Application of Logic Models to Facilitate DoD Laboratory Technology Transfer

Department of Defense (DoD) laboratories are sources of new ideas and technologies that can provide military and capability advantages to the warfighter. However, for that advantage to be realized, these new ideas and technologies almost always must be transferred from the laboratory to industry or other organizations capable of developing products or services. Federal organizations have made efforts to accelerate the transfer of research findings and outputs to companies or other organizations. Still, there is not a universally accepted definition of successful technology transfer or guidance for monitoring transfer that can be applied across multiple laboratories or research organizations. This report describes a method to help the DoD monitor and track technology transfer from laboratories to customers and assess the success of efforts that may lead to capability improvements. Our method maps efforts associated with technology transfer into a logic model framework that describes the laboratory operations and can be used to create a definition of "successful technology transfer" that may be applied across the Defense Laboratory Enterprise. Our method also provides guidance for developing measures for monitoring successful technology transfer.