Fast-track program offers free Sandia-patented technology licenses for commercial use during pandemic

Sandia has announced a new, fast-track licensing program to rapidly deploy technology to a marketplace reeling from the effects of COVID-19. The move is designed to support businesses facing widespread, often technical challenges resulting from the pandemic.

“In light of the national emergency, we’re making technology transfer as simple as possible,” said Mary Monson, senior manager of technology partnerships and business development. “The Rapid Technology Deployment Program is an effort to streamline deployment of potential solutions to our partners in industry.”

Under the new program, more than 1,000 Sandia-patented technologies are temporarily eligible for any U.S. person to use commercially for free. People can visit Sandia’s Rapid Technology Deployment Program website to apply for free licenses valid through Dec. 31, 2020. The fast-track licenses are nonexclusive, meaning more than one person can hold a license to use the same technology.

The website contains information on which patents are available to license, as well as information about patents formerly held by Sandia that now are in the public domain and do not require a license to use.

Sandia’s new Rapid Technology Deployment Program will:

• Eliminate financial or contractual barriers to mobilizing technologies.
• Expedite transfer of intellectual property by eliminating fee negotiations, transferring intellectual property in days instead of months.
• Enable licensees to invest their full resources into combating the pandemic and its economic effects.

“This isn’t just a public health crisis; it’s also an economic crisis,” said Susan Seestrom, associate labs director for advanced science and technology and chief research officer. “Companies need new ways of doing business. They need cybersecurity tools so they can operate remotely. They need advanced manufacturing techniques to produce goods that are in high demand. If Sandia intellectual property can help, we want to lower barriers to people getting it.”

As a multipurpose engineering laboratory for NNSA, Sandia invents technologies for research purposes and maintains patents under nine categories: bioscience; electromagnetics; energy and environment; information and computer systems; manufacturing and assurance; materials, chemistry and nanoscience; microelectronics and microelectromechanical systems; security and defense; and sensors and detectors. Sandia routinely grants licenses to businesses, universities and individual entrepreneurs to use these technologies for other commercial purposes.

The free, temporary licenses come with minimum restrictions. Technologies cannot be exported, so applicants must be legal U.S. residents, and businesses must legally be able to contract with the U.S. government.

Visit Sandia’s Rapid Technology Deployment Program website for information about free, temporary, non-exclusive licenses for technology and processes patented at Sandia. To obtain a license, interested individuals must:

• Be a U.S. current resident (licenses are not available for export).
• Submit an application.
• State the intended business purpose in the application.