Unlike other Federal agencies, the Veterans Administration (VA) does not have laboratories where the predominant function is research. The VA includes research as part of each Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) which means that each VAMC is considered a Federal laboratory.
However, the research effort is a small but important part of each laboratory. Based on appropriations, less than two percent of VAMCs budgets are exclusively for research. This results in a dual mission for each VAMC since the research at a VAMC is connected to veteran patient care activities.
Today, VAMCs have a close relationship with local communities. This is possible since the VA’s formal affiliations are very often with nearby academic institutions which are commonly medical schools or teaching hospitals, and partly from the VA’s extensive employment of clinicians that are also faculty affiliates.
There are several benefits when the VAMCs are closely related to their communities such as:
- Affiliates often have links to other partnerships
- Affiliates often can take the lead in commercializing jointly owned inventions
- VA has access to various private sector innovative approaches to technology development
- VAMCs and local communities can share resources
The VA’s research efforts very often link to their tech transfer activities. The VA’s Technology Transfer Program (TTP) helps to commercialize the inventions developed by VA inventors so that new products will be introduced in the marketplace to benefit veterans and their families.
The VA’s TTP is different from other Federal technology transfer programs because it is highly decentralized. As a result, most VA inventions are jointly owned by VA and their academic affiliates so this makes technology transfer a collaborative effort.
The TTP is developing some new initiatives that includes increasing the number and quality of Invention Disclosures (ID) received, streamlining the process for determining whether the Federal government is the owner of any one invention, improving VA’s current mechanisms for working with affiliates, establishing a more systematic internal patent policy for VA, and improving the VA’s commercial licensing processes.
In order to accomplish their goals, the first step will be to implement an improved TTP database. To do this, TTP recently conducted a thorough search for a new database to meet their needs and was able to identify a suitable software solution.
When the software is fully operational, the system will be able to improve the tracking of metrics and provide deliverables to academic affiliates, manage data better, and reduce the costs for maintaining and upgrading software.
The second step is to develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to handle data and document flow. Eventually TTP expects to revise their SOPs in all areas of technology transfer so that the VA’s research portfolio can be successfully managed. This information includes Invention Disclosures (ID), patent prosecution actions, and information on licensee management.
The third step is to automate web-enabling activities. New software will enable TTP to automate many current processes and allow for on-line submission of IDs. When paired with TTP’s new software, on-line submissions will enable staff and VA’s external partners to be notified on the status of technologies as they proceed through the technology transfer lifecycle.