Sec. 8. Accelerated commercialization of taxpayer-funded research
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In this section: The term Council means the Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the Department of Commerce established pursuant to section 25(c) of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3720(c)). The term extramural budget means the sum of the total obligations minus amounts obligated for such activities by employees of the agency in or through Government-owned, Government-operated facilities, except that for the Department of Energy it shall not include amounts obligated for atomic energy defense programs solely for weapons activities or for naval reactor programs, and except that for the Agency for International Development it shall not include amounts obligated solely for general institutional support of international research centers or for grants to foreign countries.
The term institution of higher education has the meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1001(a) ). The term research or research and development means any activity that is— a systematic, intensive study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the subject studied; a systematic study directed specifically toward applying new knowledge to meet a recognized need; or a systematic application of knowledge toward the production of useful materials, devices, and systems or methods, including design, development, and improvement of prototypes and new processes to meet specific requirements.
The term Secretary means the Secretary of Commerce. Each Federal agency that has an extramural budget for research or research and development that is in excess of $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2014 through 2018, shall transfer 0.15 percent of such extramural budget for each of such fiscal years to the Secretary to enable the Secretary to carry out a grant program in accordance with this subsection. From funds transferred under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall use the criteria developed by the Council to award grants to institutions of higher education, including consortia of institutions of higher education, for initiatives to improve commercialization and transfer of technology.
Not later than 30 days after the Council submits the recommendations for criteria to the Secretary under subsection (c)(4)(B), and annually thereafter for each fiscal year for which the grant program is authorized, the Secretary shall release a request for proposals. Each institution of higher education that desires to receive a grant under this subsection shall submit an application to the Secretary not later than 90 days after the Secretary releases the request for proposals under clause (ii).
The Secretary shall submit each application received under clause
(iii)to the Council for Council review. The Council shall review each application received under subclause
(I)and submit recommendations for grant awards to the Secretary, including funding recommendations for each proposal. The Council shall publicly release any recommendations made under subclause (II). In awarding grants under this subsection, the Secretary shall take into consideration the recommendations of the Council under subclause (II). The Secretary shall award grants to support institutions of higher education pursuing specific innovative initiatives to improve an institution’s capacity to commercialize faculty research that can be widely adopted if the research yields measurable results. Grants shall be awarded under this subparagraph to proposals demonstrating the capacity for accelerated commercialization, proof-of-concept proficiency, and translating scientific discoveries and cutting-edge inventions into technological innovations and new companies. In particular, grant funds shall seek to support innovative approaches to achieving these goals that can be replicated by other institutions of higher education if the innovative approaches are successful. The Secretary shall award grants to support institutions of higher education pursuing initiatives that allow faculty to directly commercialize research in an effort to accelerate research breakthroughs. The Secretary shall prioritize those initiatives that have a management structure that encourages collaboration between other institutions of higher education or other entities with demonstrated proficiency in creating and growing new companies based on verifiable metrics. Grants awarded under this subsection shall use criteria for assessing the success of programs through the establishment of benchmarks. The Secretary shall have the authority to terminate grant funding to an institution of higher education in accordance with the process and performance metrics recommended by the Council. A grant recipient may use not more than 10 percent of grant funds awarded under this subsection for the purpose of funding project management costs of the grant program. An institution of higher education that receives a grant under this subsection shall use the grant funds to supplement, and not supplant, non-Federal funds that would, in the absence of such grant funds, be made available for activities described in this section. Any funds transferred to the Secretary under paragraph
(1)for a fiscal year that are not expended by the end of such fiscal year may be expended in any subsequent fiscal year through fiscal year 2018. Any funds transferred under paragraph
(1)that are remaining at the end of the grant program's authorization under this subsection shall be transferred to the Treasury for deficit reduction. Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Council shall convene and develop recommendations for criteria in awarding grants to institutions of higher education under subsection (b). The Council shall— submit the recommendations described in subparagraph
(A)to the Secretary; and release the recommendations to the public. The recommendations submitted by the Council, as described in this paragraph, shall be determined by a majority vote of Council members. The Council shall develop and provide to the Secretary recommendations on performance metrics to be used to evaluate grants awarded under subsection (b). Not later than 180 days before the date that the grant program authorized under subsection
(b)expires, the Council shall conduct an evaluation of the effect that the grant program is having on accelerating the commercialization of faculty research. The evaluation shall include— the recommendation of the Council as to whether the grant program should be continued or terminated; quantitative data related to the effect, if any, that the grant program has had on faculty research commercialization; and a description of lessons learned in administering the grant program, and how those lessons could be applied to future efforts to accelerate commercialization of faculty research. Upon completion of the evaluation, the evaluation shall be made available on a public website and submitted to Congress. The Secretary shall notify all institutions of higher education when the evaluation is published and how it can be accessed. Nothing in this section may be construed to alter, modify, or amend any provision of chapter 18 of title 35, United States Code (commonly known as the Bayh-Dole Act ).
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