The United States spends over $130 billion each year on research and development (R&D), for everything from understanding disease to increasing cybersecurity. In addition to improving health, safety and quality of life, that investment can provide significant economic benefit from results that become commercial products.
But making that transition from “lab to market” is not easy. Often at federal agencies, these efforts are mandated, but not funded. In fiscal year 2015, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) received a rare opportunity to improve efforts to move the results of federal R&D from the lab to the market with $6 million in appropriated funds.
