Feds shutter technology transfer network

Government cuts to science-based departments and agencies (SBDAs) — combined with the National Research Council's restructuring — have claimed another casualty. The Federal Partners in Technology Transfer (FPTT) closed its doors July 3, ending a 16-year history of working with government labs to develop common and consistent approaches to intellectual property (IP) management, technology transfer and collaborative partnerships.

The national network of government technology transfer experts offered training workshops, annual meetings and sponsored the annual FPTT Technology Transfer Awards.

A source close to FPTT says declining membership fees were a major factor in the decision: "the ADMs thought they couldn't continue funding FPTT while they were chopping their own departments".

FPTT's annual budget has dropped from $440,000 in FY09-10 to $385,000 in FY10-11 and a low of $220,000 in FY11-12.

The recent austerity Budget saw the NRC's base funding drop by about 2.5%, which is lower than the 6.9% average or the double digit cuts incurred by organizations like the Canadian Space Agency, Communications Research Centre and Defence R&D Canada.

One of the founders and a former chair of FPTT, Lorne Heslop, says he's not surprised by the decision given FPTT's ongoing financial challenges.

"You had departments that identified themselves as members (of FPTT) but to get money out of them has always been a heck of a challenge. It's hard to get Canadian government departments to share funds for a common goal," says Heslop, a former deputy director at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada who is now retired.

While Heslop credits FPTT for building "tremendous IP expertise" across departments, he says it's unfortunate that it did not — even during his involvement — develop a policy similar to the 32-year-old Bayh-Dole Act in the US, which created a uniform patent policy for federally funded research. FPTT made some progress recently on this front with its release of the Canadian Federal Intellectual Property Guidelines.

NRC spokesperson Émilie Archambault says FPTT was also closed due, in part, to the NRC's current restructuring, which will see the public research organization become more industry-facing and market-oriented (R$ May 1/12). The NRC hosted the FPTT secretariat at its Ottawa campus. She adds that some activities may continue.

Heslop doubts, however, that funding will be found to support a new organization to replace FPTT. "We're in a new era where we have to put more effort on R&D and its benefits, so I think very strongly that something should be created in its place. But will that happen considering that everyone is cutting budgets? I don't think so."

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