MARKETING TECHLINK
Tim Giles pilots a drone during the ThunderDrone Tech Expo at SOFWERX in September in Tampa, Florida. Before the development of TechLink, DOD labs relied on their own websites and trade shows like ThunderDrone to showcase their marketable technologies. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Barry Loo)
MISSED CONNECTIONS Until recently, DOD had trouble con- necting with small, entrepreneurial companies, which are eager adopters of new technology, willing to serve small specialized markets and able to develop new products rapidly for those markets.
Te problem was one of DOD’s approach to technology transfer. Traditionally, DOD labs posted their inventions on their websites and featured some of them at trade shows. However, most small companies and entrepreneurs were not aware that Army research and devel- opment (R&D) labs were generating patented inventions or that companies could acquire the rights to use those inventions to develop new products.
TechLink’s traditional way of bridging the gap was to frequently review all new DOD inventions, assess their commercial potential and market the most commer- cially viable inventions to industry, using highly targeted website searches to iden- tify companies that appeared to be good matches.
While successful in reaching well- established companies, this approach failed to identify smaller or newer com- panies that lacked a well-developed website but could be promising licensees.
EXPANDING THE UNIVERSE In 2015, TechLink and the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder conducted an economic impact study of all DOD technology licensing from 2000 to 2014.
Tis study showed that the overwhelm- ing majority of companies that licensed DOD technology were small businesses with fewer than 100 employees. In fact, most of those had fewer than nine employees.
Te question TechLink then asked was: How can we market Army technology to small companies that might not even have a website? Te answer was to let those small companies find TechLink.
In 2017, TechLink launched a new web- site that makes it easier to search for
DOD technologies—by keyword, indus- try area and laboratory—and greatly expand DOD’s connection to companies and entrepreneurs nationwide.
“We paired this new website with a robust digital marketing strategy that can lever- age the power of the internet and social media to greatly expand our outreach,” said Austin Leach, senior technology manager at TechLink. “Tis allows us to move beyond the traditional marketing approach that reaches hundreds of com- panies per year to a potential reach in the tens of thousands.”
NEXT STEP: EXPRESS LICENSING Te online presence of Army technol- ogy began to expand in 2016, when the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) moved to improve technology transfer by increasing public access to its patents through a novel process called express licensing.
“Tis was a team effort utilizing two of ARL’s existing partners in the technology
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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / DASA(R&T)
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