The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is a U.S.-based nationwide network of federal laboratories that provides the forum to develop strategies and opportunities to help transfer laboratory mission technologies into commercial products for the global marketplace.

The FLC was organized in 1974 and formally chartered by the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986. Its host agency is the National Institute of Standards and Technology

. More than 250 federal laboratories and centers and their parent departments

United States Federal Executive Departments

The United States federal executive departments are among the oldest primary units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States—the Departments of State, War, and the Treasury all being established within a few weeks of each other in 1789.Federal executive...

 and agencies are currently FLC members. In accordance with the Act and related federal policy, the FLC’s mission is to promote and facilitate the rapid movement of federal laboratory research results and technologies into the mainstream of the U.S. economy.

Specifically, the FLC develops and tests transfer methods, addresses barriers to the process, provides training, highlights grass-roots transfer efforts, and emphasizes national initiatives in which technology transfer

 has a role. For the public and private sectors, the FLC brings laboratories together with potential developers and users of government-owned technologies. The FLC seeks to add value to the federal agencies, laboratories, and their partners to accomplish the rapid integration of research and development resources into commercial products. The Consortium’s vision is to actively promote the fullest application and use of federal research and development by providing an environment for successful technology transfer, thereby enhancing the socioeconomic well-being of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in the world.

Legislation

• Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-480)
• Bayh-Dole Act
  Bayh-Dole Act
  The Bayh–Dole Act or Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act is United States legislation dealing with intellectual property arising from federal government-funded research. Adopted in 1980, Bayh-Dole is codified in -212, and implemented by 37 C.F.R. 401. Among other things, it gave U.S...
  
  of 1980 (P.L. 96-517)
• Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-502)
• Executive Order 12591 (1987)