The compilers of the new Directory of Federal Laboratory & Technology Resources, due out early next year, say their publication should make it easier for researchers and others to locate like-minded federal investigators and their facilities. Cooperative research projects involving federal and private researchers might be one important outcome, they say.
But some in the nonfederal research and development community say that, while the directory may help with its primary purpose of technology transfer, and might thus be helpful to scientists who have developed inventions or are starting companies, it will probably be of limited use to basic researchers.
The volume will be the first product of the recently announced alliance between the National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC) in Wheeling, W.Va., and the National Technology Information Service (NTIS) in Springfield, Va. NTTC, administered by NASA, collects federally funded technological information to aid in its transfer to United States business and...
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