The Transfer Files: Inside the World of Federal Innovation

Some technical problems are too specific, too complex, or too far outside a company’s normal day-to-day work to solve alone. A manufacturer might have a product that works at the bench level, but not at scale. A process might be close, but the yield is inconsistent. A team might know what it needs to make, but not who has the equipment, expertise, or research capabilities to help them get there. I...

Agricultural research depends on strong partnerships, practical solutions, and technology transfer strategies that connect federal science with the producers and industries it serves. Dr. Deana Jones brings that perspective to her work as Director of the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s U.S. National Poultry Research Center, where she leads a broad portfolio spanning poultry food safety, produ...

Technology transfer is already challenging, but it gets even more complicated when national security is involved. Federal labs are trying to move important research and capabilities out into the world, while also protecting sensitive information, managing risk, and making sure the wrong details do not end up in the wrong hands. That is the thinking behind Innovation for Impact: A National Security...

Federal laboratories play a critical role in moving ideas from research into real-world use, but that work depends on more than technical expertise. It takes leadership, strong partnerships, and a clear understanding of how innovation supports the mission. At Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, that mission is centered on delivering capability to the warfighter, and technology transfer ha...

Turning research into something people can actually use sounds straightforward, but in the federal world, it’s anything but. It takes people who can move between science, business, and policy, people who know how to translate complex ideas, build the right partnerships, and guide innovations out of the lab and into the real world. That “in-between space” is where a lot of the real work happens, an...

Strong science doesn't automatically lead to commercial success. There's a gap between breakthrough research and real-world impact that trips up even the most promising technologies. Business development or the art of building relationships, positioning innovations, and navigating markets is where many tech transfer offices find themselves stretched thin or stuck. My guest Ernesto Chanona...

Welcome back, everyone and welcome to Season 3 of the Transfer Files! We are so glad you're here, and we're kicking things off with a conversation that gets at the connective tissue of innovation, the organizations that help move ideas out of the lab and into the world. Today we're joined by Joanne Wong and Cassandra Carothers, two guests from IEEE, the world's largest technical pr...

Happy New Year and welcome back! While the podcast is between seasons, we’re continuing to bring you brief FLC updates so you can stay connected to what’s happening now and what’s coming next across the Federal Laboratory Consortium. These short check-ins will drop every two weeks until the show returns with full-length episodes when Season 3 launches in March. For this update, I’m joined by Paul...

As we reach the end of the year and settle into the holiday season it feels right to look back and reflect. This podcast has grown so much over its first two seasons. I hope that means you are enjoying these conversations and sharing them with friends and colleagues and planning to come back next season for more. Today, we’re revisiting the voices that shaped our year. We kick things off with Kath...

There’s something exciting happening right now in the world of federal innovation, and it feels like the momentum is building faster than ever. When research inside government labs actually finds its way into the hands of entrepreneurs who know how to run with it, that’s where real impact shows up. And that’s the story we’re digging into today, how ideas turn into companies, and how communities wo...

Researchers are advancing extraordinary science inside our federal labs, but translating that expertise into language the private sector can immediately understand is its own skillset. Oak Ridge National Laboratory decided to tackle that challenge head on. The result is the Catalyst Coaching Program, a high-impact initiative that helps early and mid-career researchers sharpen their message, clarif...

It’s easy to assume government contracts are only for the big players. But in reality, small and mid-sized businesses are often the engine behind federal innovation. The challenge is knowing where to begin, even if it feels like a maze of rules, acronyms, and red tape. That’s where APEX Accelerators come in. They help businesses get certified, spot the right opportunities, write stronger proposals...

Behind every chart and statistic about federal technology transfer is a story about people turning ideas into progress. Economist Michael Hall, from the Technology Partnerships Office at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), joins us to talk about how numbers reveal the real-world value of science. He traces his path from an early fascination with how innovation drives economi...

When budget deadlines roll around, most of what we hear is the news out of Washington. But if you’re in a federal lab or working with one, the effects show up in very real ways. Projects can stall, collaborations hang in the balance, and sometimes research just stops until things get sorted out.  My guest today is Paul Zielinski, Executive Director of the Federal Laboratory Consortium. Paul knows...

Sometimes the best conversations are worth hearing again. Today we’re revisiting a Season 1 episode recorded in April 2024 with Chris Campbell, founder and CEO of Simpli-Fi Automation, an electronic systems engineering solutions company. Chris didn’t follow a straight path into this work. He started out in electrical systems and spent years building automation solutions before COVID forced him to...

Fusion energy is one of those ideas that always felt just out of reach. For decades, researchers have been chasing it. Breakthroughs are happening faster, startups are springing up, and suddenly the private sector is putting real money on the table. In the middle of all this excitement is the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, better known as PPPL. That’s where my guest today, David Zimmerman, is helpi...

When we first launched The Transfer Files, our very first guest was someone who has shaped and lived the history of federal tech transfer, Paul Zielinski, Executive Director of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer, or the FLC. Today, we’re revisiting that conversation, where Paul shares the fascinating story of how federal technology transfer took root, how the FLC came to be,...

What kind of person decides to license bleeding-edge battery technology from a national lab and try to bring it to market with no funding and no guarantees? According to Jay Fraser, you might need a little bit of crazy and a lot of persistence. In this special episode of The Transfer Files, we revisit one of our favorite conversations exploring how deep tech innovation finds its way into the world...

What started as a push to transfer technology from the lab to the private sector has sparked something bigger. Something my guest calls “Space Valley.” Stretching from Colorado Springs to El Paso, this unexpected corridor of space innovation is emerging as a powerful byproduct of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s tech engagement efforts in New Mexico. In this episode I’m excited to speak with Ga...

Sometimes a career takes shape in unexpected ways. For Stephen Crutchfield, it began with a background in film and a job making videos for the Navy. That role introduced him to the world of federal tech transfer, an area he hadn’t even heard of at the time and ultimately led to his current position as Deputy of the Technology Transfer Office at NIWC Pacific. In this episode, Stephen talks about ho...

What would happen if federal labs started driving regional economies, not just research papers? That's exactly what today's guest, Stephen Auvil, is exploring every day at TEDCO, where he serves as Chief Federal Engagement Officer. Stephen’s had quite the journey, spending years figuring out how scientific discoveries can actually make their way out of labs and into the market. He shares s...

How do you take a spark of scientific curiosity and turn it into something people can actually use? In this episode, Phil Weilerstein pulls back the curtain on nearly thirty years of guiding student inventors, faculty change-makers, and early-stage startups through the messy journey from lab bench to marketplace. As the founder and CEO of VentureWell, he’s made it his mission to tear down the wall...

What happens when a seasoned bioscience leader moves to a new region and starts stitching together an entire innovation ecosystem from scratch? In this episode, we get an inside look at how Kathleen Otto-Rosenblum, CEO of BioNTX  is driving collaboration and growth in the North Texas life sciences community. With years of experience building biotech networks on the East Coast, Kathleen brings both...

When we think about innovation, it’s easy to focus on the breakthrough ideas or the cutting-edge technologies, but often, it’s the physical spaces and partnerships behind the scenes that make those breakthroughs possible. Research parks are one of the most powerful and often overlooked tools driving innovation, economic growth, and collaboration in communities across the country. In this episode,...

When you think about thriving innovation ecosystems, New Mexico might not be the first place that comes to mind. But as today’s guest explains, it is home to an incredibly vibrant network of entrepreneurs, investors, universities, and national laboratories working together to turn ideas into real-world impact. Today I’m joined by David Kistin, Senior Manager of Technology and Economic Development...