July 19, 2013

Pilots to Inform the Creation of Potential 

New Manufacturing Technology 

Acceleration Centers (M-TACs)

Response to NIST Request for Information –

Docket No. 130426414-3414-01

Submitted To

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Diane Henderson

100 Bureau Drive 

Mail Stop 4800, 

Gaithersburg, MD 20899-4800

301-975-5105 

E-mail: diane.henderson@nist.gov

Submitted By

Dan Winfield

Senior Director

RTI International

P.O. Box 12194

Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194

(919) 541-6431

winfield@rti.org

http://www.rti.org/innovation
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Introduction

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is

piloting Manufacturing Technology Acceleration Centers 

(M-TACs) that will focus on addressing the technical and 

business challenges encountered by small and mid-sized U.S. 

manufacturers (SMMs) striving for profitable growth in a 

global and dynamic competitive marketplace. The M-TACs 

will seek to support SMMs as they attempt to integrate and 

adopt existing and emerging technologies into their 

processes and operations, and transition and commercialize 

new technologies for innovative new products and services. 

Implementing technologies will help the SMMs grow their 

businesses and compete within global manufacturing supply 

chains. M-TACs—envisioned as partner organizations to the 

NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program

and as connectors to resources such as research 

organizations, state and local technology-based economic 

development intermediaries, industry associations, and the 

planned National Network for Manufacturing Innovation

(NNMI)—will provide deep technical expertise and supply 

chain knowledge to assist SMMs in adopting technology. RTI 

International is pleased to offer the information in this 

response to the Request for Information (RFI) to NIST, which 

is based on our long-standing work in technology 

commercialization for federal laboratories and universities 

and our deep understanding of the NIST MEP program, at 

both the system and Center levels.

Discussion

Technology acceleration—the integration, adoption, 

transition, and commercialization of new technology—is a 

complex process involving many influencing factors that 

require organizations seeking to facilitate these actions, 

such as M-TACs, to merge complementary talents in science 

and technology, marketing and business, and supporting 

processes and resources. Figure 1, taken from Everett 

Rogers’ diffusion of innovation theory and applied to 

technology acceleration, demonstrates the multitude of 

considerations that affect whether SMMs will adopt a new 

innovation or technology to then integrate it within their 

About RTI International

RTI International (www.rti.org) is one of the 

world’s leading nonprofit research institutes, 

dedicated to improving the human condition 

by turning knowledge into practice. Our staff 

of more than 3,700 provides research and 

technical services to governments and 

businesses in more than 75 countries in the 

areas of innovation and technology 

commercialization, health and 

pharmaceuticals, education and training, 

surveys and statistics, advanced technology, 

international development, economic and 

social policy, energy and the environment, 

and laboratory testing and chemical analysis. 

RTI has worked in technology acceleration for 

47 years, helping technology transfer 

organizations at government laboratories and 

universities to commercialize their 

technologies. Building on our history of 

success in commercialization, RTI has 

developed best practices and become a 

recognized leader domestically and 

internationally. Using a core 

commercialization team composed of

engineers with multidisciplinary training and 

industry experience, RTI supports 

government, academic, and corporate 

organizations with services across the full 

innovation continuum, from early-stage 

research and development (R&D) to 

commercialization. We provide clients around 

the globe with insight, analysis, and 

connections to commercialize emerging 

technologies. Our insightful analyses 

contribute to a solid understanding and 

development of the value proposition of a 

technology and allow our clients to make 

informed decisions on their commercialization 

strategies and investments. RTI has 

performed thousands of technology 

assessments, developed hundreds of market 

commercialization plans, and facilitated 

hundreds of partnerships and licenses. Our 

current work with the NIST MEP system and 

its individual MEP Centers gives us insight 

into their capabilities and services and 

provides a basis for our feedback on the 

M-TAC program.
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company, or develop and commercialize it as a new product. If M-TACs are to be successful connectors 

and facilitators of technology acceleration for SMMs, they must consider all of these factors.

Figure 1: Diffusion of Innovation Theory Applied to Technology Acceleration

Source: RTI International based on E. Rogers

First and foremost, in order to convince SMMs to adopt and then either integrate or commercialize new 

technology, SMMs must see a benefit sufficient to ensure a return on investment (ROI) of their time 

and resources to move toward technology adoption. This ROI is based on three of the influencing 

factors shown in Figure 1: attributes of the technology, attributes of the market, and the availability of

their own resources. 

 Technology attributes affecting adoption include its relative advantage to existing technologies, 

its complexity, its compatibility with the surrounding system, and its demonstrability to decision 

makers. 

 Market attributes include need and potential demand, and barriers to entry, including 

regulatory issues and end-user acceptance. 

 SMM resources include not only financial means to invest in technology acceleration, but also 

time, capabilities, and internal expertise. SMMs are often time-constrained and focused on the 

business operations at hand. They can be financially constrained, often lacking the funds to 

invest in a new technology or the skills necessary to use the technology. SMMs can also be 

Factors 

influencing 

technology 

acceleration

Attributes 

of the 

technology

SMM’s 

social 

system

SMM’s 

resources

Attributes 

of the 

market

SMM’s 

position in 

the 

decision 

cycle

SMM 

leaders’ 

risk 

attitude
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capability-constrained, lacking in employees with the expertise to develop or commercialize the 

new technology.

In addition to factors influencing ROI decisions, Figure 1 also shows the social and psychological factors 

affecting technology adoption:

 The SMM’s social system is made of established norms in which the SMM operates and includes 

its degree of connectiveness (both internally and externally), the level of communication within 

the company, the influence of its opinion leaders, and whether it has change agents, all 

contributing to the SMM’s ability to both decide to and then successfully take on new 

innovations.

 Innovation diffusion is influenced by a decision cycle that SMM leadership traverse in order to 

move forward on technology adoption. Where leadership is positioned in the decision cycle has 

an influence on how receptive they are to providing resources toward implementing or 

developing new technology. The cycle starts when they first learn about the potential benefits 

of adopting the technology, and then moves to the persuasion and decision phases. Once a 

decision is made to move forward with investing some time and resources, there is typically a 

testing and confirmation phase that helps leadership to verify that this was indeed the right 

decision. At any time during these phases new information could come to the fore that will stop 

the technology acceleration project. 

 The SMM leadership’s risk attitude will also affect the degree of their organization’s propensity 

to adopt new technology. This is shown in Rogers’ well-known innovation adoption curve in 

Figure 2. Where executives and decision makers fall within a spectrum of risk-taking behaviors

and where in this spectrum a SMM falls at a given time will affect the SMM’s propensity to 

adopt new technology.

Figure 2: Innovation adoption curve

Source: E. Rogers; Les Robinson, Enabling Change, www.enablingchange.com.au 

To address the above challenges, M-TACs must be staffed with personnel who understand all of these 

factors and how they will impact an SMM’s innovative capacity and ability to commercialize 

technologies. To do this M-TAC personnel must be experienced business consultants who not only 

understand science, technology, marketing, and business, but who are also skilled at seeing the big 

picture from a supply chain needs perspective, building networks and making connections, and 
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confidently interfacing with all levels of personnel from top executives to those on the shop floor. An 

M-TAC’s operations must be set up to encourage cross-geography and cross-industry networks built on 

open communication channels—both internally and externally among other M-TACs and MEP Centers. 

They must have clear goals and well-defined value and impact measures to ensure that they are bringing 

real results to those they serve.

Response to Questions

1. Technology transition and commercialization tools and services that 

should be provided by M-TACs

 The M-TACs should be designed with the above SMM issues in mind, ensuring that 

M-TACs can provide access to services to assist SMMs in all areas where they need 

assistance. These include helping SMMs to evaluate the ROI of specific technology 

acceleration opportunities, identifying funding mechanisms to enable technology 

purchases, connecting them with training resources or installation support that can 

enhance their capabilities, and providing executive coaching and education to reduce 

and manage risks. Note that M-TACs do not necessarily have to provide all the services 

in-house, but they do need to ensure that they have access to service providers that can 

perform those services (i.e., MEP Centers, community colleges, state technology-based 

economic development programs such as Pennsylvania’s Ben Franklin Technology 

Partners, and other third-party providers).

 It is important to note that SMM adoption of technology for manufacturing process 

enhancement is completely different from technology adoption for product 

development and commercialization. In the first case (goal 1, manufacturing process 

enhancement), where an SMM wishes to change the way they manufacture their goods 

using a disruptive new technology such as additive manufacturing, SMMs may need 

training and support, or perhaps verification testing services, to bring the technology 

onboard. In the second case (goal 2, product development and commercialization), 

where an SMM wishes to commercialize new technology developed by research 

organizations into a new product, SMMs will need to understand market barriers and 

opportunities to create and realize a market entry strategy, identify intellectual property 

issues, find engineering capabilities to continue technology development, conduct 

product testing and refinement, and possibly provide ongoing customer support. It is 

clear that achieving these two goals will require very different activities and capabilities 

for which SMMs will require different kinds of support. We recommend that M-TACs be 

clear about the two goals and identify operational processes and services appropriate to 

both of them. For goal 2, Figure 3 is an example of the types of services that RTI 

provides in support of technology commercialization, and which we suggest could be 

the basis for developing service offerings that M-TACs could provide.
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Figure 3: Possible M-TAC services in support of technology commercialization

Source: RTI International

 Complementary services: MEP Centers currently offer a variety of services, often with lean 

manufacturing and process efficiency services at their core. Their mission is to serve the 

growth needs of the entire SMM, not just in technology adoption but also in sustainability 

support for green manufacturing, assisting with exporting, providing workforce 

development, and connecting SMMs to supply chain sales opportunities. While some MEP 

Centers provide technology development, scouting, and market intelligence services, for 

M-TACs to effectively augment and leverage the existing MEP network, they should not seek 

to replicate or significantly duplicate the MEP Centers. We recommend that M-TACs focus 

only on the technology adoption needs of the SMMs and develop deep expertise in fewer 

service areas. For example, individual M-TACS could be responsible for deep knowledge and 

networks in a given technology area (e.g., robotics) or industry sector (e.g., medical) and rely 

on sister M-TACS to be networked and collaborative to provide broad system coverage. In 

addition, because MEP Centers are typically funded in part by their states, their services are 

limited to meeting the needs of the SMMs in those states. By design, M-TACs should be 

highly flexible to provide services across geographic boundaries. 
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2. M-TAC roles relating to supply chain needs

 Supply chain focus is one way, an especially effective way, for the M-TACs to develop and 

build upon deep knowledge and networks to be effective in a technology acceleration role. 

Focusing on a specific industry sector and supply chain will require the M-TACS to cross 

geographic boundaries and to build partnerships with MEP Centers and other organizations 

in regions where clusters exist within the target sector or supply chain. The

M-TAC role would be to develop expertise and connections surrounding their particular 

industry to facilitate the transfer of technology. For example, the medical device industry 

has very specific Food and Drug Administration regulations that must be met throughout 

the course of technology development, but the automotive industry is focused on 

technologies that must meet entirely different requirements for cost and integration.

 M-TACs must connect to large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and prime 

contractors because they play a key role in creating the market demand and requirements 

necessary to create the opportunities for SMMs. OEMs are at the top of the supply chain,

and their needs are a critical driver for the SMMs that supply to them. M-TACs can work 

with OEMs to clearly define their needs and quantify the potential business opportunities 

for meeting those needs. Because not all OEMs are located in the US, M-TACs need to also 

cross international boundaries to establish OEM relationships. Note that this could lead to 

more exporting activity.

 M-TACs can also be the “voice of the SMM supply-chain community,” communicating the 

collective needs, issues, and ideas back to the OEMs. Innovation often comes from the 

supply chain and is born out of problems created by customer demands. Communicating 

these issues and ideas for solutions back to the OEMs will encourage open innovation. Thus,

M-TACs can play a vital role in ensuring two-way communication up and down supply 

chains.

 In the course of developing their connections within a given supply chain, M-TACs should 

include industry associations and professional societies as part of their network, and should 

look to these organizations to assist with industry contacts and services.

 Instead of focusing the M-TACs by industry supply chains, NIST could consider focusing them 

by technology area and supporting value chain. This would help to align the M-TACs with 

technology development coming from the NNMI network from a technology 

commercialization perspective (goal 2), and would also help to deploy advanced 

manufacturing technologies into SMMs so they can more innovatively and efficiently 

produce products (goal 1). For example, an M-TAC focused on additive manufacturing 

technology will have established networks within the value chain that include additive

manufacturing equipment manufacturers, contract manufacturing houses, 3D modeling and 

simulation software companies, distribution companies, installers and trainers, and users 

(typically early adopters of the technology that includes OEMs). This M-TAC could educate 

SMMs on the ROI of implementing additive manufacturing technologies already available to 

industry (such as stereolithography or metal powder bed fusion systems) and assist SMMs 

deciding to implement these existing technologies (goal 1). This M-TAC could also work with 
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the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute to identify groundbreaking 

research that meets critical industry needs, and find companies interested in licensing and 

commercializing these technologies (goal 2). The M-TAC’s established value chain network 

will be a resource that they can tap into for feedback on commercial need viability, and may 

contain potential licensees to commercialize the technology.

3. Potential business models for M-TACs

 Financially sustainable business models are market-driven. An organization will pay money 

only if it benefits in some way. RTI does not recommend any one business model, but offers 

the pros and cons of the following three models for NIST’s consideration:

o A fee-for-service–based business model works, but it may limit the M-TAC in 

providing its infrastructure role of being a connector between technologies at 

research organizations and companies that are capable and willing to commercialize 

them. At issue is that no one organization is willing to pay for the infrastructure. 

Companies looking for technologies to meet their specific needs will pay for 

technology scouting services. Research organizations looking for companies to 

license their technologies will pay for market intelligence services. One way around 

this is to charge a slightly higher fee and put that money toward infrastructure.

o Another model that may be better suited to the M-TACs is the sliding-scale 

membership-based model. If the M-TACs were focused by supply chain, the 

members of the supply chain may be interested in contributing toward a 

membership fee as long as they derive benefit from being a member. This model 

requires careful planning and dedicated personnel to constantly communicate 

activities and value. But this approach ensures that members are highly vested, not 

just in a single project or service, but in the support that M-TACs can bring across 

the value chain to ensure that it is successful for all.

o A third model for M-TACS to consider is to receive some of their compensation in 

the form of success fees or a percentage of certain transactions. This could offer a 

path toward long-term sustainability, but might also make the M-TACs overly 

selective in the types of projects they choose to undertake. Careful consideration 

regarding incentives, conflict of interest, and federal policies would be needed if this 

model were chosen.

 Intellectual property (IP) ownership issues can be a challenging subject for industry. IP often 

provides the basis of the value for many technology-based products. Obtaining ownership

rights to the IP is an important consideration that companies make when investing their 

money in a membership-based collaborative. Now, with the change in IP law in the US to 

first-to-invent, companies may be even more concerned about disclosure to others and 

ensuring their IP rights. A typical model for a membership-based organization that develops 

IP is that members share ownership of jointly developed IP. However, if the M-TAC role is 

just to connect and facilitate technology acceleration, there will be little IP development 

within the bounds of the membership organization. In the case of a fee-for-service model, 
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contracts established at the beginning of each project should stipulate the IP ownership. In 

some cases it could be that the hiring organization fully owns any IP developed on their 

behalf, and in others, it could be a shared model. Regardless of the working model chosen 

for IP, the M-TACs will need to have the capacity to understand and help address IP issues.

4. M-TAC performance and impact metrics

 M-TAC performance and impact metrics should be tied directly to their goals. For example, 

if their goal is to increase the growth of the SMMs that they serve, then M-TACs should 

compare revenue of the collective SMMs before and after they were served by the M-TACs 

(allowing for sufficient time to permit product development, testing, and market entry). If 

their goal is to increase the transfer of US-funded technology developed in federal 

laboratories and universities, then activity and financial measures from these organizations 

that are already collected (such as number of licenses, percentage of licenses generating 

royalties) should be compared pre- and post-M-TAC involvement. However, as a coordinator 

and connector of value chains or as domain experts that provide awareness and 

connectivity to SMMs, M-TACs must ensure that metrics will account for their role in this 

capacity. Metrics could include the number of SMM-to-OEM connections made, the 

percentage of resulting deals from those connections, meeting revenue targets for 

membership, etc. Given the unique role M-TACs are intended to play, a unique set of 

success metrics will be required.

5. Other critical M-TAC issues for NIST to consider

 In our experience, few SMMs have the capability to commercialize early-stage technologies 

from research organizations (goal 2). If the M-TACs proceed with this goal, then it will be 

critical to carefully characterize what it takes for SMMs to be successful at technology 

development and commercialization. Further, the M-TACs will then need to be able to 

identify and assess SMMs for these characteristics to ensure success. In order to show 

success for the program it will be especially critical in the beginning to ensure that the 

M-TACs are focusing their resources and efforts on companies with the ability to 

successfully commercialize technology.

 It is likely that larger numbers of SMMs will be interested in adopting enabling new 

technologies for their in-house use (goal 1). M-TACs may want to start here to show greater 

impact and quick wins as they establish their presence, providing ROI education and 

connecting companies to workforce training and capabilities for technology 

implementation. Then, once the industry networks and technology connection capabilities 

of the M-TACs are pressure-tested and established the M-TACs will have a foundation for 

more proactive goal 2 efforts.