Meade Business Connect Chair Bill Dunahoo thanks Karen Presley, NSA TTP’s Intellectual Property Portfolio Manager, for providing FMA members an overview of the program.
Fort Meade Alliance members learned more about how the National Security Agency Technology Transfer Program (NSA TTP) creates partnerships to move technology from the lab to the marketplace during the January MBC Opportunities and Connections event.
Karen Presley, NSA TTP’s Intellectual Property Portfolio Manager, discussed how NSA works with industry, academia and other research institutions to strengthen the economy, accelerate the development of emerging technologies, and encourage commercialization of NSA technologies.
NSA has a catalog of 200 technologies that it can license to private companies. The technologies are organized in several different categories within four main domains: Cyber, Mobility, Big Data and the Internet of Things. Licensing agreements are negotiated individually, and Presley said the NSA TTP works with companies of all sizes.
“Our goal is to make it as easy as possible,” Presley said. “We try to be customer friendly and shift with the trends.”
In addition to licensing patented technology, NSA TTP has also been successful collaborating with private industry through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA). Presley said the Agency has used CRADAs to evaluate technology and leverage external expertise. Through these partnerships, collaborators share the benefits and risks by engaging in joint research and development. This research can lead to new products and intellectual property, and it increases the probability of bringing inventions to the marketplace.
“As long as there is some type of collaboration of research, you can make a justification for a CRADA,” Presley said. “These agreements are our best kept secret because they allow small businesses to get into the agency and showcase their expertise and skills. They can be used to sponsor clearances if there is a need.”
NSA TTP also works with educational institutions on Education Partnership Agreements, which allows the NSA to help establish curriculum and sponsor guest lecturers, and provide training to educators at all levels.
The MBC Opportunities & Connections series gives FMA members the opportunity to meet with key connections in the Fort Meade government contracting community in an interactive, small group setting. The next event will be held in spring 2016. For more information about FMA’s Meade Business Connect, contact Will Burns at wburns@ftmeadealliance.org.
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