Annual Technology Showcase Receives State and Local Economic Development Award
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Annual Technology Showcase by the National Cancer Institute and the Frederick National Laboratory
The Federal Laboratory Consortium, a Congressionally mandated organization that educates, promotes, and facilitates federal technology transfer, announced its selection of NCI’s Annual Technology Showcase for its 2021 State and Local Economic Development Award. The FLC State and Local Economic Development Award recognizes successful initiatives that involve partnership between state or local economic development groups and federal laboratories for economic benefit.
The Technology Showcase is an annual event created to provide scientists from NCI and the Frederick National Laboratory (FNL) a platform to highlight the commercial and life-saving potential of their discoveries to an audience of potential collaborators and licensees. It was conceived by the NCI Technology Transfer Center, the Frederick National Laboratory’s Partnership Development Office and the NCI Office of Scientific Operations. By hosting it at the FNL, they recognized the opportunity to partner with the economic development offices of the City and County of Frederick and the Technology Development Corporation of Maryland (TEDCO) to leverage their regional knowledge, resources, relationships, and expertise. The organizations agreed on goals and entered into a co-sponsorship agreement.
The Technology Showcase – now going on its 5th year – centers around NCI and FNL researchers who made business pitches for their technologies to an audience of potential industry collaborators and licensees – in contrast to traditional presentations to a purely scientific audience. In addition, representatives from the NCI Technology Transfer Ambassadors Program – composed of post-doctoral scientists seeking unique professional/career education opportunities – develop and present posters highlighting the commercialization potential of additional NIH technologies. In 2020, the event organizers pivoted their efforts to deliver a virtual event that successfully provided interested parties an opportunity to participate regardless of location. The awareness and outreach provided by the annual Technology Showcase means that stakeholders understand they can turn to NCI and FNL when looking for a subject matter expert for collaboration to overcome a technology hurdle. Importantly, the effort serves to increase the likelihood that potentially life-saving cancer inventions may be developed and have a positive impact for patients.
Award Recipients:
NCI TTC:
- Michele Newton, Laura Prestia, Ph.D., Michael Salgaller, Ph.D. and Thomas Stackhouse, Ph.D.
Frederick National Laboratory:
- Victoria Brun, Maryellen Hackett, Vladimir Popov, Ph.D., Maggie Scully, Ph.D.
NCI Frederick Office of Scientific Operations:
- Walter Hubert, Ph.D.
Frederick County Department of Economic Development
- Heather Gramm, Helen Propheter
Frederick City Department of Economic Development
- Mary Ford-Naill, Richard Griffin