In January the DOD opened a pilot program providing no-fee commercial evaluation licenses for dozens of patents from military laboratories, including from AFRL at Wright-Patterson.
AFRL researchers have been “working hard on really awesome things,” said Scott Aughenbaugh, director of AFRL DAFT3, the office that oversees technology transfers from the Air Force. “But it could be commercial things.”
It was military research, remember, that gave the world the Internet and GPS tracking, not to mention radar, freeze-dried foods, wristwatches, aviator sunglasses and dozens of other innovations.
The patent holiday could open the door to the next big innovation, Aughenbaugh and his team hopes.
You can peruse the patents available for no-fee licensing at info.techlinkcenter.org/defense-patent-holiday
Here, you’ll find dozens of patents grouped in six broad areas — micro-electronics, energetics, materials, munitions and other priorities.
About 80% of the Air Force’s patents originate with AFRL, which spearheads the science and research useful to airmen on the front line. AFRL is headquartered at Wright-Patt, where Aughenbaugh is based.
“It’s not just one thing,” Aughenbaugh said. “There are so many things the lab is doing.”
“We’ve built things in the lab that have actually become programs of record, fantastic programs of record,” he added.
The idea: Companies have two years to take AFRL research and turn it into products for warfighters and for civilians — free of the usual licensing fee.
Not as many local companies that Aughenbaugh would like to see have responded to the opportunity since January, he said in a new interview. He wants to spread the word.
“There’s a bunch of interested companies that have reached out. But it’s only a handful at this point,” he said.
The Air Force has tried different approaches to launch its technology into the world.
For years, the Air Force has worked with an organization based in Bozeman, Montana — an organization called “TechLink” — which has called itself the U.S. military’s sole national “partnership intermediary” for technology transfers to private companies.
TechLink has been useful to local entrepreneurs such as Nicholas Ripplinger, founder of Dayton’s Battle Sight Technologies.
“We want to provide the innovators in industry a clear path to move technology from the lab into the hands of the American warfighter and the American consumer,” Emil Michael, the under secretary of defense for research and engineering, said in January.
What businesses is getting here is a special agreement that lets them assess the technical, market, and business potential of an Air Force patent.
If you believe your company can do something with “high-temperature superconducting striated tape,” now is your chance.
Or maybe your business can work its magic with a device that can detect human activity in rooms left vacated.
If you have questions, you can start at info.techlinkcenter.org/defense-patent-holiday
“I just want people to know that we’re from the government, and we’re here to help,” Aughenbaugh said with a smile.
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