Barbara E.

Selby
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
October 9, 1991
(Phone: 703/557-5609)

4 p.m. EDT

RELEASE: 91-167

NASA SELECTS REGIONAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER CENTERS

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has

selected six organizations to receive contracts to establish the
agency's new Regional Technology Transfer Center network. The
organizations are:

* Northeast -- Center for Technology Commercialization,

Westborough, Mass.

* Mid-Atlantic -- University of Pittsburgh

* Mid-West -- Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio

* Southeast -- University of Florida, Alachua

* Mid-Continent -- Texas A&M University, College Station

* Far West -- University of Southern California, Los

Angeles

Each of the new centers, expected to be operational

beginning in January 1992, will receive a cost-type contract
estimated at $1 million for the first year with options for 4
additional years at the same level of funding.

The new centers will replace the NASA-sponsored Industrial

Applications Centers (IAC) whose contracts expire this year. The
restructuring of the IACs represents an effort by NASA's Office
of Commercial Programs to upgrade and revitalize the agency's
technology transfer network and is intended to accomplish several
objectives. The regional center concept seeks to facilitate
access by the private sector to federally sponsored technology
by:

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 * Broadening the geographical coverage of the network to
include all 50 states by establishing a regional structure
similar to the six Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) for
Technology Transfer;

* Forming linkages with state and local government

technology transfer activities to leverage NASA's resources and
avoid duplication of effort;

* Including all federal laboratories within the FLC to

assist their technology transfer effort;

* Establishing close ties with the National Technology

Transfer Center in Wheeling, W.Va., to complement that center's
national technology transfer objectives;

* Providing a "full spectrum" of services by all of the

network participants; and

* Encouraging partnerships or consortia of universities and

state organizations within a designated region to assist in the
transfer of federal technologies to businesses and industries of
that region.

Additionally, it is anticipated that the regional approach

will align the centers closer to the needs of particular
industries, local businesses and entrepreneurs. By establishing
a "presence" for technology transfer in each state and region,
the centers can reach prospective industry clients and provide
access to federally developed technology more effectively.

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