Thus in selecting performers for government funded research, government should take into account the likelihood that the results of the work will find their way to many other users in one form or another. Technology transfer, or diffusion, is a body contact sport. Even in the most abstract fields of science, information flows primarily through personal contact. Two kinds of institutions have particularly effective ways of making their technical knowledge useful and available to others. Universities do it when their graduates carry their new ideas with them to private employment.
Firms do it internally, when the research is conducted there.
If the firm's government-funded research is conducted through a consortium of firms and other research institutions, the sharing by the industry can also accelerate access to new knowledge. Another policy tool for promoting the efficient use of new research outputs is to recognize the contribution state governments can make in assembling cooperative firms and other institutions to address the competitive needs of industries in which region specializes. I have long felt that this was an opportunity the Commerce ATP program has overlooked, although the companion program in Manufacturing Extension has worked collaboratively with states from the beginning and with considerable success. I would call attention to the difference between outputs and outcomes. But technical knowledge is an asset for broader public purposes.