field campaign deployed more than 100 instruments in the 

Columbia River Gorge and Basin from October 2015 to March 2017 to help pinpoint 

forecast errors in areas of complex terrain, such as mountains, canyons, and coastlines 

(see Figures 1 and 2). The WFIP2 model development team used these observations to 

fine-tune the model in ways that improved forecasts of winds at the height of the wind 

turbines. These modifications were transferred into version 3 of NOAA’s HighResolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) regional weather model that became operational at the 

NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) in July 2018. These models support decisionmaking in the NWS and in other industries including energy and renewable energy, 

aviation, and surface transportation to make operations more safe and efficient.

 78 https://cpo.noaa.gov/News/News-Article/ArtMID/6226/ArticleID/1651/North-American-Climate-Servicesartnership-2017-Accomplishments-Report
63

Instruments near the Wasco, Oregon site. (Front to back, left to right): Windcube lidar (deployed by 

CU/ATOC); ceilometer (deployed by University of Notre Dame); 915-Mhz wind profiling radar, trailer, 

and 10-meter tower with additional instruments (deployed by NOAA ESRL PSD). 

Photo courtesy of Justin Sharp.

Specific to the energy industry, improved forecasts facilitate optimized use of different 

energy sources across a range of time scales. For example, if power grid operators know 

that they can rely on a certain amount of energy being produced by wind plants in the 

next day, they can decide to reduce generation from conventional power plants, thereby 

saving money and minimize related air pollution. Feedback from private-sector 

stakeholders is included below to show the value of these improvements. 

“Improvements to weather-prediction models that produce higher-resolution forecasts with greater

frequency are helping Xcel Energy and the electric power industry cost effectively and reliably 

integrate higher levels of renewable generation. We can also use more accurate weather forecasts 

to reduce costs and improve reliability by proactively sending crews to respond to storm damage 

before it occurs.”

– Drake Bartlett of Xcel Energy.

 

NOAA Technology Transfer Awards

NOAA selected two projects to receive the Agency’s Technology Transfer Award in 2018. 

These projects exemplified the highest standard for developing a new technology in cooperation 

with private sector partners in the service of NOAA’s mission. 

Kirk Liang - For development of an innovative suite of satellite command & telemetry 

processing modules for use by commercial, federal, and international agencies.

Vera Trainer, Nicolaus Adams, Brian Bill, Brendan Sylvander - For implementation 

of an effective sampling and mapping program for early warning of harmful algal blooms 

in the Pacific Northwest.
64

CHAPTER 4

National Telecommunications and Information Administration: Institute for 

Telecommunication Sciences 

The Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) is the research and engineering laboratory 

that provides technical engineering support to NTIA. ITS also serves as a principal federal 

resource for solving telecommunications concerns of other federal agencies, state and local 

governments, private corporations and associations, and international organizations through 

Interagency Agreements and CRADAs. Roughly three-quarters of ITS research programs are 

undertaken under such agreements. This includes assisting the FCC and federal defense, public 

safety, and other agencies that use federal and non-federal spectrum.

Approach and Plans for Technology Transfer

ITS efforts in technology transfer and commercialization foster cooperative telecommunications 

research in areas where U.S. companies can directly benefit from improved competitiveness and 

market opportunities. ITS uses three principal means for achieving technology transfer: 

• Cooperative research and development

• Technical publications, sample data sets, and software tools available on the ITS website 

and GitHub

• Leadership and technical contributions in the development of telecommunications 

standards

ITS Work Products and Collaborative Activities

Cooperative Research and Development

ITS is authorized under the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 (FTTA) to enter into 

cooperative research agreements with private industry, universities, and other interested parties. 

ITS CRADAs protect proprietary information, grant patent rights, and provide for user licenses 

to private entities. They also provide the legal basis for shared use of government facilities and 

resources with the private sector. 

In FY 2018, as it has for decades, ITS participated in CRADAs with private-sector organizations 

to design, develop, test, and evaluate advanced telecommunication concepts. CRADAs provide 

ITS with insights into industry’s needs for productivity growth and competitiveness. This 

enables ITS to adjust the focus and direction of its programs for effectiveness and value. The 

private industry partner benefits by gaining access to the results of research in commercially 

important areas that it would not otherwise be able to undertake.

To date, major contributions to personal communication services (PCS), local multipoint 

distribution service (LMDS), ultra-wideband (UWB), objective audio and video Quality of 

Experience (QoE) metrics, advanced antennas for wireless systems, remote sensing and global 

position (GPS) technologies, high resolution laser radar (LADAR), autonomous networks for 

unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and broadband air-interface and core network capabilities for 
65

Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile communications have been achieved through CRADAs. 

These have aided U.S. efforts to rapidly introduce new socially constructive communications 

technologies. 

ITS was a partner in the original Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program with 

the NIST Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL). PSCR is focused on improving first 

responder communications and interoperability through the development of communication 

standards and through research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) of mission 

critical communication systems. This joint program operated for more than two decades on 

behalf of sponsors at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice 

(DOJ). Since the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) became operational, ITS’s 

public safety research scope expanded to supporting FirstNet’s work through development of the 

standards for, and RDT&E of, equipment that may be used to both build and communicate over a 

nationwide broadband wireless network dedicated to public safety agencies.

The vast majority of CRADAs ITS entered into in the past seven years were the Public Safety 

700 MHz Broadband Demonstration Agreements. These agreements allowed vendors, including 

equipment manufacturers and wireless carriers, who intend to supply 700 MHz LTE equipment 

and service to public safety organizations to operate various elements of an LTE network in the 

PSCR testbed and over-the-air (OTA) network (both hosted and managed by ITS) in order to test 

interoperability of public safety communications equipment under simulated field conditions 

with the participation of public safety practitioners. At the beginning of FY 2018, 55 CRADAs 

were in place under this program. The CRADAs protected the intellectual property of vendors 

and manufacturers, encouraging participation in testing that simulates real multi-vendor 

environments in the field. The Broadband II Consortium expired in late FY 2018 and has not 

been renewed. 

Table 33 – Collaborative Relationships for Research & Development

Technical Publications

Publication has historically been the means through which ITS has transferred research results to 

other researchers, the commercial sector, and government agencies. Many ITS technical 

publications—both reports and monographs published by NTIA and peer-reviewed articles in 

scientific journals—have become standard references in several telecommunications areas. 

Technical publication remains a principal means for ITS technology transfer. Technical 

publications are released after going through an internal peer review process managed by the ITS 

Editorial Review Board (ERB). In FY 2018, 45% of manuscripts released through the ERB 

process were published in scientific journals or conference proceedings and 55% were published 

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Number of active CRADAs 60 54 62 60 68

Number of newly executed CRADAs 11 53 12 8 13

Active CRADAs with small businesses 

involvement 12 15 17 17 18

Number of small businesses involved in active 

CRADAs 12 15 17 17 18
66

as NTIA reports. While official NTIA publications allow greater in-depth analysis of research 

results, journal articles and conference papers have equal, and sometimes greater, reach in 

transferring new tools and discoveries.

Technical Publications Downloaded

ITS makes all of its publications available to the public through its website and provides online 

users with advanced search capabilities that will locate relevant publications by keyword. To 

ensure a meaningful and realistic metric, ITS counts actual PDF downloads of publications rather 

than pageviews of the bibliographic summaries. In FY 2018, ITS technical publications were 

downloaded 5,513 times.

Licensing 

Since FY 2008, ITS no longer licenses software technology. Instead, software is made available 

via open-source download. Therefore, no licensing metrics are reported. 

Software and Data Downloads

Increasingly, technology transfer occurs through the publication of software rather than 

traditional technical reports. ITS makes several software and data tools available via opensource download. Reliable and robust methods of counting downloads of these tools took some 

time to develop. VQM downloads were reported for the first time in FY 2013 and other 

downloads were reported for the first time in FY 2014. In FY 2017, ITS increased its use of the 

GitHub open source code hosting platform, and in FY 2018 ITS had 12 public repositories. 

While this allows more interaction with potential users of the software and can perhaps be said to 

broaden the audience, the open source paradigm also makes it more difficult to understand the 

impact of the software. ITS is exploring the development of metrics for GitHub-posted code. 

Propagation Prediction: ITS is, and has been for decades, a world leader in the development of 

models and methods for accurate prediction of radio propagation. Propagation prediction 

algorithms are freely shared through publication. In addition, software developed to predict 

propagation for planned communications systems through input of specific parameters to these 

algorithms has been developed and shared over the years, and some data sets that can be used to 

test and validate propagation prediction models are also available. The majority of software/data 

downloads on the ITS website are for propagation prediction tools. In FY 2017, ITS made 

public the first important software implementation of a propagation model to be released via the 

GitHub platform. The C++ implementation of the Extended Hata (eHata) Urban Propagation 

Model was used to inform regulation, and the repository was forked by the Wireless Innovation

Forum (WInnForum), which redistributed it to industry member for use in developing the 

Spectrum Access Systems (SAS) that will enable spectrum sharing using the three-tier 

architecture proposed for the 3.5 GHz (CBRS Band).

Audio Quality Testing: Two ITS-developed objective estimators of speech intelligibility that 

follow the paradigm of the Modified Rhyme Test (MRT) are freely available for download from 

the ITS website. The Articulation Band Correlation MRT (ABC-MRT), released in 2013, 

consumes a tiny fraction of the resources required by MRT testing and provides excellent

estimates of MRT intelligibility results (Pearson correlations of .95–.99) for narrowband speech 

transmissions. ABC-MRT16, released in FY 2017, not only updated the audition model, but also 
67

extended the estimator to wideband, super wideband, and fullband speech systems as well as 

narrowband. ABC-MRT and ABC-MRT16 tools and MRT databases are available for download 

through the ITS website, as well as a variety of other sample clips for audio quality testing. 

Video Quality Measurement Software: ITS video quality measurement software tools use an 

objective video quality measurement method, which has been made a national standard by ANSI, 

to estimate the quality of video impairments, providing users an inexpensive alternative to 

viewer panels for testing new transmission technologies. In FY 2018, 332 users downloaded the 

VQM software. The Web-Enabled Subjective Test (WEST) software package facilitates 

gathering subjective testing data from multiple locations and multiple portable or computing 

devices. This software is also freely available for download from the ITS website and from a 

public GitHub repository from which it has been forked several times.

Consumer Digital Video Library users downloading clips

In FY 2010, ITS began development of the Consumer Digital Video Library (CDVL), a website 

hosted and maintained by ITS that provides researchers access to high quality, uncompressed 

video clips royalty-free for use in video processing and video quality product development and 

testing. The technical committee for this collaborative project includes industry and academic 

representatives as well as ITS staff. ITS launched the site with 1,000 clips and clips continue to 

be added by ITS and other collaborators. Significant recent additions include a collection of 

public safety video clips filmed during training exercises free of privacy concerns, and 4K sports 

content uploaded by Sky Broadcasting in the UK. More than 2,460 different video clips were 

downloaded from the library in FY 2018. Users must register for each download or upload 

session. The number of registrants who perform downloads each year was selected as the most 

significant measure of the impact of this resource, and collection began in FY 2011. This 

number experienced a significant spike in FY 2013, probably due to the publication of a number 

of journal articles describing CDVL. Annual rates of between 150 and 200 users are consistent 

with the target audience for this library.

Table 34 – Other Performance Measures Deemed Important by the Agency

Development of Telecommunication Standards

ITS works with industry to apply research results to the development of telecommunication 

performance standards and guidelines. For several decades, ITS has provided leadership and 

technical contributions to organizations, both national and international, responsible for 

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Technical Publications Released 18 22 4 10 11

Technical Publications Downloaded 7,707 9,048 8,748 6,214 5,513

Consumer Digital Video Library Users 

Downloading 184 212 169 202 260

Video Quality Metric Software Users 

Downloading 685 507 496 372 332

Propagation Modeling Software Downloads 717 798 781 1,160 1,325

Other Software/Data Downloads 489 493 591 955 661
68

developing telecommunication standards. ITS’s technical inputs are relied upon as technically 

advanced and sound, and as unbiased by commercial interests.

ITS works collaboratively with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Alliance 

for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 

(3GPP), the IEEE Standards Association, and various federal public safety groups to develop, 

interpret, analyze, and implement standards and regulations. This method of ITS technology 

transfer directly addresses improvement of U.S. competitiveness in telecommunications. For 

example, a plurality of the technical recommendations of the ITU-R, a treaty organization, are 

based on research conducted at ITS. Also, key national quality-of-service standards developed 

under the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) T1 committee for video, audio, and 

digital data incorporate research results obtained at ITS. ITS continues to chair numerous 

committees and working groups in the ITU, 3GPP, and other telecommunication standards 

organizations, providing technical leadership that is trusted by the commercial-sector 

participants.

In FY 2018, ITS staff held 25 positions on 24 different working groups in six standards bodies, 

including 10 Chair/Co-chair/Vice-chair positions. ITS staff filled key leadership positions in the 

ITU-R, including Head of the U.S. Delegation to Study Group (SG) 3 (Radio Propagation), 

International Chair and U.S. Chair of SG3 Working Parties 3K and 3L (Point-to-area and 

ionospheric propagation), and U.S. Chair of Working Party 3J (Propagation fundamentals). ITS 

contributed three voting members to the IEEE Standards Association Wireless Regional Area 

Networks Working Group Standard for Spectrum Characterization and Occupancy Sensing

Project. ITS also continued its technical leadership and contributions to communications 

standards for public safety, particularly for first responders, through participation in 3GPP. 

Downstream Outcomes from ITS Technology Transfer Activities

Telecommunication Standards

ITU-R Study Group 3 held Working Party meetings in Montreal in FY 2018. ITS provided 

technical leadership and guidance in the creation and approval of 21 consensus U.S. 

contributions, with three of them originating from ITS employees. The broad range of U.S.

contributions included improvements to modeling links (such as earth-space paths), modeling 

phenomena (such as atmospheric absorption and hydrometeors), and clarification of statistical 

mathematical concepts.

Intense participation by ITS staff in the 3GPP standards development process on behalf of 

FirstNet resulted in Proximity Services and Group Communications requirements being included 

in 3GPP Release 12 and Mission Critical Push to Talk requirements being included in 3GPP 

Release 13, which was frozen in mid FY 2016. In FY 2017, ITS participation in 3GPP continued 

to focus on two Commerce priorities: advocating on behalf of FirstNet to help ensure that 3GPP 

LTE and next generation standards meet public safety’s communications requirements; and 

advancing U.S. commercial and economic interests by providing technical input to promote 

strong unbiased standards that support fair competition in next generation/5G cellular 

technologies. In FY 2018, ITS continued its participation in 3GPP with the focus shifting to 5G 

standards development and support of the U.S. Department of Transportation as it evaluates the 
69

efficacy of a new vehicle-to-vehicle communications technology being proposed for vehicular 

safety messaging based on ITS’s earlier work in Proximity Services for public safety.

Table Mountain Research

The Table Mountain Field Site and Radio Quiet Zone supports fundamental research in the 

nature, interaction, and evaluation of telecommunication devices, systems, and services. Each 

year, private companies, universities and other organizations conduct research at Table Mountain 

under CRADAs. 

• In FY 2018, capabilities were added to the Table Mountain test facilities in support of 

NOAA’s Radio Frequency Interference Monitoring System (RFIMS) program. ITS 

helped NOAA develop the technical specifications for a Request for Proposals to 

develop, produce, install, and maintain a radio frequency interference monitoring system 

to mitigate the risk of potential interference by commercial wireless carriers that are 

slated to begin sharing the spectrum with NOAA satellite operations in 2020. A 2.4-

meter Earth Station satellite dish capable of capturing Polar Operational Environmental 

Satellite (POES) satellite imagery was used to test the degree of interference that could be 

tolerated, and a robust command and control system was built to command, verify, and 

log interference transmitted to RFIMS candidate solutions under test. A 6.5 m 

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) receiver dish is being 

procured to support future Meteorological Satellite Testbed activities. ITS built a 

Spectrum Survey System (SSS) to prototype near-real time monitoring, data collecting, 

and reporting methods that might be used by RFIMS. This system can also be used to 

analyze potential sharing concerns in other frequency bands.

• In FY 2018, several companies used the Table Mountain site under a CRADA to safely 

test and demonstrate LADAR technologies under development in atmospheric conditions 

and at distances relevant to potential applications, to fully test the functionality of new 

antenna designs during product development, and to safely and accurately test an 

Adaptive Tactical Laser System (ATLAS) compensated beacon adaptive optics (CBAO) 

system under development. Applications for these technologies include detection and 

tracking of wind shear and wake vortices, remote wind measurements for the offshore 

wind energy industry, mission-critical communications, electronic warfare, direction 

finding/geolocation, and sensing of hazardous liquids and gases.

• For the past 11 years, the University of Colorado’s Research and Engineering Center for 

Unmanned Vehicles safely and accurately tested collective and autonomous sensing and 

communication technologies for small unmanned aircraft used for atmospheric science 

applications such as the study of tornadogenesis.

Video Quality Research

Both CDVL and the VQM tools are used by industry and academia for research into new 

techniques for transmitting video. Lack of access to video footage appropriate for testing new 

video distribution technologies had been a significant impediment to video processing R&D until 

the launch of CDVL. The clips may be used to test codecs, to evaluate new display technologies, 

or for validation testing of new standards. For example, ITU-T Study Group 12 has used CDVL 
70

clips for research into the development of parametric models and tools for multimedia quality 

assessment and the MPEG committee opened a conversation with ITS about using the CDVL 

video clips for validation testing of new video coding standards. Currently, simulated public 

safety content currently comprises 40% of CDVL’s content. Real public safety content is nearly 

impossible to obtain due to litigation concerns, and first responders use consumer-grade 

electronics. Access to this simulated content promotes development and standardization of 

commercial video technologies that meet public safety’s requirements.
71

SUMMARY

Technology transfer is an essential mission of the Department of Commerce and uses our 

nation’s innovation and investment in science and technology to strengthen our economy and 

competitiveness in world markets. This report details the results of collaborative technology 

activities originating from the Department’s federal laboratories. Federal research is a complex 

process that provides the opportunity for new ideas and innovations to achieve practical 

application for the benefit of U.S. citizens. The success stories in this report provide examples of 

how society benefits from technology transfer activities across the Department’s federal

laboratories. As knowledge advances and the needs of the economy change, the Department of 

Commerce, through its federal laboratories, will continue to play a role in keeping America in 

the forefront of innovation and supporting our economy by aiding in the transfer and 

commercialization of innovative technologies.
72

Appendix A

Technology Area Classifications

Mapping of International Patent Classifications to Technology Area79

Audio-Visual Technology – Includes but is not limited to: advertising, signs, labels or nameplates, seals, arrangements or circuits for control of indicating devices using static means to 

present variable information, scanning details of television systems, color television systems, still 

video cameras, loudspeakers, microphones, stereophonic systems, and printed circuits. 

Basic Communication Processes – Includes but is not limited to: generation of oscillations, 

modulation, amplifiers, control of amplification, impedance networks, tuning resonant circuits, 

pulse technique, and general coding, decoding, or code conversion.

Computer Technology – Includes but is not limited to: digital computers in which all the 

computation is affected mechanically, digital fluid-pressure computing devices, optical 

computing devices, electric digital data processing, analog computers, recognition of data, 

counting mechanisms, image data processing or generation, speech analysis or synthesis, speech 

recognition, and static stores. 

Digital Communication – Includes but is not limited to: transmission of digital information, 

selective content distribution, and wireless communication networks.

Electrical Machinery, Apparatus, Energy – Includes but is not limited to: incandescent 

mantles, lighting devices or systems, nonportable lighting devices or systems, cables, conductors, 

insulators, magnets, inductances, transformers, capacitors, electric switches, electric discharge 

tubes or discharge lamps, electric incandescent lamps, spark gaps, emergency protective circuit 

arrangements, dynamo-electric machines, electric heating, static electricity, and generation of 

electric power by conversion of Ingra-red radiation, visible light, or ultraviolet light.

Measurement – Includes but is not limited to: measuring linear dimensions, measuring 

distances, surveying, navigation, gyroscopic instruments, measuring volume, weighing, 

measurement of mechanical vibrations, measurement of intensity or velocity, measuring 

temperature or quantity of heat, measuring force, testing static or dynamic balance of machines 

or structures, sampling, investigating strength properties of solid materials by application of 

mechanical stress, investigating density or specific gravity of materials; investigating flow 

properties of materials, investigating or analyzing materials by use of optical or thermal means, 

and investigating or analyzing materials by the use of nuclear magnetic resonance, electron 

paramagnetic resonance or other spin effects.

 79 Derived from The World Intellectual Property Organization’s International Patent Classification (IPC) 

Correspondence Table (http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/ipstats/en/statistics/patents/xls/ipc_technology.xls) 

and IPC Searchable Classification Database, Version 2016.01 (https://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/ipcpub/
73

Micro-Structural and Nano-Technology – Includes but is not limited to: micro-structural 

devices or systems, processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of 

micro-structural devices or systems, specific uses or applications of nano-structures, and nanostructures formed by manipulation of individual atoms, molecules, or limited collections of 

atoms or molecules as discrete units. 

Semiconductors – Includes semiconductor devices and electric solid-state devices not otherwise 

provided.

Telecommunications – Includes but is not limited to: transmission systems for measured 

values, waveguides, resonators, aerials, transmission, broadcast communication, multiplex 

communication, secret communication, jamming of communication, telephonic communication, 

and scanning, transmitting, or reproducing documents.
74

Appendix B

Fields and Subfields of S&E Publications Data80

Astronomy

Biological sciences – general biomedical research, miscellaneous biomedical research, 

biophysics, botany, anatomy and morphology, cell biology, cytology, and histology, ecology, 

entomology, immunology, microbiology, nutrition and dietetics, parasitology, genetics and 

heredity, pathology, pharmacology, physiology, general zoology, miscellaneous zoology, general 

biology, miscellaneous biology, biochemistry and molecular biology, virology

Chemistry – analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, polymers, general 

chemistry, applied chemistry, inorganic and nuclear chemistry

Engineering – aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical 

engineering, mechanical engineering, metals and metallurgy, materials engineering, industrial 

engineering, operations research and management, biomedical engineering, nuclear technology, 

general engineering, miscellaneous engineering and technology

Geosciences – meteorology and atmospheric sciences, geology, earth and planetary sciences, 

oceanography and limnology, marine biology and hydrobiology, environmental sciences

Mathematics – applied mathematics, probability and statistics, general mathematics, 

miscellaneous mathematics

Medical sciences – endocrinology, neurology and neurosurgery, dentistry, environmental and 

occupational health, public health, surgery, general and internal medicine, ophthalmology, 

pharmacy, veterinary medicine, miscellaneous clinical medicine, anesthesiology, cardiovascular 

system, cancer, gastroenterology, hematology, obstetrics and gynecology, otorhinolaryngology, 

pediatrics, psychiatry, radiology and nuclear medicine, dermatology and venereal disease, 

orthopedics, arthritis and rheumatism, respiratory system, urology, nephrology, allergy, fertility, 

geriatrics, embryology, tropical medicine, addictive diseases, microscopy

Physics – acoustics, chemical physics, nuclear and particle physics, optics, solid state physics, 

applied physics, fluids and plasmas, general physics, miscellaneous physics

Social sciences – economics, international relations, political science and public administration, 

demography, sociology, anthropology and archaeology, area studies, criminology, geography 

and regional sciences, planning and urban studies, general social sciences, science studies, 

gerontology and aging, social studies of medicine

 80 Sources: The Patent BoardTM, and National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering 

Statistics, Integrated Science and Engineering Resources Data System (WebCASPAR) database system, 

http://webcaspar.nsf.gov. Science and Engineering Indicators 2012. Used with permission.