A report analyzing the impact of technology transfer agreements at Sandia National Laboratories says the partnerships led to billions in sales. Tech transfer allows companies to license and research technologies developed at the labs.
The study was conducted by TechLink, an organization that markets new inventions from the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs and helps businesses and entrepreneurs through the licensing process, according to its website. It was done in collaboration with the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Economic data was gathered last year from interviews with hundreds of company executives who were asked about the outcomes of their partnerships with Sandia labs, including the sales of new products and services.
The study analyzed the "after-effects" of 341 cooperative research and development agreements and 101 patent license agreements signed between 2000 and 2010. Researchers connected with companies involved with 410 of those agreements, according to TechLink.
A deeper dive into the data reveals some interesting trends. Less than one third of the agreements analyzed resulted in sales. And the analysis shows that the majority of the agreements involved large companies with 500 or more employees. Large companies also accounted for nearly all of the $53 billion in sales from those agreements.
There were other economic impacts as well.
"In addition to sales ... companies received total outside investment funding (including venture capital and angel funding) directly attributable to these partnerships of slightly over $1 billion. In addition, 10 companies reported that they were acquired primarily because of the technologies associated with the [tech transfer] partnerships with Sandia," the analysis says.
Sandia could not immediately be reached for comment.
Beyond its efforts to work with businesses, Sandia labs is a larger economic driver in the area. The labs had more than 14,000 workers across the country in its 2019 fiscal year, according to its economic impact report for the period. More than 12,000 of those workers were located in New Mexico, Business First reported. Its primary mission is ensuring the safety, security and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, as well as ensuring that it can support the country's deterrence policy.
