Editor’s note: This article is an update to the August 2020 article about the NCI Director’s Award.
The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) recently awarded the Frederick National Laboratory (FNL) and National Cancer Institute (NCI) Technology Showcase a 2021 State and Local Economic Development Award. The FLC is a nationwide network of more than 300 federal laboratories, agencies, and research centers that promotes federal technology transfer.
The award recognizes the important partnerships that make this annual event a success. From its inception, the Technology Showcase has involved collaboration among FNL, NCI, the Frederick County Office of Economic Development, the City of Frederick Department of Economic Development, and TEDCO (Maryland Technology Development Corporation). The collaboration with the state, county, and city partners has always been a critical aspect of the event, with partners providing resources and assisting with planning, promotion, and logistics.
“We are very excited and honored to receive the 2021 State and Local Economic Development Award,” said Vladimir Popov, director of the FNL Partnership Development Office. “Both the National Cancer Institute and Frederick National Lab are active members within FLC, and this award is a true recognition of our efforts to create a successful event that focuses on tech transfer, licensing, and partnership development in concert with our state and local economic development partners.”
“This is a well-deserved recognition of the hard work and value this event represents to the NIH as well as our local and regional partners,” said Michael Salgaller of the NCI Technology Transfer Center.
“Improving global health and stimulating economic development are part of the NIH’s mission,” Salgaller added. “It is rewarding to see that both these laudable goals were realized in the annual Technology Showcase—the only NIH event developed with our partners and licensees in mind. We look forward to continuing and constantly looking for ways to improve this event.”
The FLC’s virtual award ceremony will be held on Wednesday, April 7, 2021.
This award also comes after the Technology Showcase Team from FNL, NCI’s Technology Transfer Center, and NCI’s Office of Scientific Operations was recognized with a 2020 NCI Director’s Award earlier this year.
That award, from the “Making an Impact” category, recognizes the team’s work to establish the annual Technology Showcase, an event that fosters scientific collaboration as well as licensing of NCI technologies. The recipients are Victoria Brun, Mary Ellen Hackett, Walter Hubert, Michele Newton, Vladimir Popov, Laura Prestia, Michael Salgaller, and Maggie Scully.
Victoria Brun is a partnership project manager in the Frederick National Laboratory Partnership Development Office, where she provides project management support across the office’s broad portfolio of collaborative projects. The Partnership Development Office establishes the partnerships and collaborations among Frederick National Laboratory scientists and external researchers in government, academia, industry, and the nonprofit research sector.