592 



44 EXPANDING THE USES OF NA VAL OCEAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AT ONR: THE INDIVIDUAL 



Finding: Few incentives apparently exist within ONR to promote domestic 

 technology transfer at the level of administrative program managers and investi- 

 gators. 



Investigators both within and outside of the Navy are motivated to produce 

 superior research or develop new technology so they may receive continued 

 funding or peer recognition. Similar inducements do not exist to leverage R&D 

 efforts for application beyond their originally intended use. ONR investigators 

 are well intentioned, but to take further advantage of R&D expenditure, addi- 

 tional incentives are required to encourage the extra effort needed to focus on 

 technology transfer (see Chapter 5). Exploiting (or leveraging) technology must 

 become a performance objective of the entire ONR organization. 



It is beyond the purview of this study to recommend specific program goals 

 and levels of performance to ONR. As the principal executive of ONR, however, 

 the Chief of Naval Research should create plans for the transfer of technology 

 with specific objectives and milestones for accomphshment. Such plans should 

 reflect the program wide priority to be placed on technology transfer to the 

 nonmilitary sector. Progress toward achieving these objectives should be man- 

 aged like any other development project and progress should be reported on a 

 regular basis. Individual performance objectives should be estabhshed, begin- 

 ning with top ONR executives and including all team leaders and laboratory 

 investigators. Individuals should be rewarded or recognized on the basis of 

 achievement measured against these objectives. To ensure the success of tech- 

 nology transfer, effective training will be required to enable all employees to 

 understand both the goals and the mechanisms of effective technology transfer. 



Recommendation: Incentives need to be provided at the program level, and 

 measures of performance established at the executive level, to promote domestic 

 technology transfer. The Chief of Naval Research needs to provide executive 

 leadership and operational training at all levels of the organization to implement 

 an effective technology transfer policy. 



