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Government-funded R&D goes mainstream |
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A government-to-mainstream research project produced a prosthetic made of composite materials that is lighter, more durable, and ultimately less expensive to produce. (Photo courtesy U.S. Army)
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
After a young girl in the Upstate lost her leg in a boating accident, she was fitted with a prosthetic that is lighter, easier to maneuver and less expensive than traditional prosthetics.
This new technology will enable her to return to normal activities quickly and manage her disability with ease because there will be less adjustments and fewer replacements throughout her life.
During research and development of this technology, the end user the developers had in mind was not a young girl skiing on Lake Keowee but rather the warfighter losing an extremity from a roadside bomb.
The research project involved prosthetics design through the use of advanced composite materials at the Applied Research and Development Institute, an affiliate of the South Carolina Research Authority. ARDI’s mission is to develop a portfolio of programs through private industry, the U.S. Department of Defense and other governmental agencies. In other words, ARDI develops applications for advanced materials, in most cases to support the war-fighter and other DOD-related enterprises.
The prosthetics technology is only one example of many research projects that begin in government labs or with government funding and make their way into the mainstream market.
LAWS FOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
In an effort to increase the application of government research to industry — and ultimately fuel technology-based economic growth — the U.S. government has passed a series of laws in recent years to encourage the transfer of technologies from government-based research to industry.
Those laws included the particulars of technology licensing, based on the notion that research projects funded by the government were like treasure chests of available technologies that could be applied to corporate needs.
South Carolina has been able to tap into that treasure chest with some of the work being performed or fostered by the SCRA and its affiliates.
Much of what SCRA does is designed to stimulate the state’s economy, particularly in helping companies increase their business through government-funded research and development. At least that’s the case with several of SCRA’s business units and affiliates.
Programs through these affiliates have brought in millions of dollars in government funding that resulted in high-level technology from the research, some of which will eventually be produced in corporate environments and sold to companies or individuals in the mainstream marketplace.
That’s true of many of the projects by SCRA’s affiliate, the Advanced Technology Institute. ATI’s collaborative approach to innovative research has resulted in solutions for manufacturing and management on a range of applications, including defense programs.
The National Institutes of Health in particular has been the source of several groundbreaking therapies and other medical technologies and enjoys close relations with the pharmaceutical industry. Those relationships have enabled the agency to gain large amounts of licensing revenue. More important, though, is the availability of the therapies and technologies for the use by the general population.
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