Maryland Tap's Logo
 August 1997
Hearings on Assistive Technology
Stylized horizontal rule incorporating the State of Maryland's Flag

"Meeting the Needs of People with Disabilities
Through Federal Technology Transfer"

C. Dan Brand, Chair
Federal Laboratory Consortium

Prepared for the Committee on Science
Subcommittee on Technology
U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable, Constance Morella, Chair
July 15,1997

Introduction

It is a privilege to appear before you today to discuss how the Federal Laboratories can help meet the needs of people with disabilities. I wish to acknowledge and thank both the Chair and members of the Subcommittee for your invitation to speak on this very important subject. Before I discuss how we feel the FLC can aide in the transfer of Federally funded technologies to the Assistive Technologies (AT) community, I would like to provide a definition of AT. Assistive Technologies are defined as any device, item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified or customized, that is used to increase, maintain or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. I would now like to give you a brief overview of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC).

FLC Overview

The FLC consists of over 700 member research/development (R&D) laboratories and centers from seventeen federal agencies and departments. The FLC is the nationwide network of Federal Laboratories that provides the forum to develop strategies and opportunities for moving Government technologies to the marketplace. The FLC brings its member laboratories together with potential users of government-developed technologies in the private sector as well as state and local governments. We also assist in the interagency transfer of technologies. We develop and test transfer methods, address barriers to the process, provide training, highlight grass-root transfer efforts and emphasize national initiatives where technology transfer has a role. The Federal Laboratories represent a vast reservoir of technology and expertise, a reservoir we believe can be tapped to aide the disabled and able bodied communities.

The FLC has been in existence in some form since 1974. The passage of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 provided increased stimuli for the growth and development of the FLC. The Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 provided a Congressional Charter and funding mechanism creating the FLC as we know it today. The National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995, introduced by the Chair and co-sponsored by Representative George Brown, provided a number of significant enhancements for industry and the Federal Laboratories. This legislation also reinforced the importance and appropriate role of technology transfer programs and activities within the Federal Laboratory System.

The FLC has recently developed a new strategic plan for the 21st Century to meet our member's future needs. In implementing this Plan we have identified six strategic focus areas designed to help the FLC achieve our vision. A copy of our Strategic Plan (figure 1) and the six strategic focus areas (figure 2) is included for your review. Two of the six areas I believe, are directly related to how the FLC can assist in transferring technology to the AT Community. These two areas are, "Optimizing Diverse Resources" and "Creating Innovative Partnerships."

The FLC is committed to enhancing partnership opportunities between the Federal Laboratories and the private sector, which includes the AT Community. We believe that these increased partnership opportunities will lead to a more efficient leveraging of the resources that are available, both in and out of the Federal R&D System. While individual laboratories have worked with the AT Community over the years, our organizational commitment began

with our participation in the 1996 Atlanta International Paralympics and Abilities Expo. Our Paralympics activities included for example, sponsoring roundtable discussions involving people with disabilities and the manufacturing community. Since August of last year, we have actively promoted and been engaged in a number of activities supporting the Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). These activities included conducting unprecedented technical sessions on AT at our last two National Technology Transfer Meetings, partnering with NIDRR on the development of the Consumer's Assistive Technology Network (CATN), and developing a multi-agency presentation for the Technology 2007 Show to be held September 22-24, 1997 in Boston. Attached for your review is a summary of some of these activities (figure 3).

Madam Chair, last year in a speech to our FLC membership you provided a vision of what our role might be: I quote:

"Federal labs must refocus their missions on long-term, often high- risk R&D, frequently through facilities which are beyond the financial reach of industry and academia, and through the application of multi- disciplinary teams of scientists and engineers... The appropriate lab role, with industry, is one in which a cooperative R&D agreement is designed and implemented so that the labs are accomplishing one of thek four primary missions (national security, energy, envfronmental and basic sciences), while seeking industrial participation only where it is needed to accomplish the primary mission."

Within this framework, I believe the FLC member labortories can further assist in moving government technologies into the AT community, thus ultimately benefiting the citizens of the United States.

Based upon a recent report "Chartbook on Disability In the United States, 1996" , it becomes quite apparent that as we age, the level of severe disabilities increases from a low of 3.3 % of the population age 15-24 to 41.5% of the population age 75-84. I would suspect that this trend will continue as the nation continues to age.

AT Issues Background

As the nation continues to define the role and determine priorities of federally funded Science and Technology (S&T) activities, we believe it is imperative that Assistive Technologies be part of that debate. There are numerous planned and serendipitous scientific and engineering discoveries resulting from Federal R&D investment that have yielded quality of life enhancements for Americans who are able bodied as well as disabled.

There are currently 49 million people in the United States who have disabilities. Five percent of those people who could benefit from the use of an assistive technology use them. Although this is currently a $26.5 billion industry and growing, due to the aging process, it is an area that has largely not benefited from technology transfer activities within the Federal Laboratory System. Current projections indicate that this market of products and services will continue to grow at a rate of 10-12% annually for the foreseeable future.

Presently there are approximately 2,500 companies in the AT field, which is dominated by three major competitors capturing slightly less than 10% of the $26.5 billion market. The majority of companies are small to medium size firms which could benefit from the same access, partnership and collaboration of activities with the Federal Laboratory System that has become far more commonplace in fields such as automotive manufacturing, aeronautics, and energy and environmental research.

Many of the basic technology needs of the AT community are in areas such as devices for people with physical sensory and expressive communication and cognitive disabilities. These technology focus areas represent many of the same research areas consistent with the R&D mission of our laboratories related to technologies for space exploration, national security and defense.

Past Roadblocks to Success

A solid history of synergism does not exist between the FLC member laboratories and the NIDRR laboratories. NIDRR's sixteen, small, primarily University based, labs have often felt ignored and marginalized by their larger Federal counterparts. Efforts on the part of the NIDRR labs to work with other members of the Federal system have seen little success. A significant cause of this has been a general lack of understanding on the part of the major labs as to the opportunities that exist for collaboration between themselves, NI DRR and the AT manufacturing sector and the value added benefits from such collaborations. We believe that the FLC can play a major role in increasing this awareness.

Recent Changes in Legislation The recent changes to the Technology Transfer legislation, which were introduced by the Chair, serve to further promote, facilitate and incentivize the public and private sector to develop strategic partnerships to accomplish the mission of the agencies. It is through such partnerships that industy is able to identify broader applications of Federal Laboratory technologies for the commercial market. We believe this approach is equally viable for the AT business community. Therefore, it is the goal of the FLC to promote and facilitate an increase in partnerships involving the AT Community through the use of the mechanisms which currently exist. i.e., personnel exchanges, Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), use of facilities and laboratory expertise. We need to ensure that small businesses have efficient, reliable access to the Federal R&D System where it helps to fulfill the mission of the laboratory, while providing the nation the opportunity for an increased return on its R&D investment.

Some Recent Success Stories There have been numerous successful technology transfer efforts in the AT area. Examples include:

Department of Defense

Department of Transportation

Veterans Administration (VA)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

FLC/NIDRR Synergy

The FLC and NIDRR each have a unique mandate to serve the public. NIDRR is specifically charged with developing Assistive Technologies, and it is clearly within our mandate to assist NIDRR. This synergy of mission needs to be developed and enhanced. One of the six focus areas I spoke about earlier has heightened relevance here. It is in the best interest of our nation to ensure that we leverage to fullest extent possible the Federal investment, where appropriate, to improve the quality of life for persons with disabilities. This is important for a number of reasons.

First, is the simple fact that demographics alone indicate that the number of people requiring some form of AT is only going to increase. As the percentage of the U.S. population over 65 increases in the future, there will most certainly be an increase in the call for AT devices. It is paramount that R&D be done early to reduce the lag time between supply and demand.

Second, this increase in need will come at a time of decreasing resources, both in dollars and people. In this environment of scarce resources, it is critical that each dollar be stretched as far as possible. There needs to be a push to evaluate and assess a technology's ``universal design'' potential for an AT application. The Federal R&D System needs to commit, at the very least, to explore areas of cooperation with the AT Community

This leads to the other area I mentioned earlier, to "Create Innovative Partnerships." The federal labs need to look outside the box during the assessment of technologies. Old ideas and practices need to be reviewed to ensure that access to technologies is not being limited by past ideoiogies and ideas. AT research and development needs the kind of allention that Biotech R&D enjoys today. The Federal Research System needs to understand and value the profound impact to the quality of life of the American public that Assistive Technologies can have to the disabled and able bodied community.

FLC Actions

There are four things that the FLC can begin immediately to start the process of assisting NIDRR in its mission.

  1. The FLC will continue to promote the awareness and benefits of Assistive Technology universal design throughout the Federal Laboratory System.
  2. The FLC, in conjunction with NIDRR, can begin to identify the technical needs of the NIDRR laboratories and the AT manufacturing community and then identify FLC member laboratory contacts who can help. It has been said that Technology Transfer is a "contact sport," putting individuals together to talk and share ideas should begin to enhance the relationship between the FLC membership, NIDRR and the business community.
  3. Exploit and adapt the use of mechanisms the Congress and Administration have provided through key legislation such as the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995, Small Business Innovative Research and Manufacturing Extension Programs to the Assistive Technology community.
  4. With your support madam Chair and that of the Subcommittee members, we can convey to the laboratory leadership the importance of considering the incorporation of Assistive Technology design and development issues as it relates to the mission of its respective laboratories.

It is our hope that these near-term actions will lead to meaningful, longAerm relationships and economic results that will ultimately benefit not only those people with disabilities, but society as a whole. It is important to remember that as we age, or in a split second, due to an unforeseen catastrophic accident, anyone sitting in this room could require some form of Assistive Technology and if you needed it, wouldn't you want it as soon as possible.

Final Words The FLC has a clear mandate to work with the Assistive Technology community and we welcome both the opportunities and challenges that are ahead. I want to thank you for this opportunity to speak here today and commend you madam Chair and members of the Subcommittee for your interest and leadership on this increasingly important subject.

Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer

Vision

To maximize the return on investment from the nations research and development

Mission

To add value to the Federal agencies, tatoratortes, and their partners to accomplish the rapid integration of R&D resources within the mainstream of the U.S economy

Enhance Communication

Federal Laboratory Consortium Statutory Mandates

Federal Laboratory Consortium

Strategic Focus Areas

Federal Laboratory Consortium

The FLC Mission:

To promote and facilitate the rapid integration of federal laboratory expertise, research and technologies into the mainstream of the U.S. economy.

FLC Member Agencies

Central Intelligence Agency
Department of Agriculture
Department of the Army
Department of the Air Force
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of Education
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of the Interior
Department of Justice
Department of the Navy
Department of Transportation
Department of Veteran's Affairs
Environmental Protection Agency
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Science Foundation
Tennessee Valley Authority

Back to Main Article


Home

Newsletter

Calendar

Index

Contact