Minority businesses collaborate with HBCUs to develop new technologies - Federal Government Encouraging HBCU-minority business alliance - historically Black colleges and universities

Black Issues in Higher Education, August 22, 1996 by Ronald Roach

Classrooms in "The Real World"

Tennessee State also benefits from technology transfer because projects provide scholarship and stipend support for students who participate on the projects. "The advantage of these projects is that they provide students with real world experience. These are projects from the real world," Rogers said.

Technology transfer is also used as a tool for faculty and program development. "Many times, we have faculty members who have never held a job in private industry. This exposes them to real world problems," he said.

The overall level of participation by colleges and universities in technology transfer activities has greatly increased over the past decade, according to the Association of University Technology Managers, Inc. (AUTM). Universities often benefit from technology transfer by licensing technology to private companies and collecting royalties from the commercial sales of that particular technology. The AUTM reported in a survey of 250 institutions, including 137 U.S. universities, the growth in technology licensing activity showed a 63 percent jump between fiscal year 1991 and fiscal year 1994. Gross royalties received by research institutions increased from $380 million in FY 1993 to $422 million in FY 1994. "Technology transfer activity is on the upswing at universities and colleges," said Penny Dalziel of the AUTM.

Kelly said North Carolina A&T's participation in technology transfer activities has resulted from the school's evolution as an university and research institution. "It's a natural progression to have technology transfer occurring at our campus. We're only doing what other universities are doing."

Kelly said the first priority of an university is to establish and maintain credible undergraduate and graduate programs. Faculty must then engage in research activity that is recognized outside the university as significant and credible, according to Kelly. The third step happens when schools develop technology transfer programs to take faculty research "out into the world" to make it work. "As a state university, we need to show value to the community through economic development resulting from technology transfer. That's the role of research and development labs."

Kelly credits NASA and other federal agencies for making considerable investments over the past decade in North Carolina A&T's engineering and science programs. He estimated that NASA alone has granted nearly $17 million in funds to the school over the past ten years.

"Without NASA's help, we wouldn't have the infrastructure in place to pursue activities, such as technology transfer," Kelly said.

In the wake of MBTTC's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. in June at which Energy Department and NASA officials pledged new support to the organization, Bell said the MBTTC is well positioned now to develop partnerships with MEIs. The MBTTC is moving out of an experimental phase into that of a more mature organization. "We have moved out of the pilot phase, and we are now fully operational," Bell proclaimed.