Technology and Research Accelerating National Security and Future Economic Resiliency Act of 2013 or the TRANSFER Act of 2013 - Amends the Small Business Act to revise the requirement that the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) use funds for a Proof of Concept Partnership pilot program to accelerate the creation of small businesses and the commercialization of research innovations made by certain institutions.
Directs the head of each covered federal agency required to establish a small business technology transfer (STTR) program to establish an Innovative Approaches to Technology Transfer Grant Program to make grants to institutions of higher education, technology transfer organizations that facilitate the commercialization of technologies developed by one or more of the institutions, federal laboratories, public or private nonprofit entities, or a consortium of any of these entities in order to improve or accelerate the commercialization of high quality and commercially viable federally funded research and technology by small businesses.
Outlines activities eligible for funding, application requirements, and award procedures and amounts. Requires grant recipients to assemble an oversight board to establish award programs for individual projects and evaluate project applications. Prescribes the percentage of each covered agency's extramural budget for research, or research development required to be expended on such Program for FY2015-FY2017.
Directs each covered agency to develop a Program evaluation plan to collect data to identify outcomes resulting from the transfer of technology under its Program.
Requires the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to include information on each covered agency's Program on the public database of small businesses participating in STTR or Small Business Innovation Research programs.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2551 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2551
To amend the Small Business Act to establish the Innovative Approaches
to Technology Transfer Grant Program.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 26, 2014
Mrs. Gillibrand (for herself and Mr. Coats) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small
Business and Entrepreneurship
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Small Business Act to establish the Innovative Approaches
to Technology Transfer Grant Program.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Technology and Research Accelerating
National Security and Future Economic Resiliency Act of 2014'' or the
``TRANSFER Act''.
SEC. 2. INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER GRANT PROGRAM.
Section 9(jj) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(jj)) is
amended to read as follows:
``(jj) Innovative Approaches to Technology Transfer.--
``(1) Grant program.--
``(A) Definitions.--In this subsection--
``(i) the term `covered agency' means a
Federal agency that is required to establish an
STTR program under subsection (n);
``(ii) the term `eligible institution'
means--
``(I) an institution of higher
education;
``(II) a technology transfer
organization that facilitates the
commercialization of technologies
developed by 1 or more institutions of
higher education;
``(III) a Federal laboratory;
``(IV) a public or private
nonprofit entity; or
``(V) a consortium of any of the
entities described under subclause (I),
(II), (III), or (IV);
``(iii) the term `Federal laboratory' has
the meaning given that term under section 4(6)
of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation
Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3703(6));
``(iv) the term `institution of higher
education' has the meaning given that term
under section 101(a) of the Higher Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)); and
``(v) the term `program' means an
Innovative Approaches to Technology Transfer
Grant Program established by a covered agency
under subparagraph (B).
``(B) Establishment of program.--The head of each
covered agency shall establish a grant program, to be
known as the Innovative Approaches to Technology
Transfer Grant Program of the covered agency, to make
grants to eligible institutions to improve or
accelerate the commercialization of high quality and
commercially viable federally funded research and
technology by small business concerns.
``(C) Use of funds.--Grants awarded under a program
may be used to--
``(i) provide early-stage proof of concept
funding for translational research;
``(ii) identify research and technology
that have the potential for accelerated
commercialization;
``(iii) support technology maturation
activities, including prototype construction,
experiment analysis, product comparison, and
the collection of performance data;
``(iv) provide funding for technical
validations, market research, clarifying
intellectual property rights position and
strategy, and investigating commercial and
business opportunities;
``(v) provide advice, mentoring,
entrepreneurial education, project management,
and technology and business development
expertise to innovators and recipients of
technology transfer licenses to maximize
commercialization potential; and
``(vi) conduct outreach to small business
concerns as potential licensees of federally
funded research and technology to provide
technology transfer services to those small
business concerns.
``(D) Application.--
``(i) In general.--An eligible institution
desiring a grant under the program shall submit
an application to a covered agency at such
time, in such manner, and containing such
information as the covered agency may require.
``(ii) Required information.--An
application submitted for a grant under the
program shall include--
``(I)(aa) a description of
innovative approaches to technology
transfer, technology development, and
commercial readiness that have the
potential to increase or accelerate
technology transfer outcomes and can be
adopted by other eligible institutions;
or
``(bb) a demonstration of, or a
plan to implement, proven technology
transfer and commercialization
strategies that can achieve greater
commercialization of federally funded
research and technology with a grant
under the program;
``(II) a description of how the
eligible institution will contribute to
local and regional economic development
efforts;
``(III) a plan for sustainability
after grant amounts have been expended;
and
``(IV) a plan to assemble an
oversight board in accordance with
subparagraph (F).
``(E) Competitive basis.--A covered agency shall
award grants to eligible institutions under the program
of the covered agency on a competitive basis.
``(F) Oversight board.--
``(i) In general.--An eligible institution
that receives a grant under the program shall
assemble an oversight board to--
``(I) establish award programs for
individual projects, including an
application process;
``(II) provide rigorous evaluation
of project applications;
``(III) determine which projects
should receive awards from the eligible
institution;
``(IV) establish milestones and
associated award amounts for projects
that reach certain milestones;
``(V) determine whether a project
is reaching the established milestones;
and
``(VI) develop a process to
reallocate outstanding award amounts
from projects that are not reaching
milestones to other projects with more
potential to reach those milestones.
``(ii) Membership and qualifications.--
``(I) In general.--An oversight
board assembled under clause (i) shall
be composed of members who shall have
demonstrated relevant technical,
scientific, or business expertise, of
whom three-fifths shall be drawn from
relevant industries, start-up
companies, venture capital or other
equity investment mechanisms, technical
enterprises, financial institutions,
and business development organizations
with a track record of success in
commercializing innovations.
``(II) Conflicts of interest.--An
oversight board assembled under clause
(i) shall adopt policies that--
``(aa) prohibit conflicts
of interest among members of
the oversight board;
``(bb) ensure that relevant
relationships are disclosed;
and
``(cc) establish proper
recusal procedures in the event
of a conflict of interest.
``(iii) Use of existing oversight boards.--
An eligible institution may use oversight
boards in existence on the date of the
enactment of the Technology and Research
Accelerating National Security and Future
Economic Resiliency Act of 2014 that meet the
requirements of this subparagraph.
``(G) Grant and award amounts.--
``(i) Grant amounts.--The amount of a grant
made by a covered agency under the program of
the covered agency shall be not more than
$3,000,000.
``(ii) Award amounts.--An eligible
institution that receives a grant under a
program shall make awards for individual
projects that support the activities of clauses
(i), (iii) and (iv) of subparagraph (C),
which--
``(I) shall not be more than
$100,000; and
``(II) shall be provided in phased
amounts, based on whether the project
is reaching the milestones established
by the oversight board of the eligible
institution.
``(H) Authorized expenditures for the program.--
``(i) Expenditure amounts.--The percentage
of the extramural budget for research, or
research and development, required to be
expended by a covered agency for the program of
the covered agency shall be--
``(I) 0.05 percent for fiscal year
2015; and
``(II) 0.1 percent for each of
fiscal years 2016 and 2017.
``(ii) Treatment of expenditures.--Any
portion of the extramural budget expended by a
covered agency for the program of the covered
agency shall apply toward the STTR expenditure
requirements of the covered agency under
subsection (n).
``(2) Program evaluation and data collection and
dissemination.--
``(A) Evaluation plan and data collection.--
``(i) In general.--Each covered agency
shall develop a program evaluation plan to
collect data to identify outcomes resulting
from the transfer of technology under the
program of the covered agency, including--
``(I) specific follow-on funding
identified or obtained, including
follow-on funding sources, such as
Federal sources or private sources, not
later than 3 years after the date on
which an eligible institution makes an
award for a project under the program;
``(II) the number of projects
which, not later than 5 years after
receiving an award from an eligible
institution under the program, result
in a license to a start-up company or
an established company with sufficient
resources for effective
commercialization;
``(III) the number of invention
disclosures received, United States
patent applications filed, and United
States patents issued not later than 5
years after the date on which an
eligible institution makes an award for
a project under the program;
``(IV) the number of projects
receiving an award from an eligible
institution under the program that
secure Phase I or Phase II SBIR or STTR
awards;
``(V) available information on
revenue, sales, or other measures of
products that have been commercialized
as a result of projects receiving an
award from an eligible institution
under the program not later than 5
years after the date on which the
eligible institution made the award;
``(VI) the number and location of
jobs created as a result of projects
receiving an award from an eligible
institution under the program; and
``(VII) any other data as the
covered agency may determine
appropriate.
``(B) Evaluative report to congress.--Not later
than September 30, 2018, the head of each covered
agency shall submit to the Committee on Small Business
and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on
Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on
Small Business of the House of Representatives a report
evaluating the activities of the program of the covered
agency, which shall include--
``(i) a detailed description of the
implementation of the program;
``(ii) a detailed description of selection
process used by the covered agency to award a
grant to an eligible institution under the
program;
``(iii) an accounting of the funds used in
the program; and
``(iv) a summary of the data collected
under subparagraph (A).
``(C) Data dissemination.--For purposes of program
transparency and the dissemination of best practices,
the Administrator shall include on the public database
under subsection (k)(1) information on the program of
each covered agency, including--
``(i) the program evaluation plan required
under subparagraph (A);
``(ii) a list of recipients of awards made
by an eligible institution for projects under
the program by State; and
``(iii) information on the use by
recipients of awards made by an eligible
institution for projects under the program.''.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
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