“Express licensing is a streamlined collaboration platform where the financial terms are pre-negotiated, the license agreement is pre-approved, and the application, review, and processing of licenses is conducted efficiently online,” Darin Oelkers, senior technology manager in charge of express licensing at TechLink, said in a release this week from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
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TechLink, part of Montana State University's Office of Research and Economic Development, is a Department of Defense partnership that specializes in marketing and licensing defense technology to private companies.
The center developed the first express license for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information Directorate’s Android Team Awareness Kit, also known as ATAK. This effort helped establish ATAK as the standard for communication and situational awareness on mobile platforms, the Air Force’s release said.
ATAK gives warfighters the ability to quickly create mapping, including the fast mapping of locations of interest, location sharing, location history, targeting and more.
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“Express licensing was chosen because it could quickly and easily get the technology in the hands of developers for broad distribution and further improvements,” Oelkers said in the Wright-Patt statement. “One express license was completed in only 13 business days.”
Most traditional license agreements take months to negotiate and complete, he said.
TechLink developed a system that permits companies to apply online, letting the Information Directorate quickly review and approve license requests.
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More than 100 ATAK invention licenses have been completed as of June 1, the Air Force release said.
“Because of that success several DoD laboratories also have opted to offer express licenses for selected technologies,” the Air Force said. “Other AFRL directorates recently joined the effort, including both the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate and the 711th Human Performance Wing, which began offering express licenses in March 2018. The Aerospace Systems Directorate is in the process of adding technologies as well.”
TechLink has 221 DoD technologies available for express licensing, 63 of which belong to the Air Force. The number of Air Force technologies available via express licensing is expected to exceed 100 in early 2019.
The Air Force asks those interested to call TechLink at (406) 994-7700.
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